Cables in solid floors

[Blue Fox]

Hello all,

Got a customer who wants a couple of extra sockets in the living room. However the walls are solid and they don't want to chase and then lift floor boards above etc so was wondering what the rules are regarding running cables accross concrete floors. Not concerned about putting a chanel in the concrete to run cable in as he would do that himself for me just want to know if this is acceptable and whether it would need any additional protection.

Thanks

 

[Couleddie]

Would make the channel quite deep so you can get a good layer of concrete over it. I did this in my lounge for some floor sockets. Wall chaser on the floor, trunking in the channel and refilled with concrete. Now it's under laminate so it's got further protection. Unlikely anyone's going to bang nails in the floor but the RCD will cover it if any lunatic tries it.

 

[Evans Electric]

Plastic conduit or FP200 or Flexishield. Unlikely to be drilled or nailed but would be on an RCD anyway so don't see a problem . Schools , offices and hospitals have had steel conduits in the floor screeds since the year dot .

 

[Andy™]

as long as the cable has some protection from cement et (i.e conduit), i dont see a problem

 

[green-hornet]

I have run cables in solid floors.

Hospitals have full metal trenches.Most offices that use floor sockets have plastic trunking which is shaped similar to a D. with fittings to match etc.

In houses I have used conduit to run cables accross concrete floors, I have also used waste pipes, usefull for island cooker installs and fancy center of room fireplaces.

 

[bengie]

as already mentioned its quite normal. just make sure the channel is relatively deep partly to afford the conduit some protection from nails/screws but also to get the cement/concrete that bit thicker so its less likely to crack.

 

[bengie]

forgot to say, my prefered method is conduit with bends as gentle as possible(without being silly and making the bend radius 1m of course.) and use the biggest conduit you can get away with and i usually use as many as possible partly to lower the number of cables per conduit(to make it easier to pull and less likely to snag.) and to also have a spare conduit incase of a fault or alterations in the future.

 

[Blue Fox]

Thanks guys,

Was going to run it in conduit and circuit already has rcd as fitted one last year when putting some sockets in bedrooms just wanted to check no-one had any objections!!