Cutting into concrete floor

Hi there

Just wanted to run something past you guys to see if its feasible.

I want to run some cables ( one TV coax, 1 satellite coax and 1 phone cable ) across a room.

In between where the current outputs are and where I want them to go is a doorway.

So rather than run the cables up over the doorway and down, along the skirting board, the into new sockets, my think was to cut a channel into the floor, run the cables along this. Then link the floor channel to the new sockets via a channel cut into the wall behind the skirting board.

Hope this is clear.

The distance across the floor is about 6 feet, and the floor is concrete.

So - is it doable? My plan was to use a hammer and cold chisel. Is it worth hiring a grinder for the day? If so, what sort should i get, and how much is it likely to cost?

I dont want to start chipping away only to find out its going to take weeks ;)

Cheers....

Reply to
Paul Williams
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Very easy, but I'd deffinitely use a grinder with a diamond disk. Any 4" angle grinder will do. Either buy a decent one at ~£60, or a cheapo one at £10. Also buy a diamond cutting disk.

It would take me about 10 mins to do the cuts, then another 20mins chiseling with the SDS to make the channel. If you don't have an SDS, you can just use a cold chisel - it won't take much longer.

Be prepared for *a lot* of dust.

Reply to
Grunff

Paul

Check that you don't have buried heating pipes around before firing up that grinder!

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

concret cutter is good. I was lucky in that my screed was not strong, and made a wide and messy channel with a bolter and club hammer quite easily.

Tty the chisel first WEAR EYE PROTECTION - and if this is not going wel, ask local hire firm for concrete saw. Trouble is they are bulky and dont get in teh corners.

Styrictly you should put that lot in trunking, but I was very naughty and laid some T & E speaker cable, coax and er... Harrumph... a mains ring extension, in the channel and moratred over them :-)

My tip is to make it very big, don't worry about the mess, because achieving a smooth making good is a cinch with a stiff mortar mix and a float.

If you don't lay trunking, use a tacky glue/sticky tape/P clips driven into screed etc etc. to keep cables underground whilst mortaring over.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Proper dust mask, ear defenders, eye protection pretty much mandatory.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

It's even worth just buying a 9" grinder they are so cheap. I hired one once and the hire shop charged me £11 for wear on the diamond blade after cutting only 7 paving slabs! Watch how deep you put the grinder because if you 'dig-in' it can cause it to kick back really violently.

Reply to
StealthUK

Yup. Doing it with no grinder would be a hard job. I guess if you encouter a plastic DPC sheet and slice through it then you should really coat the channel with some form of waterproofer to maintain the DPC integrity. Similar thing if there was no original DPC but the crete has had a surface waterproofing treatment.

Its cheaper to buy a cheap grinder than to hire one, and far more convenient. Try screwfix or toolstation. Will be messy though.

Regards, NT

Reply to
N. Thornton

To add to what others have said.... I don't think anyone has pointed out that you'd be strongly recommended to bury your cable in some form of plastic conduit, rather than just slap more concrete on top of it. At least that will give you a sporting chance of being able to renew the cables in future, in case of faults or upgrades etc.

Have you considered the alternative strategy of taking your cables straight up the wall (ie buried), across the ceiling (ie under the upstairs floor) and then straight down the other wall to where you need them? Depending on the type of wall (eg stud partition?) it could be a hell of a lot easier than carving up a solid floor.

David

Reply to
Lobster

Just to clarify... your floor is solid concrete?, and not suspended concrete?, could make a BIG difference to the advice given here.

Regards

Reply to
Mike Dodd

Or not screed over concrete?

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Well, the house was built in 1950, and the floor looks just like bog standard concrete.

As for things being buried in the concrete, I find that highly unlikely

- the house was rewired and had central heating put in by the previous owners, and its a bit of a bodge - lots of cables being surface mounted in ducting, radiator pipes running horizontally along walls rather than straight down into the floor etc etc....

Cheers

Paul

Reply to
Paul Williams

You're not wrong....I had a light switch to move too (for some reason it was placed *behind* the door, on the hinge side), so I bought a grinder and used it....the wall is about 2cm of plaster on top of brick, so I cut down as far as the brick.....it was only about 4 feet of channel, but after i finished I took the goggles off and found the room to be *FULL* of dust....SWMBO was *not* pleased.....

Reply to
Paul Williams

Cant do that - the walls are plaster on brick, and I dont want the hassle of ripping up floorboards upstairs....I'm going to relay the floor in there anyways, so the fllor is easily accessible....

Reply to
Paul Williams

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