burying Cat5 and speaker cables into the floor?

[.ray]

Is it ok to chase out a channel on concrete floor and bury a trunking full of cat5e and speaker cables? The channel will then be filled before laminiate/wood floor is laid on top.

The floor is the lounge and hallway, which has about 2cm of that black soft(ish) stuff as the top layer, what is that stuff?

Can I just fill the channel with self levelling compound? Do I really need trunking or can I bury the cables on their own so the channel don't need to be so deep?

Hope someone can help. Thanks

ray

 

[afswift]

I would run conduit or trunking first, it will save lots of problems later if you need to run a new wire.

A new wire or a replacement can then simply be pulled through - in theory!

Adam

 

[mikej2005]

I think that 'black softish stuff' is some kind of bitumen layer which they used to lay on top of a concrete floor to act as a waterproof layer.

If it's anything like the stuff I had in my old house, then good luck with channelling it out - it'll be hard work !

Is putting it behind skirting board an option ? If you're laying a laminate floor, then replacing skirting rather than using beading always gives a better end result.

 

[.ray]

Yep, I am replacing the skirting, so I guess that is a good alternative for the single room. But there isn't an obvious route going into the garage without digging into the floor at some point... Hmm.

As with the black stuff on the floor, I haven't tried yet but was hoping to angle grind a channel before chiselling / digging it up. If however it is acting as a damp proof layer, then I guess digging into it isn't a very good idea.

 

[GaryMo]

The floor is the lounge and hallway, which has about 2cm of that black soft(ish) stuff as the top layer, what is that stuff?

Asphalt?

 

[.ray]

Does look like asphalt... but doesn't matter now cos I got help and have got a much tidier solution installed already.

I had an alarm fitted by a local firm, the installer helped me pull a cable through the external wall cavity, up to the loft, then down the other end of the house into the garage! Wow, the guy was good, all cables run behind walls and floors. All I need now is run the thinner speaker cables around the room.

Now, I took the opportunity to change the plan and have the cables terminate in the loft at a patch panel. Actually I managed to pull a second cable from the lounge to the loft, so I now have 2 runs of cat5e at the lounge. In an ideal world I would like at least 2 runs to each room... but this is better than I hoped already.