I am thinking of custom making a large table (about 120" long by 48" wide)
in the dinning room that will actually protrude about 1/3 of it into the
kitchen. One end of it will serve as an extra island counter for the
kitchen. Since this table will be in the middle of the space, I think I
will need an outlet in case I want to plug in and charge a cell phone, or
plug in a laptop to work on things, may be a juicer etc...

Only problem is the floor is a 4" thick concrete slab and the nearest wall
is 12 feet 2 inches away from the proposed outlet location.

I am not too excited about trenching 12 feet of concrete to put in a PVC
pipe for underground wiring, but I don't think there is another way around
it. I have seen some very flat 12/2 cables that are rated for outdoor UG
use but I am not sure. I will be using stone tiles in the kitchen and those
flat cables may be a possibility but I don't know if that is a good idea.

Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I could
even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

Thoughts?

MC

Hmmmmmm......... i am not a contractor or much of a handyman, so this may be
silly, but.........

Instead of thinking about cutting through 4 inches of concrete and laying
pvc pipe down, why can't you rent a concrete cutter and just cut a 1/2
inch slit in the concrete, sufficient to lay down UG wire (or whatever
would meet the code) into the slit ??

Any reason why this would not work ?

James

James wrote:

Hmmmmmm......... i am not a contractor or much of a handyman, so this may be
silly, but.........

Instead of thinking about cutting through 4 inches of concrete and laying
pvc pipe down, why can't you rent a concrete cutter and just cut a 1/2
inch slit in the concrete, sufficient to lay down UG wire (or whatever
would meet the code) into the slit ??

Any reason why this would not work ?

James



It would work, but it is not to code. Any wiring (with the one
notable exception of grounding cable) in concrete must be in a
conduit.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

Hmmmmmm. good point Robert. So, could the slit idea still be followed,
but simply be large enough to accomodate the metal conduit ?

James

On Apr 26, 6:23*pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I am thinking of custom making a large table (about 120" long by 48" wide)
in the dinning room that will actually protrude about 1/3 of it into the
kitchen. *One end of it will serve as an extra island counter for the
kitchen. *Since this table will be in the middle of the space, I think I
will need an outlet in case I want to plug in and charge a cell phone, or
plug in a laptop to work on things, may be a juicer etc...

Only problem is the floor is a 4" thick concrete slab and the nearest wall
is 12 feet 2 inches away from the proposed outlet location.

I am not too excited about trenching 12 feet of concrete to put in a PVC
pipe for underground wiring, but I don't think there is another way around
it. *I have seen some very flat 12/2 cables that are rated for outdoor UG
use but I am not sure. *I will be using stone tiles in the kitchen and those
flat cables may be a possibility but I don't know if that is a good idea.

Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I could
even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

Thoughts?

MC

The "pole", though perhaps less attractive, seems like a lot less work
and a lot fewer potential problems downstream.

Crawl spaces rock!

cheers
Bob

On Apr 26, 10:29�pm, Robert Allison wrote:
James wrote:
Hmmmmmm......... i am not a contractor or much of a handyman, so this may be
silly, �but.........

Instead of thinking about cutting through 4 inches of concrete and laying
pvc pipe down, why can't you rent a concrete cutter and just cut a �1/2
inch �slit in the concrete, sufficient to lay down �UG wire (or whatever
would meet the code) into the slit ??

Any reason why this would not work ?

James

It would work, but it is not to code. �Any wiring (with the one
notable exception of grounding cable) in concrete must be in a
conduit.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

well a concrete saw cuts well, so use conduit.

its wierd when people need to go thru concrete they think it
impossible.......

with the proper tools its no biggie

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:23:08 -0400, "MiamiCuse"
wrote:

I am thinking of custom making a large table (about 120" long by 48" wide)
in the dinning room that will actually protrude about 1/3 of it into the
kitchen. One end of it will serve as an extra island counter for the
kitchen. Since this table will be in the middle of the space, I think I
will need an outlet in case I want to plug in and charge a cell phone, or
plug in a laptop to work on things, may be a juicer etc...

Only problem is the floor is a 4" thick concrete slab and the nearest wall
is 12 feet 2 inches away from the proposed outlet location.

I am not too excited about trenching 12 feet of concrete to put in a PVC
pipe for underground wiring, but I don't think there is another way around
it. I have seen some very flat 12/2 cables that are rated for outdoor UG
use but I am not sure. I will be using stone tiles in the kitchen and those
flat cables may be a possibility but I don't know if that is a good idea.

Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I could
even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

Thoughts?

MC

Flat cable works fine, especially on the side with no traffic.

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:23:08 -0400, "MiamiCuse"
wrote:

I am thinking of custom making a large table (about 120" long by 48" wide)
in the dinning room that will actually protrude about 1/3 of it into the
kitchen. One end of it will serve as an extra island counter for the
kitchen. Since this table will be in the middle of the space, I think I
will need an outlet in case I want to plug in and charge a cell phone, or
plug in a laptop to work on things, may be a juicer etc...

Only problem is the floor is a 4" thick concrete slab and the nearest wall
is 12 feet 2 inches away from the proposed outlet location.

I am not too excited about trenching 12 feet of concrete to put in a PVC
pipe for underground wiring, but I don't think there is another way around
it. I have seen some very flat 12/2 cables that are rated for outdoor UG
use but I am not sure. I will be using stone tiles in the kitchen and those
flat cables may be a possibility but I don't know if that is a good idea.

Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I could
even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

Thoughts?

MC


This kind of flat cable

http://www.electriduct.com/power-extensions.html

"MiamiCuse" wrote

Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I
could even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

I actually like this idea better. I am sure one end f that table is in a
spot where extra light would be good so you can make it almost look a bit
like a 'floor lamp' with light extensions on it, then discrete outlets all
along the base where it meets the table. Say, something like a square
'pole' about 4inches on all sides? Then take 2 or 4 decorative lights such
as you might see on a ceiling fan and put them about it. You could even put
a switch or dimmer for them on the pole.

If the lighting assembly fit better in the livingroom portion, don't
dispair. You can run some outlet from under the table then and pop it back
up at the kitchen end. (Be sure it's set so that kitchen common liquids you
may have on that ned of the table cant get in. Flush to the table top
wouldnt be safe though might sound nifty.

MiamiCuse wrote:

Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I could
even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

Thoughts?

MC


If you do this and want to put in the signal wiring it needs to be separated
from the power wiring by a metal separator. This is for safety and noise
suppression.

Bill Gill

On Apr 27, 9:42*am, BillGill wrote:
MiamiCuse wrote:
Another option is to go from the top, then put in a decorative pole from
ceiling to floor punching through the table and the wires go inside, I could
even do phone and cat5 cables in it too.

Thoughts?

MC

If you do this and want to put in the signal wiring it needs to be separated
from the power wiring by a metal separator. *This is for safety and noise
suppression.

Bill Gill

I've recently seen some new construction where the builder chose to
use the pole idea with a center island. It looked absolutely
terrible. In an otherwise beautiful kitchen, it's the one thing that
immediately draws your eye.

Not saying there might not be designs this could work with. But
unless I was absolutely sure it looks good and doesn't detract at all,
I would not do it. As others have pointed out, cutting a channel for
a conduit into concrete really isn't difficult and shouldn't be a
design tradeoff consideration for something that you're going to have
to live with, deal with a resale, etc.

James wrote:

Hmmmmmm. good point Robert. So, could the slit idea still be followed,
but simply be large enough to accomodate the metal conduit ?

James



Absolutely. One would need to go deep enough to accomodate the
90s, but that is how it is done. The conduit can stop just out
of the concrete. I would go with pvc conduit instead of metal.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

wrote:

If you are only using the raceway as a duct you can use "cables" in
the same pipe. For exaample you can put a 3/4" piece of PVC conduit in
the slab and pull a Romex and a Cat 5 through it as long as you don't
break into the Romex until it gets separated from the Cat 5.
Cable jackets are separation

It doesn't keep you from getting noise in the circuits. You should
never run signal cables in the same race way with power circuits. You
may get away with it for a while, but you never know when it will fail.

Bill Gill

On Apr 28, 8:55*am, BillGill wrote:
wrote:
If you are only using the raceway as a duct you can use "cables" in
the same pipe. For exaample you can put a 3/4" piece of PVC conduit in
the slab and pull a Romex and a Cat 5 through it as long as you don't
break into the Romex until it gets separated from the Cat 5.
Cable jackets are separation

It doesn't keep you from getting noise in the circuits. *You should
never run signal cables in the same race way with power circuits. *You
may get away with it for a while, but you never know when it will fail.

Bill Gill

What exactly fails after a while? If it's a coaxial cable, the cable
has a metal shield which is there to form a faraday cage around the
signal conductor and block external interference. It's the whole
point of making it a coaxial cable.

wrote in message
...
On Apr 26, 10:29?pm, Robert Allison wrote:
James wrote:
Hmmmmmm......... i am not a contractor or much of a handyman, so this
may be
silly, ?but.........

Instead of thinking about cutting through 4 inches of concrete and
laying
pvc pipe down, why can't you rent a concrete cutter and just cut a ?1/2
inch ?slit in the concrete, sufficient to lay down ?UG wire (or whatever
would meet the code) into the slit ??

Any reason why this would not work ?

James

It would work, but it is not to code. ?Any wiring (with the one
notable exception of grounding cable) in concrete must be in a
conduit.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

well a concrete saw cuts well, so use conduit.

its wierd when people need to go thru concrete they think it
impossible.......

with the proper tools its no biggie

I just hate the dust...Last time I cut some solid concrete...was a mess.