Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Jul 03, 2012 3:24 pm Hi , I need some help with drilling the top plate (where studs are connected at the cieling level) for pre-wiring. I plan to pre-wire my new house which is being built at the moment for Data . I recently obtained the Open registered cabling license so I'm legally allowed to work with UTP cables. my question is : what's the maximum size of the hole that I can drill in the top plate ? how many holes can I drill in between two studs. The reason is I will need to put in around 24 - 30 cat 6 cables through the internal garage wall for the wall mounted network cabinet. But since I'm new to australia, I'm bit unclear about the safe sizes of the drilling holes. Can some one please help me out ? any web references will be appriciated Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 2Jul 03, 2012 8:26 pm Hi I brought about 70 Cat 6 and 20 RG6 cables back to my garage. I was originally planning on just dropping them out of the ceiling and running them down the wall on cable tray or in trunking. Mu builder suggested building a false wall to create a 10cm cavity. Then I just cut a hole in the plasterboard and brought the cables out into the back of my wall mounted rack. In the ceiling space the cables just dropped into the cavity between the two top plates. Anywhere else where you just need to drop a few cables down the cavity should be fine to use a 25mm or 32mm hole. Paul Re: Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 3Jul 03, 2012 10:22 pm 25mm is usually as large as I go, normally it's 20mm though, I was always told to drill three holes in top plates when installing cables after the fact, I would guess three holes would be getting close to the max though! For that many cables though you may be better off running down the wall, or if not to late maybe the builder can run the beams past the top plate and install a noggin so there is open space, no idea how that would go structurally, electrician not builder! 2 Re: Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 4Jul 04, 2012 9:38 am Hi All, thanks alot for the quick responses. Paulw11, your idea is quite nice. But I'm afraid my builder will be ok to do this since now I have already signed the contract and the house is in the site by now. So what I'm thinking is to just drill holes in the top plate and drop the wires through the wall cavity. It's great to know that I can drill 25mm holes without a problem (i will center this to the top plate). If I drill around 5 x 25mm holes in the top plate between two studs , will it affect the structure of the house ? again, thanks all for the quick responses and helping words. Re: Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 5Jul 09, 2012 11:48 pm 5 x 25 mm holes will be fine. If on an external wall, and bricks, there will be a cavity anywhere from 10mm to 50mm between the brick and timber frame all the way down. Internal walls you may have issues gettin passed the 'noggin' roughly half way down. Depending on single or double story and age of building. Just a few tips Re: Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 6Jul 09, 2012 11:59 pm This is where the fun starts. In theory truss loads should line up with studs but often they don't and often this is not picked up by building inspectors. This means that if you drill top plate you can weaken it and support for truss is compromised. Luckily it' easily fixed by adding blocking (nogging on edge under top plate and nailed to studs) I will find a photo and post it on my blog. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 7Jul 10, 2012 9:12 am Be aware that you should not run cables in the external wall cavity between the brick and the frame, as it can cause moisture to travel between the external wall and the frame or internal walls. It is often done in post-build installations because it is easier and most older houses will probably have had a power point or two added with wiring done in this manner with no ill effect. However, for wiring before the walls are up (especially at a point where yo have a large number of cables) going through the frame is the right thing to do. Re: Help: Drilling the Top plate for pre-wiring 8Jul 10, 2012 10:49 am Paul you said, paulw11 should not run cables in the external wall cavity between the brick and the frame But all the power wiring to the switchboard is done this way isn't it? I spun a top noggin 90 deg so it was vertical to give me 25mm gap all the way between two studs during build. Did not compromise strength. Slab poured 21/04/2011 Frame finished 27/05/2011 Moved in 07/11/2011 I use Tramex moisture meter and it will tell me instantly if the wall is cement sheet or plaster or masonite but most people dont have the equipment. 5 4584 We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. It would achieve a pretty low rent as it's… 0 9888 The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 5613 |