DIYbanter - View Single Post - how to run electric to island in basement

Pete C.

wrote:

I have a concrete foundation, and am finishing the basement. We just
decided on putting in a bar, with an island bar about 4 feet off the
nearest wall. I will need to run electric to the island in order to
power the fridge and wine chiller, but just don't know what the code-
friendly way to do this is. Can I just put the electric wire under the
final flooring (seems doubtful), or do I need to break up the
concrete, put in some sort of conduit, and put the wire inside it,
then re-concrete the top? Is there another easier way I'm not
thinking of? Thanks.

If the finished flooring is going to be raised off the concrete for
insulation you should be able to run conduit in that gap just fine. If
not, then you would cut a small channel in the concrete with a suitable
masonry blade in a circular saw, angle grinder or similar and remove
just that thin strip to install the conduit and then patch over with
fresh concrete.

Of course the easiest option would be to drop down to the bar with a
decorative column like polished brass tube. You could disguise this
further by using two of them and installing some nice shelving for
bottles on them, perhaps 1/2" thick glass shelves with brass rails front
and rear. Most of these components are available as standard items, and
any good glass place can produce the shelves (you could also use wood
shelves).

In any case, if you're going to all this effort you should put a sink in
the island as well. Running PEX supply lines and a drain line from a
small pump unit of the type often used with laundry sinks should be easy
enough.