Best way to install wired door sensors in a house with finished walls

[Desert_AIP]

I live in a two story house that was built in 2007. The inside is custom painted and I am trying to avoid cutting into the drywall.

I am trying to plan my installation.
I have the windows figured out, using flexibits and drilling down through the frame into the crawlspace.

I am trying to figure out how to wire the doors.
I do not want to use wireless sensors.
Since it is a two story house I don't have access above the door frame to route contact wiring up into the attic without tearing up the drywall.
I've usually seen door contacts in the overhead frame.

I can however, get to the crawlspace below.
I have flexibits and fishing rods.

Can I put a contact in the threshold?
Can I drill straight down into the crawlspace and hook it up. Or will the dirt and foot traffic destroy the contact over time?
If I remove the decorative aluminum threshold cover, will a contact work through that when I reinstall it back over the contact.
From school, even no ferrous metals will interfere with magnetic fields.
Will a wood threshold cap and a large gap contact work?

Is it better (or even possible) to drill into the side of the door frame, say 12" from the floor, and flex the drill shaft down sharply enough to get into the crawlspace. I think there is a stud too close to the door frame (~10") to do it.

Looking for some advice from you pros and been-there-done-that DIYers.

Thanks

 

[Digger]

For your front door you can install a keypad with a zone on it next to the door and wire a sensor into the keypad. Just be careful drilling as there may be electrical wires there that you dont want to hit.

To run the keypad wiring maybe pull off the molding and drill down then put a hole in the wall for the keypad and fish up?

Same might work for the backdoor.

Just an idea maybe you can expand on.

 

[sic0048]

I wouldn't put it in the threshold because eventually water will seap into it and cause rot. I don't care how careful you are about caulking and sealing, it will still get in there.

Personally I've run it up through the top threshold and into the attic, but as you stated that doesn't work well for you.

I think the easiest way for you to do it is to drill horizontally through the door frame into the wall. You'll have to drill through at least two studs that frame the door along with the door frame itself. Once you drill through those studs and get into the void in the wall stop. Take the baseboard off the wall below this spot (take the whole board off). Odds are your baseboard will be tall enough that you can cut the drywall a little at the bottom so you can get above the bottom 2x4 that runs along the bottom of the wall. This will allow you to get into the wall cavity. Drill a hole through the bottom wall 2x4 into the crawl space. Use a wire fishtape or a beaded chain to run from the door, through the horizontal hole, drop down in the wall, down to the hole you cut in the drywall, then feed the chain down the hole into the crawlspace.

Once that is done, run a 22x2 (or 22x4 - you don't want to do this again) and wire up the contact. Then put the baseboard back which should cover your small drywall hole. A little chalk and paint touch up and no one will tell the difference.

Hopefully you can understand what I am trying to say. :lol:

 

[Rupp]

Todays wireless door/window sensors aren't like the old days. These are reliable and easy to install so I wouldn't rule these out. You could also let one the the alarm companies wire your house for a one year contract which may be a good deal if you are going to need a monitoring company.

 

[Dave X10]

....... using flexibits and drilling down through the frame into the crawlspace.
I am trying to figure out how to wire the doors.

Once you get a "feel" for the flex-bit the doors shouldn't be a problem. DO watch out for wiring plumbing. Removing some trim may be the best solution for the doors.

Using a sharp chistel... you can scrap a nice 1" X 1" bit of drywall paper or thin layer or trim wood off your surface(s). carefully preserve your scraping and you can have the paint colors matched at any paint store (even Walmart). A gallon is almost the same price as a quart. When touching up... you may need to paint corner to corner so the touch-up doesn't show.

 

[Sandpiper]

........Looking for some advice from you pros and been-there-done-that DIYers.

Here is some advice from a pro. I've done hundreds of these. Start with a 3/4" bit. I use a forstner bit since it makes a very clean hole. On the hinge side of the door, drill into the frame centered about 2" from the bottom. This 3/4" hole is where the pushbutton contact will reside, so it needs to be about 3" deep. Next, with a 1/4" bit or a 3/8" bit drill down through the 3/4" hole into the crawlspace. This hole has to be angled two different ways. First angled vertically from the horizontal drill axis downward (about 45 degrees), and second angled toward the center of the house so the bit will clear the rim joist under the door frame (about 15 degrees). Drill into the side of the 3/4" hole so there is only one hole showing in the frame. The smaller bit will want to slide or slip when you first start, so start slow to get started then go on down through. Use a glass rod to feed the wire down, or sometimes you can just push the wire down, depending on the insulation.

 

[apostolakisl]

........Looking for some advice from you pros and been-there-done-that DIYers.

Here is some advice from a pro. I've done hundreds of these. Start with a 3/4" bit. I use a forstner bit since it makes a very clean hole. On the hinge side of the door, drill into the frame centered about 2" from the bottom. This 3/4" hole is where the pushbutton contact will reside, so it needs to be about 3" deep. Next, with a 1/4" bit or a 3/8" bit drill down through the 3/4" hole into the crawlspace. This hole has to be angled two different ways. First angled vertically from the horizontal drill axis downward (about 45 degrees), and second angled toward the center of the house so the bit will clear the rim joist under the door frame (about 15 degrees). Drill into the side of the 3/4" hole so there is only one hole showing in the frame. The smaller bit will want to slide or slip when you first start, so start slow to get started then go on down through. Use a glass rod to feed the wire down, or sometimes you can just push the wire down, depending on the insulation.

Also you can take off a hinge and drill at a more verticle angle hiding the hole behind the hinge plate and pull the wire back through with your 3 foot flexible bit brining out the wire behind the hinge. Then drill your nice hole for the contactor just below the hinge. From there you can use a little hook and catch the wire that is comming out the hinge back in the wall and drag it out of the contactors hole (letting the wire slide back into the wall from the hinge hidden hole). The advantage to this way is that you don't have to worry about your drilling of the angled hole marring up the "nice" hole you make for the contactor.

 

[pete_c]

I used both bottom thresholds, top of threshold and side of door (opposite hinges) in a two story home. The mistake I made is that the outside door thresholds are adjustable to the bottom lip of the exterior doors. To date (6 years ago) haven't had any leaks but would have preferred a side of door frame mount. Some folks even mount the sensor below the door stop (if its removable - mine were). I took the doors off their hinges for the bottom frame mounted magnets. I was able to access all of the main floor door wiring from the basement. All of my drilling was from the main floor down to the basement. The only one time that I was drilling up from the basement I mis-judged some measurements and drilled into one area of a finished wood floor (WAF - dinged). I made each endeavor a project in itself wiring one by one.

In FL the contractor pre-wired for the alarm about 8 years ago. I just completed wiring up the sensors in late DEC-JAN 2010. He put all of the exterior door sensors on the top of the door frames and all of the sliding door sensors above the locks. I did drill 3/8" holes into the sliding glass door frames for the magnets. Once they were inserted you didn't even notice them. I was a bit weary about drilling into the metal frames. I was able to wire the sensors and connect them in groups; most difficult and time consuming were the window sensors.

I currently do not utilize wireless sensors connected to the alarm panel but recently purchased a couple of HAI wireless controllers to connect a "few" sensors that are inaccessible with wire. Most likely these may not trip the alarm but will utilize them for "events" - pool door, exterior PIR's etc.

I am curious on the type of windows / types of sensors you are using? In FL there were two different style windows. Double hung sash types and sliding left to right windows. I didn't utilize any glass breakage sensors. The wiring here came out of the drywall adjacent to the frames kind of dictating the position of the magnetic contact sensors.

 

[Desert_AIP]

Thanks for the replies so far.
Thank you for the tips, I am beginning to visualize how I will do this.

I like the idea of hiding the hole behind the hinge.

Let me ask this:
I was thinking I had to place the contact on the opening side (non hinge side) of the door frame.
Is it possible for someone to open the door slightly (say 9") and wedge inside without the door contact breaking if it is on the hinge side?
Looking at it, it does appear the hinge side of the door will move away from the frame at least an inch, even at that shallow angle, and still break contact.
Am I being too paranoid about this issue?

I have standard 3/8" contacts.

ETA: Looks like they are 1/2" gap contacts so that should work.
I can probably cheat a little a bias the contact hole toward the closed side of the door.

 

[apostolakisl]

Thanks for the replies so far.
Thank you for the tips, I am beginning to visualize how I will do this.

I like the idea of hiding the hole behind the hinge.

Let me ask this:
I was thinking I had to place the contact on the opening side (non hinge side) of the door frame.
Is it possible for someone to open the door slightly (say 9") and wedge inside without the door contact breaking if it is on the hinge side?
Looking at it, it does appear the hinge side of the door will move away from the frame at least an inch, even at that shallow angle, and still break contact.
Am I being too paranoid about this issue?

I have standard 3/8" contacts.

ETA: Looks like they are 1/2" gap contacts so that should work.
I can probably cheat a little a bias the contact hole toward the closed side of the door.

Definitely that is possible. This will all come down to what contacts you use and how you install them. Magnetic contacts on the hinge side are more apt to be a problem than the push-in ball or plunger type for this problem.

 

[Desert_AIP]

Definitely that is possible. This will all come down to what contacts you use and how you install them. Magnetic contacts on the hinge side are more apt to be a problem than the push-in ball or plunger type for this problem.

I was looking at the roller ball contacts.
Looks a little more challenging woodwork wise to recess them in the door frame because of the flange.

Are there some that push into a round hole like the magnetic contacts do?

 

[Photon]

........Looking for some advice from you pros and been-there-done-that DIYers.

Here is some advice from a pro. I've done hundreds of these. Start with a 3/4" bit. I use a forstner bit since it makes a very clean hole. On the hinge side of the door, drill into the frame centered about 2" from the bottom. This 3/4" hole is where the pushbutton contact will reside, so it needs to be about 3" deep. Next, with a 1/4" bit or a 3/8" bit drill down through the 3/4" hole into the crawlspace. This hole has to be angled two different ways. First angled vertically from the horizontal drill axis downward (about 45 degrees), and second angled toward the center of the house so the bit will clear the rim joist under the door frame (about 15 degrees). Drill into the side of the 3/4" hole so there is only one hole showing in the frame. The smaller bit will want to slide or slip when you first start, so start slow to get started then go on down through. Use a glass rod to feed the wire down, or sometimes you can just push the wire down, depending on the insulation.

No pro here, but I had good luck with an approach like Sandpiper's. I used a tool I made similar to a Tane Jambstick to drill an angled hole from low on the lock side into the basement. Since I haven't done hundreds of these, the tool helped me drill the hole without destroying the jamb. I used a magnetic sensor, but the tool would work equally well for a roller ball switch on the hinge side.