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Step-by-Step Instructions

1 Remove the ceiling rose

Only after you have switched off the power and removed the circuit fuse can you unscrew the cover of the ceiling rose you want to relocate. Let the cover slide down the pendant flex. Remove the wood screws that fix it. Inspect the connections so you can re-wire it in the same way - make a quick sketch diagram if it helps. Identify the switch-return wire - if it has not already been labelled. If there is only one red and one black conductor, then the rose is on a junction box system and won't have a switch cable. There will be two or three cables running into the rose. Label them carefully as the switch and circuit cables. Disconnect the conductors from the cable terminals and separate any that are twisted together. Unscrew the backplate from the ceiling. Remove the rose, flex and lamp holder complete.

2 Install in new position

Measure carefully to locate the old and the intended new position of the rose and mark it on the floor above the ceiling you are working on. Lift the floorboards over both positions. Pass enough 1mm sq. two-core and earth cable from the old rose position to the new position, leaving at least 150mm (6in) spare at each end. If the cable has to cross joists, drill 12mm (1/2in) in them about 50mm (2in) down for safety, or notch the tops of the joist to take the cable and protect it with a length of protective channel (available at electrical stores). If the room above the rose is a loft area, space cable clips to the joists to secure the cable. Downstairs push a screwdriver through the ceiling at the new light position: if it hits a joist, make a new hole to one side. The cable can still pass through to one side but will be concealed by the rose screwed to the joist. If the screwdriver falls between two joists, fix a 'noggin' to the joists on each side. Never fix a ceiling rose to the plaster ceiling alone - it won't be able to support the weight of the lamp. At the new position, feed the cable through the hole in the ceiling. Strip back the sheath to expose about 75mm (3in) of the red (live), black (neutral) and bare wire (earth) conductors. Strip off about 12mm (1/2in) of the insulation and sleeve the bare earth wire in green/yellow sleeve, leaving 12mm (1/2in) bare at the end.

3 Connect to the terminals

Feed the cable through the hole in the ceiling. Push the cable through the hole in the back of the ceiling rose.

Re-connect the conductors to their terminals, then gently pull the surplus cable back up through the ceiling. Screw the rose into position on the joist or noggin, and replace the rose cover. On the floor above, pull the old cable back through the old hole in the ceiling. The 'old' supply cable will be joined to the new length of cable via a 30-amp junction box, secured on a platform between the joists made from a strip of wood that sits on the battens. Make sure that all the bare earth wires are insulated in green/yellow sleeves in the ends of both cables. Remove the screws from the terminals and lay the conductors across them: the colour matched wires from both cables will share a terminal: the earth (green/ yellow) conductors in the middle terminal; the red (live) and the black (neutral) conductors on the end terminals. Replace the fixing screws and tighten with a screwdriver making sure that the conductors are secure and the cables fit in their entry holes with their sheathing running into the box. Fit the cover on the junction box and fix each length of cable to a nearby joist with cable clips to take the strain off the terminals. Switch on the power and test the light. Replace the floorboards and fill up and make good the old rose hole in the ceiling.

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