Skirting boards with channels for cabling

[James Harris]

I was looking for a way to run a phone wire and maybe some other cables round a number of rooms and thought about placing the cables behind the skirting. The made-for-purpose trunking I found looks more industrial than domestic so I came up with the idea of routing out channels behind timber skirting. I have to replace the skirting anyway.

Best option I can think of is to buy some 120mm x 18mm HDF bull nose trunking or similar and to use a router to make channels in the back of the skirting for the cables. That seems a good value option but I an not sure if it would be too much work for a router.

Does that sound like a good idea or bad idea? Is there a better way to run such cables tidily?

Anyone else tried this or have an interest in doing something similar?

James

[Tim Watts]

Will the skirting be easily removable?

One other point - this is a good idea for ELV cables but a no-no for mains.

[meow2222]

Rear channels are going to be a real pita to fill & fit. Why not use 3 pieces of timber instead, top & bottom of skirting plus a 3rd bit that covers them.

NT

[James Harris]

That depends on the definition of "easily"! I installed skirting once before just using glue so that there were no screw or nail heads. But for this project I was thinking to fix the skirting to the walls using screws. So it could potentially be removed but that might be disruptive to the paintwork.

Were you thinking of getting access to the cables or cable channels after fixing? It's possible that would be needed.

OK. I saw in a recent thread that mains must be kept separate from other cables in order to avoid two things:

• chafed cable letting mains wires touch others

• mains hum being induced into voice cables.

I don't know that I will need any mains but if I did perhaps there is some small metal conduit that could be used to contain the mains cable.....?

James

[Tim Watts]

Magnets?

It's more fundamental - IET regs do not recognise skirting as a "safe zone". Now you could argue that if it's a mains flex and not and installation cable, then the IET Regs don't apply - but the reasons are just as valid - namely someone else comes along and puts a screw through the skirting as "there cannot ever be cables behind it" and bang!

So - if it were a TV mains lead that was hidden for your convenience and if you moved the cable would be removed - it's not too terrible.

If the mains cable were going to be there for all time, you should follow the IET regs IMO.

[F Murtz]

Or two pieces one permanent on the bottom that you can rest the wires on and the top to cover.

or commercial stuff.

[Brian Gaff]

If you are talking industrial, and I have no idea where this stuff came from, but one office I was in had upvc scirting, and it was really made like hollow inside with ribs joining it all the way along with corner picieces etc. Lots o f mains and computer wires ran down the middle as could be seen from the work still in progress. Maybe its only economic for big jobs though. I was not interested at the time, about 6 years ago, just that your question made me remember it. Brian

[fred]

Hafele, and others possibly, sell clips to hold skirting board in place in the kitchen. That might be an avenue worth exploring. This might be a start

[Richard]

This D-Line trunking *seems* to be less industrial in appearance and might be worth looking at.

[stuart noble]

I came across it in a 60s block of flats some years ago. I was only fixing an aerial socket to it.....

[Capitol]

Use standard trunking at the bottom edge and mount the skirting board above it?

[spuorgelgoog]

They do however recognise skirting trunking or decorative capping as surfac e mounted wiring :-)

The Ambassador Ogee plastic skirting mentioned by Mr Murtz is also availabl e in a flat top

The company will send out a free sample of a few inches if requested. It wo rks out at about £8.30 a metre in 20 metre packs.

I've found it (on a sample) just about the right depth for mounting a deep back box against the wall and cutting a square hole in the front of the ski rting. The socket faceplate then holds the skirting in place. The skirting is high enough there is still space for a 13A plug flex entry bend radius.

I intend to put a warning label on the consumer unit and on the skirting ne xt to the door that cables are in this location.

Alternative is ordinary skirting with a batten along the top to space it of f the wall.

Owain

[Huge]

Or, as I've seen, mount the sockets upside down ...

[spuorgelgoog]

Yuck - although one of the 5 doubles on my study board is upside-down, wall warts, for the use of.

I quite like the MK (or other) sockets which mount in the trunking or other enclosure lid with just a circular hole (and 2 for the fixing screws) and could be rotated to any angle, but the only work on a very thin panel and t his PVC skirting is about 5mm thick.

Owain

[rbel]

I have just finished installing >30 metres of this HDF skirting

It can be ordered with a 30mm x 10mm rear rebate for cable.

I fixed it with 3 x 40 screws into wallplugs with the screws countersunk into the front rebate so they are hidden but are readilly accessible should I need to remove the skirting.

One word of warning this suppliers sanding/priming is a bit iffy on the radius of the bullnose moulding.

[James Harris]

...

That's interesting. I was looking at

They do the same type of skirting with the same rebate option for cables so it was interesting to compare prices. From what I looked at the prices were broadly similar though I am not sure whether I was comparing with-vat with without-vat - if you see what I mean....

Is having the rebate underneath the skirting a good idea? Cables would tend to spill out from below unless held in place somehow, though adding and removing cables would be easy. I suppose it could be made to work for carpetted or laminate flooring as long as the skirting reached down far enough. If it reached down too far it would be impossible to get other cables in place so would have to be lifted anyway.

I like the idea but wouldn't a square groove like that accumulate dirt and dust? (In my case the skirting would be for a rental property.)

Maybe they are just router-finished? I've ordered some samples from Skirting World, one of which is primed. I'll see what they are like when the get here.

I wanted a finish where cables could exit the top of the skirting into a phone socket without being visible bit I have to say that the bullnose finish I have chosen will probably turn out to be a bit boring!

James

[zaax]

You mean this

>

[James Harris]

Thanks but, no. It looks functional but, like all other plastic solutions people have mentioned, far too ugly for a domestic setting. In fact, this one looks better than some others I have seen! I'll have to stick to timber skirting.

James

[rbel]

In our case the skirting sits on top of an engineered wood flooring to allow the floating floor to expand and contract slightly. As mentioned the skirting is fixed with (hidden) screws which can be readilly removed and replaced using an electric screwdriver.

The 6mm x 6mm rebate will be a dust trap but one that we are happy to live with.

You could rout out a vertical chanel to take the cable from the rear recess to the upper surface.

[James Harris]

...

That's the plan. But notice how many skirting profiles get very thin at the top or even well below the top. On some of them a channel would show through, depending on its depth.

James