Wiring my house for Network! Yet another thread!

activemind

Active Member
Bought a house couple of months back and it doesn't have any network cables (house built in 1985 so not surprised).

I am in the process of scoping out how to lay cat6 wires.

I am planning to start with the first floor (this is a 2 story house), so runs will be through the crawl space. I dont think there is any issue at the termination points in my office, the family room and the living room.

I want to put the home run box in the garage but talking to one of the local guys here, he discouraged me. He suggested mounting somewhere on the inside wall, not the perimeter wall.

Now at the home run, how am I going to get it past the foundation into the garage ? Is there enough space somewhere that I can take the wires out to the garage from the crawl space! Do I have to go "up" and then across into the garage?

You can tell that I have never done this before but I am willing to learn!

Another issue that I am trying to figure out is that I want to mount the can flush with the wall.

I saw it in (Structured Panel to A/V Rack Connections) thread and really liked it. (sorry, new member, cant post links just yet!)

The question I have is that if its mounted flush, and I want to have a server in the garage somewhere, how do I connect it directly to the patch panel? The panel will have a door, so how do I connect wires if I want to keep the door closed ? Do I create holes in the side for local (within the garage) cat6 cables?

I will try to click some pics tonite when I get home just to get another pair(s) of eyes looking at the whole plan before I start tearing down the sheet rock!

Have spent hours reading on this forum past couple of months. I am AMAZED at the amount of information in here and all the knowledgeable member here!

Thanks in advance!
 
Typically you could get from the garage to the basement through the rim joist - basically the level where the floor supports joists are. There are issues with fire code since the wall between the garage and house is a fire break - different localities enforce this much differently - some very strictly others barely at all. The other choice is to go over the top. Still may be a fire break or the garage ceiling may be the fire barrier. You could drill up from the basement into the wall but the wall probably has insulation which makes it a pain to get wire through. Mounting a panel in this wall may be a code issue - again for fire break. My choice would be to put the panel in a closet in the house - much cleaner and temp/humidity is less severe. Just run a cable to the garage for the server - but why you want to put a server there is another question. You may have a good reason so I won't tell you not to - that's up to you.

If you are set on the panel in the garage you could run the cables through the rim joist and build out the wall there (create a small section of doubled wall)for space for the panel to cover the wires and not have to get into the insulated wall.

It seems to me the whole idea of a flush panel is to have a cover and NOT have cables come out the front. I haven't used them but I would think the standard way would be to run a cable out the side (or top/bottom) to a jack and then plug the server into that.
 
Why are you dead-set to install the panel in the garage? Sounds like it's further out of the way and would necessitate longer runs for some items.

I'd recommend central, provided you have a closet or utility space where the panel could be located and facilitate servicing the equipment (when it's needed) and then run only what is needed to patch into the dmarc points for the utility (assuming cable, phone, etc.).
 
Why are you dead-set to install the panel in the garage? Sounds like it's further out of the way and would necessitate longer runs for some items.

Actually, I am not really dead-set on putting it in the garage. My next alternative is the area under the stairs (that's where the security panel is ) which is right next to the garage, so the run lengths would almost be the same.

I'd recommend central, provided you have a closet or utility space where the panel could be located and facilitate servicing the equipment (when it's needed) and then run only what is needed to patch into the dmarc points for the utility (assuming cable, phone, etc.).

I have a bunch of servers (media PC, Photo backup NAS, asterisk server, mythTV) and the best place to put all of these is the garage.
I am in North Cali, so garage should be fine from humidity/temp point of view.

But even if I put the panel under the stairs, I would still need to run wires to the garage for my servers, wouldn't I run into the same problem again?
Does everything have to come from the top in the garage?
 
Typically you could get from the garage to the basement through the rim joist - basically the level where the floor supports joists are. There are issues with fire code since the wall between the garage and house is a fire break - different localities enforce this much differently - some very strictly others barely at all. The other choice is to go over the top. Still may be a fire break or the garage ceiling may be the fire barrier. You could drill up from the basement into the wall but the wall probably has insulation which makes it a pain to get wire through. Mounting a panel in this wall may be a code issue - again for fire break. My choice would be to put the panel in a closet in the house - much cleaner and temp/humidity is less severe. Just run a cable to the garage for the server - but why you want to put a server there is another question. You may have a good reason so I won't tell you not to - that's up to you.

But I have the circuit breaker board in the garage. So all the HV wires must be taking some path to get into the garage. Do I need to trace the path they take?
Also, I have the water heater in the garage and a gas line which goes from the garage into the crawl space. Its like a gas line comes in from the mains and one fork goes to the water heater and the other one goes under the house from the garage and is connected to the Stove in the kitchen and a Gas Spa heater in the side yard. Isn't this something similar? So we can take a gas line but not a LV wire(s)?

If you are set on the panel in the garage you could run the cables through the rim joist and build out the wall there (create a small section of doubled wall)for space for the panel to cover the wires and not have to get into the insulated wall.
I think you mean drill through the rim joist? I am not very comfortable with that. I would rather drill into the floor to pull it up into the laundry room and then drill through the wall to the garage. Its like, if you enter the house through the garage, you go through the laundry room to get to the family room.
It seems to me the whole idea of a flush panel is to have a cover and NOT have cables come out the front. I haven't used them but I would think the standard way would be to run a cable out the side (or top/bottom) to a jack and then plug the server into that.

But I still have the same problem? Or you are suggesting that its easier to take 1 wire up and into the garage rather than ALL of the homeruns!

I will put up some pics so that its easier to visualize and answer!

Sorry if some of the questions/answers don't make a whole lot of sense.
 
I'm in Northern Cali too - hopefully you mean somewhere that doesn't see the super hot days though - my garage easily hits 90+ degrees during the day which is too hot for server-type equipment.

Garages are pretty lousy places for computers - dust, grime, heat, etc.
 
I'm in Northern Cali too - hopefully you mean somewhere that doesn't see the super hot days though - my garage easily hits 90+ degrees during the day which is too hot for server-type equipment.

Garages are pretty lousy places for computers - dust, grime, heat, etc.

I know that :D ! Told ya! Been spending a lot of time on these forums!

I guess you, IVB and me live in the same area!

I have clicked a couple of pics but I am not sure if I have enough privilege to post them on this forum yet!

I am yet to measure the temp in the garage but this side of the hill, it doesn't get that warm in the garage in this house. We did have a couple of ~100 degrees days, but the garage was still cool.
Plus, that's where I had them in my last place in a bench and it worked fine for so many years.

Just that wife doesn't like all the PCs in the house. I am better off putting them in the garage. That's where I spend most of my time anyways.

Sometimes, I think that kids in Nor Cali must not be knowing that the garage is for keeping cars! Not for storing all your crap! You know what I mean!
 
It looks like after 10 posts you can post links. Unless Dan notices and opens it up for you.

I agree with the garages - If you don't have room for your cars in the garage, you probably have too much junk - most people could probably clean up the stuff they don't use and make room.

I don't recall where IVB is but I'm in the Sacramento area - or a bit north. If you're in that relative area, I might be able to swing by and offer a hand if needed - I've done this a handful of times. Otherwise, lookin' forward to the pics - that'll let us help more.
 
It looks like after 10 posts you can post links. Unless Dan notices and opens it up for you.

I agree with the garages - If you don't have room for your cars in the garage, you probably have too much junk - most people could probably clean up the stuff they don't use and make room.

I don't recall where IVB is but I'm in the Sacramento area - or a bit north. If you're in that relative area, I might be able to swing by and offer a hand if needed - I've done this a handful of times. Otherwise, lookin' forward to the pics - that'll let us help more.

I had placed you around the tri-valley area, you know Plesanton, San Ramon or Danville. IVB is somewhere around Berkeley/Oakland area. I am furthur South ... you know the Valley!

Anyways, I did some more sleuthing last evening and noticed a couple of things :

Or maybe let me make each one of them a separate post to get my post count up :ph34r:
 
1. There is a phone jack near the MCB (which has all the circuit breakers for the house). I opened up the phone jack and looks like the wires are coming from the top and not the bottom.

2. The cable (comcast) comes in from the outside into the garage, travels along the walls and then they drilled a hole just above the foundation and it goes into the crawl space. It then travels underneath the house and comes out in the bedroom downstairs (my office :D )
 
3. The phone line does something similar too. It comes in from the same opening as the cable from the outside, travels alongside the cable wire and then goes into the crawl space through a hole in the wall (just above the foundation) next to the cable wire. It then pops up near the crawl space opening under the stairs and there is a big mis mash of phone cables. None of the cables are labelled , this probably needs to be sorted out but is not a priority right now.
 
4. Another interesting thing, the security system is some old moose product. I plan to replace that. That's the next project. The power for this box comes from a white wire that comes in through the walls. The security box located under the stairs area too.
I started tracing that 18V power cable and noticed that it is connected to a wall wart in the garage. It takes a similar path. A hole in the wall near the cable/phone hole from the garage and then travels in the crawl space and comes out under the stairs.
 
With so many cable crossing into the garage from the crawl space, I am thinking that this is doable. There must be space above the sill joist that these holes are drilled into and it opens into the crawl space and not in the laundry room.

I will try to hand draw the floor plan for this part and attach it to this thread. I dont think I will be able to get to the fancy floor plan that some other people have , just yet.

Stay tuned for the floor plan and some pics .

PS: I have 10 posts now so hopefully I should be able to post links and attach pics. We'll see! B)
 
4. Another interesting thing, the security system is some old moose product. I plan to replace that. That's the next project.
Moose was the predecessor to the Elk I believe... Before my time, but might be useful to know - might share some similarities in wiring.
 
If there are existing holes in the rim joist for other wires with enough room for what you need then go for it. I would recommend not using holes that are used for utility power wires - you may get noise pickup. Or drill another hole. If you are automating your house you must overcome your fear of drilling holes, Grasshopper. :) The rim joist is normally supported by the foundation all along it's length so is just in compression. In that case holes wouldn't cause any structural issues.
 
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