That wiring or plaster first, we consider all the pros and cons

  • Dec 14, 2020

In the process of building a new country house at the stage of installing electrical wiring, you will need to decide on the procedure for its arrangement. The amount of work to be done, as well as the operational reliability of the home electrical network, depends on the correct solution to this issue.

Installation procedure for hidden wiring

When assessing the volume of labor costs, two options for arranging electrical wiring hidden in the thickness of the walls are considered. It:

  • Preliminary laying of wires on the walls with further plaster (photo below).
  • Wall decoration with subsequent arrangement of strobes, laying of a power cable and installation of wiring accessories.

When choosing the first option, first, wire cores are fixed in pre-prepared recesses or directly on the walls, after which several layers of plaster are applied on top of them.

note: This method is used only when the thickness of the finishing material is sufficient to hide the already installed wiring.

In the second approach, everything is done the other way around: first, the surfaces of the walls are plastered, and after the protective layer has dried, grooves are cut through it for laying hidden wiring (photo below).

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Comparison of labor and material costs

Upon closer examination of the issue, the conclusion suggests itself that it is easier to first lay the wires on a concrete base, and then close them with a thick layer of plaster.

But this does not take into account a number of important points regarding the forthcoming costs, namely:

  • In this case, the cost of finishing materials and payment for additional work to build up the plaster layer increase sharply.
  • Operations for wiring and connecting installation products will be spaced out in time, so that the electrician will have to be called twice.
  • For the first time, it will be needed to lay wires along bare walls, and the second - to fix the socket outlets in the plaster and connect the ends of the wires to them.
  • It is almost impossible to do the second part of work on a bare wall (without plaster).
  • Laying electrical wiring on top of the finishing material in the grooves will not be so costly, since the plaster is made of normal thickness.
  • Electrical work is carried out only once.

The laying of wires and the installation of sockets, switches and junction boxes is started after the plaster is completely dry, after which you can cut through grooves and make niches in it. This is not a pleasant occupation (very tiring and dusty), but in this case the time of work will be reduced and the costs of their implementation will noticeably decrease. Therefore, the option of arranging wiring over plaster is generally considered more preferable (photo below).

For users who are in no hurry and are ready to independently mount the wiring and plaster the walls - the order of work is of no fundamental importance. They usually choose the first option (the costs of additional operations in this case are covered by the contractor himself).