# Running cables under floorboards



## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Just spent the day running ethernet cables under my floorboards having decided I wanted wired ethernet sockets in each room, and as we are getting rooms re-plastered it was an ideal opportunity.

To protect the cables from mice etc I picked up a 10m length of Adaptaflex 40mm diameter flexi steel conduit from eBay. It normally sells for about £80 but found someone local who accepted an offer of £30 :thumb:










I wanted to pull through some string as a draw cord to help pull further cables through, so I tore off a piece of plastic carrier bag, sellotaped it to some string, and then put the hoover tube at the other end and sucked it through :thumb:

Then I lifted a few floorboards and started to feed the conduit underneath the floor..










Found a nice convenient gap in the brickwork to feed it through and into the front living room...










And out the other side...










Lifted a few more floorboards in the next room to help feed it to the far end...










And brought it out in the corner of the room....










Then back into the first room, lifted a few more boards and fed it to the other end of the room to where my broadband router is located...



















Then using the string that was already inside the conduit I pulled through two lengths of Cat5e cable, along with another length of string to act as another pull through for future cables...



















Think I'll bore a 40mm hole in the floorboards in the corner of each room and pull the conduit up so its flush with the top of the floorboards and hold it in place with a couple of screws. The carpet can sit on top with perhaps a small slit cut into it for the cables to pop out and then run up behind the skirting. Then to get the rooms plastered, painted and new carpets


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## Bustanut (Jun 11, 2011)

Strong work there leadfarmer. Well worth doing at the stage your at. I managed to get a couple of cat5 cables from the study to the lounge but wished I had put some conduit in like you have. It would make it so much easier when adding more in with the pull string you added. Keep up the good work.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Looks great that. Good to do at this stage too. We have solid floor downstairs which is a pain for me as we're in process of doing our house up. I've had ceiling down to install sky and phone cables!


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Surprisingly the string wasn't easy to pull through as the conduit had a few slight bends in it causing friction. I think I'll use one of the ethernet cables as a pull through as I still need to pull through a BT & HDMI cable.


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

Top job going on there matey, more and more people are beginning to realise you can't beat a hardwired connection.


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## empsburna (Apr 5, 2006)

Good work. 

Did the whole house when we were renovating. Even ran audio cable for surround sound which is yet to be wired up and is still poking out the corners of the room still to be put into backboxes. Maybe one day I will put it in!

I


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## SDB278 (Feb 21, 2016)

Nice work. Excellent plastic bag and Hoover tip for pulling the string through!


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

SDB278 said:


> Nice work. Excellent plastic bag and Hoover tip for pulling the string through!


I just tore a tiny piece off a carrier bag, with the hoover hose on the other end of the conduit it worked a treat :thumb:

I fell very lucky with the flexi steel conduit as I found someone selling a 10m roll, made them an offer of £30 which was accepted, and then found out the seller lives 2 mins away from me, so I went round and collected it straight away :thumb:


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

This is pretty cool, this is in the pipeline for me when we move. How many sockets in total will you have?


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

eibbor said:


> This is pretty cool, this is in the pipeline for me when we move. How many sockets in total will you have?


Pipeline 

My main living room has the broadband router, which will have a cable to an 8 port switch that will feed a TV/Sky/PS4 etc. This switch will also supply ethernet cables to a couple of wall mounted sockets, and a cable to the bedroom above.

One of the cables in the flexi pipe will also connect to the router and will run to the 2nd living room which will also have an 8 port switch feeding its TV/Sky/PS3. Again this switch will supply a couple of wall sockets and a cable to the bedroom above.

Both rooms will then be getting re-plastered.


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