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Considerations for Raised Floor Installation? 93

Posted by Cliff from the above-it-all dept.
shanm asks: "I'm wondering if the community would have any recommendations and or cost rules of thumb on a raised floor installation. I'm considering doing that in a basement room (soon to be PC room and office) to make network/power wiring easier, modifiable, and expandable. The biggest constraint is that the basement doesn't have a 9 or 10 foot ceiling. So I don't have an unlimited height on the floor."
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Considerations for Raised Floor Installation? More

Considerations for Raised Floor Installation?

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  • Why? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's ok to just say that your dad won't let you put holes in the walls. We'll understand.

  • How many feet... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mjpaci ( 33725 ) * on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:39PM (#11758981) Homepage Journal
    What is the ceiling height? Telling us that it is not 9-10 feet doesn't really help a whole lot. Is it 8.5 feet or is it more like 6.5 feet?

    • Better alternatives (Score:5, Informative)

      by Roadkills-R-Us ( 122219 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @07:12PM (#11760661) Homepage
      Lots of other people hit most of the points I would have made (and I have primary responsibility for a server room with a raised floor).

      Consider just raising the computers, not the whole floor! You could use shelving (you could have some great, custom shelving made for your room much cheaper than you could buy the cheapest raised floor), or milk cartes as another did (as I do this with guitar amps), or anything else. Just run the cables under these. If you do the custom shelving, you can get a front panel. It could be like a 3" to 6" high shelf with cabinet doors in front. It can be painted, stained, carpeted, covered in red velvet, sprayed with truckbed liner, covered with beaten copper, layered in kevlar, or covered any way you like.

      Or you could make some sort of custom gutter around the floor/wall junction, instead of hanging gutters. You can get these with a strip that closes them up.

      You could use the little gutters that look sort of like skinny chair rails, at chair rail height. These are made for wiring added after the fact.

      You have lots of options, all cheaper, easier, and safer than a raised floor.

  • basement bad (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:39PM (#11758983) Homepage Journal
    basement bad! water, flooding, other things in basement! You definitely don't want to do it in your basement, especially in a normal house.
    • mod parent post up. He states all the major issues you will encounter in a basement.

      Are you willing to deal with this? And how many servers are we talking about? A raised floor is good if you have ALOT of machines, heavy A/C units to pump the cool air, and that much wiring to run.

      Are you trying to run a datacenter from your home?

      I like the suggestions from others about running it from the top down, using ceiling tiles, or just run tracks that hold and suspend the cable. You could make it look really cool

      • mod parent post up. He states all the major issues you will encounter in a basement.

        No, don't mod the parent up, as it's not good generic advice.

        Basement issues depend completely on where you live, and what the water table is like. Both the current house I live in and the previous house I lived in were atop hills, and were significantly above the water table (by between 15 and 30 meters in both cases). And neither have had a single drop of water in the basement ever (we owned the previous home for tw

        • Water isn't the only thing that can flood your basement. A sewage clog can cause sewage to flood your basement instead. If you live in a frigid environment, water main breaks are another possibility. To make matters worse, basements tend to be damp to various degrees, although if you live in an arid climate, this may be less of a concern. Anyone who's ever put bare cardboard boxes on a cement basement floor can attest to what happens to the cardboard (it turns to mush). Basically, if you're wiring thing
          • But sewage clog can also flood your living room and even a flat several stories high depending who else is connected to the same sewage line if they are above the level of your house. And if the water main to your 1st floor bathroom or of the flat above you breaks your whole flat can be flooded, too.

            I think the gp is right: It strongly depends on the location of your house both region-, climate- and height-wise. E.g. here (Southern Germany) it is quite common to build whole flats into one's basement (usual
    • We've got computer hardware in our home basement, including the computer hardware in my bedroom. (Yes, I'm 21 and live in my parents' basement. :)

      Since the ceiling is 8' at the bottom of the trusses, we use sound-absorbing drop-ceiling, while running cable through the holes in the trusses.

      The only downside we've hit is it's difficult to have nice-looking flourescent lighting when the light has three truss shadows to a tube.
    • Any basement built in teh last 15 years by somebody who knows jack shit about construction, ventilation, drains, runoff, and concrete will be watertight. I know of more houses than i can count right now that have full (i.e. the basement area is roughly the same area as the first floor) finished (meaning they have drywall, carpet, ceilings, COMPUTERS, Home theaters, etc) basements. So long as they put a good base under the house to prevent shifting, and they landscaped the house so that water actually does
      • Bloody hell, mess with = mind, started to bash the drop ceiling and apparently forgot to edit it out...my bad.
      • It may be watertight against watertable flooding, but what happens when the sewer backs up? What about the condensation that tends to form on underground cement walls because they tend to be cooler in summer than the air? There are a lot of sources of flooding/water in basements.
        • Not a problem. Keep the humidity level to a normal level of about 44%.
        • I'm not a contractor. Never said i was. However i do know a few, and i know of lots of houses with full basements who never have leaks, condensation, or sewage backups. Apparently they did something right!

  • Better ask your mom (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    She might get upset if you go around raising floors in her basement without her permission.

  • Don't ask slashdot (Score:3, Insightful)

    by byronmiller ( 861060 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:41PM (#11759011)
    Ask your local municipal code inspector. You typically need 7 foot + (usually more) clearance from floor to ceiling or else your room won't pass code. Raised floors need to be done professionaly. I wouldn't recommend any other way - everything from electrical outlets to height, fire and safety codes will have to be inspected.. you wouldn't want to tear it out when you sell/move so get inspection on your plans before you start or hire a pro
  • I have a couple of computer labs (2 x 27 station) were we put in a 3 in gap + 2 inch thick floor. It's nice but a total b**** to work under. My suggestion is a couple of ceiling trays. They make nice one that are about 4 inches thick and have 3 or four inch gap from the ceiling. My google skils are failing me or i'd give a link.
    • Put in a 2' x 2' (61cm x 61cm) drop ceiling grid, but don't actually put any tiles in. If possible, install the T-bars upside down so the flat part is on top. This will provide plenty of support for your cabling, you can run cables along and across the T-bars, and the 2' spacing allows you to get your fat belly up there to work on it (if you have the luxury of high ceilings).

      If it comes time to sell and Mr. Home Buyer doesn't want it, it's easier to rip out than a raised floor. Because it's open, there are

  • Wire Thickness (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RealityMogul ( 663835 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:46PM (#11759056)
    Wires are not thick. If you REALLY need raised flooring, you can get by with 2x4s.

    That said, you could easily run conduit along the top of the walls and just drop down wherever you need to. It'll save you from losing ceiling height. It'll also be easier to access when you want to extend things. Of course this only works as long as everything is going to be next to a wall and doesn't account for a receptionist desk in the middle of your basement.

  • Don't do it. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Schezar ( 249629 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:48PM (#11759073) Homepage Journal
    I work for IBM, and as such I work with raised floor environments on a daily basis. In fact, I'm sitting in one right now.

    They're not worth it.

    First, you can't easily clean under there. Dust will accumulate in quantities you can't begin to imagine, followed by dust mites, mold, and other assorted evil.

    Second, raised floors don't make cable management any easier, they just hide the mess. Sure, the server room looks spotless and clean, but under that floor is a nightmarish rat's nest of cables. Wait until you have to move a cable from one location to another, pulling up floor tiles one at a time to untangle the various knots that have formed...

    Third, you can't mop the floor anymore. This floor I'm sitting over hasn't been mopped in several decades. These tiles used to be white!

    Fourth, the secondary function of a raised floor is to distribute cooling. Typically, you'll have a giant air conditioner that pumps cold air under the floor. You then have special tiles with holes in them under your racks, through which your servers draw in fresh cold air. If you're not going to set something like that up, you're losing one of the primary benefits of a raised floor.

    I could go on and on.

    Instead of making a raised floor, make a drop ceiling and run the cables in racks through there: simpler, easier, faster, and cheaper. If you're worried about the height of the ceiling, don't bother with the tiles and just run metal racks.

    Trust me, you don't want a raised floor in your basement.
    • Listen to the parent. I've worked with raised floors and he's right. They accumulate a huge mess, can't easily be cleaned and are still a big PITA.
      • Have to aggree with the both Parents here. Been working on a raised floor envoirn for a good long while. God save you if you have to move a cable , tracing that shit just hurts. It pains me every time I have think about doing it.

        Dust, you say? We dont have Dust particles under there, they formed an entire city. Once a year one of us gets nominated to go down there and clean. Luckily Ive dodged that duty for a while now but I fear my time is coming soon.

        • Re:Don't do it. (Score:2, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward
          "Have to aggree with the both Parents here"

          Same here. Listen to your parents, dammit!

          They said you could *live* in the basement. They didn't say anything about screwing around with raising the floor.

          P.S. Since your parents are posting on slashdot, you might want to think about installing some encryption software so they can't sniff your network traffic. You don't think the *accidentally* came across your Ask Slashdot post, do you???
      • Then you weren't doing raised floor correctly. The correct way is to setup a number of cabling distribution points. Each of these consists of a half rack of cable management space and a half rack for networking equipment. From the normal racks to the cable distribution facility you run your cables and terminate them in a remote cabling boxes which sit above or below each rack. You then use patch cables from your servers to the cabling box, changing a server's wiring is easy. Use decent cabling (Cat6) and yo
    • I second this. I will never build a raised floor computer room again.

      The last two computer rooms, I built for clients, had all the cables run in cable trays overhead, and the racks set on a normal floor or slab. Overhead trays force you to keep things organized, raised floors just hide/induce clutter.

      Plus you don't have to build ramps or steps.

      One thing I would be concerned with in a basement computer room is water. Raised floor does not do well with water, since your power is run under the floor.

      If yo

    • Re:Don't do it. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Linux_ho ( 205887 )
      Thirded. Parent described "rat's nest of cables." Take that very literally. Finding the spot where the rats/mice have eaten the insulation off your ethernet cables and chewed through the wire is no fun.

      Rats are not threatened by dust kitties, even those as large as will grow under a raised floor.

      Overhead 220v power and cable ladders are definitely the best way to go. Hire a good HVAC guy to design your airflow system to keep the whole room cool.
    • Gotta go with you on this one. Some where "up there" someone suggested the use of cable trays. [b-line.com] Those are fantastic. I can't recommend them enough.

      But seriously, if we're talking about a basement, conduit should be more than enough.

    • Our raised floor used to be mopped on occasion -- no problems with water, more a budget thing.

      The odd dead mouse under the floor can be a rude surprise when raising tiles. At least the air handling system did a good job of desiccating the corpse and removing any smell.

      You also need smoke detection under the raised floor.

    • First, you can't easily clean under there. Dust will accumulate in quantities you can't begin to imagine, followed by dust mites, mold, and other assorted evil.

      If the floor really is under positive pressure this isn't so much an issue - all the dust is blown straight up into the tape drives!

      Seriously, though, you should be able to clean your nasty floor tiles. A 1690's clipper-ship wet-mop probably isn't the right tool, but even so, I've seen raised-floor installations completely flooded by burst pipe,
      • If the floor really is under positive pressure this isn't so much an issue - all the dust is blown straight up into the tape drives!

        Thanks for the chuckle! I almost did a spit take on my monitor!

        • don't laugh. I've heard of data centers where the 9-track tapes were being stored on a dirt floor and the guys running the data center wondered why the tapes drives were always going to hell.
    • What about power. i like the cable tray idea but what about power. Is it legal to put power in overhead trays? What about induction. I would guess that you would want the power and data in separate trays.

      Just wondering my company is thinking about getting new offices and we had thought about raised floors but the cost and other issues did not seem worth it.
      • Is it legal to put power in overhead trays?

        All junctions have to be in an approved enclosure. Your electrician can install a long box that runs the length of the room (next to the cable trays) over every row of racks, and then put a 220 locking socket over every rack. Each box will have a conduit run to your panel.
        • Actually it is not for racks as much as workstations. More of a call center.
          • Why do you want a raised floor if your not setting up a datacenter? It's not worth the trouble.
            • Well I know that now. We where thinking about it because of all the trouble that we have now running network, power, and phone connections to our tech stations.
              We keep adding people and it is a pain to add more stations currently. Now that I have heard all the problems and costs of the raised floor that is right out the door. The real issue for us tends to be power. Most office space around here is just not set up for as many computers as we have. Soon each phone tech will have to have two computers. PC and
    • When I worked at IBM (the Endicott facility), the raised floors were mopped once a week, just don't go slopping a bucket of water on the floor and you're fine, they only ever turn light grey, not white, and of course 3 minutes after they've been mopped all the dust settles and turns them black again.

      Also agreed, he doesn't want a raised floor in the basement, ceiling tracks are much better pretty much everything, only place I would use raised floors is a datacenter.
    • This question has been asked, and answered, before. See my post Under the floor? Reconsider! [slashdot.org] (Sunday January 02, @11:02PM) (3, Informative) attached to the article Supercomputers - Does the Cabling Matter? [slashdot.org]

    • Re:Don't do it. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by vapspwi ( 634069 )
      Very much agreed with the parent. I work in a lab with a raised floor that we took over when they moved some mainframes and communications equipment out, back in the late 80s. It's pretty much a total mess - I spent a solid couple of weeks last year pulling out thousands of feet of unconnected abandoned cable and vacuuming out all manner of nastiness.

      You're better off with some overhead trays or some good on-the-floor cable channels, combined with some well-planned wiring. It's really no fun at all drag

  • Maybe raised floor isn't the answer... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rocjoe71 ( 545053 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:48PM (#11759074) Homepage
    ...when you're in a basement, *IF* there's any flooding, it's going to soak all your wiring and whatever else you stash under the floor.

    What about installing a hanging ceiling and running the wires overhead? ... You could run the wires inside PVC tubing (or whatever you prefer) that's strapped to the beams of your basement ceiling, then hang the ceiling tiles afterwards, at your leisure.

  • Suggestion: Go Top-Down (Score:4, Informative)

    by Isao ( 153092 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:50PM (#11759102)
    One of the main reasons for raised flooring is airflow - cool air from below is drawn up through the floor, and hot air is expelled above and vented away.

    Since that's not likely practical for you, consider the other option that large data centers use: overhead raceways. Run your power and data cables overhead, then down into your racks/shelves.

    This will save you the (possibly substantial) cost and hassle of raised flooring that you likely can't put to good use anyway. The cabling is actually more accessible, still out of harms way, and if neatly done it can be nice to look at.

    • As you're probably not going to be running a lot of heavy wires and moving them around weekly, light-duty raceways probably would be satisfactory.

      Look at what is in your hardware stores. There are several materials which can be used, depending upon your budget and decorating needs.

      • Surface-mount conduit. There are wallmount conduit materials intended for adding an outlet or moving a switch. Components vary, but often there is a box intended to fit over an in-wall outlet box (so you can connect to the

  • Consider this: flooding (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jonadab ( 583620 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:52PM (#11759122) Homepage Journal
    Unless you are in a fairly unusual location, your basement WILL get some water
    in it occasionally -- not every year, maybe, but often enough that you need to
    take it into consideration. The flooding may not achieve any significant
    depth, but even a house on top of a hill can get an inch of water in the
    basement on occasion when it rains very hard and fast.

    Another thing about basements is that they often have exposed rafters, which
    makes overhead wiring significantly more convenient than it would be in a
    main floor scenerio. Drill a few one-inch holes at intervals along each
    rafter, put in a few cross-bars, and overhead wiring is easy to run, easy
    to change, easy to manage. If you have exposed rafters, I would suggest
    considering maybe taking advantage of that, instead of doing raised flooring
    in a basement scenerio.

    An upper floor scenerio would of course be a different thing entirely.

    • Re:Consider this: flooding (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      beams, not rafters.

    • Unless you are in a fairly unusual location, your basement WILL get some water in it occasionally -- not every year, maybe, but often enough that you need to take it into consideration.

      I live in a basement, and have lived here for over a decade, and not one drop of water has ever entered. In addition, I helped with the renovations before I moved in, and there is not one single sign that in the fifty years the house has been standing that water has ever entered the basement. (With the exception of the b

      • Yes, well, I've lived in eight homes (not counting college dorms) in three
        states since I was old enough to remember, and four of them had occasional
        water in the basement. Two of the others had *frequent* water in the
        basement, and one didn't *have* a basement. The other one was an appartment
        building, and I don't know whether the basement had flooding or not.

        One person's experience can be skewed. My point is that it's an issue that
        needs to be considered -- which is what the OP asked for.

        The age of the ho

        • Yes, well, I've lived in eight homes (not counting college dorms) in three states since I was old enough to remember, and four of them had occasional water in the basement. Two of the others had *frequent* water in the basement, and one didn't *have* a basement. The other one was an appartment building, and I don't know whether the basement had flooding or not.

          In addition to living in about six homes with basements... I've been a landlord for another six houses with basements, and I've studied architect

  • I'm assuming that this is a finished basement? If it's just partially finished or unfinished, I'd certainly just go with threading them through the ceiling.

    If the basement is finished, there are a heck of a lot of questions that need to be answered first:

    1. What kind of ceiling do you have?
    2. Is it an old house? (leaky?)
    3. Exactly how tall are the ceilings?
    4. Wouldn't it be easier/better to just re-wall the downstairs as opposed to doing raised floor installation?

  • If your basement... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Muad'Dave ( 255648 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @04:56PM (#11759155) Homepage

    ...has ever flooded, or even smells damp, Don't do it!!! Use overhead cable trays or even run the wires up between floor joists. You don't want to ever mix wires and water, even if they're low voltage. It makes an unholy mess. I wouldn't have anything within 3 feet of the floor, if possible. Mount your rack servers on the walls, not sitting on the floor. Ditto for monitors, etc and especially UPS's! Speaking of UPS's, give your sump pump priority over keeping your servers running.

    Good luck - my installation barely survived the floods caused by Hurricane Gaston [nbc12.com] (the stupid slideshow says Frances, but it was Gaston.)

    • Speaking of UPS's, give your sump pump priority over keeping your servers running. Just wanted to bold that up. Muad'Dave makes a great point. If something has cut the power to your house there is a good chance it is related to bad weather which also means a good chance your basement could flood. (And don't think it will not happen just because it hasn't yet, better safe than sorry.)
      • I've thought about putting my sump pump on a UPS but it seems like those things draw a lot of amps when they fire up. Anybody done this and can recommend a good UPS?
        • Most home improvement stores have battery backup sump pumps. They can typically last a few days at normal load. Although they are expensive, they pay for themselves if they prevent just one basement flood. Also, these systems are designed to power electric motors so you don't have to worry about burning up an electronics-grade UPS.

        • My system consists of a dedicated Tripp-Lite 2400W inverter and 6 honkin' 90A/h SLA AGM batteries for the sump pump. It runs my 1/2 HP pump for days. The inverter has a load sense feature that works just fine with the pump, so it's not putting out full voltage all the time (saves battery charge).

        • Don't do this. The pump draws too much. Get a natural-gas generator. You can hook the generator into your electric panel so it'll kick off when the power goes out.

          UPS all your hardware to cover the few seconds between the outtage and the delay before the generator kicks on. The UPS's will also help the power spike, if any, and the noise on the line from the generator.

  • Lets ask why raised floors were invented (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tod_miller ( 792541 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @05:01PM (#11759198) Journal
    They were invented not because of any type of ceiling height excess, but because the distance from the walls were too far to channel and cable around lots of annoying things.

    You basement, forget the ceiling height, that is oh so redundant.

    Are you going to have more than 10 PC towers plugged in at seatable desks? (and that is still a low return on investment).

    If you room isn't being planned to fit 5/6 desks and some central desks that do not have easy wall access, then I think the idea of a floor installation is laughable.

    Once again: unless you *need*, and by need I mean you understand the reasoning behind raised floor 'stalls, them for a purpose, why bother?

    Also there is a new technology just around the corner, I mean, like maybe in 20-50 years, called WiFi, I think that is what it is called, i am sure I was googling for something unrelated and an engadget page with info on it popped up (WHATEVER I search for on google I end up with an FUCKING engadget page showing in the results, weblogs inc shoudl be sued for aggressively poisoning google. fucktards).

    Shit, I lost track of parenthesis, this started out as an insightful post, I don't know where it ended up.

    fucking weblogs inc.
    • WHATEVER I search for on google I end up with an FUCKING engadget page showing in the results, weblogs inc shoudl be sued for aggressively poisoning google

      Had similar problems and then I used AltaVista (remember those guys?). I was so amazed/stunned that Google fell short of the mark that I wrote a Slashdot journal entry about it. Life is beautiful now.
    • How about searching for <blah blah -site:engadget.com ? Or is it more fun to get annoyed...
      • Hmm. I wonder if we could put together a list of "spam sites" and then have a custom query form that automatically adds -site:blah for all spam sites blah in our list?

        Why not tackle search engine spamming like we tackle e-mail spam?
      • I have added this to my google search shortcut, however it doesn't allow you to do an auto search for '+' (and see a smaller reduced screen.)

        I went from a button link on firefox (force english, show minimal page):

        http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+

        To (force english, show minimal page, stop engadget google-bombs, and killfile piquappaillepique...iqpa...(and weblogs!)):

        http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+-site:engad g et.com -site:primidi.com -Piquepaille -weblogs.com

        kinda works I get a
  • Not to mock you, but as others here have pointed out, the flooding issue alone makes a raised floor in a basement a bad idea. Stick with a ceiling drop, or a cable run along ceilings and walls with some vinyl covers to make it look more attractive. If you're going to have some pc servers, I'd suggest a rackmount or an inexpensive industrial storage rack.
  • For a fraction of the cost you can build a wireless network. I'd go with wireless-G if I were you.

  • raised floor envy (Score:5, Funny)

    by JDizzy ( 85499 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @05:34PM (#11759571) Homepage Journal
    Sounds like the poster has the case of server room envy, so bad to the point he is willing to build the experience right into his own home. Sadly this is probably because he cannot find a job where he is access to a raised floor area, and he is jealous. No telling why he is acting this way, but we could guess it because his own incompetence in finding these kind of jobs, or a lack of them in his local. Whatever the case maybe, had he actually worked in a place that has raised floors, especially for any prolonged amount of time, would cause you to associate them to *AHEM* work, and not the sort of thing you want around the home. I recommend spending the money on more schooling which is a better use of the huge amount of cash that it costs to have raised floors, UPS systems, diesel generator, or whatever else it will take to get this guys expanding inferiority complext smothered. I bet anything the poster is a short fellow too! ;)
    • Years ago, just out of college, I lived with a guy who wanted to put a cubicle in his part of the house. I assume that he's gotten over that by now.

      Raised floors are - in some situations - a necessary evil. A home data center is not one of those situations.

  • Don't do that. It would be uselessly expensive and complex.

    Go with a false ceiling with moveable drop columns instead for 110volts (network cables could be hung freely, but of course this would not look as nice). Much cheaper, as the ceiling is lightweight tiles (they don't have to support your weight and the furniture), and it's easy to pull the wires around as you don't have to move the furniture about.

  • We turned an office into a server room and needed a raised floor. Since we couldn't exactly raise the ceiling we used floor panels that were about 3 inches deep, they snapped together and had troughs with covers for the cable runs. They were easy to use, fairly cheap and fit our requirements for a SMALL computer room. The tiles were sturdy (we had 19in full height racks stuffed full sitting on them). Unfortunately, I no longer work there and do not remember who manufactured them. Do a google search.

  • I'm considering doing that in a basement room (soon to be PC room and office) to make network/power wiring easier, modifiable, and expandable.

    How many computers and how much equipment are you going to have down there? How much do you expect your setup to change? Isn't a raised floor a little overkill for a basement? An efficient wiring scheme is all you need. I once lived beside a guy who was a ham radio operator. He had a lot of stuff and was constantly buying new gadgets and gizmos. He has his c

  • only three things matter:
    1) number of bodies that fit
    2) inability to removal tiles from below the floor
    3) proper ventilation

    now (1) you can stretch with a wood chipper, (2) can be safely taken care of with enough heavy equipment, but I can't stress the importance of number (3) enough....
  • First off, I do not know HOW to do that.

    But secondly, I'm interested in knowing WHY would you want to have a raised floor. How big is your datacenter seriously?

    I'm studying for my CCIE and have 26 machines in the house to build multiple networks. Theres even an arcnet network, ethernet, atm (copper,fiber) and now soon, FDDI. I've piled them as towers and lined the towers on a bench. All machines are facing the wall, so like a 50s telephone operator, I just plug in the cables at the back. I have a long spo

  • Call your Insurance Company first (Score:3, Informative)

    by green pizza ( 159161 ) on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @06:28PM (#11760208) Homepage
    Before you go turning your home into a datacenter, call your city's building department and insurance company first or you might void your policy and/or break some laws.

  • Milk crates... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by t_c_gull ( 180834 )
    I used to keep my PCs on top of milk crates and the surge protector, hub, etc. on top of the PCs. I did my best to contain the whole mess of wires with zip ties or velcro straps.

    With the space under the crates and some space on the sides and behind, I got pretty good air flow. One of my machines was overclocked so it needed it. The whole setup worked pretty well and wasn't too unsightly.

  • HVAC? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by digitect ( 217483 ) <digitectNO@SPAMdancingpaper.com> on Wednesday February 23, 2005 @07:29PM (#11760792)
    I used to design labs and data centers for Cisco. IMO, the best reason for raised floor is to provide controlled, high volume HVAC directly to racks as needed. If you don't require additional cooling, then a wire-only raised floor is less useful (besides more expensive) than simply running overhead cable trays.
  • Most people aren't going to want to buy a house with something that bizarre going on in the basement. You'll either have to tear it all out, or drop your price accordingly.

    It might represent increased value for you but not to most people. It certainly won't increase your home's value.

    It's easy to say you'll never want to sell, but things change...

  • I have built one for my home office (Score:4, Insightful)

    by millisa ( 151093 ) on Thursday February 24, 2005 @12:53AM (#11763218)
    It seems every reponse that has been modded up are people who are pointing out things you likely have already thought of. Today's slashdot: Ask for suggestions, get flamed. Nice.

    Let us assume that you have considered the possibility of flooding, you understand you *could* put in a ceiling, and you really are looking at making it look nice. You said the constraint is the ceiling, but the fact of your asking makes me think the constraint is the pocket book. I'm assuming this isn't a server room since you did say 'pc room'.

    I had a similar issue with space. I wanted to house 8-14 machines at any one point running off up to 3-4 monitors with an 'L' shaped desk that covered about 7x5 feet. No amount of ceiling is going to help me find room for my legs when some of them are consumer towers, some are 4U rackmounts on their sides, and some are cute little systems. I knew I'd be moving systems in and out on occasion. I wanted a raised floor to put them all under so the machines were close enough to be hooked to my monitors and switch boxes without extensions, yet still be out of the way, accessible enough, and more importantly quiet (without spending gobs of money every time I brought a new system in to add to the bunch every couple weeks just to make it quiet). My solution was a raised floor for my desk (and only my desk). To do something like this economically (though not necessarily prettily) can be accomplished for under 200 bucks.
    Picture of mine [arcadium.org]

    Building a free standing platform that will hold a good half ton (put down the fritos if this isn't enough) for you, your desk, rolly chair, and 2 or three others isn't too difficult and all you need is a workbench to do some sawing and drilling.

    You can build a platform that has 18" of clearance (enough space that a mid tower can slide under) that stands 24" tall (you can get a full tower in tilted and lean it upwards between crossbeams) with a single 4x4x8', two 2x6x12', eight or so 2x4x8', a couple sheets of 1/2" plywood (preferably higher quality so you dont have to sand) and a plethora of bolts, braces, joist hangers. If you check out the first link there, you can see the mid towers that just fit under the floor, and a full tower showing it being the same height as the floor.. Build the base of the frame by attaching 2x6 pieces to the 4x4 legs with a pair of bolts at each juncture (so each 4x4 would have 4 bolts running through, 2 per side in that corner). When drilling the holes (a drill press helps here), make sure to offset one side by 1/2" up or down (you dont want the bolts meeting each other in the middle of the 4x4). Picture of a corner [arcadium.org] (with braces leading up to an extra post I was using to let a cockatoo visit, dont ask. You can use similar big corner braces like those if you want, but they arent necessary . .I just used them to bolt that extra 4x4 post come up off the floor.). Once you have the base frame (think 'cornerlines in a cube' to visualize) you will want to place support beams through the middle parallel to the short side to support the plywood top you'll be putting on. Use 2x4 hangers screwed into the 2x6 sides and place them approximately every 14-18 inches giving you 2x4 cross beams. This will help support the plywood top and give you a firm surface.

    Once you have your crossbeams in place and everything bolted in, this platform should be rock solid before you put your plywood top on. The plywood you can cut however is most convenient for you. I didn't need a traditional raised floor where you could pull up a 'tile' at any 2 foot interval. I was happy enough to crawl under for the few times I'd need to get under there for initial setups. You may want to work in some access panels or make the top modular. It is really up to you (though you'll need to figure out the way to make it stable and size your crossbeams appropriately). You may also need to deal
  • Why not use wiremold along the walls or cable tray along the ceiling perimeter. It'll be cheaper; and, easier to work with. There are lots of options in either case and you should be able to find something that'll both pass code and look halfway decent.
  • I hate false floors ;) I prefer the "false ceiling" -- those foam ceiling tiles that can be suspended from the rafters. A lot less expensive, easier to install, hides annoying infrastructure, dampens noise, and (IMO) easier to access than a false floor (getting up on a ladder and mucking with cables is better on my back than kneeling and trying to access stuff in a false floor).

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