My idea was sparked with RED'z new home being built.

HOW can we do this? Have ethernet running to various outlets in his home (maybe 4?)

I'm sure with a home under construction, with the wall exposed, it'll be easy for Commicast to come out and run ethernet wherever he wants. How would he hook it up to a modem though?

My idea.... Have one central point (i.e., office) where the cable modem connects to the cable outlet, and then hits a router. One of the "outputs" from the router would plug into the wall to send the Ethernet throughout the house.
-- Would this plug need to have 4 input jacks, and each jack having a different cable going to a each room?
-- Could he have just one input into the wall that splits to 4 rooms?

My idea: http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?M=3C...7030&ref=GB
Just plug one output from the router into each of these plugs, then have the ethernet run from this outlet to the rest of the house.
http://www.keenzo.com/pimg/Image/Pro...0196351-OR.jpg

Not a bad idea, but that's $3200 for that setup, and it comes with like 20 sets of stuff.

If I can, I don't mind running ethernet myself, but the problem I have is...

1. Blown in insulation.

2. Gotta try to do it after the electrical inspection and before drywall.

I want to do my surround sound stuff too.

All you need is a 20 port smart-switch, a 20 port patch panel, a 19" wall mount rack to put the switch and patch panel in and your cable modem. Find a central closet that you would not mind this stuff being in, or the garage. Have the cable company run cable to that location. Have a company or individual run the CAT-6 from that location to each room. You would then wire the cables into the patch panel, then run patch cables from the panel to the switch. Plug your cable modem into the input port on the switch and you are good to go. I could do all this for you if I had the time to get up there. What you could do is see if the electrician could run all the cable and then I could wire it all up for you in a weekend after the house is built. You can get a 1000' roll of Cat-6 for $90 or so. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=...itle#ps-sellers

If the electrician runs the cable make sure he does not cross over any fluorescent lights also make sure what you buy "Plenum Cable" which is certified for use in ceilings and walls or else you will not pass your inspection.

I wasn't really thinking of buying that setup... more just using a similar outlet and running the wire yourself. You could do what Java suggested, that just seems a little above a "basic" level of knowledge.

From what I remember most people charge about $50-75 per drop so if you were to have a company come in and do it the price could be higher than you would like. I had a friend in Florida who was having a house built and he asked the electrician to run all the cables and then gave him a side tip.

Speaking from an electricians point of view its really not that hard just go get a box of cat6 and a lowvoltage panel from home depot and start cutting holes for the low voltage panel and then where you want your wires in each room and run the wire from each room to that panel and then pull a main line to the outside of the house where the cable hookup for internet is and your done just put your modem in the lowvoltage panel which has a spot for a plug as well and there you go a house with ethernet....however....a electrician could do this for you but would charge you $100 an hour minimum and parts and it would probably take two guys to do it one in the attic or crawl to drill the holes to phish wire down or up whatever it may be but it really isn't that hard to do it yourself if you are a little handy.

JD

just about every switch/router producer has products to use ur existing wiring... (only up to about 200mb per second theoretical max tho)
u plug an adapter into ur 3 prong outlet, and it adapts it to ethernet...

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/PowerLine

^^the power line stuff is an ok option.

Thats a weird faceplate majik, the only downside I see to that is no expendibility and I don't like keeping the router and modem out in plain sight. Mine is in a cabinet in the basement along with my server.

I run about 15,000 ft. of Cat6 a year for the local hospital here. The way to do it is to get something like this:

1. patch panel - http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-N050-012-...t/dp/B000067SC6
2. gigabit switch - http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-EG008W-Gigab...9704&sr=1-3

Put all that in a closet somewhere, your router/modem will go at this same location on a small shelf. The ideal place for this is the same location the phones come into the house. Many newer homes have a board already mount with a punch down block for the phone. Often the Cable comes in at this same spot. That way you can either split it off immediatly for cable or you can put in ONE filter for the whole home rather than one on every phone if your using DSL.

So you run all your lines around the house back to this one location. you can have a bunch extra your not going to use right now since you punch them all down on the patch panel. Then you just jumper the one's your using to the switch, which is jumpered to the router, which is connected to the modem. If your only going to be using 4 of them right now you can probably get by without the switch for right now and just use the routers built in switch. Linksys's new line of gigabit wireless routers are very nice and from what I've seen very reliable.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

edit: btw I don't know what java's smoking! Plenum cat6 is EXPENSIVE, I get mine at $250 a box when I order it in bulk that price he gave of $90 is about right for non-plenum, chances are you can get by with non-plenum but I have to use plenum at the hospital. Check with whoever certifies that stuff to make sure but 99% of home wiring is non-plenum. All that plenum wire means is that it's non-toxic when it burns, if the smoke from the wire could spread then you have to use plenum. Since most homes don't have drop ceilings like a business does this is typically a non-issue.
http://www.phonicear.com/learnplenum.asp

btw, one last thing, have a local company do it. The phone/cable people are typically paid by the site, so they aren't concern about quality, just quantity of work completed.

You could always take the easy way, use toolless wall jacks, run all cables to a central location, like a closet, and plug in your router there. This will be the center of your wireless network as well. From there, you can run the internet port of your router through to another toolless jack to wherever your cable outlet is located and plug your modem in there.

This will also allow you to easily upgrade your router, or change it if it goes bad, as well as upgrade your internet connection.

If you get a linksys as your central point, you can upgrade the software and have super-control over every port... IE.. Block porn.com to the kids room so that they can't surf teh pron.. block RDTiburon.com in the bedroom so you actually sleep at night.. so on and so forth.

You can actually log every connection made and log onto your router and view by individual port.

The router is the center of the network anyways, may as well use it as such.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (javageek @ Apr 7 2009, 11:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>All you need is a 20 port smart-switch, a 20 port patch panel, a 19" wall mount rack to put the switch and patch panel in and your cable modem. Find a central closet that you would not mind this stuff being in, or the garage. Have the cable company run cable to that location. Have a company or individual run the CAT-6 from that location to each room. You would then wire the cables into the patch panel, then run patch cables from the panel to the switch. Plug your cable modem into the input port on the switch and you are good to go. I could do all this for you if I had the time to get up there. What you could do is see if the electrician could run all the cable and then I could wire it all up for you in a weekend after the house is built. You can get a 1000' roll of Cat-6 for $90 or so. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=...itle#ps-sellers

If the electrician runs the cable make sure he does not cross over any fluorescent lights also make sure what you buy "Plenum Cable" which is certified for use in ceilings and walls or else you will not pass your inspection.</div>

A lot of that is above my head man. I'm not sure at all what I should do, but now you guys have me nervous of even thinking of doing it on my own. I'll see if I can get in touch with the builders to find out who the electrician is.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (redturbulance @ Apr 7 2009, 02:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Speaking from an electricians point of view its really not that hard just go get a box of cat6 and a lowvoltage panel from home depot and start cutting holes for the low voltage panel and then where you want your wires in each room and run the wire from each room to that panel and then pull a main line to the outside of the house where the cable hookup for internet is and your done just put your modem in the lowvoltage panel which has a spot for a plug as well and there you go a house with ethernet....however....a electrician could do this for you but would charge you $100 an hour minimum and parts and it would probably take two guys to do it one in the attic or crawl to drill the holes to phish wire down or up whatever it may be but it really isn't that hard to do it yourself if you are a little handy.

JD</div>

Got any links you can show a brother that I might understand?

There is an attic of sorts, but I don't know how easy it would be to do any of that because of the insulation. This house is very green, with full solar power, so there's a LOT of wiring going on.

Gives me some ideas though...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mr. Muffin @ Apr 7 2009, 03:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>just about every switch/router producer has products to use ur existing wiring... (only up to about 200mb per second theoretical max tho)
u plug an adapter into ur 3 prong outlet, and it adapts it to ethernet...

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/PowerLine</div>

Funny, every time I've posted the powerline adapters here I get hounded for them being shit, and after doing some research on them the last time I posted, they aren't great.

Hey Redz, I'm an electrician, and have wired around 200 homes. I do Bell/Cable in almost every home I do, and usually do ethernet too, if the homeowner wants. There are a few ways to do this. The way Supercow mentioned is a great method, however it's not really practical for homes, unless you have a 'media closet'.

I do media closets alot in higher end homes. These closets are typically the source for a multi-room audio/video distribution setup, phone lines, cable lines, and ethernet lines. In this setup, all lines are run from the closet to your destination. If you're planning on a locally controlled multiroom audio or audio/video setup (with a keypad in the zones you have music in, where you can change the channel/cd/station, etc), I would highly recommend a media closet. It typically will have ducts running to it from your HRV system to circulate air. I don't recommend running to your main ducting because when you're heating your house you don't want to be heating this room. I don't know if builders use HRV's (Heat Recovery Ventilators, also known as Venmar's, may go by different name in your locality) in your area. You'll want to place it in a cool area of the house, anyway. They should have either 1 x 20 amp circuit, or a 3-wire 15 amp circuit (also called a split plug, where each outlet on the plug is its own circuit directly from the electrical panel).

Media closets are not practicle in 90% of homes because 1: They take up space, 2: they are more specialized, meaning more work and more $$$, and 3: Most homes don't have mutliroom A/V systems. You're not going to have a media closet to house a cable modem, a cable splitter, and a phone demarcation.

Option two is to run all of your ethernet cables back to a central location where you plan on keeping your modem and router. This is typically where your primary computer will be. If you have an office, this is usually the best choice. You'll run your cable/phone line (depends on if you have cable or DSL) from your primary demarcation (where the bell and cable companies hook up their shit, usually around your electrical panel or meter outside) to your internet hub (your office). From here, you run cat-6 to the rest of the rooms in the house, wherever you want an ethernet jack. Everything runs back to your main hub, which is your office. Only problem with this is once everything is run, you are pretty much stuck with it. You have to keep your modem and router at this location. (there is actually a way around this, you can run TWO cat-6 cables to each ethernet jack. If you want to use this method, I'll elaborate some more on it).

Option 3 is what I do in about half the homes I wire, where people do not want to pay the extra labour and material for a specialized ethernet cable install. Running phone and cable lines (Z-wire and RG-6) in a home is pretty much standard. What I do, is instead of running z-wire/phone cable for your phone lines, is run Cat-6. With this method, anywhere you have a phone jack in your home, you potentially have an ethernet jack. It's just a matter of removing the phone jack plate, and installing an ethernet jack instead. The biggest problem with this is that now you must keep your modem and router at your demarcation point, which is usually in a garage or utility room, not the most ideal conditions for electronics. In a utility room it's not so bad, given you build a shelf to house the equipment. The other issue is that specialized electronics stationed right beside an electrical panel can create alot of electromagnetic interference. These two problems are why I do not recommend this method, it's kind of a half-assed way of doing things. Not to mention if you want an ethernet jack, you have to actually swap the phone jack, which is a PITA.

For most homes I highly recommend option two. It's the most practical, and the most end-user friendly. And if you do it yourself it'll be fairly cheap. I can walk you through everything you need to know.

You don't have to do this after the electrical inspection (at least you shouldn't, since it's not considered electrical). We don't here, and Canada's electrical codes are stricter than NEC codes (at least from what I've read of the NEC codes). This may fall under building code though I doubt it. You should, however wait until the electrical wiring is done before doing this. When wiring, I always try to keep at least 1ft away from any electrical wiring. If you have to cross electrical wires, do so at 90 degrees perpendicular. Always stay away from lighting fixtures. When it comes to boxes, I prefer to use plastic electrical boxes, since metal boxes can potentially pick up an induced current, and running seperate grounding to these boxes is another PITA. For these installs I normally use leviton faceplates, as they're the best I've used, and if my supplier is closed I can pick them up at Home Depot. They look good and provide a nice clean look. In most houses this is satisfactory, but if you have more than 7 runs (7 ethernet outlets throughout the house) we can discuss other options. If you have a detached garage I would also recommend a run to it as well.

This is something you CAN do on your own. It typically takes me about 2 hours to wire in a basic ethernet system with 5 drops. I'd estimate it would probably take someone who doesnt do this for a living, about 7-8 hours to do it. Just put a day aside for it. It always helps to have a friend who'll help out, but I do it alone.

edit: after re-reading majik's post, looks like he has a good understanding of it. You must run seperate cables to each ethernet jack, you can't just split 4 lines off of one jack.

I would still run the lines using the router as the center of the network. Routers have much greater control if you hook them up to a computer directly instead of complicating things by identifying IP addys. You could even limit the internet to 1 or 2 websites when your kids are grounded.

After reading that a few times, I want to do Option 2 for sure, but I don't know how to work with that cable. I mean how do you put the ends on it after you cut it from a spool? We have no need for the landline phone lines, so the other method would work took, but I like to have my modem and router next to my 360's anyways.

Got any recommendations for cable and ends, tools and such? I'm still going to see what it would cost me for the guy that's running the wire to do it at the same time.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RED ZMAN @ Apr 11 2009, 01:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>After reading that a few times, I want to do Option 2 for sure, but I don't know how to work with that cable. I mean how do you put the ends on it after you cut it from a spool? We have no need for the landline phone lines, so the other method would work took, but I like to have my modem and router next to my 360's anyways.

Got any recommendations for cable and ends, tools and such? I'm still going to see what it would cost me for the guy that's running the wire to do it at the same time.</div>

If you get the wires run I can do it all in a weekend when I can get up there. I already have the crimpers, you would need to get a punchdown tool and the jacks. They sell it all at Lowes, Best Buy, etc.

The only problem Java is time will be TIGHT when it comes to this, chances are it'll have to be on a weekday because of how fast they are moving on the house. The framing is done and the sidewalls are all up as of me leaving yesterday, and the foundation was just poured on Wednesday.

I've found a couple of reels of Cat 6 on ebay, prices seem decent, but don't know how much to get. What's a punchdown tool?

1000 Feet of Cat 6 - about $110 shipped.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1000-CAT6-CAT-6-Data-B...93%3A1|294%3A50


500 feet of Cat 6 for $70 something shipped.
http://cgi.ebay.com/500-Ft-Cat-6-Cat6-Ethe...93%3A1|294%3A50


Is this the punchdown tool you were talking about?

http://www.tecratools.com/pages/telecom/punchdown.html



Interesting video. Is it really THIS easy?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...17259493406004


So I'm thinking this.

1 in each bedroom.
1 in the living room.
1 in the dining room.
1 in the kitchen.
1 in the garage.

Total of 7 lines. My router only has 4 slots though, so what else do I need to do?

Is there a panel I should get to terminate these all near the modem/router?


With any luck, I can get in there and get some measurements this week to make sure I'm getting enough cable, I'm just still not sure if I'll be allowed to do it, or even be able to get in there at the right time, kinda why I wanted the guy that runs their wires to do it, so I don't miss the date.

Well all you need to do right now (rough-in stage) is to run the wire to the boxes. All of the terminations, connections, etc, are all done once the drywall is up, and painting is done.

http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibcGetAttac...amp;appName=IBE

Look at page 180. That will be your finished product.

Mount two boxes either on top of one another or beside each other (leave at least 6" between them for cover plates and wiring). Run 4-6 cat-6 cables to each box. Leave roughly 8" of each cable inside the box, with slack outside of the box as well. Coil up the wire good and leave it in the box. Label each wire with a sharpie marker or a good felt tipped pen.

The reason you want to coil it up good, and leave slack outisde of the box, is drywallers. When they mount the drywall, they use a roto-tool to cut out the holes for the boxes as they mount the drywall, and they'll usually nick the wires inside the box with their bit. Leaving slack outside the box will allow you to pull more (untouched) wire into the box should they damage the wire inside the box already. I typically only leave about 3" inside the box, and leave an extra foot outside of the box, and pull them all in at the end.

I use those wallplates rather than the low voltage panels only because they leave such an unfinished look. In a media closet, sure I'll always use them, but in a finished room, no way. Wall plates are clean and simple.

Don't forget to run a cable/cat-6 line to wherever the cable/phone line enters the house (depending on cable or DSL).

As java said, it's just a punchdown tool and a RJ-45 crimper. The punchdown tool is usually included if you buy a bag of RJ-45 jacks (you don't need a heavy duty professional one like you posted, a small plastic one is all you need). My Ideal RJ-45 crimper was about $80 CAD. 500 Ft. of cable should be plenty (I estimate 50 ft. per drop for an average sized house). Just get your cat-6, and everything else you can get at lowes/HD (all you'll need are 10-12 PVC electrical boxes, and some S1 electrical staples, and screws to mount the boxes. Vapor barrier if you're working with outside walls). The rest can be done any time after the paint is done.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RED ZMAN @ Apr 11 2009, 03:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I mean how do you put the ends on it after you cut it from a spool?</div>

Like I said earlier, use the easy way.. Toolless wall jacks. Measure the length of the lines. Then buy the cat6 from lowes or a computer store. Have them cut the cables then put the ends on and with a piece of tape mark them as Master bedroom, kids room, computer room, kitchen..

If you don't want to do toolless jacks, you can have them attatch a RJ45 jack to the end of it which you simply plug into the cover-plate and then run the line back to the room.

I work with wires every day, but I still don't like to do a RJ45 connection. I leave that up to people who do that every day.

However, if you want to do it, you'll need to buy a special tool and a bunch of RJ45 jacks. Theres alot of particulars you need to know about RJ45 and CATV/VI standards.


1. The plug functions as a strain releif for the shielding. Make sure you put the shielding into the plug and then crimp it down so that the plastic around the wires takes the strain of bending instead of the wires themselves.

2. There is a color code, http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/diff568ab.htm The jack will be opposite unless you're using toolless connections.

3. CATV-VI refers to the material and the pattern of the wires as well as the shielding, not "ethernet cable". The whole point of using CATV/VI cable is that it is twisted pairs inside the cable. This means it reduces the interferance, one line pushes while the other pulls and being that they're twisted, the inductance of the wire helps it along. If you untwist the wires for a length before the plug or the jack then you run the risk of electrical interferance.

4. Crossover cables for computer-computer connections have 2 different ends one looks like this http://www.dragon-it.co.uk/files/rj45straight.jpg the other looks like this http://www.dragon-it.co.uk/files/rj45xover.jpg this is a good page on crossovers http://www.silentway.com/tips/mac/ethernet.html

5. DO NOT run cables close to 110V wires

6. Cross power wires at 90 degree angles

7. Avoid running cables near flourescent light sources

8. Keep the wire distance as short as possible, with the router located near the center of the house

9. Add an extra 6 feet or so of wire. Loop it a few times in wide 1 foot loops. Secure it with zip ties, and this will allow you to move the router around if needed. This is known as a service loop.

10. CatV/VI standards are broken the first time your cable is looped in a diameter less then 1". The cable is then substandard.

11. keep cables as high as possible to avoid problems with water.

I have to inspect my contractors work at the hospital. This is what I know about running low voltage cable in a home. The rest pertains to hospital policies and government regulations.

DTN, he won't even have to make any RJ-45 connections. Just put on jacks with a punchdown tool. I should have specified that, but why would you be putting RJ-45 ends inside a box, behind the wall plate? You can't plug into both the back and the front of the wall plate, these aren't like cable "F" connectors where you screw into both the front and back of the plug.

Besides this, you're overcomplicating things. Putting an RJ-45 connector on a peice of cable is not complicated. If a guy at Home Depot can do it, anyone can (not a shot at HD guys, I worked there for 5 years). You simply go on the internet, find out which RJ-45 color code your following (google, first result, and I didn't even spell connector right, http://www.epanorama.net/documents/lan/rj45_colors.html ), strip the end of the cable, sort the wires into the proper order, put them in the connector and crimp it. However as I said, Red'z shouldnt even have to do this, unless he wants to make his own ethernet cables to connect all of his stuff up (which I would highly recommend, I can't even guess how much money I've saved on ethernet cables in the past 10 years by owning a crimper and a roll of wire). If he had a media closet or was using an RJ-45 hub he would have to, but this method is better, as it's cheaper, saves time, and looks clean.

Also Redz, I doubt you will be running all 7 rooms at once, but if you are, you can either use two or three routers if you have some extra ones lying around (simply plug LAN port 4 on one router, to LAN port 1 on the next router to daisy chain them, they just all have to be set to DHCP if I recall correctly), or you can buy an 8 port router/switch like this one http://www.nextag.com/Cisco-Linksys-EtherF...873B6C736C1213C .

^^ I should have been saying Coupler Keystone instead of toolless jack. It enables the same cables used outside the walls can be used inside the walls. I'd recommend them to anyone doing their own in-house networking. It makes everything so much simpler.

http://www.computercableinc.com/ccinc/prod...les&id=5675

These are just like the F cables.

^^ It's easier to punchdown a jack than it is to put an RJ45 on it.

Jeremy, it's up to you, you can have them run the cable to the boxes into each room and leave the cable there uninstalled, then when I can come up I can teach you how to do it. If we have two punchdown tools we can both probably have your house done in a couple hours. I have an analyzer as well, we can hook that up and check everything out. If you want I can get you a list of equipment you should get, switch, rack, etc.

I dunno. After looking at prices for some of this stuff, I might just keep my system the way it is. It IS working great for me, and I guess I can't really justify spending the money for it.

Anyways just to cap off a final list, you'll need;

1 x 500ft roll of wire ~$75
14 x RJ-45 jack ~$30
7 x Single port cover plate ~$5
1 x 4 port cover plate ~$1
1 x 3 port cover plate ~$1
9 x PVC electrical box ~$25

And you can have the cable guys run the RG-6 to your demarc when they do the rest of your house.

Initial investment is around $100 (wire and boxes), then another $40 to finish it off (You can always buy the router down the road, don't even have to put on the cover plates for a few years if you don't want to). What's $140 on a mortgage?
I can see if you don't want to deal with the hassle, but even to hire someone to do this for you would probably cost $350. This is something that is so easy and convenient to do now, why wouldn't you? It's such a small expense compared to things like kitchens and bathrooms, and you'll probably regret not doing it down the road. You can upgrade a stove or counter-top easily, but you can't do this without a major workover. See yourself 5 years down the road when your son trips over an ethernet cord and pulls the computer off the shelf. There's the money you should've spent on setting up your house properly.

/pushy salesman pitch

cool.gif Just giving you my perspective, it's your house and you can do what you want with it, I'm just saying that I haven't had a single customer who's said that he wished he would've saved his cash and not done this. If you plan on selling in a few years, no biggie, but if you plan on dying in this house, do it. You won't regret it.

I haven't found the jacks for under $6 each anywhere. Beyond that, don't I need the boxes that go in the wall at each of the Jacks?

I also need the tools here, as I've got none of them.

Got some links you can hook me up with to see that I'm getting the exact stuff I need?

My current setup is my modem and router right at the cable at the wall at the entertainment center. Both of my 360's are hooked up to it, and everything else in the house is wireless. Nothing else.

My biggest problem right now is being in the right place at the right time.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Leviton-White-Quickport...A1%7C240%3A1318

Those are the jacks you want.

Yup you're right you need the boxes that go in the wall, I suggest PVC electrical boxes...

http://www.carlon.com/Product_SingleGangNo...allicBoxes.html

Anything that looks like a regular metal electrical box, but is not metal, is fine. If you find deeper than normal ones, get them.

To do the job you'll need a ladder, drill w/ ~1/2" drill bit, hammer, measuring tape, wire cutters, nails, and staples. I use S1 electrical staples (most likely what your electrician will be using to fasten wire to wood) but you can use pretty much anything as long as it doesn't damage the wire, something like this is fine. http://www.tnb.com/ps/fulltilt/index.cgi?part=17214

Make a list beforehand of each room you want a wire run to. When it comes to doing the job, start with mounting all of your electrical boxes (try to keep the same height as the electrical outlet boxes). Then invision how your wire is going to be run, either through walls or through the ceiling. Thing of the shortest path, while also trying to stay out of the way of other electrical wires, and other obstacles. Then drill all the holes you need. Then run your wire, working from one side of the house to the other. Label wires as you go (bed1, bed2, liv rm, kit, gar, etc) Leave the hub (office, or where your 360's are) for the end.

It comes to planning. As long as you've sought out what you need to be confident at doing the job, you won't have any problems. I wish I was still doing residential wiring, I would take some pictures/videos...

^^you put in wall boxes for cat6? I just use the low voltage rings, much easier to deal with when doing work on old drywall.

http://www.electrical-supply.net/category...._parentid_E_527

the first one in that list is the style I use typically then ones I get are caddy brand though. Really just a way to securely mount a faceplate on drywall.

Well, I started making a list up of what I need, and the best possible solution came out...

I went down to Las Lunas today to check out the progress on my house, the electrical guy left right when I pulled up, so I was a bit pissed I missed him.

Anyways, I went in the garage and noted all the wiring hanging down where the fuse/breaker panel will be, the usual wires, and 5 blue cables marked Cat5E.

hahaahah!

Looks like they prerun it there but the folks selling my house didn't know about it because they just recently started doing it. It sits in a wall jack with the phone line, just isn't finished yet. I'm going to make sure they get a line put to the living room still.

Currently there is one in each bedroom, the 3rd bedroom that we are planning on using as an office has 2 for some reason, and one in the kitchen.

Needless to say I'm thrilled. LOL


Thanks for all the advice folks!

wow, so all you need is wall plates? sweet!

Well, I think i figured it all out now.

Seems that most builders are using Cat5e for phone lines in the home now so that you can run 4 separate phone lines through the entire house, or turn around and use it for ethernet.

Lucky me!

So, this would explain a lot from when I went into a finished model of my home and saw telephone lines, but the sellers said they thought they ran cat5.

So now I should just have to get wall plates, connectors (gonna color code them), and a punchdown tool. I may have to get another router with more capacity, but now I'll have almost everything wired, and just have my phones and visitors hook up to the wifi.

I still want to get in touch with the electrician as there is NOT a line to my living room. I'm not sure if he didn't finish (there are other sockets and light fixtures with no wires to them yet still), but I need one in the living room. if I do it this way, I can put my cable modem and router in the living room, hook one ethernet cable up to the router, and then my wifi router in the office or on the cabinets in the kitchen for range.

You can daisy chain the connections like that right?

I decided to do some looking online at prices. I want to color code the room panel keystone jacks with the jacks on the side where the router are, for ease of use in the future. Anyways, it seems on ebay and elsewhere that the jacks are about $6 each.

So, I went to Monoprice.com as I had bought some very nice HDMI cables from there for cheaper than I could ever find them anywhere else, and what do you know?


http://www.monoprice.com/products/product....=1&format=2
^^^
$1.36 for one, but since I'm buying 2 of each color, it's only $1.31 each!

Check out all of the colors.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepar...amp;cp_id=10513

Also, on most of their items they have DIY instructions, check this out!

http://www.monoprice.com/manual/How%20to%2...20keystones.pdf


http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepar...amp;cp_id=10509
^^^
Tools.


I started looking at the stuff they have for home surround sound wiring now too. BAD ASS!

For my surround sound, if I want to put speakers in the ceiling, do I need to power them? Or does that depend on the speakers?

It depends both on the speaker and the output from the amplifier. First, you should look at the amplifier that you are using. Find a speaker that is compatable in both Watts and Ohms.

It would make more sense to buy an amplifier which is dedicated to the system. This way anything you plug in will be able to play through RCAs.

To answer your question, no, you don't have to run power to the speakers. You just need to run your speaker wire, I would recommend any 2 conductor, 16 guage FT-4 rated speaker wire (rated for in wall, FT-4 is a fire code rating). You can use smaller guage if you're planning on running smaller speakers. Normally what I do is run a 4 conductor (or 2 x 2 conductor) wie from your amp to a wall/volume control, and then from the volume control run a 2 conductor wire to each speaker (both from the volume control). The volume controls are impedance matching, meaning that you can run any amount of speakers in the room, and you just set the spec of your speakers and amp, and it will match the speakers to your amp. This works great for any room with up to 8 speakers, and also very well when running multiple zones/rooms off of the same amp (each room will be wired the same, and then you insert another impedance matching control at the amp itself to balance all of the rooms).

That is the way I do it for simple volume controls. However the volume controls are around $100 each, and judging from your responses in this thread you'd rather not do that.

The other method would be to just run the wires direct from your amp to the speakers. When it comes time to buy the amp and speakers, you'll buy them together and be good to go. Run all of your wires from the speakers back to the amp, not from speaker to speaker, even if they're on the same channel. This will give you more flexibility down the road.

Also I'm not sure if I understood correctly, but with a normal phone cable install (or cat 5e instead), it will be identical to option 3 that I explained earlier. Your modem and router will go wherever all of the wires originate from (demarcation). And yes, you can put a wifi access point in the kitchen.

Thanks a lot my man. I'll for sure let you guys know how it goes. I need to pick up another router though, so I might ask for some help at that time. I'll need 2 to do what I want to.