Anyone use a floor box such as:
at home? We're gonna be getting our office redone at some point so am thinking of having a box similar to the above in the middle of the floor to provide volts and the phone line.
I have used them in commercial settings, but have only used individual floor sockets at home. One thing to keep in mind is that because of their size they are a bit more tricky to use in a room with floorboards, since they are wider than a single board, and hence will leave some boards completely cut through...
so you may have to make up some supporting timber frames to string the ends of the boards together.
Down into the shelter ?
Smart move !
michael adams
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I'll have to discuss with the sparks/chippy/decorator bloke who'd be doing the work, see what he has to say, but it sounds like, on the whole, that the individual sockets might be better.
The big boxes are fine - just they are easiest to use on sheet material floors, or office style suspended floors. You can certainly use them at home, and if you need multiple services etc may be less work than individual sockets etc. They also have the advantage of maintaining a flat surface when in use. Normal floor sockets can be a trip hazard in use.
In this case it'd be the floor between the backs of our desks, which are back to back.
Previously I've only seen them in computer rooms or office spaces with suspended floors, where the floor panels (perhaps a couple of feet square) have holes chopped out of them to accommodate the floor box. Then I think the box has a lip which sits on the edges of the hole.
At home, that's be harder to arrange.
My years as a sound engineer says you keep mains as far away from data etc as possible. ;-)
Yes, but not much... cut hole in floor, if needs be chopping a lump out the middle of some floorboards. Then cut some 2x2" battens and place them under the floor so they pick up the cut board ends, and screw down through the both the cut boards and some adjacent uncut ones into the battens.
Much like you would use a "stringer" on a cut joist or rafter end to spread the load to the adjacent ones.
This is becoming less true nowadays as less and less data is transferred in analogue form (which *will* pick up mains hum etc.)
You do need to take account of wiring regulations as regards separation of signal and power wiring though.
As these boxes are used in large office complexes to supply mains, telephone and data to all desks there cannot be too much trouble meeting regulations and/or with any data fidelity.
But due to SMPS etc, there seems to be far more hash on mains than once, and digital ain't totally immune to interference.
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