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Wiring my home for the 1st time

M

master7045

Senior member
I bought my first home and am now ready to run cat 6 to all the rooms. It's a single story ranch with an unfinished basement. I am a novice in networking but am willing to learn and do all of this myself, mostly b/c I'm cheap and I like working on projects like this. My current setup is pretty basic, ATT U-verse coming into the basement and wireless to the rest of the house. What I need:

1x Gigabit switch - from newegg, waiting for a good price on an 8-port dlink, rosewell, trendet, etc
7x 100' cat 6 UTP from monoprice - I may drop this down to 50/75' depending on the length.
7x Cat6 inline couplers
7x keystone wall plates (will be buying a combination of single and 2 hole plates depending on the room)
7x 3' or less lengths of cat6 to go from keystone jacks to PCs/laptops/xbox/etc

So what are your thoughts? I know the inline keystone couplers are more expensive than the punchdown/tool less kind, but they seem simpler for me. This is going to be a home install for streaming music/HD movies over the network. Plus, I like the idea of not having to crimp 14 ends of cat6. If it is THAT much better, I can, but I would prefer not too. I went with 100' of Cat6 since my basement is unfinished and if I ever had to move where I am putting all of this stuff now, I want some extra cable length so I can do that.
The biggest thing I'm worried about is punching holes in the drywall and drilling through to the basement. Unfortunately, the house was already finished when my wife and I looked at it so I wasn't able to run anything before the walls went up. If anyone has any good literature for me to read about this, that would be great. I'm a DIY guy, so I know I should try to find all electrical/water lines first, inside walls would be easier due to no insulation, etc, but any other info would be a big help.
Since my basement is totally unfinished I was planning on mounting the UVerse modem/router to a large piece of plywood, then mounting the switch next to that and mounting the wood to the wall in an area that I am planning to leave unfinished. I don't see the use for a patch panel, but like I said, I'm new to the networking install game. So thoughts, concerns questions? Looking forward to the advise.
 
No. Use solid core cabling in punchdown jacks, with store bought patch cables on each end. The couplers and that cable are asking for trouble. There's a cabling sticky at the top that should cover most of it.

Not the answer you want, but it's the correct one.
 
So you're talking about something like this for cabling and then something like this for the keystone jacks. I dont' mind being wrong, as long as someone lets me know ahead of time. I'd hate to be wrong during this install
 
master7045 said:
So you're talking about something like this for cabling and then something like this for the keystone jacks. I dont' mind being wrong, as long as someone lets me know ahead of time. I'd hate to be wrong during this install
Click to expand...

Yup, that is closer. When you dig through the sticky, there is info on how to do in wall installs and the like also. It is worth getting the right tools.
 
imagoon said:
Yup, that is closer. When you dig through the sticky, there is info on how to do in wall installs and the like also. It is worth getting the right tools.
Click to expand...

I have a decent collection of corded/cordless power tools, drill bits, electrician/mini screwdrivers.
I read in the sticky about some bit that can pass the cord through as it goes??? Never seen anything like this before, but I'll be researching that lil nugget.

One thing I've never managed to pick up is a good wire stripper, I guess I'll finally have to bite the bullet on one of those. I've always used a pocket knife before!

Thanks thus far. I'll keep updating my list as I go along here
 
Basically something like this:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=22292

You cut a hole the size of a wall box (they sell the rings at the hardware store) and pass the flex auger through, as you drill, the small tip drags the bit flat against the wood and then drills a 3/4 or 1 inch hole through to the basement. Some have a hole in the blade designed to attach a cable or pull string to so when you pull the auger back out, the wires come with it.

Example of the ring:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio...ent/drywall-electrical-box-pbmr/prodPBMR.html

Examples only, not recommending the companies themselves.
 
Use a patch panel in the basement and store bought patch cords between the patch panel and the switch. Like this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...d=10514&cs_id=1051401&p_id=972&seq=1&format=2 Cost wise it's a wash between a patch panel and a bunch of keystone jacks, the patch panel is nicer looking IMO and easier to work with.

Terminate the cable runs in the house on a punch down keystone as recommended above.

Rather than using the expensive mud rings, I just use cheap old construction electrical boxes, it seems like they run about 75 cents a piece at home depot or lowes. They may not meet code though, so do this at your own risk. If you wanted to cut the back off of an electrical box you'd essentially have a mud ring for cheap.

If you've got good access to drill through the sole plates from the basement the job shouldn't be too hard. Punching down all the wires will probably take the longest.
 
kornphlake said:
Use a patch panel in the basement and store bought patch cords between the patch panel and the switch. Like this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...d=10514&cs_id=1051401&p_id=972&seq=1&format=2 Cost wise it's a wash between a patch panel and a bunch of keystone jacks, the patch panel is nicer looking IMO and easier to work with.

Terminate the cable runs in the house on a punch down keystone as recommended above.

Rather than using the expensive mud rings, I just use cheap old construction electrical boxes, it seems like they run about 75 cents a piece at home depot or lowes. They may not meet code though, so do this at your own risk. If you wanted to cut the back off of an electrical box you'd essentially have a mud ring for cheap.

If you've got good access to drill through the sole plates from the basement the job shouldn't be too hard. Punching down all the wires will probably take the longest.
Click to expand...

Rings were like 65 cents at the hardware store. Honestly the drywall rings were easier for my but it depend on the house also.
 
huh, home depot wanted like $2.50 for one... The only hardware store I can think of around here is going out of business, everything is 50% off, I don't remember seeing any mud rings there when they weren't going out of business though.
 
master7045 said:
One thing I've never managed to pick up is a good wire stripper, I guess I'll finally have to bite the bullet on one of those. I've always used a pocket knife before!
Click to expand...

If you are going to be using jacks, then a pocket knife or pair of scissors will work just fine.
 
kornphlake said:
huh, home depot wanted like $2.50 for one... The only hardware store I can think of around here is going out of business, everything is 50% off, I don't remember seeing any mud rings there when they weren't going out of business though.
Click to expand...

Their website is not cooperating with me but I used these plastic ring with 2 screws that pulled 2 arms up against the drywall. I may be recalling wrong but they were dirt cheap when I bought a 10 pack of them.

I see them on the web for a dollar but shipping wrecks that price.
 
Mud ring at home depot $1.28 (less than I remember) http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Old work electrical box $.98 (more expensive than I remember) http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Maybe Lowe's prices were way off, or maybe the store has different stock than what's listed on the website. If it comes down to 30 cents per box I'd just use the mud ring, it'll be a little easier to work with as you won't have to stuff all the wires into a box to get the wall plate on.
 
If you are pulling cable to all the rooms then I highly recommend pulling a multi-purpose cable vs a single cat6 cable to each room. The cable is only slightly bigger and you will be glad you did if you ever decided to add things like satellite or cable feeds to the other rooms. The cable doesn't cost all that much more. If you can't find it you can also pull regular cat 6 with coax or phone lines by taping the cable ends together and pulling it all at the same time.

Better to do it while you are in the process than try to figure out how you will get tv cable to a bedroom in the future.

This is some of the combo cables , but it is only cat5.
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=314&sku=43078
 
that combo cable isn't a bad idea. That stuff is cat 5e rated, which is good enough for gigabit speeds so that would be fine. I was going to go w/ cat6 just to future proof, but honestly, I'm probably only going to be in this house 5ish more years
 
The combo cable is a good idea, but the prices are a little wonky. 500' of cat 5e is what $40? So $80 for 2 boxes of cat 5e in different colors, and 500' of coax would be about $40 more (no practical need for quad shield,) by my math that's $120 for 500' of the 3 cables. I'd just tape the ends together and pull 3 cables at once rather than spending 2x as much for a composite cable. Then again you might be able to find a better price than the cable linked above.
 
kornphlake said:
The combo cable is a good idea, but the prices are a little wonky. 500' of cat 5e is what $40? So $80 for 2 boxes of cat 5e in different colors, and 500' of coax would be about $40 more (no practical need for quad shield,) by my math that's $120 for 500' of the 3 cables. I'd just tape the ends together and pull 3 cables at once rather than spending 2x as much for a composite cable. Then again you might be able to find a better price than the cable linked above.
Click to expand...

Good call out, if you read my post, I said I liked the idea, not the price😀 I too agree that the price is a little absurd. I haven't looked at too many places yet for that type of cable, but I imagine it would have to be cheaper somewhere else. All I need is cat6 bundled with RG6 anyway, no need for phone or anything else. Most phones only need one base unit attached to a dedicated line and the rest are all powered by the 120V outlet only. The search continues.
 
Ha, no not yet. Although I have a long weekend coming up so I think I'm going to start this weekend. I just built a makeshift "server" it's really just spare parts celeron 430, 512MB RAM a couple of hard drives and a copy of Win 7. I'm trying to use it as a central media hub and use my 360 as an extender. That way I get the pretty interface of MCE. Long story short, I've got the xbox wired to my Uverse STB and it's slow as, well slow. So step one is going to be running a cat 5 cable up from the basement to the xbox. After I get my feet wet, I'll start the rest of the house 🙂.
 
getting ready to pull the trigger. Here is the cat 5e cabling I'm going with (barring any objections from the experts). It's cat5e CMR rated, so I think its good stuff. Remember I am going from basement to 1st floor, so riser rating is a plus.

I was going to go with the patch panel listed above as well. (from monoprice). Keystones/wall plates probably from monoprice as well and the mud boxes local (home depot/lowes, etc)
 
Might as well use Cat6 / Cat6a - these go up to 10 Gbit - so that you're future proof, in the unlikely event that you ever feel like upgrading to that. They also have a higher margin for use at 1 Gbit, so that minor cable damage during installation or bad connections are less likely to disrupt network operation. By contrast, cat 5 has virtually no margin at 1 Gbit and Cat 5e has a modest margin.

(There's no real difference between Cat6 and Cat6a - except that cat6a has spacers on the outside to stop individual runs of cable from getting too close).

Little point in using Cat5 / Cat5e - these two go up to 1 Gbit, so there is no upgrade path.
 
Don't know if this is the correct forum or not, but I'll post my question here anyway. This is more to deal with how to physically run the wire up the wall through the floor and out the upstairs drywall.

In the pictures below, this is where the wiring comes into the house and it is snaked along the top of the foundation. It's somewhat sloppy as I've played around with it a bit. I'll tidy things up when I'm done.


IMGP2652.jpg



IMGP2653.jpg



The next pictures(s) are where the RG6 cable goes upstairs through the floor. I am planning on drilling a hole near this to snake a line up from there through the hole in the drywall I haven't cut yet. Anyway, sound like a good plan? Feel free to sound off!

IMGP2654.jpg


IMGP2655.jpg
 
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