[Staffy]

I am considering redesigning my riser and that would require me to place a conduit in the existing basement concrete. The max run would be 8-10 feet.


Has anyone done this, if so do you have any tips?


I have tried searching the forum, but after reading for 35 minutes, I did not see anything applicable.


Help me gurus... help me.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

I ran a buried line to my back bar. The procedure is similar to running a new drain for a basement bathroom and you can find pictures in plumbing books.


The right power tools are a must. You need to rent a jackhammer for a day.


You bust out the trench, lay in a plastic conduit and romex suitable for underground installation then mix up some concrete and fill the trench. If your project is going to be inspected you don't fill in the trench until after the electrical rough-in inspection.


Complications are whether you are going near a foundation which you should not bust out, or existing buried lines or services. You are likely to encounter metal rebar or mesh which you will have to cut and bend out of the way, then bend back in place.


It's noisy and very dusty work. But using a jackhammer is great stress relief therapy


It would be a full day project for one from what you describe.

 

[Staffy]

So as long as I am in the center of the basement, not along the walls, then I am good? Thanks Big!

 

[mtbdudex]

Different method:

Used Circular saw with good quality cement cutting blade.

I had a squirt bottle and while cutting the cement for my kitchenette next to the HT and fixed my original plumber mistake (install shower p-trap/vent in bathroom, I caught it), my wife squirted H20 into the blade, that kept the dust so much more under control.

Ended up with cement paste instead of dust, I'd say 97%+ of the dust was eliminated cutting by that way.

Really, I was amazed at how little dust, just keep it wet and make sure plugged into GFCI.


If you don't want to cut all the way thru, here is another thought.

My Geo-thermal unit in the utility room has a H20 drain going to the grey water drain near it.

I got tired of tripping over that 1" plastic pipe that was on top of the concrete, so I cut a trench 1 1/2 inch wide by 2-ish inch deep, almost 4' long.

I first cut the trench outline, then made a couple of parallel runs, and cracked the cement kerfs left standing with a chisel.

Made sure the Geo-thermal drain was sloped to the main drain. No more tripping.



Good luck.

If possible use a old circular saw, cutting concrete does put a strain on it.


Shower in bathroom:

Kitchenette:

 

[jamis]

I cut a 5-6' trench to run speaker wire and electrical to my riser/bar.

I used the following tools:


Circular saw w/ diamond blade ($30 for the blade)

Cold chisle

3 lb sledge hammer

shop vac

bucket (and water)

quickrete mix

safety glasses

respirator

PVC pipe/cement




The messiest (dust!) part was the cutting, though the hardest part was the chiseling. A jackhammer would have been nice, but was not absolutely necessary for a run this short.



I basically cut two, 2.5" deep lines about 4-5" inches apart the length of the trench. I then made a perpendicular cut at each end. The key to keeping dust down is to keep the area wet and the shop vac nozzle running and as close to the saw as possible while it is spewing dust. It took about an hour to make the two primary cuts. Slow, but easy.


After making the cuts, I went to town with the cold chisel and sledge. It took me about 2 hours to get out enough material to be able to cover my PVC. I used 3/4" and 1/2" conduit, so I didn't need to take too much material out.


Once that was done, i mixed up the concrete and poured it in to trench and smoothed it out. I also wiggled the PVC around to made sure that they were completely surrounded by the new concrete.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

If you go to the tool rental store you will find a large range of "jack hammers" I ended up going with more of a demolition hammer for this project which is more of a machine gun style unit. I scored my basement floor first (the really dusty part of the project) then attacked it with the hammer and had it back to the store in under four hours.

 

[Cathan]

Very easy DIY. Plan for the dust you will generate. I cover it in some detail in my thread, but this is the tool you want to rent.

 

[Staffy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jamis /forum/post/15461266


I cut a 5-6' trench to run speaker wire and electrical to my riser/bar.

I used the following tools:


Circular saw w/ diamond blade ($30 for the blade)

Cold chisle

3 lb sledge hammer

shop vac

bucket (and water)

quickrete mix

safety glasses

respirator

PVC pipe/cement




The messiest (dust!) part was the cutting, though the hardest part was the chiseling. A jackhammer would have been nice, but was not absolutely necessary for a run this short.



I basically cut two, 2.5" deep lines about 4-5" inches apart the length of the trench. I then made a perpendicular cut at each end. The key to keeping dust down is to keep the area wet and the shop vac nozzle running and as close to the saw as possible while it is spewing dust. It took about an hour to make the two primary cuts. Slow, but easy.


After making the cuts, I went to town with the cold chisel and sledge. It took me about 2 hours to get out enough material to be able to cover my PVC. I used 3/4" and 1/2" conduit, so I didn't need to take too much material out.


Once that was done, i mixed up the concrete and poured it in to trench and smoothed it out. I also wiggled the PVC around to made sure that they were completely surrounded by the new concrete.

Perfect, it is almost IDENTICAL to what I needto do.


Thanks so much for all of the information you guys, you really bailed me out!

 

[rattruck51]

I've done two bathrooms, and sump pit and a bar in two different basements. I rented the concrete saw and blade from the Lowes rental. Rent late on Sat and you usually don't have to return until Mon am. They charge for amount of blade you use.


With the concrete saw you can hook up a hose wich will REALLY reduce dust, but you have a boat load of water to deal with. I've done it both ways. Without the water I had dust two floors up!

All said not hard DIY but VERY messy.

 

[mtbdudex]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathan /forum/post/15463039


Very easy DIY. Plan for the dust you will generate. I cover it in some detail in my thread, but this is the tool you want to rent.

Aw man, that looks so neat to use a jack hammer, way cool!!

Bet you had fun with that tool.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24S-JUtl9Lk&NR=1

 

[In2Photos]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGmouthinDC /forum/post/15473157

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24S-JUtl9Lk&NR=1

What would OSHA say about that?