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When installing or repairing wiring, you have to mount wires and cables. Also, if you need to install new powerful household appliances, you sometimes have to pull a separate line from the electrical panel. In any case, you have to somehow mount the wires on the walls or ceiling. What can be the cable fastening for each of these cases and we will continue to understand.
General rules
With hidden or open cable installation, indoors or outdoors, there are a few general rules:
- The optimal distance between fasteners is 40-50 cm.
- If self-tapping screws, screws, dowels are used, they are twisted all the way so that the protruding hat does not damage the insulation.
- The cable is laid evenly, without humps. If a margin is needed, it is placed in the least visible place.
It is desirable to lay the cable in a straight line – vertically or horizontally.
Basically, recommendations are everything. They are versatile and easy. The distance can be reduced if necessary. For example, at the turns of the track, fasteners are installed at a small distance from the bend – 5-10 cm. The task is to ensure reliable fixation and prevent sagging.
Methods of fastening to different surfaces
Walls and ceilings are made from various materials with different structure and density. Depending on this characteristic, the method of fastening changes:
- Dense – wood in any form, plaster and soft plaster solutions (including gypsum). A nail or self-tapping screw fits perfectly into all these materials. In some – chipboard, OSB and some others – it is better to pre-drill a hole of a slightly smaller diameter than a self-tapping screw, and then screw it in. Nails are often hammered immediately without pre-drilling.
Self-tapping screws are screwed into wood and wood products. Only for attaching the cable is it better to take them with a flat hat - Solid. This category of materials includes brick, concrete, screeds, cements. In them, even with a pre-drilled hole, a self-tapping screw cannot be screwed in. For such materials, dowel-nails are used (they are also called dowels). This is a fastener consisting of two parts – a plastic dowel cap and a metal (sometimes plastic) screw. In such cases, a hole is drilled in the material with a drill diameter equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter of the dowel. A plastic cap is inserted into the hole. Its upper edge should be flush with the surface (if necessary, you can hit it with a hammer a couple of times to even out or cut off the excess with a sharp knife). Then a fastener (plate, clamp, etc.) is applied, which is attached to the inserted dowel with a screw.
Installing the dowel - Thin or soft. These are plastic, drywall, fiberboard, aerated concrete, foam concrete, etc. In them, ordinary fasteners do not hold, you need a special one, which has an extended “rear” part. It has a large area of support, due to which fasteners can hold. Some examples of such fasteners (umbrella, butterfly dowel and dowel with a drill) are shown in the photo.
To fix the cable to thin walls, you need special fasteners
Actually, these are all the surfaces that are found inside the house when laying the wiring. But sometimes the cable must also be attached to the pole, for example, when the electricity supply from the pole to the house stretches or to the pipe – when the cable climbs a combustible wall.
To the concrete pillar
The cable is attached to the reinforced concrete pole with long black plastic ties. They serve about 5 years.
You can use clamps for mounting sewer pipes, but you need to drill holes for them, which is very difficult. Another option – if there is a ground wire on the pole – a round wire with a diameter of 5-6 mm, then you can fasten it with ties. Another option is to fix strips of metal on the pole – make something like clamps, and attach the cable to them.
In a metal pipe
If the cable climbs the wall of the house in a metal pipe, it is simply launched inside. Since fairly solid cables are used for outdoor wiring, its rigidity is usually enough to more or less stay inside the pipe.
From above and below, the pipe is closed with some kind of cork (you can cut it out of foam and then paint it together with the pipe). This plug will additionally fix the position of the cable (do not press it to the edge), and so that it does not move inside the pipe, it is attached to the wall at the exit from it.
To the cable
To attach the cable to the cable, special metal and plastic hangers are used. They consist of two parts – there is a hole for the cable and a larger one for laying cables.
Which is better – metal or plastic? Metal ones are more durable, but take longer to install – you need to tighten the screw. Plastic ones will serve for about 5 years, but they are installed quickly – the “tail” is pulled into the corresponding hole, tightened. That’s all.
Fasteners for cable and wires: types and varieties
For any type of wiring and cable installation, the same types of fasteners can be used. It is selected based on the existing conditions, opportunities and tastes of the owners. The main task is to ensure high-quality fixation and not violate the insulation either during installation or during further work and operation. And choose the type of fastening from the possible options. There are quite a few of them – there are special ones that are produced specifically for cables, there are borrowed from other areas, there are home-made ones.
Cable clips
Using clips, you can fix the cable on the wall, ceiling, on the floor. You just have to choose the right design, and there are a lot of them. Fastening the cable with clips is a very popular method – it can turn out very neatly and almost imperceptibly. This is if open wiring is supposed to be laid.
Clips for mounting the cable are metal and plastic, and of different shapes. The simplest are in the form of a bow, which has holes for self-tapping screws or dowels on one side and the other. They are all good, but installation requires drilling two holes, and this takes a lot of time.
There is an option that allows you to withstand the fire gap when installing the power cable on combustible surfaces (pictured left). This fastener is fixed with one self-tapping screw to the surface. It is good in that, if necessary, threads can be added to the same fasteners. To do this, you do not have to remove it, you will need to unscrew the screws holding the upper part of the clip.
The third option is a kind of loop from a strip of metal. To install it, you first need to bring the cables inside, then align the holes and fix it on the surface.
All these clips can be used both on the wall and on the ceiling. But when laying a large number of threads on the ceiling, they are inconvenient – too many mounting holes are required. They are made of metal, part is then painted – so that the fasteners stand out less during external laying.
Plastic clips are mainly used for fixing cables in corrugated hoses. They are available in different sizes for different corrugation diameters. They can be installed both individually and assembled in lines – for more accurate installation of large bundles of wiring. This type of clips is used mainly for hidden gaskets, but if the corrugation is laid outside, then it is more convenient to fix it with their help.
Clip dowel
More inconspicuous during installation is the dowel-clip. This is a curved strip of plastic with characteristic branches at the ends, which, due to the force of elasticity, will hold the fasteners in the material of the wall or ceiling. The shape of these products is available for round and flat cables of various sizes. But you can’t fix serious cables with them – they are too small. But they look very neat on conductors of small sections, including television, telephone and Internet.
They are easy to install: a hole of a suitable diameter is drilled, a conductor is inserted into the clip, the ends are tucked into the hole and inserted with force. A really good option – quickly mounted, you look neat. Mainly used for open wiring.
Dowel screed
Another option for quick cable attachment is a dowel tie. It is made of non-combustible self-extinguishing plastics, allows you to quickly mount cable lines. It can be used for both surface and concealed installation.
There is a coupler with a detachable and one-piece lock. The detachable lock allows you to change the number of wires if necessary. The installation method is the same as for a conventional dowel. The difference is that the dowel here is also plastic.
Cable ties with dowel platform (KSP)
Another option for quick installation. It consists of a dowel with a thread and a platform with a coupler attached to it. First, a dowel is installed, a platform with a screed is screwed onto it. Wires are attached to the finished track.
Material – non-combustible plastic, color – gray, use temperature – from -45°C to +85°C. Can be mounted on concrete, brick and wood surfaces.
Clips (staples) with a nail
An excellent option for attaching the cable to dense surfaces – wood and its derivatives, plaster. On the side of the plastic bracket there is a hole into which the carnation is inserted. The shape of the brackets is round rectangular – for conductors of various shapes.
Fastening the cable with such brackets is quick and not conspicuous. Most often, small wires are also attached – television, telephone, for the Internet.
U-shaped staples from a stapler
Even the smallest staples and clips are still quite noticeable. There is a way to make fasteners almost invisible, at least in some cases. If you have a construction stapler, wires and telephone cables can be attached to wooden surfaces or plaster with special brackets. They have long legs and a rounded back. There are special stapler staples designed for mounting cable with plastic stops (middle picture). They do not allow you to transfer the wire, which happens when working with conventional staples, if too much force is set on the trigger.
A good way is high speed – just one click on the stapler lever and the staple is already installed. In an hour you can fix a decent footage. Another positive point is that the fasteners are hardly noticeable; during dismantling, very small holes remain in the wood, which are also almost invisible. With stucco and chipboard, OSB is somewhat more difficult – damage can be greater, however, they are still less noticeable than from nails, even the smallest ones.
The disadvantage of attaching cables with a stapler is significant size restrictions. Such staples are not large. The maximum size for the width of the bracket is 12,5 mm, and even then not in all types. This is more than enough for mounting telephone “noodles”, an Internet cable or other similar conductors, but it is far from always possible to fix VVG or NYM in this way. In addition, these cables have more rigid insulation, which requires more frequent installation of staples.
Fasteners for organizing the bundle of conductors
It is not always necessary to fix the wires permanently. In some cases, you just need to arrange the bundles so that they do not get confused. For example, usually a considerable number of wires come to the desktop. There is no need to fix them rigidly – after a while, alterations may be required, and holes remain from the hammered nails, which you can’t disguise on the table. For these purposes, there are various devices. They are more commonly referred to as wire or cable holders.
For example, the same staples, but of a different structure. On the right in the photo above, you see a cable clip with double-sided adhesive tape attached to the back. For mounting on furniture or plastic panels, this is very convenient – the glue can then be washed off, and the surface remains intact. In the center is the second option with the same idea, and on the left is the so-called mounting platform for attaching cable ties. First, these pads are attached to the surface – they also have Velcro on the back. Then the bundle of wires is attached to the holes with a conventional plastic tie. Not so convenient and neat (the tails of the ties will stick out), but it can also be used.
You can see a few more options for attaching the wiring harness in the photo above. The point is the same, the method is different.
Cable trays – for concealed installation of large bundles
When lighting the ceiling from spotlights, a large number of wires have to be laid, and they have to be fixed to the ceiling. If we are talking about apartments, then the floors are most often a concrete slab. Drilling a lot of holes in it is hard and long, fastening wires individually or in small groups is not much easier. For such cases, hanging cable trays are used. They are usually made of galvanized wire or perforated metal.
They are of different sizes, there are several different types of fastening – on studs attached to the ceiling, on “T” or “L”-shaped suspensions.
The installation procedure is as follows: first, the structure is assembled and mounted on the ceiling, then cables are thrown into it. If desired, they can be fixed with ties to the bars, but this is usually not necessary.
In addition, there are metal trays made of perforated and non-perforated metal. The latter are necessary when laying cables inside combustible walls – in frame houses, for example.
The same trays can be used when laying cables in the underground space. But then you can use the perforated version. It also provides excellent protection against rodents and accidental damage.
Homemade cable attachments
Many factory fixtures are relatively inexpensive, but when hundreds of them are required, the sum is considerable. And if the wiring is hidden, it is required, for example, to fix the cable in the strobe, why wall up extra money if you can get by with improvised means. Here’s what a homemade cable mount is made of:
- Strips of tin + nails or dowels – depending on the material of the wall. Tin is preferably galvanized, but it can be “extracted” from beer cans. It is cut into strips 7-10 mm thick, a hole is made in the center into which a nail is threaded. First, fasteners are stuffed along the route with a step of 60-100 cm, then the cable or wire is clamped with tin strips. To secure the cable securely, it is advisable to clamp the ends into a lock.
An example of a homemade cable mount - From galvanized metal, cut into strips about 1 cm thick, you can make a simple U-shaped bracket. Nail at the ends, use like regular staples – grabbing the conductor every 50-80 cm. Can be used to attach wires to walls and ceilings.
How can I fix the wire with a strip of tin - Also, a strip of tin can be used to fasten the cable into a loop. The strip covers the cable after which the strip is attached to the wall (see photo on the right). This option can also be used to fix the conductors in the strobe. It will be distinguished from the usual external fastening only by the installation step of the clamps – they can be installed less often, since their task is to hold the cables until the mortar with which the gate is closed hardens. In the same way, you can fix wires in a protective sheath – corrugation, pipe, etc. Only the strips will need to be longer and, possibly, wider – for a more secure fixation. For wood, a nail or self-tapping screw is suitable; for brick and concrete, a dowel is required.
- With improvised means, you can also fix bundles of wires. A longer strip of tin can be used to fasten several conductors located one next to the other. It is more convenient to use perforated metal for this (for example, mounting hangers for suspended ceilings), but you can get by with ordinary tin strips.
Fixing bundles of wires
These are the main types of cable fasteners that you can do yourself. Surely there are other options – the imagination of craftsmen is inexhaustible, but these are the most common.
Fasteners for concealed gasket
If cables are laid during the repair phase, laying inside walls, floors or ceilings is increasingly being used. Since the result of the work is invisible, little attention is paid to aesthetics. But a lot of attention is paid to reliability and safety – access for rework is very, very complicated. Therefore, the fasteners for the cable when laying inside the wall, ceiling, under the floor are selected reliable. It can be:
- Ties of any type – with dowels, mounting pads, etc.
- You can choose the appropriate size clip type.
- Make homemade fasteners.
If you are making a suspended plasterboard ceiling, the wiring can be attached to hangers or laid inside the profiles. Only during installation, do not lay the cables close to the profile wall – so as not to damage during operation
For laying large bundles of wires on the ceiling, it is more convenient and faster to use trays, but you can still use the same fasteners. The only bad thing is that you have to drill a lot of holes for installing fasteners in concrete or brick. This is especially inconvenient when working on the ceiling. About how best to optimize the work in this case a little lower.
If the presence of false walls or a finished floor is not expected, recesses are made under the wires – strobes. Wires are laid in them, then they are covered with a solution and after that they are already finishing. From an aesthetic standpoint, it’s ideal. From the point of view of operation, it is problematic, since it is almost impossible to replace or repair the wiring without breaking the walls. Nevertheless, the wiring is done just like that, just trying to lay high-quality cables, and even with some margin in terms of power or the number of pairs.
According to the safety rules, in combustible walls (wooden, panel and frame), the cable is laid in a non-combustible sheath or in an all-metal tray. If we are talking about a non-combustible shell, then usually it is a corrugated pipe made of a non-combustible plastic compound. In this case, the sheath itself is attached, inside which the cable is located. This does not particularly affect the choice of the type of fastening, but it does affect the selection of fastener sizes – it is simply necessary that the latches can cover the shell.
Laying cables inside combustible walls is difficult: the requirements are very stringent. They can be made in frame or panel houses, but it is very difficult in timber or log houses. It is necessary to lay all-metal trays in the walls. At the same time, a large amount of wood has to be taken out, which does not improve the thermal performance and it is not possible to make the appearance ideal. Therefore, in wooden houses, they often resort to an open installation method – on top of the walls.
Fasteners for exposed cable routing
For outdoor cable laying, more stringent requirements are imposed on the appearance of fasteners. Since everything is in plain sight, it is necessary to select the most inconspicuous options, or vice versa, the most decorative, for example, retro wiring. This is a broad topic and is covered in detail here. Other options:
- Installation in cable channels. These are plastic trays that are mounted along the walls. Not the best method in terms of aesthetics, but if it is necessary to lay a large number of wires in wooden houses, it is perhaps the cheapest during installation and convenient in terms of operation: there is always free access for replacement, repair and modernization.
It is possible to lay wires in cable channels - Laying a certain number of wires in special skirting boards.
- Using staples from a stapler. The most inconspicuous fastener, besides it is installed quickly.
- Fastening with brackets and clips, painted to match the cable.
There is a choice, but all methods are not ideal, because everyone decides for himself how and with what to fix the cable.
Attaching cables to the ceiling
It is necessary to attach cables to the ceiling mainly when installing stretch ceilings or ceilings made of plastic panels and drywall. In the case of drywall, everything is somewhat simpler: there is a suspension system to which you can fasten the wire harnesses with plastic ties. In other cases, everything is somewhat more complicated: you have to drill a large number of holes for fasteners, because they use all the same clips and brackets, and you need to install a dowel under each (if the ceiling is made of concrete slab).
There are several ways to speed up installation:
- Using cable trays (described above).
- After attaching a number of lines to the ceiling, hang small wire harnesses from them with plastic ties.
- Use a long perforated strip of metal for fastening.