Re boxed in wiring, steel protection

[Dorothy Bradbury]

I need to carry several cables from a solid ground floor to the upstairs. o Around an alcove, along 50cm of skirting, behind cabinets, up the wall o Allow addition (albeit rarely) of cables without tearing out plaster etc

50cm skirting, behind cabinets, up the wall o MK Prestige Plus is ideal - and allows 1 flush single metal sockets for o Aluminium version available - if any concerns about strength

Around the alcove "U"... o Fridge freezer sits tightly, 10-15mm gap from the skirting o Skirting is unsealed 150x20mm terracotta tiles projecting from the plaster

Unlikely to be sufficient space for same MK 150x50mm skirting/dado.

One solution is to box-in cables around the alcove... o Regulations require earthed metal protection of the cables o Easiest is hardwood battons top & bottom, metal cover plate & top

Q: Must cables be *boxed in metal* or is an "anti-nail-plate" sufficient?

Very easy for me to get 2-3mm sheet stainless offcuts cropped to size. However, more difficult to find galvanised trunking in a slim 25mm height.

Thanks.

[Phil L]

That didn't work too well did it? - try it again but leave out the random 'o's and try to finish one sentence before starting another half way through.

[Owain]

No protection is required if the cables (or cable trunking) is visible. I suppose if it's obvious that your boxing-in *is* cable trunking - or you have a warning notice behind the fridge, which would be visible to anyone who removes the fridge to work on the boxing-in - then you'd be okay.

(a) Could you remove the plaster and semi-recess trunking (posisbly not dado trunking, but ordinary rectangular-section trunking) above the skirting, behind the fridge?

Plastic trunking is available in several wide/shallow profiles.

(b) You can buy metal-sheathed or metal-screened mains cables that are suitable for direct concealed burial in plasterwork; if you can reasonably anticipate your future needs that might be an alternative. Means digging out the plaster once, though.

Owain

[Owain]

I think Dorothy's mastered using PowerPoint as a newsreader. It's a unique style :-)

Owain

[Dorothy Bradbury]

Firstly, apologies for the miss-formatted post.

I'm going to try - will remove a terracotta tile & associated plaster after this cold snap and see exactly how much space is available.

Plaster will be replaced by board - which makes things a lot simpler, and might reduce the amount of "skirting trunking" required also.

Many thanks.

[Dorothy Bradbury]

The "o" were indeed bullet-points (to make it quick to scan :-)

For those after "low profile skirting for Hi-Fi / AV usage"

available yet, but the 150x20mm looks interesting. However PVC is not aesthetically pleasing and for A/V the small curved / coloured mini-trunking from TLC looks better.

Thanks.

[Owain]

But if lightly sanded to provide a key will take paint well. It can then be "grained" to give the effect of wood battening or even wooden channeling as was used for wiring in the early 20th century.

Owain