What to Rough-In Before the Concrete Goes Down: Power, Gas, Water, TV, Audio and Heaters

Because a sleeve costs almost nothing before the surface goes down, and cutting a finished patio costs a great deal.

The most common regret we hear on an existing patio is not the material or the size. It is that there is no power at the far end, the TV has a cable running across the stone, or the gas grill someone wants now needs a trench through a slab. Every one of those could have been a length of pipe laid in the base. This guide is the list we go through with owners before any base material arrives. It is written for a household that intends to use the space for years: cooking, watching the game, heating the space in November, and maybe a hot tub or kitchen later.

You do not have to have decided on every appliance. The point of a rough-in is that it keeps options open. A capped sleeve that is never used costs very little; a missing one can mean lifting part of a finished patio or running a cable where it should not be.

Receptacle circuits where you will use them, dedicated circuits for the heavy loads, and a switched circuit for lighting.

Rogers, for example, has adopted the 2020 National Electrical Code, and the NEC's baseline for a house at grade is at least one outdoor receptacle, accessible from grade and no more than 6.5 feet above it, at the front and at the back. The 2020 edition requires GFCI protection for outdoor outlets on the circuits a patio uses. A serious outdoor room needs far more than the minimum. Think about each of these and decide now, even if the appliance comes later.

• General receptacles at the kitchen counter, the seating area and the far end of the lawn.
• A dedicated circuit for an outdoor refrigerator or ice maker.
• A receptacle for a pellet grill, rotisserie or smoker controller.
• Ceiling fan and light circuits in any pavilion, with switches at the house door.
• Electric heaters: many need a dedicated circuit; check the model's specification before sizing it.
• A hot tub, if one is even a possibility; see adding a hot tub to a patio.
• Landscape and step lighting; see patio and walkway lighting.

All of it should be designed and installed by an electrician under a permit where your city requires one. Our job is to make sure the conduit is where the electrician needs it before the base is compacted.

It depends on the wiring method; NEC Table 300.5 sets the minimum cover.

Cover means the distance from the top of the cable or conduit to finished grade, not the depth of the trench. These are the general figures for a residential yard.

Under a slab or a patio different rows of the table can apply, and your inspector has the final word. What matters for planning is that conduit is always the better choice than bare cable: it lets a future electrician pull new wire without digging anything up.

Enough depth, a tracer wire if it is plastic, and a size that covers every appliance you might add.

The International Fuel Gas Code, summarised by the International Code Council, sets a minimum burial depth of 12 inches for underground gas piping. Lines to individual outdoor appliances such as a grill or a light can be 8 inches below grade if the code official approves and the route is not exposed to physical damage. Plastic pipe must have a yellow insulated copper tracer wire of at least 18 AWG, so it can be found later. Gas piping under buildings has to be in a conduit, and plastic pipe is limited under slabs, with specific exceptions for outdoor patios, walkways and driveways.

The planning point is size. A line sized for one grill will not run a grill, a fire table, a pizza oven and two patio heaters at once. Add up the ratings of everything you might want and let the gas installer size the line to that total, not to today's shopping list. For fire features, see fire pit and fireplace costs.

A supply for a sink, a drain that actually goes somewhere, and a way to empty the line before a freeze.

Rogers publishes a frost line depth of 18 inches. A water line that stays full through the winter needs to be protected from freezing, which usually means depth plus a shut-off and drain point inside the house so the outdoor run can be emptied in autumn. The drain side is harder: a sink needs somewhere legal to discharge, and that decision affects where the kitchen can go. We settle it with the plumber at the design stage.

Surface drainage belongs in the same conversation. A patio that sheds water toward a drain inlet needs the pipe laid before the base. See drainage and grading.

At least one empty conduit to each place a screen, speaker, camera or access point might go.

Low-voltage cable, whether for a TV, speakers, a network or cameras, should run in its own conduit, apart from the power circuits. The technology changes faster than the patio does, so the most valuable thing to bury is an empty conduit with a pull string in it, from the house to the pavilion or the kitchen. Good places to plan a run to:

• The wall or post where an outdoor TV will hang.
• Speaker positions at the corners of the seating area.
• A pavilion post for a Wi-Fi access point.
• Camera positions covering the gate and the back door.
• The landscape lighting transformer location.

Decide gas or electric now, because each needs a different line under the surface.

Mounted infrared heaters on a pavilion beam can be gas or electric. Gas heaters need a gas branch to each unit and clearances the manufacturer sets. Electric units need circuits sized to their rating, often dedicated. Free-standing propane heaters need nothing buried but take floor space and bottles. Pick the approach before the pavilion ceiling goes up, so wiring or piping runs inside the structure rather than on its face.

Anyone disturbing the ground, before any digging, free of charge.

Arkansas 811's own FAQ says anyone who will disturb the ground must contact them, and there is no cost. Utilities are asked to mark their lines within two full working days. Work must start within 10 working days of the ticket, while the marks are still visible, and a ticket is valid for 20 working days. Within the tolerance zone around marked lines, digging has to be by hand or a method the utility approves.

One detail catches people out: utilities only mark their own lines. Anything behind the meter, such as a line to a shed, an old gas grill, a well or a detached garage, belongs to the owner and will not be marked. Tell us about every private line you know of before excavation starts.

Photographs and measurements before backfill, and a simple drawing.

Before the base covers anything, photograph every run with a tape measure in shot, from two fixed points such as the house corner and a pavilion post. Mark each sleeve end above ground. Keep a one-page drawing with the photos. Whoever works on the patio in ten years, including you, will know where to dig and where not to.

Hand a copy to the electrician, the plumber and the gas installer, and keep one with the house papers. When the house is sold, that drawing is worth giving to the buyer: it saves them guessing, and it shows the work was planned rather than improvised.

Print it, and tick each line as decided, not as installed.

If a pool is on the horizon, read planning a patio for a future pool as well.

Projects with Gallardo Custom Builds start around $7,500. Francisco "Paco" Gallardo, the owner, walks the site himself before any number is given, because what is under the ground and what you want to do with the space both change the answer. The visit costs nothing. Financing is available through Acorn Finance. Call (479) 379-2226 or send the project form.