50mm trunking in wall

[gm68]

Hi,

I have chased a wall to 50mm, unfortunately before reading the posts here and on other sites giving the maximum chase depths X(

Is it possible to use tubular reinforcing steel bars like those in the link below to run cables inside in addition to reinforcing the wall? Don't want to have to brick the chase up if I can help it :|

Thanks

Gavin.

50mm x 50mm x 5mm Mild Steel Box, Mild Steel Box Section, Mild Steel | Metal & Plastic online Metals4u

 

[Andy™]

stupidity strikes again....

call a builder before the wall falls down and kills someone.

did you not at any point think 'maybe im less than 50mm from the other side' or did you notice when you could see into the next room?

 

[gm68]

Thanks for that helpful reply :-S

Only went ahead after seeing posts from others on avforums.

Which also now, have turned out to be unhelpful

 

[Andy™]

sorry. didnt realise you wanted me to tell you everything is fine, just carry on and leave it. im sure nothing will happen.

is that the reply you wanted?

well unfortunately, it doesnt work that way. you may have structurally damaged the wall. get it fixed

 

[gm68]

I don't mean to be rude, I'm admittedly a newbie but have chased walls a couple of times before, although never to 50mm.

It would appear from other forums that there are plenty of others planning or having carried out wall-mounted TV installations who are/have also chased to similar depths for large size trunking.

Just wanted to know if the rebar is an option, or will the chase have to be bricked up?

 

[Andy™]

maybe if you gave some useful info, like how thick the wall is, whats its made of etc...

 

[gm68]

Its the inner leaf of a cavity wall, 100mm breeze block, tough as anything to chase, track is mostly horizontal.

I admit I have made a mistake and just want opinions on the way forward.

Thanks

 

[Andy™]

even worse if its horizontal. call a builder or structural engineer.

 

[NozSpark]

HORIZONTAL! !!!

It gets worse......

Brick it up before the wall falls down.

 

[spinlondon]

Is it a supporting wall?

From your description of how hard it was to make the chase, I would assume that it is.

I would suggest that you engage a structural engineer before you take any further action.

The members of this forum are mostly electricians, and even if we were structural engineers, we would not pass judgement without first making an inspection.

The item you are refering to as re-bar, is not what I would consider to be re-bar. The term re-bar is a shortened version of reinforcing bar, which is used to reinforce concrete.

 

[Ash]

question.

why did you chase to that depth?

what were you planning on putting the T&E in?

I don't even chase to the brick, normally the plaster is thick enough for me to just clip it down to and cover up again

Even with Oval you don't need to chase in too much past the plaster.

 

[spinlondon]

I'm assuming he wanted to alter an existing circuit and not have to provide RCD protection.

 

[ProDave]

Or if he's asking on avforums, perhaps it's so it's large enough to pass a scart lead through for the tv, without cutting and re making the ends of the cable.

 

[gm68]

Yes there are a lot of cables already going through the trunking and I wanted to allow for future additions too. The 50 x 50 trunking was necessary, I even considered 100 x 50 at one point.

I have contacted someone I know who is a structural engineer for advice.

Yea, I'll brick it up if I have to.

Sorry for rebar mistake, I meant tubular steel reinforcement.

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[Ash]

when you say lots of cables, how many circuits? have you taken into account the grouping factors as well as the trunking factors?

please tell me you weren't planning of cramming it so full of wires the lid wouldn't fit on properly

 

[Megaohm7]

I can appreciate that you are a newbie and getting advice. I hope the structural engineer can advise you on putting the strength back in the wall. A nice piece of trunking would have been a safe bet maybe?

 

[Larnacaman]

Think you'll find he's talking AV cables Ash, not building cables... lol!!!

 

[Andy™]

Think you'll find he's talking AV cables Ash, not building cables... lol!!!

unless everything connected uses wireless electricity, then im guessing there will be some mains cables in there

and i very much doubt he's thought about mixing mains & ELV/data etc...

 

[gm68]

Mains is run in separately in a much smaller trunking. It's not a permanent mains either. It's separated by 6-8 inches from the signal trunking.

The 50x50 trunking is not jammed full, far from it. There are about 15 cables in there already though, and those good quality HDMI cables are fairly hefty.