Building a new house - how would you wire it up?

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y0bailey

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Mar 31, 2003
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Alright, we are building our "dream house" and subsequently I'm running cat5e and networking EVERYTHING. I basically have full control of where the wires are run, how many, etc. The issue is becoming the cost. That being said I am planning on living in this house forever, so I don't want to skimp and regret it later.

My needs:

1) Cord cutter, so I run an antenna in the attic for OTA TV, and in this house will have 3 TV's needing access. This part is easy and handled already with my HTPC and TV tuner setups using MCE. This won't require any "upgraded" wiring in the new house.

2) I'm building a FreeNAS box, and plan on using it to host a plex media server, dump files onto, and run scheduled backups of my main computers. This will likely live in the basement man cave so I have easy access.

3) There will be 1 PC in the basement (my gaming PC in my man cave), and likely 1 printers needing network access.

4) There will be one laptop in my wife's office, so she can survive with wifi for the laptop, but would still like 1 cat5 cable there just in case. Also likely 1 printer there.

5) Family room HTPC needs cat5, as well as 1-2 more for any possible consoles in the future.

6) Bonus room HTPC same as #4 for connections.

7) Master bedroom HTPC (most of our watching is here) likely just needs 1 connection.

8) Wifi router will be wherever you guys think it needs to be, but likely in my wife's office will send the best signal throughout the rest of the house.

So, as you can see, that is a METRIC TON of cat5e to run through the house (2800 square feet + unfinished basement). I am thinking the cost may end up being semi prohibitive, so I want a back-up plan.

How dumb would it be to only run 1 cat5e cable to each of the rooms (some rooms potentially needing 3 connections), and run a hub/splitter to share between the PC/printers or PC/consoles. So a hub in the family room, bonus room, and basement.

I won't be doing much beyond copying a few GB movies, etc between the two or streaming a few plex movies from the NAS. I'm surviving with wireless N right now, so I imagine even with the slight clumsiness of this setup I will still get transfer rates bottle necked by hard drive speed.

Lastly, cat6 worth the upgrade in this type of setup?

Does this sound insane? How would you guys handle this situation?
 
If it makes you feel any better i've got over 8000' of cat5 in my house. You only get one chance to do this right, meaning buried in the wall, don't skimp now.
 
Run some conduit. You never know what 10 years will bring. Conduit allows you to install what you need now, and easy to change for future needs.
 
The conduit idea is the best advice along with Cat6 now (a little more now to save lots later). One run to each room with a switch would save you some but not a whole lot (you can buy a lot of wire with what you would spend on multiple switches).
Wish I had thought ahead back in 1978 when I built my house!
 
I would run 2 runs to each room at least. Cable is only 80 bucks or so per 1000 foot spool so there is no reason to cheap out on your dream house. My house is 2500 square foot and I wired it np with a 1000 foot roll. That's fishing it up from the bottom floor to the top atic and back down into the walls. Fun let me tell ya lol. It's always better to have a little over kill then not enough.
 
Main TV & any other "entertainment center" needs minimum 2 runs of cat 6, personally I prefer 4 so I know I don't ever have to put a switch there. Have minimum 1 coax here too.

Office should have minimum 4 cat6 and 2 coax. No less. That's where modems will go, anything less will make you wish you had run more.

Example: Lets say you get cable internet now, the modem goes in the office. 1 ethernet to the switch in the basement, then 2 coming back up for use in the office (so there isn't a bottleneck between the switch and any other device in the office, like a NAS). The 4th one is there in case you get internet that runs over copper phone line. 5 years from now you decide you want directv in the office and you still have cable internet. If you only have 1 coax the installer has to run another cable. Keep in mind that I am assuming you will be using an AIO modem/gateway/wap for now. You don't want that in the basement.

All other rooms need minimum 1 CAT6 and 1 coax on EACH SIDE OF THE ROOM. That is very important so you don't have cords running around the room over doorways depending on where you want the TV/PC.

You also should run a CAT6 to an empty box on the ceiling in a central location on each floor for WAP's. They don't even have to terminate this run at the box, they can just put a blank wall-plate there.

All runs should terminate in a central location in the basement, such as near the power panel. Dedicate a 6x6 sheet of MDF to your home communications, no less. Even if it is blank now, it leaves room for whatever needs to be mounted down there in the future.

Don't skimp on the wiring now, the walls are open. If you don't run everything you need now, including coax, it will be ugly later and cost 3x more.
 
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Make sure whoever does the terminations does not strip 2 feet of jacket off the cables...
 
I actually saw an install like that in person, I was probably 14 and just got started in the IT field...surprised it did not scare me away, haha!
I still can't figure out why someone would do that.
 
conduit / pull string. These are your best friends. If you aren't sure what you want now, this will allow for expansion to w/e you want in the future. I would also do opposing walls in every room, along with what bds1904 mentioned for the access point locations.

If you decide to finish the basement, there are pretty sizable structured wiring panels, if you wish to keep it hidden, or set aside a small area you plan to have a closet at, and bring things into the suggested mdf panel and set up some patch panels / switch.

I wired roughly 3600 ft in my house after construction (second owner). I run low voltage cable daily, so it wasn't a huge pain, but I can tell you.... it's much easier now to think ahead. I'd run a minimum of 4 lines per wall drop at least. Grab yourself a box per line you plan to have per drop (2 lines per drop = 2 boxes) and it will make it a good bit faster. Cable is fairly cheap. Even if you don't do conduit, leave a pull string down each drop just in case.

OH, and label them! It's very much a pain to go back afterwards and do this. :p

It's your dream home... make it [H]ard.

edit: If you with to add IP cameras in the future... grab a box of shielded and run those!
 
longblock454 said:
If it makes you feel any better i've got over 8000' of cat5 in my house. You only get one chance to do this right, meaning buried in the wall, don't skimp now.
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This right here..we have 4 drops in every room...both coax and Ethernet..overkill?..not really.... with a drop on every wall, you need not worry about how to set the room up..

All the Ethernet terminates in a closet in the master bedroom ,and the coax is in the garage. but that was my choice..you can terminate wherever you think is convenient or practical.
 
jrweis said:
The conduit idea is the best advice along with Cat6 now (a little more now to save lots later). One run to each room with a switch would save you some but not a whole lot (you can buy a lot of wire with what you would spend on multiple switches).
Wish I had thought ahead back in 1978 when I built my house!
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+1, no, +5 for the conduit idea. I did a major remodel in 1989 and I put Thin Ethernet in the walls between upstairs and downstairs.:eek: Long since abandoned in favor of the fastest wireless available.

Before you spend a s--load of $$$ on wired connections, consider if the newest WiFi can sort-of meet your needs at acceptable levels of performance. It's easy to upgrade WiFi, a lot easier than fishing new cable.
 
x509 said:
+1, no, +5 for the conduit idea. I did a major remodel in 1989 and I put Thin Ethernet in the walls between upstairs and downstairs.:eek: Long since abandoned in favor of the fastest wireless available.

Before you spend a s--load of $$$ on wired connections, consider if the newest WiFi can sort-of meet your needs at acceptable levels of performance. It's easy to upgrade WiFi, a lot easier than fishing new cable.
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Was just going to say this... I bet in 3-5 years wireless will be fast enough that cable will be only needed in enterprise environments.
 
QwertyJuan said:
Was just going to say this... I bet in 3-5 years wireless will be fast enough that cable will be only needed in enterprise environments.
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In 3-5 years 5ghz will be as overcrowded as 2.4 is now, rendering it just as useless.

Wifi is for couch potatos, not for video distribution and file transfers.
 
Makeroflostsouls said:
I would run 2 runs to each room at least. Cable is only 80 bucks or so per 1000 foot spool so there is no reason to cheap out on your dream house. My house is 2500 square foot and I wired it np with a 1000 foot roll. That's fishing it up from the bottom floor to the top atic and back down into the walls. Fun let me tell ya lol. It's always better to have a little over kill then not enough.
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Junk cable is $80 for 1000 feet. If you are buying solid core copper Cat6 rated for in wall installations (CMR or CMP) t's going to cost more than that. Most of the cheap cable on the market now is aluminum cable with a hint of copper over the aluminum, not a good choice for longevity (and it isn't real Cat6 cable). And the cheap aluminum cable sucks for POE devices.
 
I'm going to be in a similar boat next year when we buy a new house. It'll be new construction, and I'm going back and forth on where / how much cable I want to run. We're going into this with the intent on it being a 10 - 15 year house before we sell and build out on land. Part of me wants to do it "right" and put drops to every room, just in case we stay there longer. The other part of me knows we have a plan laid out, and it'd be wiser to not spend the extra money, as little as it may end up being.
 
Ugh. People need to stop recommending Cat 6.
- The cable, jacks, etc. are more expensive.
- It's more difficult to properly install. The cable is thicker (i.e., wall install will be more cramped), it's more sensitive about bend radius, and harder to properly terminate.
- Cat 5e is perfectly adequate for anything done in the home outside of rare edge cases. Properly installed, 1Gb connectivity is a given to 100 meters.
- Cat 6 will not give your network any extra resiliency. If there are interference sources that are disrupting the signal (incredibly unlikely in a home) Cat 5e will perform just as well as Cat 6.
- You are not future-proofing by installing Cat 6. The only way to future-proof an install is to make it easy to pull out and replace any outdated cabling and install its replacement (e.g., use conduit).
- Literally nothing calls for Cat 6. It's barely a real standard. The next step up from Cat 5e is 6a, and that's even more expensive and more difficult to properly install.
 
Gigabit Ethernet is already the bottleneck when transferring between two PCs with SSD drives. For a new install it seems silly to limit all of the wiring framework to Gigabit speeds when Cat6 (or Cat6a for longer runs) is rated much higher. The cost of 10G switch gear is only going to keep falling in the next few years, and SSD/PC speeds are only going to keep increasing. It wasn't that long ago when 10/100 was "good enough", now installing that would be a joke.

Also Cat6 is no more difficult to install compared to Cat5. The diameter of the cable is inconsequential for a new residential install.
 
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On new installations I run 2 coax, 2 Cat5e (going to Cat6 on the next) to every jack. In large rooms, they get at least 2 drops. Plan out where your TV's are going to go and do a drop there as well. No, you will not use them all but it only takes 1 good power surge or lightning strike to take out your wiring (Has happened to me 3x in the past 10 years). I also run 4 coax and 4 Cat5e for service. Conduit is a must considering we'll all be on fiber at some point in the future.
 
Penguincomp said:
On new installations I run 2 coax, 2 Cat5e (going to Cat6 on the next) to every jack. In large rooms, they get at least 2 drops. Plan out where your TV's are going to go and do a drop there as well. No, you will not use them all but it only takes 1 good power surge or lightning strike to take out your wiring (Has happened to me 3x in the past 10 years). I also run 4 coax and 4 Cat5e for service. Conduit is a must considering we'll all be on fiber at some point in the future.
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Holy crap! Install a whole house surge protector!
 
Run Cat6, no reason not to IMO. Aim for Gigabit and you'll be prepared for 10Gb in the future.
 
Alright guys...I cannot express enough how thankful I am to have a bunch of folks willing to help. I am not really a full time computer guy just an enthusiast (I work in the medical field and do nothing tech related at all), so getting folks who are more experienced with this always makes me sleep better at night. Right now I am a wifi peasant (literally a cable modem and a router), so stepping in to switches and whole house wiring slightly blows my mind.

Here is a very shitty paint picture of my current plan. PLEASE pick it to pieces...but that being said I think this is the max number of cables my wife and builder will let me wire in without LOSING THEIR MINDS. Every stupid thing I upgrade my wife follows with "but I want X piece of furniture and this house is going to be empty if we spend all of our money on it." You know the drill. It is also my birthday and I've been chugging beers for about 3 hours...so forgive my brain right now.

ToRwJj6.jpg


I think this amazing drawing is pretty self explanatory...but please let me know if it makes zero sense. I will likely be spending my "computer nerd time" in the basement. It will be a huge unfinished room but still temp/humidity controlled, so I would like to just tuck the equipment down there and maximize "usable" closet/storage space elsewhere. Also the heating of a bunch of electronic equipment will be welcomed in the cold cave.
 
Why wouldn't you just put your cable modem in the basement and connect it to the switch down there? Presumably all your coax splitting gear will be down there.
 
ocellaris said:
Why wouldn't you just put your cable modem in the basement and connect it to the switch down there?
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That makes sense. I am sure I will have coax drops down there just in case I plan on actually finishing it in the future. So yea...doable for sure.

I also realized I can bypass the switch and plug directly into the router on the machines (nas, gaming PC, printer) located in the basement.
 
For people running coax all over the place... Are you that committed to a cable box future? Or are you guys running large OTA antennas for TV? I have been happy as heck since I ditched cable TV, all my media goes over network data now except for one TV connected to an antenna. I pulled all the coax wiring out of my house over this holiday break (except for one line going to the cable modem).
 
ocellaris said:
For people running coax all over the place... Are you that committed to a cable box future? Or are you guys running large OTA antennas for TV? I have been happy as heck since I ditched cable TV, all my media goes over network data now except for one TV connected to an antenna. I pulled all the coax wiring out of my house over this holiday break.
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I've cut the cord for 8+ years now...but I still have a large OTA antenna in my attic to grab live TV. My wife and I actually like it for times when you just want mindless background noise, or to watch shitty TV for a few minutes while eating dinner. That and the sports that manage to sneak through (but are hard to find online in decent quality) are necessary evils in our house.

So yea...OTA tv is still a requirement in my house.
 
ocellaris said:
For people running coax all over the place... Are you that committed to a cable box future? Or are you guys running large OTA antennas for TV? I have been happy as heck since I ditched cable TV, all my media goes over network data now except for one TV connected to an antenna. I pulled all the coax wiring out of my house over this holiday break (except for one line going to the cable modem).
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Coax is just a transport medium. I'd rather run it now before the drywall goes up than later.
 
Run this from each room to your MDF:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-3-4-in-x-100-ft-Electrical-Non-Metallic-Tubing-Blue-12007-100/100404116

Terminate in each room with this:

Single gang: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-1-Gang-Low-Voltage-Bracket-SC100A/100157326

Dual gang: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-2-Gang-Low-Voltage-Bracket-SC200AR/202250841

Snap adapter: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-3-4-in-PVC-ENT-Snap-In-Adapter-A253E-CAR/202205408 or use the threaded adapter with nuts.

Use standard keystone wall plates with appropriate keystone jacks (CAT5e / CAT6 / Coax).

At your MDF, put up a plywood backer and secure the ENT to it with clamps: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-3-4-in-PVC-Conduit-Clamp-5-per-bag-E977EC-CTN/100580531

If 100 ft is not long enough they also sell a coupler. Can be cut with a standard PVC pipe cutter, just make sure to trim it flush with the ridges or the snap fittings don't work.

This can cost some money but you are future proof. Don't fill over 50% of the conduit when pulling cable and use cable/conduit lube. Try to minimize the bends when planning the runs. Screw it down to the studs with the above clamps and try to keep it in the middle of the stud in a wall. Be prepared for the drywall/siding contractor to punch a nail through it. Use nail plates when going through studs and follow code.
 
djflow195 said:
Run this from each room to your MDF:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-3-4-in-x-100-ft-Electrical-Non-Metallic-Tubing-Blue-12007-100/100404116

Terminate in each room with this:

Single gang: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-1-Gang-Low-Voltage-Bracket-SC100A/100157326

Dual gang: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-2-Gang-Low-Voltage-Bracket-SC200AR/202250841

Snap adapter: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-3-4-in-PVC-ENT-Snap-In-Adapter-A253E-CAR/202205408 or use the threaded adapter with nuts.

Use standard keystone wall plates with appropriate keystone jacks (CAT5e / CAT6 / Coax).

At your MDF, put up a plywood backer and secure the ENT to it with clamps: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-3-4-in-PVC-Conduit-Clamp-5-per-bag-E977EC-CTN/100580531

If 100 ft is not long enough they also sell a coupler. Can be cut with a standard PVC pipe cutter, just make sure to trim it flush with the ridges or the snap fittings don't work.

This can cost some money but you are future proof. Don't fill over 50% of the conduit when pulling cable and use cable/conduit lube. Try to minimize the bends when planning the runs. Screw it down to the studs with the above clamps and try to keep it in the middle of the stud in a wall. Be prepared for the drywall/siding contractor to punch a nail through it. Use nail plates when going through studs and follow code.
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very nice post


about how much can you fit in one of those 3/4" conduits?

comfy for 4x cat5e and a RG6?

or 4x cat6a?
 
put a big conduit or access panel/back in your home theater area to your TV as you may want to pull new cable or pass through wires from your receiver to your TV.

look into running hdmi over cat5e or cat6 instead of trying to buy bulking thick hdmi cables for longer runs.

dont forget a long usb cord as well.
 
If it was me, I'd run fiber everywhere :D

In all seriousness, I'd consider having them run 4 dupex fibers to a closet on every floor and have them aggregate in the basement. From each closet, I'd have switches where they can run copper to each room on the floor.
 
Things I'd look into:
  • Put in conduit that is large enough for additional cables, with low angle bends in the conduit/pull strings. If something new comes out you want to be able to run that new cable wherever you need it.
  • I'd look into a good spot to have a wireless access point on every floor of the home. Even if you don't hook anything up to it now, I'd have the line in place. It's trivial and cheap to run while everything is open, it's expensive and difficult to retrofit into a home.
  • Make sure your contractor uses solid copper cables. None of that CCA (copper clad aluminum) junk. It's lower quality and can be dangerous with PoE (which you will probably want).
  • Consider a spot outside the home for a weather resistant access point ( something like this.). You may want good wireless coverage in your yard, deck, patio, etc. Again, if you run the line you don't have to put anything on it right away.
  • I'd consider running HDMI and USB over ethernet in your main viewing area if you have a HTPC. I did so and it's nice to have all of the "noisy" components in the basement, plus it looks cleaner.
  • I'd have everything run to a central location in your basement.
  • Think about other things you may want to add in the future such as IP Cameras, etc. Run conduit to those locations as well. Network connectivity is changing rapidly, and while you can't 100% predict where it is going to go, it's safe to say items are going to become more and more network dependent.

If you are looking for decent cable cheap: MonoPrice 1000' Solid Copper Cat5E is ~$80. Their Cat 6 Cable is good too, and not obscenely expensive. I can't imagine your home needing more than 2 spools of Ethernet cable to do the whole home.

My biggest tip: If total budget is really tight I'd run conduit before anything else. Long term you'd be better off with empty conduit then a single run of cable that gets outdated and you can't change out.
 
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I would do a patch panel for coax. Get a keystone patch panel and have dedicated runs. Then have the splitters in a dedicated location. Also opens up options like say you have a VCR in one room you want to broadcast to another you just patch it through.

Conduit is not a bad idea to allow for future changes but may as well run the stuff separately and keep the conduit empty. Try to avoid more than 360 degrees worth of bends per run before you hit a LB or junction box. Not sure how you terminate conduit though, ex: where, and how you get from there to a random place you want to install a new jack.

Also, DON'T drywall basement ceiling, ever. Use drop ceiling or other removable system. Makes life easier.
 
You definitely want pairs of ethernet sockets, not singles. Consider having a switch on each floor as it will make the between-the-floors wiring much simpler. Do make sure you have ethernet sockets (and power points) in your attic.
 
Quartz-1 said:
You definitely want pairs of ethernet sockets, not singles. Consider having a switch on each floor as it will make the between-the-floors wiring much simpler. Do make sure you have ethernet sockets (and power points) in your attic.
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This. Go with at least 2 per plate. In places where you know they'll actually be used, put 4. Also for land line jacks, still use cat6, at least you can swap the keystones if you want to convert to ethernet. I only have a few POTS jacks myself as I have a hard wired phone at my desk and a cordless and that's it.
 
goodcooper said:
about how much can you fit in one of those 3/4" conduits?

comfy for 4x cat5e and a RG6?

or 4x cat6a?
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Depends on if the CAT6a has the plastic spline in it. 4 cat5e and an RG6 may be pushing it for 3/4" ID conduit. I'd do two conduits, one for network and one for CATV. I don't go more than 50% conduit capacity max.

Red Squirrel said:
Also for land line jacks, still use cat6, at least you can swap the keystones if you want to convert to ethernet. I only have a few POTS jacks myself as I have a hard wired phone at my desk and a cordless and that's it.
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Terminate POTS with RJ45 jacks at both ends. Jumper it from the telco block to your CAT6 patch panel with a telephone cord. Come out the room end with a telephone cord into your phone. When you need it for data, it is already terminated correctly.
 
djflow195 said:
Depends on if the CAT6a has the plastic spline in it. 4 cat5e and an RG6 may be pushing it for 3/4" ID conduit. I'd do two conduits, one for network and one for CATV. I don't go more than 50% conduit capacity max.



Terminate POTS with RJ45 jacks at both ends. Jumper it from the telco block to your CAT6 patch panel with a telephone cord. Come out the room end with a telephone cord into your phone. When you need it for data, it is already terminated correctly.
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Hmm did not figure that would work, but now that you mention it, I see it. The pins will still line up correctly. Just don't want to accidentally plug something ethernet into a jack that is patched with pots. I'm not sure how well ethernet does with 54 volts, or worse, 170ish ring voltage. :D (I can confirm that hurts like hell, but data circuits hurt even more)
 
Red Squirrel said:
Hmm did not figure that would work, but now that you mention it, I see it. The pins will still line up correctly. Just don't want to accidentally plug something ethernet into a jack that is patched with pots. I'm not sure how well ethernet does with 54 volts, or worse, 170ish ring voltage. :D (I can confirm that hurts like hell, but data circuits hurt even more)
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Been there, done that. I use red or yellow keystones to signify that the port is POTS and not ethernet.
 
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