Attaching cable to concrete ceiling

[ccam108]

I am going to be wiring my church with Cat5E for Ethernet networking, running to just about every room in the building.

I was going to run cables down through an existing (empty) hole in the floor from the patch panel location to the basement, above the suspended ceiling and up through the floor again where outlets are needed upstairs. Instead of just leaving the cable loose along the suspended ceiling, I want to clip it to the concrete ceiling above, for neatness. How would you do this? I was thinking screwing these - http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CTB20.JPG (with screw holes) into the concrete every foot or so and cable tying the cables onto them. Each cable run will be anything from 1 to maybe 4 cables together.

Can anyone think of a better solution? I've just noticed these from TLC - http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CTCTPX.JPG Are they a better idea?

Thanks

Colin C[/url]

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am going to be wiring my church with Cat5E for Ethernet networking, running to just about every room in the building.

You might as well do Cat6 or 6a - there's not much difference in the price of the cable.

Instead of just leaving the cable loose along the suspended ceiling, I want to clip it to the concrete ceiling above, for neatness. How would you do this? I was thinking screwing these - http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CTB20.JPG (with screw holes) into the concrete every foot or so

You might want to try drilling that concrete before making any definite decisions....

Can anyone think of a better solution?

What's currently above that suspended ceiling in terms of cable management?

 

[ccam108]

I could go Cat6. Good point.

I've never drilled the ceilings before... Will they be that bad?

At the moment, there is no cable management - apart from the audio cables I clipped to the wall a while back everything is just laid on the ceiling.

Colin C

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I've never drilled the ceilings before... Will they be that bad?

They are concrete - it won't be good, even if you manage to miss the rebar.

everything is just laid on the ceiling.

You could do the same.

If you do want to fix to the ceiling then using cable tray will require far fewer holes.

Hopefully people here with experience of suspended ceilings will have ideas.

 

[JonoPashley]

I've never drilled the ceilings before... Will they be that bad?

They are concrete - it won't be good, even if you manage to miss the rebar.

everything is just laid on the ceiling.

You could do the same.

If you do want to fix to the ceiling then using cable tray will require far fewer holes.

Hopefully people here with experience of suspended ceilings will have ideas.

Id say cable basket would be less messing than tray,

http://www.discount-electrical.co.uk/section.php/104448/1/wire-basket-tray

Fix to the concrete ceiling using large square washers and screws, 3 fixings should support each 3M length adequately, then cable tie the cables to it. Wouldn't recommend trying to drill the ceiling without a SDS drill either.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I agree, cable tray.

Use a high energy SDS hammer drill and buy a couple of nice new sharp drill bits. You'll not make much impression with a regular hammer drill.

 

[Adam_151]

If you don't want to go to the lengths of installing tray, then all round band would be a good compromise over leaving them loose on the grid

 

[TicklyT]

Depending on how many cables, a catenary wire above the ceiling?

 

[ccam108]

Cable trays or baskets would be a bit OTT for runs of a single Cat5 cable.

What do you mean by catenary wire? Is that like the wire that holds the suspended ceiling up? If so then it's the same amount of drilling isn't it?

What is an all round band? Is that like tying them all together and leaving loose?

From looking at holes in the floor elsewhere, I can go about an inch up before hitting any steel. The concrete is poured not pre-formed. Surely then it will be less dense? I'll try a test drill first, see how that goes.

Colin C

 

[ColJack]

catenary wire is put up like a washing line..
1 hook either end and string the steel wire between... so no drilling into the ceiling..

all round band, or all band as it's sometimes called is a strip of steel that is perforated every 15mm or so..
you cut to length and put a screw through the holes..

these are good for cable bundles.. no need for rawl plugs or screws.. or cable ties

 

[ccam108]

Ahh gotcha. Thanks ColJack. So many options now, I'm thoroughly confused. I think I'll have another look, test drill and see what is going to be easiest.

Colin C

 

[dannyboi2003]

Can you not pass a zip tie through the hooks that support the existing false ceiling, i've done that before for a few funs of cat5 tho i'm sure some will disagree.

 

[ColJack]

just cable tie to the ceiling wires...

 

[electronicsuk]

How would you do this? I was thinking screwing these - http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CTB20.JPG (with screw holes) into the concrete every foot or so and cable tying the cables onto them. Each cable run will be anything from 1 to maybe 4 cables together.

Whatever you choose, certainly don't use those - they're self adhesive, if you try to screw them in through the centre then it'll be impossible to pass a cable tie through them anyway! The only time I have ever used these is when wiring large JBs to keep all the individual cores tied back towards the rear of the enclosure until they reach the terminals. They don't always adhere that well to a flat, clean surface, so supporting a downwards bearing load on concrete they will be next to useless!

 

[bernardgreen]

These are designed to be screw mounted

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=0666739


There is also a smaller size