New house, cable questions...

[David448 0]

Question on cabling. I'm having a spec house built, and I've spoken with the lead contractor. I can't make any changes to the house plans, so I can't have them add/change stuff, but one thing he did let me do is spec out the type of cable they use to cable my house.

 

Each room (4) will get one cable ran to it, all of which will terminate in one spot that I plan on adding a panel to terminate everything in nice and neat.

 

Rather than have them run a single RG6 cable to each room (default spec), I was thinking about having them run a quad cable. This will essentially kill several birds with one stone for me.

 

I was thinking of having them run Belden 7913S cable to each room. This will give me 2 RG6 runs, and two Cat5 runs to each room, all via one "cable".

 

If you Google Belden 7913S you can see the specs. Let me know your opinions on this. There are also cheaper versions of the same cables, is there a difference? Or should I stick with the Belden?

[scorpion 0]

Excellant idea having two RG 6, and two cat 5!!!

 

If you can afford it (or trade off one feature to gain this feature), I would tell you to run this 2/2 at two locations in each room.

 

Imagine having a computer desk on the left wall, and your cat5 jack on the right wall! You can run a wire all the way around the room, but then you might have closet doors, or the entry door in your way.

 

2/2 is great for structured wiring or "smart house wiring"!

 

Do not forget to have 2/2 put out on the outside patio! This is a luxury, but then you can put a TV out there, and watch the game. If you take a laptop out there you can plug in to a cat5 jack, and you can plug in a telephone also.

 

Put one in the garage as well. Look at the floor plan, and see where it would be a common area where someone would put a bench out there. Great to search for automotive stuff on the internet while working on projects out in the garage.

 

You do not have to use 2/2 wrapped in one cover. They could use two individual RG 6, and two cat 5 for the run.

 

If they do not charge two much to run cat 5, have one ran to the masterbedroom bathroom. You can answer your "business" calls in your "office"! LOL!

 

Have a front door system that use the telephone to comunicate. When the door bell is pressed your telephone rings with a special front door ring. You can answer the door with any telephone.

 

If you are having central vac then have them run a wire so that when the phone rings the central vac will turn off.

 

If you are having a two story house built DO NOT HAVE THE PANEL INSTALLED DOWN STAIRS! If you put it upstairs you can get to the back side from the attic. This is great for troubleshooting, or adding more stuff down the road.

 

If you put it down stairs, put it in a place where you can still add/run wire. Avoid putting it under the stairs in a closet. You will never be able to run wire, or fix a wire, or create some kind of electronic magic with it in this location. You can alway cut your drywall down the road if you wanted!

 

Always use the best specs! Cheap will hurt in the long run.

 

Do not use a center conductor on RG 6 where it is a copper clad!!!!!!! Demand all copper center conductor! You will want the best shield, and not the cheapest shield!

 

Find out how cat 5 should be ran so that you can get good specs out of it for computing. Watch the installers like a hawk! Don't let anyone do it. It has to be done in a special way. No sharp 90 degree bends! Do not let them take staples, and pound them against the wire, and kink it. When they pull the wire they cannot pull on it like they are yanking on a rope to ring a church bell!! If they are pulling wire, and it curls up don't yank it straight, it will kink up the wire!

Edited July 18, 2007 by Guest

[David448 0]

Thank you for the reply Scorpion. The Belden cable I've been looking at doesn't have a shield over all 4 seperate cables, but rather all 4 seperate cables joined in the middle via some sort of 'spine'. They can be pulled apart if the need be. This keeps the cable together as one. The fact that this cable is 'one' cable is the only way I'm able to get this approved through my contractor.

 

The nature of buying the type of spec home I'm buying doesn't grant me the luxury of a custom build like what you may think. I more or less purchased a floor plan, and was able to customize my floorplan/house via several options they give you to choose from. This includes carpet color/make, cabinets, windows in your garage door etc. However, you cannot modify the base design at all. Period. In other words, having them add aditional runs to each room won't fly. Same goes with adding a panel for my network, running cables to any place that's not in the original spec etc. I can't make my garage bigger..... you simply can't modify the design at all. Trust me, if I could I would. Hell, I'd have them run wire for my camera's too! It may seem weird, but going this route is putting me in a very nice home, in a very nice neighborhood at a young age. This same type of setup in a 'custom built' home where "I" spec everything would have been multiples of thousands of dollars more.

 

The builders are going to run cable to each room no matter what. This is in the default design spec. What I was able to do is convice the contractor to run a type of cable that I want to run. This was okay since they are already going to be running cable.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm excited to get into my new place and start adding electronic goodies to it

[scorpion 0]

Can you run your own wires? If you bought the wire on your own, and you drilled your own holes, and you ran it yourself what would they say?

 

I had one contractor that said what ever you want to do, and the other said he would press trespass charges if I came on the property! I think he was joking. I ran my wire the day before the drywall went up just incase!

[David448 0]

Can you run your own wires? If you bought the wire on your own, and you drilled your own holes, and you ran it yourself what would they say?

 

I had one contractor that said what ever you want to do, and the other said he would press trespass charges if I came on the property! I think he was joking. I ran my wire the day before the drywall went up just incase!

 

That one..... I'm not positive about. I've been tossing the idea around in my head quite a bit about whether or not to ask that question. Reason being: If I ask, he'll probably have to say no. If I don't ask, and just go out there one evening and do it.... they would probably never even know. I'm just not sure.

 

I want a run to the master bath (like you mentioned), that is not in the original spec. So I would either have to add it after the house was finished (stupid) or do it myself.

 

I'll know more once it starts happening. The electricians that will do the work sub contract for my spec home company. Perhaps a friendly conversation with the nice electrician the day the wiring goes in could yeild me some extra stuff. Just don't know.

[G-MEN 0]

Be careful running your own wires without permission. Most contractors won't let you do it unless it is agreed upon in your building contract. I've known people that have tried to "sneak in" wire runs; the inspector saw the wires and noticed they were not on the blueprints and had the wires torn out. Your out money, wire and time. Really pissed me off

[David448 0]

Be careful running your own wires without permission. Most contractors won't let you do it unless it is agreed upon in your building contract. I've known people that have tried to "sneak in" wire runs; the inspector saw the wires and noticed they were not on the blueprints and had the wires torn out. Your out money, wire and time. Really pissed me off

 

Yep, thats what I'm afraid of. Thats why if I do anything, I might try to coerce the electricians to do it.