How to locate floor outlets if usage is unknown?

[MiamiCuse]

I am finishing up the electrical wiring phase of my project. The only thing left to do wiring wise are the tankless water heater and the floor outlets, and the floor outlets are driving me insane.

I have 4" thick reinforced concrete slab all over, so installing a floor outlet involves cutting a trench through the slab to make room for the PVC rigid conduits to go under the slab.

I have a family room that is 32'x16' with a fireplace. I have in a separate wing a living room that is 27'x22'. We are not sure what we would put where, but it's reasonable to expect a couch area in the living room and one in the family room, but the family room may have a game table of some sort - ping pong, air hockey etc...and they need an electrical outlet. Same with the living room, if I put my TV, DVD etc...not against a wall, I will need an outlet somewhere near the middle.

However, my wife thinks today that we need the TV here, yesterday she thought it better be "there", and tomorrow probably "somewhere else", and I need to wire these floor outlets but in order to do that I need to know exactly what goes where.

Is there a way to plan for floor outlets without knowing how the space is to be used? Once I tiled it's done and over with!

MC

[RicodJour]

No.

R

[EDS]

You might use two outlet boxes located at third points of the rooms, thereby minimizing the cord length. Use a recessed box, with water resistant brass or stainless face and screwed on plug caps, so you can "blank off" the unused outlet(s). EDS

[RicodJour]

The recessed outlets are more work to install, cost a bunch more and are an eyesore when they're in the middle of your nice floor. Going to that trouble and expense to discover, oops!, is a daily reminder of your lack of planning ability. It's a very very bad idea.

R

[Edgar]

Hmm, then what other kind of floor outlets could he possibly be talking about?

[RicodJour]

It's not a question of what type, it's where, and he doesn't know where. Murphy's Law applies - unless he has the layout scoped out the outlet will be in the wrong place and he'll either have an unused outlet in the middle of the floor, under a piece of furniture, or the electric cord will run in a circulation path and be a tripping hazard.

R

[Edgar]

Ah yes when you put it that way I guess it makes sense.

[Kris Krieger]

"Edgar" wrote in news:43e1a$48518e81$ [e-mail]:

WE had teh option of havin gfloor outlets put in, but I didn't opt for it for that same reason - I wasn't precisely sure of how i'd finally arrange he room. I had a couple of working plans based upon the measurements *on paper*, but couldn't get a sense of it until the place was mostly built and I could see the space.

I havee one cord that is under a small throw rug - it's thin and the lamp only runs a CFL, so it works. But I wouldn't want to put any "hot" cord (pulling a lot of electricity) under a throw rug.

I also had a concern, re: floor outlets, about infiltration (spilling, carpet fibers, dust, whatever).

[MiamiCuse]

I think if I get an air hockey table it will need more juice. It's not that I don't know the layout, it's that my wife wouldn't make up her mind.

I don't want to cut the slab and go through the trouble if "we can try putting it there and see"...

[Kris Krieger]

"MiamiCuse" wrote in news:PoGdna_pDPPfQczVnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

You could temporarily cover/encase the cord with one of the tubes they use for conventions. It's safer than just having the cord loose, so you could "try it out" with sme relative degree of safety.

HTH...

[creative1986]

Cutting a trench, such fun. Wear a decent respirator and vented goggles. After cutting the concrete and removing the dirt below, spray a layer of canned foam insulation on the entire floor of the trench and up to the inside edge of the concrete - make the whole thing waterproof. This will prevent water wicking up through the new concrete and ruining whatever floor covering you will have installed. When cutting the trench you will violate the visqueen below and this will allow subsurface water to penetrate the new concrete unless you protect it. I've cut a trench for floor outlets and I've had water penetration though not at the same time and place. Its nasty stuff so deal with it before rather than later.

[nmbexcuse]

Yes the moisture barrier is ripped apart. I have now 5 openings of varying sizes in different bathrooms (for drain reconfigurations), a narrow trench in the kitchen (for passing electric to an island) and no trench yet in the family room yet but soon.

I was wondering what I need to do to seal it off.

My plan was to put the sand back in to about 4" below top of slab, then compact it as much as I can (by jumping up and down) then I will spray water into the hole with a garden hose to further compact it and take out air pockets. Then I will treat the entire opening area with diluted Termidor (I am in Miami so need to worry about subterrainean termites). Then I was going to lay down another layer of viscreen the size of the hole but of course the edges will nto seal like it was before, then for the larger holes I will put in some lateral rebars, then pour the concrete.

Are you saying I can use a foam sealer such as this:

or

to seal off the entire hole across the bottom and the side edges of the concrete? I am not sure how long these foam last, don't they break down into brittle dust after some time, I know the stuff they foam around my sheet metal AC conduits in the attic does...I am concerned if this could cause the concrete to shift or settle because it would not be "bonded" to the old concrete but to the foam? May be you meant only for small trench like 2-3" wide?

Would you do the same for large holes like 4'x5' like I have in the bathrooms?