Wiring My Home - Conduit and Cable Interference

[VanishingHope]

Moved into a house nearly 2 years ago. I plan on wiring my home with Cat6 (solid, 4-pair, 550 mhz tested, plenum, unshielded) and rewiring the coax with RG6 (I believe it's RG6). Still in the design/planning phase. I've read many of the SNB articles regarding this.

I'm still budgetting and determining costs of local installation companies to compare cost of having them do it versus doing it myself. I have some experience taping/mudding drywall and have terminated many cables & setup many small home networks for family... just none of them required through-wall cable management.

My biggest quesetion for the forum is: should I put in conduit for future drops? Based on my home layout, I have a feeling some larger sections of each room will need to be cut out. While the walls are "open", should I spend the extra money to have conduit put in? If so, what diameter is sufficient?

Is there a limit to how many runs I put together? My family room, I plan on 5 drops -- 3 Cat6 and 2 Coax. It's the only room receiving so many. Is it ok to run all 5 of these within the same conduit/section?

Any other hints or tips for are more than welcome. I'm planning to have this complete by end of October.

Thank you,
--Aaron

 

[stevech]

conduit would be a great luxury - save money by making it low-voltage-only for the code.

Now when you wish you have fiber or some as yet unforeseen medium, you can just pull it in!

 

[thiggins]

See http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...n-network-a-concrete-example?showall=&start=1.

He wishes he used 1" conduit vs. 3/4".

Why so many CAT6? And are two RG6 enough? If you have sarellite TV run at least 3, two for the dish and one for OTA antenna.

 

[VanishingHope]

I have Fios TV and Internet, no home phone. I figure 2 coax drops to my family room was all that's needed, just in case I wanted PiP or something like that. We do not have an antenna.

I really only want my PS3 and A/V receiver hooked up via Cat6. The other devices can stay wireless. The 3rd Cat6 drop would be for a wireless bridge or something along those lines.

As for conduit, I was thinking 1" conduit too actually. I based this on an article which discussed conduit fill limitations and guidelines. I believe it was 60/40... 60% could be filled with wire, 40% should be open space. Looking for the website now to post it.

One last note is I started calling around to get installation quotes. While I have basic network setup and installation knowledge, I'm new to adding conduit and junction boxes in existing construction. I'm also going to need to buy every piece of hardware: drywall saw to patch panel to conduit, etc.

I figure if the quote is close enough to what I calculated, it's probably worth hiring out simply based on time -- have it done in 2 days versus a few weekends.

I'll update once I get the quote, and show my calculations and all.
Thanks again for the info.
--Aaron

 

[Gulfsurfer]

PVC conduit

You may want to consider PVC conduit or the flexible corrugated cable raceway, metal may affect the ethernet cable's capacitance. I'm pretty sure the 802 standard calls for UTP in open air...in industry, we try to stay away form running this cable in conduit for more than 10 ft or so.

 

[VanishingHope]

Back in September I was ready to do this and other things took priority. I finally started in the end of November 26th. Here's the story so far...

Contractors estimated ranged between $2500 (no conduit) and $3500 (conduit) for pulling Cat6 cable and installing wallplate/jacks in each room. Note that does not include any rack system, switch, etc... only the cable and wallplate/jacks. They expected this to be a 2 day project.

Decided to do this on my own with a modified plan.

1. I'm leaving the existing coax in place. Upon closer inspection, the FIOS technician re-ran our 3 main rooms with RG6 during installation. No need to re-run at this point.
2. Conduit only from basement to attic to prevent extra walls from "opening".
3. Install wallplates and jacks on 2nd floor in only 2 of 4 rooms. Leave pre-pulled cable in attic for future expansion.

My first floor is completely wired. Conduit from basement to attic complete.

TODO:

• Hang wallmount cabinet for switch & patch panel.
• Hookup switch & patch panel.
• Close wall in garage for condiut run.
• Run cable into attic.
• Drop cable into "office" and master bedroom.