Nowadays, it is rare for anyone to use only one lamp hanging in the center of the room for lighting. Everyone wants to have in their apartment, in addition to the main lighting, additional lighting to highlight separate local areas and recreation areas.
When the number of lamps on the ceiling becomes more than one and they are located in the most unexpected places on the ceiling, the question immediately arises, how to connect wires to them?
If there is a suspended or stretch ceiling There are usually no problems, but there are times when suspended ceiling is not planned, and lamps are used in large quantities. What is the best thing to do in this case? There are several options here. All of them differ in labor intensity, reliability and beauty of the result obtained. Let's look at the main methods of laying wires to lamps in the absence of a suspended ceiling.
1. Laying wires in plastic boxes. This method applies to. Despite its lightness, it scares off many because, despite their large assortment, they spoil the design of the room. But if your smart and creative designer can beautifully disguise and fit the boxes into the interior, then why not do just that? At least this method of laying wires is considered the easiest and most convenient.
2. Laying wires on the floor of a higher floor. The wire is laid along the floor, and then through the holes in the plates it is lowered to the lamps. This method is applicable only in private homes and only if you decide to renovate the entire house at once.
3. Ceiling chipping. If you have a normal tool, you can make a groove on the ceiling in the same way as they are made when installing wires into the wall. Although this method seems to be the simplest in our case, it is the most dangerous and it is very undesirable to use it, because When chipping a slab, the strength of concrete structures is compromised (microcracks appear in the slab). Especially the ceiling after it has been chipped with long longitudinal and transverse ones is dangerous for those living in multi-storey buildings. residential buildings, because The ceiling is the supporting structure of the house.
4. Laying wires along the ceiling under the plaster. To do this, all the plaster is removed from the ceiling, the route is marked, a flat wire is laid and secured, which is then plastered on top. The ceiling is made using plaster, to which the lamps are attached. This method requires proper adherence to the technology for laying and securing the wire and a large consumption of plaster, but it has to be used in the case when the apartment does not use hollow slabs with channels, but monolithic ceilings.
5. Pull the wire between reinforced concrete slabs in the spaces between them. This method is only possible when prefabricated floor slabs are used for the ceiling in the apartment. In this case, you need to find these voids (usually the seams between the slabs are visible) and make a groove along them. The difference from the method of gating the slab itself is that the strength of the ceiling tiles is not compromised here, since the slabs themselves are not grooved, but the wire is laid in the void between them. Along with the wire exit on the wall for the switch and on the ceiling to the lamp, two holes are made.
6. Laying wires in the channels of ceiling tiles. Channels for laying wires are made in floor slabs during their manufacture at enterprises. Using a hammer drill, channels are found, and then a rigid steel wire or cable is inserted into the channel, and a wire is tied to the end of it. The wire is pulled to the point where it exits the slab. After pulling the wire, the wire ends up in the channel. If the channel is clogged with construction debris, then make additional holes and clean it.
The number of wires that can be laid in one channel depends on the diameter of the channel and the cross-section of the wires. With a channel diameter of 15 mm, 3 - 4 wires with a cross section of 1.5 - 2.5 mm2 can be laid in it. This is the most preferred method of laying wires to lamps, although it is the most labor-intensive of all listed.
What do you think about this?
Despite what appeared in last decades the abundance of various wall and floor light sources for rooms, the use of ceiling lamps, chandeliers in the apartment remains justified and necessary. After all, only the light falling from above can provide the necessary illumination of the entire room. Very often, various electrical appliances - air conditioners and fans - are placed under the ceiling.
For these devices to operate, it is necessary to provide uninterruptible power supply their electricity and at the same time without damage to the interior of the premises.
Types and methods of execution
Based on the material used for the conductor, the wiring is divided into manufactured:
- made of copper;
- made of aluminum. Regulatory documents currently allow the use of aluminum only for products with a conductor cross-section of at least 16 mm 2, so such wiring is almost never used inside buildings.
According to the method of execution, electrical wiring is divided into:
- open, located on the surfaces of ceilings, walls, along beams, trusses;
- hidden, located inside parts and structures of buildings. Wiring made in the voids of partitions and behind ceilings is also considered hidden.
When laying on the ceiling, the material of the ceiling is also taken into account.
On reinforced concrete floors
In buildings with monolithic or prefabricated reinforced concrete floors, open wiring is very rarely used. In this case, installation is carried out directly on the surface of the ceilings, on insulators, in boxes, electrical corrugated tubes (corrugations), pipes, metal hoses, and cable ducts. Temporary wiring may be carried out freely suspended.
When attaching wiring to the surface of ceilings, nail staples are used (in this case, nails are driven into pre-assembled dowels), dowel clamps, and dowel ties. Before installation, mark the location of electrical appliances, lamps, and cables on the ceiling.
To install wiring in pipes, corrugations, and metal hoses, special clips or dowel clamps are used. At the beginning of work, places for attaching lamps and cables are marked on the ceiling. Then the installation of pipes, corrugations or metal hoses is carried out, in which cables are pulled using wire. More often, in buildings with reinforced concrete floors, hidden wiring is carried out along the ceiling.
If the ceiling is monolithic, the wiring must be provided at the stage of manufacturing the structure; for this, the cables are placed in plastic or metal pipes, which are attached to the reinforced frame even before laying the concrete mixture.
They should be secured to structural reinforcement using plastic ties or wire.
Attaching wiring to supporting rods is not permitted. To replace the wires, they are simply pulled through embedded pipes using steel wire, or the old wire being replaced is used as a conductor.
The installation of permanent wiring embedded in panels and monolithic floor structures is not allowed.
In precast concrete floors, voids in the slabs are used for wiring installation. The location of lamps and devices on the ceiling is marked. After this, the plate is drilled in the required places, and the cable is pulled using wire. It must be taken into account that this installation method is applicable if the direction of the wiring coincides with the direction of the voids in the slab.
If there is no possibility of laying inside the structure, it is permissible to install permanent wiring under a layer of plaster. For this, flat cables are used, which are attached to the ceiling with wire, steel tape, and nail clips before plastering begins. The second way is to plaster the ceiling and lay the wiring in grooved channels. There should be no intersections of flat cables when laying under plaster. If this is not feasible, the insulation at the intersections is reinforced with three to four layers of insulating tape.
It is strictly prohibited to ditch floor slabs or monolithic structures.
It is also unacceptable to lay cables in the seams between floor panels.
On wooden floors, beams, trusses
For wood structures, wiring can be either open or hidden. Open wiring on the ceiling is performed using the same methods as on concrete structures. All installation products must be made of metal or non-flammable material.
Fastening wiring to the ceiling using insulators in modern construction used extremely rarely, mainly to imitate an antique interior in an apartment. More often, wiring is installed in corrugated or metal hoses, which are mounted to the ceiling using clips. Often pipes are also used that are secured with clamps. The cables are pulled into pipes or sleeves fixed to the surface using steel wire.
Increasingly, for electrical wiring devices wooden surfaces plastic cable ducts are used. This material does not support combustion, and the plastic is painted during production and imitates the texture of wood. Cable channels of a suitable cross-section are fixed to the ceiling surface using screws or self-tapping screws.
In places of bending, cable channels are cut at an angle. This is convenient to do using a carpenter's miter box. Special products for bending and branching are also produced. They significantly simplify the installation of electrical wiring on the ceiling. Next, the cables are placed inside and closed with snap-on covers.
Hidden wiring is carried out using wooden ceilings in a layer of plaster, under drywall, or inside ceiling structures.
When installing in plaster, cables must be secured along an asbestos strip or steel tape. Cable clamps or nail clips are used to secure cables.
It is strictly forbidden to secure the cable by nailing it between the conductors. If the wiring is installed in channels cut into the plaster, it is possible to attach the cables with a quick-drying mortar with the addition of alabaster.
When doing this, it is not necessary to groove the channels, since the sheets are attached to a frame made of metal profiles. It is imperative, when laying behind suspended ceilings, to place the cables inside metal pipes, which make it possible to localize a wiring fire in the event of a short circuit. It is allowed to use steel water and gas pipes or copper.
The diameter of the pipes must ensure the laying of the required number of cables the right size. Before use, pipes are inspected and crumpled ones are rejected. Next, they are cut into pieces of the required length and cut at the ends steel pipes carving It is imperative to remove nicks and burrs that can damage the cable insulation.
Pipe sections are connected to each other with angles or couplings. Copper pipes are bent using special pipe benders.
It should be noted that when installing wiring of any type in an apartment, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of replacing it due to physical wear or tear. emergency situation. Properly executed will ensure long-term and safe operation of the entire building or structure.
Anyone who has had to deal with replacing electrical wiring in apartment building, knows that the most difficult thing is to replace it in the floor slabs, where it passes to supply voltage to ceiling lamps and chandeliers. This problem does not exist for apartments where there are suspended, suspended and other types of ceilings; in their design, there is space between the slab and the decorative plane in which wiring can be laid anywhere and however you want. But in the case where you plan to paint the ceiling, cover it with wallpaper or foam tiles, this procedure can cause a lot of trouble. There are three types of floor slabs. The first two are structures with internal channels - voids, where the electrical wires pass, the only difference is that they can run along or across the slab. If you are unlucky, you will have to deal with the third type, the U-shaped one, in which there are no voids, and the wires pass under the floor of the upper neighbors, then there is only one way out - to make a suspended ceiling. In the first two cases, we start by expanding the hole through which the wire exits to the chandelier. We do this with a hammer drill, with which we first drill holes with a drill, and then with a nozzle - a chisel we destroy the jumpers.
Now you need to determine the direction of the channel, since it may not be perpendicular to the walls. To do this, we drill control holes in the slab.
Having identified it, we find the place where the wire exits; it can be in the same room, or maybe in the next one, but always next to the branch box, which must be looked for under the old plaster and wallpaper.
In the place where the wires meet different rooms and different lines you need to find the right one. To do this, we turn off the power to the apartment, disconnect all the twists or couplings and use a dial to find the one we are looking for. Then, as at the beginning of work, we widen the hole in the plate and try to pull the wire through from different ends one by one. With some luck, he may immediately have some slack, but you shouldn’t immediately pull him out to celebrate. You need to connect its end to the end of the new wire and carefully pull this twist through the channel.
If it was not possible to pull it out immediately, you can increase the force with a tool, for example, pliers, sharply pulling the wire from one end and the other, but in this case you can overdo it, old aluminum wires They are quite fragile and you can simply tear them off, then the further process becomes more complicated. Therefore, there is no need to rush, you need to firmly connect the end of the old wiring with a piece of any wire on both sides and, alternately applying force without sudden jerks, try to pull it out. The channels in the slabs are quite large in diameter, but they can be clogged with construction debris or mortar that gets into them, so it is not always possible to pull them out. If this happens, we move on to the next stage, let's try to extend the guide probe. The material for it should be quite rigid, but flexible. The soft one will bend when meeting an obstacle, but the hard one will be difficult to bend. the right direction. The best option is a sheathed cable for sewer cleaning; it is quite flexible to change the direction of movement in the channel and will not bend when meeting an obstacle. We insert the end of the cable into one of the two holes and, giving it the desired direction, move it forward.
When jamming, we make reciprocating movements with simultaneous twisting. If the channel is not tightly clogged with solution, then everything will work out. Then we firmly attach the new wire to the cable, making the twist streamlined, without protruding corners, and pull it through the channel.
If it happens that the void is not passable, you can use the neighboring one, finding it by test drilling the floor panel at a distance of 15 - 20 cm from the old hole. But this is acceptable when the slab is hollow and has several voids, but if it is monolithic with one special channel for wiring, then this option is not suitable and all that remains is to carry out external fines, which is not encouraged by SNiP or to make a suspended ceiling.
Modern renovation is no longer complete with one chandelier hanging in the center of the room; we often highlight individual areas with our own points of light or install additional equipment on the ceiling, such as smoke or motion detectors.
Sometimes it happens that you need to solve a problem that can baffle an inexperienced technician, namely, laying wiring in the ceiling, without using suspended or suspended ceilings.
So we’ll try to fully cover the topic of wiring in the ceiling by examining 5 ways to solve the problem.
Laying wiring in a plastic box
Probably the easiest way to solve the wiring problem, which relates to open method gaskets There is no need to talk about the aesthetics of this installation method, but it is quick in terms of time.
Beauty: -
Simplicity: +
Laying wires on the floor of the upper floor
The wiring is laid in a protective corrugation along the floor of the upper floor in a groove or between the joists and through through holes in the floor slab they are lowered to the points of the lamps.
The method is convenient during overhaul your home, and for apartments in panel house doesn't quite fit.
Beauty: +
The work ahead will be dusty, but the result will be worth it. If you have to embed a spotlight, or rather not like this, if the thickness of the interfloor ceiling allows you to embed a spotlight, you can use special drill bits and cut niches for them.
Beauty: +
Simplicity: -
Wiring under the plaster in the ceiling
A flat wire PPV, VVP, PV1 is laid along the “dirty” ceiling; more details about the types of wire are in the article and plastered over the beacons. It is important that the wire fits tightly to the ceiling, then less plaster mortar will be needed.
The method is used in monolithic floor slabs without voids.
Beauty: +
Simplicity: +
Laying wires in the voids of floor slabs
In the floor slab there are void channels along them and wires are pulled. True, there are also disadvantages, such a channel must first be found, for this you can make a lot of holes in the reinforced concrete floor slab. Unlike the method of gating the interfloor ceiling, the strength of the latter does not decrease.
After the void channels in the ceiling have been found, you can stretch a wire through them using wire.
Don't forget about something new:
Federal Law of July 22, 2008 N 123-FZ
"Technical regulations on requirements fire safety"
Article 82. Fire safety requirements for electrical installations of buildings, structures and structures
1. Electrical installations of buildings, structures and structures must comply with the class of the fire and explosion hazardous zone in which they are installed, as well as the category and group of the combustible mixture.
2. Cables and wires of fire protection systems, means of supporting the activities of fire departments, fire detection systems, warning and management of evacuation of people in case of fire, emergency lighting on evacuation routes, emergency ventilation and smoke protection, automatic fire extinguishing, internal fire-fighting water supply, elevators for transportation Fire departments in buildings, structures and structures must remain operational in fire conditions for the time necessary for the complete evacuation of people to a safe area.
3. Cables from transformer substations backup sources power supplies to input distribution devices must be laid in separate fire-resistant channels or have fire protection.
4. Power supply lines to premises of buildings, structures and structures must have protective shutdown devices that prevent a fire from occurring in the event of a malfunction of electrical receivers. The installation rules and parameters of residual current devices must take into account the fire safety requirements established in accordance with this Federal Law.
5. Distribution boards must have a design that prevents the spread of combustion beyond the board from the low-current compartment to the power compartment and vice versa.
6. The distribution of cables and wires from floor distribution panels to premises must be carried out in channels made of non-combustible building structures or molded fittings that meet fire safety requirements.
7. Horizontal and vertical channels for laying electrical cables and wires in buildings, structures and structures must be protected from the spread of fire. In places where cable channels, ducts, cables and wires pass through building structures with a rated fire resistance limit, cable penetrations with a fire resistance limit not lower than the fire resistance limit of these structures must be provided.
8. Cables laid openly must be flame retardant.
9. Emergency lighting fixtures on escape routes with autonomous power sources must be provided with devices to test their functionality when simulating a shutdown of the main power source. The operating life of the autonomous power source must provide emergency lighting on evacuation routes during the estimated time of evacuation of people to a safe area.
10. Electrical equipment without fire and explosion protection means is not allowed to be used in explosive, explosive and fire hazardous areas of buildings, structures and structures that do not have measures aimed at eliminating the danger of an ignition source in a flammable environment additional measures protection.
11. Fire-proof electrical equipment is not allowed to be used in explosive and fire-hazardous areas.
12. Explosion-proof electrical equipment may be used in fire-hazardous and non-fire-hazardous premises, and in explosive premises - provided that the category and group of the explosive mixture in the room corresponds to the type of explosion protection of the electrical equipment.
13. Rules for the use of electrical equipment depending on the degree of its explosion and fire resistance fire danger in buildings, structures and structures for various purposes, as well as fire hazard indicators of electrical equipment and methods for their determination are established by federal laws on technical regulations for these products and (or) regulatory documents on fire safety.
