Wiring new home with Cat6, etc.

[Impreza]

Hi,

I'm currently looking at how I should properly wire my new home. The home is currently finishing the framing stage, so I want to be able to tell the electrician what I want before they start insulating. I'm going to be running a wireless router but still want to have Cat6 prewired just in case.

Here's what I have so far:

- I intend to go with Shaw Gateway, so I will need a coax cable in each room I intend on placing a tv, and run that line to my maintenance room where I will house the gateway system
- I want a Cat6 connection for each room that I plan to have a device connected to the internet, so I will run a single Cat6 from each of those rooms to the maintenance room where I will house my router and modem
- Since I will be wall mounting most TV's, I want 1 HDMI connection from the TV to the source (receiver or shaw gateway portal)
- I also want to run a dual Cat6 from the TV to the source (receiver, etc.) to help futureproof my setup incase HDMI falls out of favour for a new connection

Anything I am missing? Anything else you would add? Is a single Cat6 sufficient for the internet connection? Would you do more than 1 HDMI connection per TV? How many Cat6 connections is enough?

Thanks,

[spike98]

Single Coax, Single Cat6 and consider wiring for multiroom audio.

Also check out HDbaseT. Google is your friend here.

If you wall mount you can run a single cat6 to a TV height wall plate and get HDMI, IR repeater, and 100baseT connection using HDbaseT technology. Its 4k and 3D ready as well.

Using a HDbaseT matrix, you can place your devices in the furnace room and control 4 inputs independently to 4 outputs. A 4x4 HDbaseT matrix can be had for ~$1500 with recievers.

After the 4x4 they get pricey but you can buy ones up to like 32x32

[Mibz]

If you're running one cable, running four is very small incremental cost. Wire the SHIT out of that house.

[jacky4566]

If you want to be truly future proof you should use Cat 6a.

Depending how tech savey you are 10GBASE-T is starting to come out. While probably wont reach the main stream until you see it in mobos you can get adapter cards now for about 300-500$.


Note the following length requirements.
"
When used for 10GBASE-T, Cat 6 cable's maximum length is 55 meters (180 ft) in a favourable alien crosstalk environment, but only 37 meters (121 ft) in a hostile alien crosstalk environment, such as when many cables are bundled together. However, because the effects of alien crosstalk environments on cables are difficult to determine prior to installation, it is highly recommended that all Cat6 cables being used for 10GBASE-T are electrically tested once installed. With its improved specifications, Cat6A does not have this limitation and can run 10GBASE-T at 100 meters (330 ft) without electronic testing.
"

And yea. Multi room audio and wire everything! one in EVERY room and at least 2 in larger ones.

[wtf im nameless]

Depends what you want to do. If you're not planning on centralizing all your equipment in a closet or mechanical room, 1 cat6 and 1 coax for each TV location is fine.

Make room in the mechanical room or an equipment closet for all your home networking, buy a switch large enough that all of your cat6 network connections can run back to one single switch. Place the modem and router in this same area, put everything on a UPS and disable the WIFI on the router.

Depending on the size of the house I'd suggest adding one or more discrete Wireless Access Point locations throughout.

Consider pre-wiring for speakers and subwoofers throughout the house.

Consider pre-wiring for any security, motion detectors, door and window contacts, etc.

Consider pre-wiring for IP security cameras (you can use them as baby monitors too).

Depending on how baller you are, consider pre-wiring for motorized shades/curtains throughout the home.

Personally I'm a big fan of having everything centralized. I'm running a 8x8 HDMI matrix with zigbee and wifi remotes and touch panels to control everything and absolutely love it :)

[ExtraSlow]

If you aren't sure exactly what to do with the wires once they get to each room, consider running your "spare CAT6" casbles just to an empty box. Then it's a simple matter to put the wall plate you want on it when you decide what you want it to do. If it was me, I would want more cat6, not fewer. if you have an "office" you probably want at least 2 cat6 to there, to support network printers, desktops, NAS etc.

I'm running HD over Cat6 pretty succeffully (after my in-wall HDMI cables got damaged).
If you know you are wall-mounting tv's, you can have lots of boxes on the wall behind it. Doesn't matter how ugly it is, sicne it will be covered up. If you ever remove the TV, jsut hang some art there and you are good to go.

If you need network switches or anything, make a big bulk order from monoprice including every cable you might ever need. Get your TV mounts, IR repeaters, HDMI switches etc from there too.

[Impreza]

Thanks for all the input!

I don't plan to install any curtains but will be pre-wiring for motorized shades throughout the house just in case I change my mind.

I don't plan to centralize everything. Right now, I plan to only have my network connections and shaw cable stuff routed down to my maintenance room.

For home theatre type stuff - my family room, and my media room, I plan to locate all the components somewhere nearby. In my family room, I will have speakers all wired up. I will have a built in cabinet below my tv where I will install all my components (receiver, dvd player, gateway portal, etc.), so I dont see a need to centralize it all to the maintenance room. For my media room, which is really just my basement, I will be locating all the components inside my bar, which will be just off to the side. I plan to try and get away with using a Logitech Harmony + hub to solve all my remote control needs for both my media room and family room. DOes that make sense?

How do you suggest I wire up connections from my TV to components? Dual Cat6 and 1 HDMI from TV to components?

For my network connections, I will run everything back to the maintenance room in the basement and attach everything to a switch, then to a router, which then connects to my modem. My question then is, what is the best way to incorporate wireless? I was thinking of installing a wireless router (the one that connects to the switch and modem), and then installing a wireless extender on each floor (3 floors). Does that make sense or is there a better way? I just want to keep things as simple as possible! Does adding a discrete wireless access point differ from just using a wireless router + extenders?

An alarm company will be coming to pre-wire all the security stuff like camera's, motion detectors, and door contacts. So I won't have to worry about that.

Any other suggestions? Keep the feedback coming! Thanks!

[Impreza]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
If you aren't sure exactly what to do with the wires once they get to each room, consider running your "spare CAT6" casbles just to an empty box. Then it's a simple matter to put the wall plate you want on it when you decide what you want it to do. If it was me, I would want more cat6, not fewer. if you have an "office" you probably want at least 2 cat6 to there, to support network printers, desktops, NAS etc.

I'm running HD over Cat6 pretty succeffully (after my in-wall HDMI cables got damaged).
If you know you are wall-mounting tv's, you can have lots of boxes on the wall behind it. Doesn't matter how ugly it is, sicne it will be covered up. If you ever remove the TV, jsut hang some art there and you are good to go.

If you need network switches or anything, make a big bulk order from monoprice including every cable you might ever need. Get your TV mounts, IR repeaters, HDMI switches etc from there too.

When you say running a "spare CAT6" to an empty box, what exactly does that mean? Would I be running the Cat6 from my switch to the room, or do you mean from my components, like my receiver, to the TV?

I plan on running dual CAT6 from my components to my TV in each room with a TV. These won't actually be used. I was hoping this would be a good backup or a good way to futureproof my home since I can attached the dual Cat6 wires to whatever connection I need.

[Tik-Tok]

Forget about wires at the moment. Just picture each room, and the likely spots for your electronics, then have the biggest tubing you can fit going from each room to your utility room.

Then you can run whatever wiring you want to whatever rooms you want, whenever you want.

[spike98]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Forget about wires at the moment. Just picture each room, and the likely spots for your electronics, then have the biggest tubing you can fit going from each room to your utility room.

Then you can run whatever wiring you want to whatever rooms you want, whenever you want.

I was actually going to just say this. Conduit is the only future proofing you need.

[Ntense_SpecV]

Originally posted by Impreza


When you say running a "spare CAT6" to an empty box, what exactly does that mean? Would I be running the Cat6 from my switch to the room, or do you mean from my components, like my receiver, to the TV?

I plan on running dual CAT6 from my components to my TV in each room with a TV. These won't actually be used. I was hoping this would be a good backup or a good way to futureproof my home since I can attached the dual Cat6 wires to whatever connection I need.

2x cat6 runs from the mechanical room to every room in the house that you plan on having cat6 in...that way you have redundancy and/or options. One of these runs would terminate to a data plate. The other cable run would terminate to a blank wall plate with excess coiled up behind it. The other end of that cable would stay in your mechanical room coiled and marked but not connected to a switch or whatnot. That way if you choose to have a network printer or media storage in the future it's already wired for it. No matter how good wireless is, wired is more stable and faster.

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah, like Ntense says, dual cat6 from your mechanical room to each room, PLUS dual cat6 from any TV mounting location to wherever you plan on having the home theatre components for that tv. Myself, i have a media rack in a storage closet, which is NOT that same place as the main junction point for my network at the fusebox. This is only slightly more complex, and it makes it easier if I want to chagne the DVD or something.

Blank wall plate with excess cable behind it is cheap like borsht, and simple.

[ExtraSlow]

conduit/tubing can be problematic if you have a lot of elbows. It's also much more expensive to run then the cat6, since it's a paid to put together. Ask you builder.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
conduit/tubing can be problematic if you have a lot of elbows. It's also much more expensive to run then the cat6, since it's a paid to put together. Ask you builder.

Personally, I'd rather pay someone else to put in conduit, and run all the cables myself, rather than paying someone to run cat6, coax, etc., and never be able to change it again without ripping down drywall.

I didn't even think of conduit when I wired my house, and I've regretted it since.

[Impreza]

I've long pondered conduit since I wont have to break the connection to a wall plate and then have another another on the other side of the wall plate. The media room will be difficult to run conduit, but for the family room, I might run all the necessary cables to a wall plate and ALSO have a conduit next to it just in case.

Anything special I need to think about when running speaker cables? I guess once I finalize the locations of my speakers, I dont really have to worry about running those ever again (all in-wall and in-ceiling speakers). Now I just need to think about what to do with the subwoofer. I have no idea where to put it lol

[mr2mike]

Conduit for the main rooms all leading to utility room. With a feed wire. Label it all. Done. Future proof.

[The_Penguin]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
conduit/tubing can be problematic if you have a lot of elbows. It's also much more expensive to run then the cat6, since it's a paid to put together. Ask you builder.

They use flexible conduit these days, no elbows, easy to pull through.

[Impreza]

Would a conduit really be necessary for areas that just have an ethernet connection for internet? Running a conduit from all areas with ethernet connection down to the switch in the maintenance room sounds nearly impossible!

I'm thinking that I will try to add a conduit to all areas that have a TV linked to components. That should be easy, wont be more than a few feet, usually straight down.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by The_Penguin


They use flexible conduit these days, no elbows, easy to pull through. Hmm, maybe some do, I had a basement developed this year, and that was never an optin. The few conduits they did put in were hard pipe with elbows.

[Czar]

Just make a conduit run to your attic from the basement/utility room. That way you can pull and drop wires when you need them.

[Ntense_SpecV]

Originally posted by Czar
Just make a conduit run to your attic from the basement/utility room. That way you can pull and drop wires when you need them.

Sure to the 2nd floor upstairs. But the main floor stuff needs to be installed now if the basement is going to be finished by the builder. Also, make sure that during the construction phase that you can actually access the conduit to the attic.

When the AV guy tried to find the conduit in my attic he couldn't. You can see it right above the panel in the mech room, but when he tried to push a fiberglass pole that lights up, he said he couldn't see it in the attic. Now the conduit could have slid down and it's not even above the top plate of the wall, or something could be blocked inside it, but the main thing is that you need to make sure it actually is accessible in the future. I have no idea what I'm going to do to actually get my conduit to work.

[wtf im nameless]

Originally posted by Ntense_SpecV

I have no idea what I'm going to do to actually get my conduit to work.

Why can't he fish a wire up as far as it goes and tone it out?

[Ntense_SpecV]

Originally posted by wtf im nameless


Why can't he fish a wire up as far as it goes and tone it out?

I don't honestly know why he didn't do that. I wasn't home when the work was being done. All I know is that he couldn't get the fish out of the attic nor could he find the top of the conduit. I'll deal with this myself as I can fart around in the attic for hours without costing myself a dime. I was upset as the scope of my work got significantly smaller than what I was hoping for when the basement was being finished...I guess I saved money but now I don't have built-in speakers in the bonus room yet.