Mounting electrical box to column?

[Phil Thien]

I've got a steel support column that is about 5" in diameter. I'd like to mount a double duplex on the column about a foot up from the floor.

Any good schemes for mounting boxes to steel columns?

I'm hoping someone makes a box with something like a hose-clamp style strap coming out of it.

[Dave Gaul]

What about wrapping the column in wood to make it square, and then mount your box to the wood?

[Matt Meiser]

Dave's suggestion is exactly how I did it in our basement.

[Dave Gaul]

And then you could use the rest of the wooden surface for some type of storage, small hooks to hang things and such...

[Gene Waara]

Dave's suggestion is exactly how I did it in our basement.
+2
Did this in the finished portion of the basement. Set the wood studs far enough from the pole to mount the box between the studs then drywalled the studs and trimmed with baseboard on the bottom. I built a frame around the beam and cold air return and drywalled that as well so the poles are seamless drywall top to bottom.

[David Helm]

Or you could just use nylon cable ties (the heavy duty ones). They work very well for fastening things to unusual shapes.

[John Coloccia]

I screwed them into the columns. They're typically filled with concrete as far as I know.

[Alan Schaffter]

Like John says, you can drill and tap for machine screws. You'll need to sharpen your bit again because most lally columns are filled with concrete. You can weld threaded studs to the column, or band clamp a piece of wood to it and screw the box to that.

You will also need to attach the conduit, channel, or BX cable to the pole as well. I may be wrong, but I don't think surface mounted ROMEX is permitted in an application like that.

[John Coloccia]

I didn't even tap. I drilled and used those plastic expanding drywall anchors in the cement.

[Jerome Stanek]

We use self drilling tech screws.

[Phil Thien]

You will also need to attach the conduit, channel, or BX cable to the pole as well. I may be wrong, but I don't think surface mounted ROMEX is permitted in an application like that.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I guess I'll just attach a wood block to it somehow. I want to get that done before my electrician shows up.

Yeah, I guess we'll have to run armored cable down the column. I don't even want to imagine trying to bend conduit so it looks nice. I'll check with the inspector and make sure armored is okay.

What kind of experiences have you guys had w/ your local inspectors and various armored cables? Do your inspectors universally dislike all the armored cables?

Ten years ago, one inspector said armored was only okay for the last six feet. Is that fairly typical?

[Jerome Stanek]

We have had luck shooting the boxes om with a Hilti powder powered driver like the Hilti 350.

[Dave Schreib]

[QUOTE=Phil Thien;1524092]
What kind of experiences have you guys had w/ your local inspectors and various armored cables? Do your inspectors universally dislike all the armored cables? QUOTE]

I was told that armored cable can only be used in places where Romex is permitted - that it doesnt provide sufficient protection to meet the NEC's requirement for conduit. That being the case, I am not sure what it can be used for.

[John Coloccia]

My understanding is you'd only use armored cable to keep people from driving screws and nails through it when buried in a wall. I've never seen armored cable run in lieu of conduit. For what it's worth, I ran all PVC conduit in my shop. Far easier to work with than metal IMHO.

it can't ever hurt to talk to the inspector ahead of time, though. I'm pretty sure he's going to require a real conduit. I think the 6' thing is more for stuff like hooking up an appliance or a fan. It's been a while since I've studied this so I'm fuzzy now, and anyhow localities GENERALLY follow the NEC but they can and do deviate for a number of reasons. Definitely talk to him before continuing.

[Phil Thien]

Thanks for the info on armored cable.

I looked more closely at my column last night and discovered that it isn't filled w/ concrete. And there are a couple of small dents in the bottom, too. Dents that I bet wouldn't be there had it been filled with concrete.

What the previous owner(s) did down there that would dent the column I just don't know...

I do know that I've removed about a mile of armored cable that the previous owner installed down there and have been amazed in a few cases where I still need something to work until the electrician arrives that he never left enough wire inside the box to get a wire nut on them properly. In fact, a couple of his wire nuts just fell off in my hands.

Thank God for Wall Nuts.

This is the same bozo that attached paneling to concrete block walls with 3/4" fir strips and liquid nails. No other fasteners.

One day a few months ago part of the dropped ceiling fell on my head because the wire he used to hold it up was too thin.

So I removed that, and have been removing his handiwork ever since.

[Dan Hintz]

Phil,

It sounds like you and I are in the same boat... fixing the mistakes of the last "handyman". I estimate I've removed around 75% of his stud walls, drywall, wood paneling, and drop ceiling.

I have found countless mouse droppings on top of the drop ceiling panels, and while tearing down part of a wall night before last I came face to face with a mouse as I slowly turned around... he was dead (I don't think we have a mouse problem anymore), but he was a few inches from my face as I turned my head to survey the prior damage. There was also a significant crack running between several blocks that allowed me to view the outside world, along with a hole drilled (more than likely) for an old TV cable entryway... have to fill that in. We also appear to have several major hornet nests (old and dead, thank God) between the basement ceiling joists and the walls, no doubt helped along by the open spaces to the world through the block.

Seems the morons who installed the wood stove years ago (I'm sure this guy helped) just cut straight through the joists with little extra blocking to take up the weight. I'll have to get an engineer in to see if it needs more shoring up now that the stove is going bye-bye.

[Ben Hatcher]

Phil, I think that the same guy must have done my basement. He hung drywall using about 9 screws/4x8 sheet. I couldn't reuse a single stud because he twisted every one of them with his strange toenailing technique where he put a nail into just the base plate presumable to keep the studs from moving when he nailed them from the other side. Not a single electrical wire was stapled and whenever possible he'd run them behind the walls instead of through them. I guess he made my removal job easier.

[John Coloccia]

My house has interesting "features" too. Some if it is very well done, and some of it was TERRIBLE.

Here's an example. He ran about 25' or PVC for the dryer vent. It went through a wall, around the perimeter of a closet, into the other part of the basement and out. That was one of the first things I fixed when I moved in. I could have knitted sweaters for all my friends with the lint that was in that PVC pipe.

I'm always afraid to start a project in the house. I never know what I'm going to find. I think a lot of it is the original builder's fault, not the last owner (just to be fair to him).

[Bob Eddy]

I believe that I would weld a 1/8" plate to the post then install the box. Being that close to the floor things will probably be bumping into it including ankles.(ouch)

[Robert Reece]

I boxed a steel column with 2x material, by cutting two of the sides just ever so slightly smaller than the diameter of the column. When the other two sides get screwed down, they squeeze the column. Then I ran EMT down the 2x to surface mounted boxes (I have about 3 or 4 boxes all stacked up so I could plug in everything in my little tool island I made around the column).

[John Coloccia]

For what it's worth, I used PVC boxes and just screwed right through the back of the box directly into the column. That's how my electrician buddy recommended I do it, and my inspector had no problem with it. It's solid. Why go through the trouble of mounting wood, welding plates, etc? I'm not suggesting you don't do that; I'm just curious why.

Is it OK to actually weld to the column while it's supporting the house?

[Phil Thien]

Think I'm going to use two u-bolts to attach a block of wood, to which I can attach the box.

I really don't want to screw into the column because I may want to rearrange things in the future and there is no sense to adding holes that I may not want to use beyond a year or two.