Is your house wired for ethernet?

[QueHuong]

If so, did you install it yourself was it like that when you bought it? I was under the impression a lot of new houses are being wired for it. My house is only 3.5 years but it's not.

So is wiring the house yourself difficult or otherwise make the house ugly and reduce the price? Are there any tutorials out there for it?

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Wiring for Ethernet is no more complicated than wiring for telephone service. The biggest issue is the labor stringing the cable. There are a number of places that sell nice wallplates for RJ-45 connections, that's what I used. I used the modular ones that allow you to combine multiple types of connections, behind my TV rack, I have one that has the cable TV connection, an RJ-45 for Ethernet, and an RJ-11 for telephone. The Ethernet goes to the TiVo, of course.

 

[Odoacer]

I wired my house from the computer room downstairs to my room upstairs. I didn't go inside walls but i drilled a wall into the garage and ran the cable up through there to my room. But I'm kind of at a loss at how to wire it to my sister's room (which is across the hallway from the computer room). Do I rip up the carpet, go through the ceiling or what?

 

[foshizzle]

do you have an attic, just go through there

 

[gaidin123]

My roomate and I just finished wiring up my new (and first! ) house this weekend. He volunteered to mostly be the attic monkey (1 story house) and I did most of the wallplates, wiring, fishtaping, etc. It took a lot longer than I originally anticipated mainly because we used pre-existing TV cable drops in most of the areas. The problem was that some of the boxes were done when the drywall wasn't on the wall and were nailed into studs..Other issues we ran in to was some really old, nasty phone wiring. We ended up pulling most of those runs and replacing them with another run of plenum Cat5e.

We used 4 port single gang wallplates and put 2 data, 1 phone, and 1 cable connector though not all of the cable connectors are wired up just yet.

Wiring 6 wallplates and a patch panel wasn't very difficult, but pulling cable and drilling holes to pull it through took by far the most time. The parts aren't very expensive and in the end I think it was worth it. I've pulled wire before in an office building and it was a *lot* easier/quicker with the false ceilings and existing conduit.

Gaidin

 

[sunburninaz]

As long as you have attic access, adding Ethernet is a simple process (though it can be time-consuming). Here's a fairly basic set of instructions on how to run the cable up from the box to the attic: Running Cable in Finished Space . If you're even fairly handy, you can patch any holes fairly easily (hence, not ugly). As for price, wiring for Ethernet will in no way negatively effect the price or value of the house. Ethernet cable can be run under carpet but that also makes it subject to damage.

When my wife and I built our house 10 years ago, I went in and prewired for everything - extra phone lines, cable, speaker wiring, etc... The only thing I didn't wire for was a network. Who knew, back then, that it would be a concern? Unfortunately, in a 2-story house, it is difficult to go in - after the fact - and run wiring through the ceiling.

The long and the short of it is that, when the time came to network additional computers around the house, the wife refused to let me start doing all the sheetrock cuts that would have been necessary to run it between floors. The solution - wireless. Far easier than running Ethernet and yet allows me to have the laptop out at the pool or up in bed. With prices dropping, you can have a good system set up for under $100.

 

[JackMDS]

It not so difficult to wire a house if you follow few simple rules.

If you are not experienced with RJ-45 crimping do not crimp.

It is much easier and better results to Install in the wall Keystone Jacks, (or surface RJ-45 Keystone boxes if you do not ?snake? the cable inside the walls).

The computers and other Network hardware are then connected with commercial made RJ-45 to the wall outlets. Commercially made CAT5 patches are very inexpensive these days.

Link: Inexpensive Ethernet CAT5 Patch Cables.

The following link will provide an actual description of Keystone installation...
Link: Physical Home Networking

Link: How To Terminate & Assemble Keystone Jacks.

You can buy the Keystones and plates at Home depot, or on line here.

Link: http://www.9thtee.com/networking.htm


If you insist on crimping, full instructions here.

Link: How to make CAT5

 

[tc17]

Originally posted by: MindStorm
If so, did you install it yourself was it like that when you bought it? I was under the impression a lot of new houses are being wired for it. My house is only 3.5 years but it's not.

So is wiring the house yourself difficult or otherwise make the house ugly and reduce the price? Are there any tutorials out there for it?

I think a big problem is that a lot of builders don't have a clue as to what a "network" is. They lay some 5e cable for telephone and think they have a network. Or at least thats what our experience was recently.

 

[cmetz]

MindStorm, I did it all myself (well, had some buddies helping with labor), but I'm not even remotely a normal user It is increasingly common in new homes to have Ethernet drops wired in. From what I'm seeing, the majority of the cable installers for residential Ethernet are minimally competent. Unfortunately, builders are cheap and don't understand or care to about communications wiring.

Cabling before drywall goes up is pretty easy. Cabling after drywall goes up is much trickier. In the latter case, if you're a hard-core do-it-yourselfer, you can do it, it's not too too bad. But if you're not, it might be best to get a pro retrofitter in. They know all the little tricks and have the cool tools to make it go so much smoother and do that much less damage. The single most difficult part to retrofit is the riser from attic to basement, the link between your second floor's network drops and your first floor's network drops.

 

[skyking]

I did 9 drops, all in the crawlspace, existing installation. I used the poor-man's patch panel, a pair of 6 hole wall plates with keystone jacks.
I did this because the "server" room can also be a spare bedroom, and I did not want a patch panel hung off the wall there.
I can move out my desk, paint the place, and sell it. The new buyers may not give a care about a network, and all there is left are a pair of 6 plates in one room, and 2 holers everywhere else, tastefully installed to match the height of the power outlets.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: cmetz
...The single most difficult part to retrofit is the riser from attic to basement, the link between your second floor's network drops and your first floor's network drops.

This is the only part of the wiring I did 14 years ago when I built this house. I had a 1 1/2" pipe run from the attic to the basement, and it's gotten a lot of mileage over the years!

 

[amdskip]

I ran it in my parents house from the first floor into a wet wall and up through the attic and then I added a couple jacks in my room. No electrical boxes were used and it looks/works great.

 

[reicherb]

I'm currently wiring my house. The Kitchen and bathroom are done so far. In the kitchen I put 1 coax and 2 cat5e drops (data/phone) in three different locations and put 1 coax and 2 cat5e drops in the bathroom. (never know when you might want a TV and/computer in the bathroom) They all run back to a patch panel in the basement. I will porbably run speaker wire as well.

 

[cmetz]

gunrunnerjohn, you did the single smartest thing you could. My neighborhood's foreman was strongly encouraging people to do that on the he'll-forget-he-saw-it plan (well, using the flexible blue conduit from Home Depot), and it amazed me how many people refused to take the clue.

 

[reicherb]

I'm also going to put in (2) 2" conduit runs from the basement to my attic (2 different sections).

 

[Pudgygiant]

We have conduits in our house (supposedly for cable, but they end at blank wall plates), but my dad and I were just too lazy to wire it so we went with wireless. I've tried ethernet and 802.11g for file swapping and there's almost no difference. But the ol' ethernet vs. wireless argument isn't the point of this thread, so I won't go into it.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: cmetz
gunrunnerjohn, you did the single smartest thing you could. My neighborhood's foreman was strongly encouraging people to do that on the he'll-forget-he-saw-it plan (well, using the flexible blue conduit from Home Depot), and it amazed me how many people refused to take the clue.

The funny part is that it was painless and dirt cheap when the house was being built! I think they billed me $50 for the pipe and putting it in. It's got a few coax connections for TV, a couple of CAT-5 cables, and some phone and bell wiring for other projects running through it.

I'm astonished that people that were actually presented with the idea refused it, that's pretty short sighted! I had to think it up myself, and my motivation was my previous house wiring, what a PITA!

 

[azev]

Just recently I posted here about paying over $5k for all wiring in my house. This include stereo wiring, pre-wire for alarm system also. Most of the cost is for my data wiring.

 

[cmetz]

gunrunnerjohn, some people can't take a clue, even when it's gift wrapped.

 

[substance12]

when installing the Keystone Jacks you need to strip the cables. do you need a special tool for this or can you just peel away the "outer" insulation?

 

[leolaw]

Wired my house is just for saving my Budget >_<

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: substance12
when installing the Keystone Jacks you need to strip the cables. do you need a special tool for this or can you just peel away the "outer" insulation?

You just peel away the outer insulation.

May be this can Help (read it slowly).

Link: How To Terminate & Assemble Keystone Jacks.

 

[ScottMac]

I had to fight 'em a little, but I got my place cabled. 12 Drops (including kitchen, balcony, garage, bathrooms & -some- closets), two UTP ("level 7" - Cat 6 wasn't ratified), 2 RG6 Quad shield Coax, and four strands of 62.5/126 MM fiber (most places) + two runs of each to the attic, and two runs of each to the outside (the NID and cable junction).

It all comes back to my utility room, where I also had a dedicated dual 20 amp double-duplex power plate installed (two 20 A circuits to two double outlets). SInce I had it laying around, I also had some 6ga copper run to the service panel for an EIA/TIA 568a spec grounding system (a big ol' copper plate with lots of tapped holes for a good single point ground). I also made sure there was an air conditioning vent in the utility space.

When it was all done, I had enough to fill two 24 port copper panels (one for UTP, one for coax), and two 24 port fiber WICs/panels. I use the Leviton phone bridge to break out the two phone pair, provide an RJ31x jack for the alarm, and the previous and possible future ISDN and/or DSL lines.

I got all the copper for free (Lucent Gigaspeed from the Cabling Lab) I think I paid ~500.00 for the 1000 ft spool of fiber. The info outlets and inserts were given to me by the Ortronics Rep for helping them out on a project. The fiber trays were removed from our old Lab when we moved to a new building (they were dumpster-bound). I have my own fiber termination kit and 'scope, but I had to buy the connectors.

I almost put in a hybrid fiber: MM and single mode ... just to be "future proof"....but I dislike doing single mode termination more than I dislike doing stranded UTP termination (I'd eat a pound of liver first....ugh).

I use the system to move s-video and composite (both with audio)around the house; I used to use it for serial connection, and of course....data (10/100 and GigE).

I had to let "Ted the Wire guy" (the Builder's Vice President's Husband) do the pulling, but I spot checked him, and did a cert scan (to Cat5e) on the system before the drywall went up. The only thing he messed up was that the cables exit from the wall, not the ceiling ... so instead of a nice loom coming down the wall, it all exits from a duplex mud ring and loops back to the panels. He blames the drywallers (but he's the one that put in the mud ring after I left).

Structured Cabling is a Good Thing.

FWIW

Scott