On 5/18/2011 7:37 AM, Count de Monet wrote:
WiFi to my workshop from my router is patchy at best so I want to run
some cat 5/6 cable for a permanent connection.

The cable will be surface clipped for 90% of the run except for one
metre which must be underground (under a gate)

A gap exists between decorative slabs under the gate just a bit wider
than the diameter of the cable. If I remove the mortar between the slabs
I can lay the cable and then re-fill the gap with cement.

I don't want to widen the gap enough to be able to fit conduit or
similar to contain the cable as this will spoil the look of the area so
will the cable be OK just buried like this over this short distance or
is their anything I can do to protect it when underground? I was
thinking of self amalgamating tape.

Opinions and suggestions please?

A whole load of alternatives spring to mind, such as getting the Wifi to
work (eg an external aerial or two), using the (presumably existing)
mains cable, digging a small pit either side of the gateway and joining
them with a drilled hole (metre and longer drill bits are easy to come
by) plus conduit ending in wall mounted boxes, etc.

However, just taking a standard bit of cable and doing as you suggest
would probably last for years. The underground bit isn't likely to be a
problem (squirrels seldom tunnel under gateways). It's the bit where the
wires surface that tend to suffer most damage. It will probably be worth
protecting that bit of the cables.

IME, no matter how generous I think that I have been in terms of fixed
cables - I have always later wished for more.

So, when needing to run mains to the bottom of the garden, I ran it in
a 4" pipe. OK, it *was* enough, when I later added the odd bit of
network cable, video cable, etc. But now I need to run some poly pipe
down to the ground heat extraction system and a single 4" pipe has
proven to be not enough after all