Cat5 cabling a house?

[ADB100]

I am moving house in a couple of months and would like to have some Cat5 points around the house. In a previous house there was a telephone socket in most rooms and I put some Cat5 points in. I purchased some modular RJ45 & BT sockets and had 'double' sockets in a few rooms. I had a rack of equipment in one room as I work from home quite a lot and have several Cisco routers & switches as well as PC's etc. This is where I terminated the cabling and connected into a switch.
However it was a real pain putting the cabling in and I ended up making and filling holes in walls. I really don't fancy doing it again. I have wireless but need wired points for some IP Phones as well as PC's without wireless that need to be Gigabit connected. I am OK terminating the cabling its just the running in that I can't do.

What is the best way to approach this? I am happy to get someone in but don't want to pay too much as this for home?

Andy

 

[Mugsiensedgwick]

Basicly in the home you have 2 choices.
Up or down, depending on the house.
First determine which way (up or down) is best for your application and then bore a hole in the plate below (or above) the point where you need the jack. Use a good pole and insert it into the hole you've bored, then cut the hole in the wall to the correct size to accomodate the low voltage insert you purchased, reach your hand in and grab your pole behind the wall and pull it out with the cable after you have attached it to the other end with electrical tape. Then install your low voltage insert, terminate the wire and screw in the cover plate.
On longer runs You may want to pull the cable from the other end to avoid getting the cable box through tough places. The pole will work well for that as well, so get good poles.
Avoid putting holes in the wall until you know for sure you can get through into the wall space from above or below. Sometimes you hit a stud or hat channel.
By waiting to put the low voltage insert into the hole until you have the cable through, you leave more room for your hand to fish out the pole.
I usually like a helper so that one can rattle the pole in the wall and the other person to listen to make sure right where the pole comes up.

 

[ADB100]

Yep, that's all sounding like too much work...
I think I'll approach one of the contractors we use at work and see if they are interested....

Andy

 

[Mugsiensedgwick]

No step for a good stepper.

 

[MasterRacker]

Hiring someone is not likely to be cheap. Running wire in a finished house can be time consuming and labor is the biggest expense in this type of job. Loos it over and see if there aren't at least some easy runs you could do before hiring out.

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]

 

[LkEErie]

Now there's a suggestion. "I did all the inside walls, now you can do the hard ones.". You won't get a single break if you called me up to do that. At least the last time we didi that, it was a two man crew and we drilled through the guy's closet And he was an electrician. At least he took it well.

LkEErie

 

[DIACon]

Perhaps raceway would be your best bet. If you can get the cable to the ceiling without too much effort, putting some raceway can be a quick and easy way to get it down the wall.

Chris Cantwell

http://www.DoItAllConsulting.com

http://www.DataPathinc.com

http://www.VoteForCantwell.com

 

[cwc3]

try getting industrial raceway past anyones wife ?

 

[DIACon]

Granted I'm a single guy, but I had some Hellermann Tyton TSR2W in my place and it was nicely done and looked fine.

If the choice is $30 worth of raceway, or $1,000 worth of labor, you can buy her something shiny to make up for it

Chris Cantwell

http://www.DoItAllConsulting.com

http://www.DataPathinc.com

http://www.VoteForCantwell.com

 

[fs483]

Wires can be hidden behind crown moldings! You can also knotch out baseboards (or build it up)and channel the wires in there.

 

[ADB100]

There are a couple of contractors we use at work I am going to ask. Its really just the routing of the cables I need help with. I have (or can get) all the components (cable, sockets, panels etc) but just don't have the skill or confidence to start running the cables...

 

[PBXTech]

you only get the skill or confidence by doing it yourself. even if you screw up, you still hopefully learn and gain skill from that.

 

[cwc3]

wires can be hidden behind crown moldings! You can also knotch out baseboards (or build it up)and channel the wires in there."

No need to pry moldings off or any of that if you know what you are doing!

 

[Gavona]

My house has cavity walls. I am pretty sure that one "shouldn't" run wiring in the cavity but ..... I was able to get to remove a brick in the loft, drop a cord with a weight on the end down to the lower floor and find it via a 1 inch hole in the downstairs room. Careful measurement needed and I marked the cord so I knew it had reached the bottom.
If you are lucky a length of flat packing tape pushed through the downstairs hole will form a large loop into which your cord will drop.

I also ran wiring from loft down the back of cupboards then through the wall to the room behind.

But there were some locations where I ran the wiring through to the outside and on the outside of the house. NB CAT 6 is a bit vulnerable to damage but exterior quality is available at a price. (Drill holes on a slight slope so moisture doesn't drip down the cable to the inside.

Gavin