I am moving the telephone wall socket in my study because I'm
> often checking out some extra phone device
> I was going to put in a double socket...
> I chose a height of 10-12 inches above the desk because if the
> socket was too low then any phone plugs and adaptors which stuck
> out might jostle with papers, books and desk things.
You want at least 18" above the floor, so as not to bend down uncomfortably, and for esthetic reasons, usually NOT at eye level (like a foot above your desk would be). My preference is to put my sockets (power, mainly) just under the desktop (bolted underneath, in the knee space, actually).
I'd advise (before making holes in the wall) using a simple phone extension cord, and velcro-ing the business end in various places. Pick the best spot after trying it for a while.
For me, 1 foot above my desk is just ASKING to be blocked by some important desktop item or other.
Left all mine about 6" above the skirting board & then just put the funiture in. Let's face it just how often do you have to unplug & plug telephone equipment. Leaving them there they are accessible on the odd occasion when I need to change something & yet completely out of the way of what goes on on the desk top. I've also been placing the surge protectors on the back boards so they don't get caught up in the mix.
I'm sure cables have parties when I'm not around, I lay the cables out nice & neat & yet 3 days later they've almost platted themselves into one heaving mess ;-)
I'd make them the same height as any other outlets in the room. Anything different will stand out. I also fasten power strips and all other wiring to the bottom of the desk. I use solid core doors as desktops, so the bottom is a good place to mount things.
I don't see the need to have telephone jacks all that accessible. Do you really move phones that often?
Indeed. I think it makes the walls look junky too.
| > You want at least 18" above the floor, so as not to bend down | > uncomfortably, and for esthetic reasons, usually NOT at eye level | | On new builds, power and telecoms sockets have to be about 1.5m | above the floor.
Are they now...don't tell the builders in the East Midlands as they may get very upset seeing as they are still placing them inbetween 6 to 9 inches from the floor. The only places they're not are in specified sheltered housing projects..
I'm in the UK. Your posting server is in the UK so I guess you probably are there too
Can I clarify your info. Do you mean all new buildings in the UK must have their power and telecomms as you have described?
What if a customer/owner wanted to have a new building with lower sockets? Surely he could have the builders put them in lower or would he need to get the ok from some authority?
Thanks for some very useful points. I like the idea of 18 inches (or whatever) above floor level. David W referred to new builds having sockets as much as 1.5 metres above floor level although that seems a bit too much.
The room this is for is a study and it's not one of those minimalist cool designer rooms nor is it some swanky upmarket wood- panelled chamber. It is meant to be functional - although hopefully without going so far as to look like a disused warehouse.
I had chosen 10-12 inches above the desktop for the sockets to try and get them out of the way. I won't go into the exact room layout other than to say the desktop runs for about 8 foot and the phone devices would be in the middle. Going under the desktop to access the phone sockets is awkward because of the way the supports are arranged and items stored under the desk. Even then I would still have to run each "experimental" line cord onto the desktop (IYSWIM).
I take your point that 10-12 inches above the desk may still get in the way. I can't really place the sockets any higher without having strange looking long line cords dangling down from them.
One alternative may be to mount the sockets on the top surface of the desktop near the wall. Sure, I lose some desk space for the socket and also for the trailing cords but it protects any plugs
Another alternative is to mount the sockets on the wall a few inches above the desktop and take the risk that I can always give that immediate area enough space to prevent anything banging into adaptors, connectors, plugs or whatever I have got plugged in the wall socket.
I like the idea of velcro for positioning. (You've done this before, haven't you!) All the sockets were placed by the telco engineers in lightning visits, so I had overlooked the very notion of experimenting with their position. I'll still screw mount the sockets as Velcro would pull away paintwork and repairing that before repainting is not really much different to filling small holes.
If you or anyone else have any other thoughts then please let know,
Use a dado rail positioned on the wall above the desktop - about 12 inches. Use it for 240v sockets, telephone sockets, Aerial sockets etc. Various sockets can be added/removed as required
| >> You want at least 18" above the floor, so as not to bend down | >> uncomfortably, and for esthetic reasons, usually NOT at eye | >> level | >
| > On new builds, power and telecoms sockets have to be about | > 1.5m above the floor. | | | I'm in the UK. Your posting server is in the UK so I guess you | probably are there too | | Can I clarify your info. Do you mean all new buildings in the UK | must have their power and telecomms as you have described? | | What if a customer/owner wanted to have a new building with lower | sockets? Surely he could have the builders put them in lower or | would he need to get the ok from some authority?
Don't worry they're not put 18" up the wall except for special circumstances, sheltered housing for the elderly & infirm for instance, so that they don't have to band down so far. Normal housing is around 6" or so of the skirting board...
| I had chosen 10-12 inches above the desktop for the sockets to try | and get them out of the way.
???? If you really want them out of the way you want them below the desktop/work surface.
Cables coming up to your phone, router etc? You just route the cables thru one of the ports you will have to make for routing all the other cables. Simplicity in itself. That is why all commercial office furniture have ports already on them & most office furniture suppliers will cut extra if you require more.
Sorry I forgot but if you really truly want them out the way then it's sunken boxes in the floor for both your mains & telephones. Don't believe me....go & take a look around any newer office blocks which have been designed for maximum potential & manuverability and they are firmly placed under foot.
The main objective is ease of access to the phone sockets. I want to be able attach and detach various devices.
The routing you mention is neat. Unfortunately it doesn't really let me have easy physical access to the sockets. (BTW the phone lines carry only voice; they don't carry data).
| >| I had chosen 10-12 inches above the desktop for the sockets | >| to try and get them out of the way. | >
| > ???? If you really want them out of the way you want them | > below the desktop/work surface. | >
| > Cables coming up to your phone, router etc? You just route | > the cables thru one of the ports you will have to make for | > routing all the other cables. Simplicity in itself. That is | > why all commercial office furniture have ports already on them | > & most office furniture suppliers will cut extra if you | > require more. | >
| | The main objective is ease of access to the phone sockets. I want | to be able attach and detach various devices. | | The routing you mention is neat. Unfortunately it doesn't really | let me have easy physical access to the sockets. (BTW the phone | lines carry only voice; they don't carry data).
The problem for a lot of us is why do you need to keep changing your phone equipment. For most it's plug it in & use it (forgetting the plug it in bit of course, so that when they do go onto broadband, have problems & the engineer has to visit only to find that they haven't got at least 1 if not more phones unfiltered)
| I'm using a real telephone (741) with a dial (oh, as well as a 1+3 | switchboard), and have no problem with them if I don't use a filter. |
Be careful it could turn round & bite you. The number of end users who state it's been working perfectly well without that x,y,z being filtered but it's suddenly stopped & when you unplug that particular piece of kit it suddenly works again is extremely large.
I normally do (in fact always) use microfilters, but I can't see why a particular configuration should change suddenly unless some humanoid somewhere does something. Why would stuff suddenly stop working?
The other telephones on the switchboard are 232s (with bellsets 26).
I'll have to have another look at that building regulation (I'm not in a =
situation where it has to be applied in anger). However, I thought that =
the public policy was that all building should be "built for life", i.e. =
all residential buildings should be built on the assumption that their=20 owners will stay in them when elderly, which does happen quite a lot.
I can certainly find references to some "Building for Life" rules being=20 in the Building Regs, and it looks like work done for many councils=20 would need to comply.
The Part M guidance document is too big for me to be sure of its scope=20 on a quick scan, but I overstated the required heights. Telephone=20 sockets should be at 400 to 1000mm above floor level, with the lower end =
of the range preferred.
There are a lot of exemptions for rework on existing buildings, although =
you can't make things worse.
Actually, section 0.1a appears to say it applies to all new build dwellin= gs.
Isn't that entirely up to the owner? If I do any work in my house, is it any concern of the nann^H^H^H^Hgovernment, whether or not I become elderly? Are all old people incapable of reaching up or down?
If I decide to put a telephone socket (or Block Terminal) grazing the floor (or the ceiling), that's no business of anybody else.
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