# Installing an electrical recepticle on a basement structural support post



## kbsparky (Sep 11, 2008)

A metal outlet box welded or bolted to the column would be fine. You could feed it with either a metal conduit, or piece of MC cable.


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## PittsburghClint (Jul 3, 2011)

Great, thanks for the tip KB!


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## WillK (Aug 29, 2010)

kbsparky said:


> A metal outlet box welded or bolted to the column would be fine. You could feed it with either a metal conduit, or piece of MC cable.


I might be overcautious on this, and often in residential structure things are overdesigned, but I generally am inclined to point out that either welding or drilling or cutting a steel support column creates stress concentrations that will reduce the strength of the column.

A method that would not alter the structural integrity of the column would be to treat it as if the column was a pipe being mounted to a wall with a conduit clamp or something similar, and use that to mount a board to the steel column and that board could be used for mounting the junction box. The wire could be brought in with conduit. Or secure a board to the column with a u-bolt.


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## PittsburghClint (Jul 3, 2011)

This post is old and the project is long done but wanted to follow up. I used two 9" adjustable hose clamps and attached the box directly to the post via running the clamps through rear knock out holes of the junction box. I then wrapped black rubberized foam around the sides of the box and the pole to give some protection/sealant and give it a better appearance. Looks good and no hazards as far as I can tell.


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

Hose clamps through the box knockouts is in no code compliant. Hose clamps to hold a piece of wood then fasten the box to the wood would have been a better choice.


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## PittsburghClint (Jul 3, 2011)

Good point. Easy enough to fix. Thanks for the insight!


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## Missouri Bound (Apr 9, 2011)

A beam clamp is a U-shaped device which has the sole purposeof mounting electrical fittings to a steel beam. A good hardware store, big box store or an electrical supply house will have what you need. It's commonly tapped with 1/4-20 holes to fasten the fitting or in your case the box directly to the clamp.


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## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

What I would have done is built a square "box" around the post out of wood and mounted the box that way. Though this would increase the size of the post, which may not be desirable depending on the situation. 

Looking at the way that post is mounted I'm even wondering if it serves any purpose from a structural standpoint. I would expect the perpendicular "beam" to be much bigger. Don't take my word for it though, I'm no expert.


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