Originally posted by: Arkitech
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
CAT5e is the de-facto network cabling. It will run full gigabit speeds, and is available at Home Depot in single foot quantities, 500 foot quantities, and 1000 foot quantities. Just buy 1000 - it'll only run $50.
Electrical wiring is dicey for a first time DIY. I personally recommend _A SINGLE OUTLET TO A BREAKER_ - and NEVER tap overhead lighting into an outlet. You will hate yourself for it. Also NEVER switch an outlet. You'll hate yourself worse for that.
Chances are, you'll never need the capacity provided by doing a 1:1 outlet:breaker ratio, but it's a convenience thing. It's not as though breakers are expensive. Also, you may want to look into installing a 220v circuit or two - just in case you ever need some euro hardware.
interesting, I know I should'nt combine an outlet and light to the same circuit or switch but I thought it was ok to run multiple outlets to one breaker
Ignore that advice (except the cat 5e, and even then, why not consider a wireless network? If you've got the money, and want it wired, go with cat 6)
There are quite a few questions I'd consider first... What do you have coming into the house? (100 amp service? 200 amp service?) Also, how many floors in the house? 1 story with attic crawlspace = easier to run the wires.
Check codes.. I can't remember how many outlets you can have per circuit, or how many ceiling lights per circuit.
In my house (I rewired the whole thing), I had 1 circuit per room, except 2 in living room, 2 in dining room, 2 in upstairs bath, and 3 in kitchen, plus 2nd floor has 1 circuit for all the ceiling lights (and ceiling fans), same for 1st floor. Kitchen, bath need GFI circuits. EVEN IF your house was built before GFI was required, do yourself a favor and have a GFI outlet put in. Ask in another thread if you don't know how one protects you. (you can put the GFI outlet in the first outlet in the circuit, then have the rest of the circuit run off that outlet; you don't need a gfi receptacle for each outlet in the circuit)
You should be fine with the ceiling lights in half a dozen rooms or so on the same circuit. Personally, I would figure out the shortest total route or most convenient route to get to all the lights, providing them with the electric. Then, I would run another wire from the light to the wall switch. The neutral needs to be electrically hooked up from the supply side to the light, as well as the ground. The hot wire going to the light heads out the branch to the switch. The return wire from the switch goes to the light. Code dictates which color wire you connect the hot to at the light to go to the switch, but it really won't effect anything. I do remember that you have to wrap a couple inches of the white wire from/to the switch with black electrical tape to denote that it is the hot wire.
Should be an relatively easy but very time consuming project for the DIY.
MOST IMPORTANT!!! MAKE SURE YOUR CONNECTIONS ARE TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT!!! Loose connections or bad connections lead to increased resistance, which leads to increased heat. Increased heat leads to fire. Fire leads to death. Lazy electricians use the spring clips inside the outlets... screw that. All you have is just a little razor blade making the electrical connection. Not sufficient as far as I'm concerned. Use the screws on the sides of the outlets. Gold colored is the hot side, silver colored is the neutral side, and always ground the outlet and the outlet box.
Some codes (or maybe national code) says that you can't go directly from the wire to the outlet, then from the outlet back out again. You have to use wire nuts and pigtails. Screw that (unless it has to be inspected). Just don't use the little holes you push the wire into.
Don't even bother with 14 gauge wire... given the price, just get a 250 foot spool of 12 gauge. Then, if you should ever decide you have something that requires a 20 amp circuit, you're all set and don't have to run new wire.
