Hiding electrical sockets / wires

[Inchy]

Hi -

I'm planning a self build and would desperately like to hide away my electrical sockets e.g. in floor boxes as found in offices.

Does anyone know if floor boxes are allowed in domestic homes with regard to building regs? I think there's a disability rule about placing sockets at certain heights, but if so why doesn't it apply to commercial premises? (I've got my foot on such a box while I type this at work!).

Any other ideas on hiding sockets from view, and likewise for wires trailing from kettles, TVs, etc??

Cheers folks!

 

[Big_Spark]

Inchy, you must have a lot of money to be considering this, floor boxes are not cheap.

To be honest that is a crazy idea, would look rubbish and about as practical as dumping horse manure in your bath!

 

[Inspector]

Building control will advise you better on placement of sockets and light switches. The regs are not in line with building control. There shouldn't be much stopping you changing this when you get your certificate. Each room will be different so there may be different ways to conceal the wiring. In the kitchen you could have as many built in units as possible but for safetys sake you should leave a localised point of isolation for each.

 

[AdamW]

Have you considered the floor covering aspect? Floor boxes are usually used in conjunction with carpet tiles, one advantage of this being it makes them easy to put in, take away, move about throughout an office. You can't really do that with £100/m pile!

My old school hall had power sockets in brass plates on the floor: there was a spring-loaded brass flap that would close over the socket when not in use. This would look better than an office floor box I reckon. Can these be bought still?

The only reason I could think to have floorboxes would be if you had a city loft (or other large space) and needed power to your TV in the middle of the room.

Is it acceptable to run a conduit under the floor to where you need it (middle of the room?), and have a flex with plug on one end (into a wall socket) and a 4-way adaptor on the other? I can foresee this is not acceptable as I would think having a cable on a plug or FCU disappearing under the floor is not good. But, if any of the sparks here could give that idea a yay or nay that would be nice. Hmmm, plus thinking about it, you may as well just install a proper floor-plate as that would look nicer.

However, one definite hazard of any floor-mounted socket in the home would be liquid ingress: if someone knocks over a drink on the floor and it gets into the box, this will cause you some problems.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck. I am always a keen advocate of having lots of cables, all hidden!

 

[AdamW]

Here they are

 

[Inspector]

Is it acceptable to run a conduit under the floor to where you need it (middle of the room?), and have a flex with plug on one end (into a wall socket) and a 4-way adaptor on the other? I can foresee this is not acceptable as I would think having a cable on a plug or FCU disappearing under the floor is not good.

If a plug top (not a FCU) is used then its classed as a portable appliance, I'd use steel conduit under the floor and take the portable appliance with me if selling the house.