Planning the first fix - wiring / cables

[Crofter]

I'm about ready to start battening out the inside of my build, and I guess now is a good time to do a rough plan of wheret he wiring runs need to be- so that the the battens don't end up in the wrong places. I can draw everything out on top of the (paper faced) Kingspan at this stage which will be a nice easy way of doing it.

 

Just wanted to double check something- I understand I can have cables in a safe zone up to 125mm wide, at the ceiling, and thereafter running horizontally or vertically to each outlet- nothing going diagonal without being ducted in metal.

 

My floor is effectively solid- ok so it's actually chipboard but as an airtight face of the building, I do not want to disrupt it to run wires. Now, can I create a 'safe zone' of 125mm along the floor? This would make for shorter cable runs to each socket which is presumably safer than having floor to ceiling runs each time.

 

And of course at the end of the day my build is not subject to BC so I can do what I want, but I don't want to deviate from good practise, especially with things like wiring.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Nickfromwales
Title edited to add search tags / words ;)

[jack]

It's pretty common to run a ring around each room at socket level.  See this page, which has some helpful drawings about zones (note: do check that it's correct and up to date before relying on it!)

[ProDave]

Safe zones are 150mm in from a corner and 150mm down from the ceiling, then horizontally or vertically from each accessory.

 

If you stick to BC switch and socket heights, then I like to leave a gap in the battens at 450mm and 1150mm from floor level. That gives you the option to run cables horizontally from sockets and (less likely) horizontally from a light switch, without having to bother drilling holes in the battens.

 

No you can't run cables along at skirting board height (though plenty do, but where do the nails holding the skirting board go?. Oops.) Just run cables round the room from socket to socket, then up to the ceiling void where you can't continue that route for whatever reason.
 

[Nickfromwales]

Leave the floor intact. Horizontal and up n over as per last comments. 

Safety plates where you cut the battens out so no chance of screwing into the cables when boarding .