My house wiring odyssey

[SnyperBob]

That's awesome man. Looks like you're finally going.

I remember when I ran like 5 cat5's initially to ALL of the rooms of the house. My wife joked to everyone that we had Internet coming out of the door knobs. Everyone would laugh. Funny thing is, my wife doesn't make that joke now that I have three cat5's to three locations in EVERY room.

Initially everyone will call you crazy for all the wire you run. After a while they'll get used to it, lol.

 

[beelzerob]

Initially everyone will call you crazy for all the wire you run. After a while they'll get used to it, lol.

Heh..ya, I agree. Today while we were working, the plumber ventured to ask my wife what the heck all that wire was for. She said "you name it....security, network, TV, smoke alarms". According to her, he seemed impressed. I said "Pfft...who cares about the plumber, tell me what the electrician thinks!"

 

[beelzerob]

Now with 1000% more pictures!

 

[IVB]

Man that's a lot of cable. How many sq ft is this McMansion you're building?

 

[Sacedog]

FYI, on that last picture, you have a lot of cable being held up by a very skinny zip tie. Make sure to use something wider when you are done, as over time, this might cause problems with the wires on the bottom of the big bundle. That's a lot of wieght, considering that they are being pulled down. Just food for though.

It looks great so far. I agree with IVB; that's a lot of cable!

 

[beelzerob]

FYI, on that last picture, you have a lot of cable being held up by a very skinny zip tie. Make sure to use something wider when you are done, as over time, this might cause problems with the wires on the bottom of the big bundle. That's a lot of wieght, considering that they are being pulled down. Just food for though.

It looks great so far. I agree with IVB; that's a lot of cable!

Our house is 3300 sq ft. That's a lot of wire?? Heck, I remember when I posted that I was planning over 2 miles of wire, and I was told it was lower than it should be....after some reconsidering, I was up closer to 4 miles, so they were right!

The wire in that last pic is just for the upstairs.

Hehe...one zip tie probably couldn't hold what you see there...I could barely lift it! What I did was after each room was done, I used a zip tie to support it up off the nylon line so that I could pull the next bundle up without interference. So, a zip tie only holds one room's worth of stuff, which isn't all that bad. At the same time, what I did in the chase at each floor was I taped a zip tie to the bundle just under floor level, and then lifted the bundle up to floor level and secured the zip tie to a nail....so essentially there's only a floor's amount of wire being supported by any given zip tie, which isn't much.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I'm not sure zip ties are good for long term use. I know my environment is extreme compared to the norm, but they get brittle over a long time and tend to break.

 

[beelzerob]

I'm not sure zip ties are good for long term use. I know my environment is extreme compared to the norm, but they get brittle over a long time and tend to break.

Ya, that's a good point....I've considered already what the sound will be like when one of these babies gives way someday. That's a sound I hope I don't hear....

What would be a better support mechanism then? I'm ok with replacing some of the more crucial or high strain zip ties, but ones where it won't make any difference I probably won't worry about....

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Pretty much, anything metal, from staples to brackets. I remember seeing some cool metal looking "U-Joints" that you screw into wood. Maybe someone here used something like that in the past and can post!

Edit: Maybe something heavy duty like THIS (even though it's not metal)

Or something like THIS.

Or maybe just some large plastic coated "J-Hooks" that screw into wood that a hardware store has...

 

[Sacedog]

I use these in commercial jobs.

https://www.tselectronic.com/caddy/cablecat.html

 

[brotsten]

Not sure if that white pvc looking pipe is conduit you put in, if it is, the angle fittings need to be replaced with electrical pvc slips instead of the water fitting.

If its not, no worries.

Brian

 

[IVB]

Not sure if that white pvc looking pipe is conduit you put in, if it is, the angle fittings need to be replaced with electrical pvc slips instead of the water fitting.

If its not, no worries.

Brian

Good catch - I ended up disassembling my entire PVC setup as I used the water stuff and the wire didn't fit easily; too much concern over breaking the wires.

 

[Herdfan]

Jan 4: There's a certain almost surreal feeling about working in the house. We've never been able to have this much access to any house that was being built for us, and it's really great feeling like we're actually making a difference. I enjoy walking in the attic and thinking how helpful it will be to be familiar with it already, should the need arise to traverse it post construction.

Given that you have this access, there are a few things other than wiring you may want to to or make sure get done. My pet peeve is a lack of "blocking" behind things such as towels bars. Since it is your house, you will know where you want these items, so either make sure the blocking is there or put it there yourself. No more loose TP holders.

 

[beelzerob]

Jan 4: There's a certain almost surreal feeling about working in the house. We've never been able to have this much access to any house that was being built for us, and it's really great feeling like we're actually making a difference. I enjoy walking in the attic and thinking how helpful it will be to be familiar with it already, should the need arise to traverse it post construction.

Given that you have this access, there are a few things other than wiring you may want to to or make sure get done. My pet peeve is a lack of "blocking" behind things such as towels bars. Since it is your house, you will know where you want these items, so either make sure the blocking is there or put it there yourself. No more loose TP holders.

good advice! They've already put in a lot of blocking for stuff like that. I'm going to put in blocking where the steam generator is going to be mounted to the wall (in the mudroom) and where we're going to mount a fold-down bench in the shower. I'll have to walk around check the other places and make sure....if nothing else, were the master bath toilet room paper holder goes..that one matters.

 

[beelzerob]

Good catch - I ended up disassembling my entire PVC setup as I used the water stuff and the wire didn't fit easily; too much concern over breaking the wires.

I'm not certain the concern here, so please elaborate. Yes, it's for future wiring (though right now it simply works great as an "intercom" down to the basement when we're pulling wire). It's a 3" pipe, and it's completely straight and vertical, except for the 45 deg you see there. I'm planning on putting a heavy nylon rope down it and then capping it.

If I should ever have to pull wire, it will be like we do now, where she pushes from below and I just take up the slack above....so even if there are any rough edges in there, we aren't going to pull hard across those. (in other words, I think we're too far gone to replace this thing now, so I'm trying to convince you it will be ok after all. )