Building a New House

[stlboilerdave]

I know these questions have been posted time to time; but I didn't see this specific topic recently.

We are building a house and have the chance to get it wired appropriately from the start. Any suggestions or things to focus on?

We have 2 HR20's (1 in great room and 1 in master bedroom). Potentially, we may want to be hooked up with new receivers in the other bedrooms and hearth room.

What do you recommend? Run ethernet cables to the HR20's? Control station in the basement? Others?

Thanks!

[Mertzen]

Most will recommend 3 coax [ 2 sat one OTA ], phone and one cat 5 to each room. All depends what you need / use.

It is nice to have a small media closet in the basement.

If it was me I would run everything in the basement and run HDMI's in the wall.

[Tom Robertson]

My pre-wire suggestion for most rooms is home runs of cables to each room that might have a TV (which includes master bath.)

For the home theatre or main TV viewing room, I suggest 4 runs of coax, 2 runs of Cat5e or Cat6. Plus any phone lines you might want.

Everywhere else, I usually run 2 coax and one Cat5e.

Since I also run an internal coax distrubution and also watch OTA, I add 2 more coax to each location, btw.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, have an empty pull tube wherever you can. That way you can add "the next" big thing someday.

And don't forget speaker wires... :)

Peace,
Tom

[Mertzen]

And maybe run 4 lines from the basement to the roof and have the roofers add an elbow pipe with a rubber membrane where you'd like to have the dish.

[firefighter4evr]

I know these questions have been posted time to time; but I didn't see this specific topic recently.

We are building a house and have the chance to get it wired appropriately from the start. Any suggestions or things to focus on?

We have 2 HR20's (1 in great room and 1 in master bedroom). Potentially, we may want to be hooked up with new receivers in the other bedrooms and hearth room.

What do you recommend? Run ethernet cables to the HR20's? Control station in the basement? Others?

Thanks!


One thing i did was mounted a 2nd panel box next to my electrical panel box. I gutted out the breakers an stuff and now use it as my central location.. it houses my muti-swicth, ethernet hub with my DSL modem, and a telephone hub (also room for a vonage box). also i used single metal outlet boxes and prefab 2 outlets in the top of the box to power anything that uses AC power and ran a dedicated line into the electrical panel to give it it's own breaker.

I ran 3 RG6 lines to each room where it was a chance to have a TV and 3 CAT 6 lines with them (one is used for phone). Also my dish is pole mounted with PVC piping running from the dish to my central location and it is grounded to the main electrical panel.

While you don't really need to go with something so nice for a central location, its always nice if u wanna tinker around with things or need to do some work, to only have to open that little door to access everything! :dance:

[hdtvfan0001]

My pre-wire suggestion for most rooms is home runs of cables to each room that might have a TV (which includes master bath.)

For the home theatre or main TV viewing room, I suggest 4 runs of coax, 2 runs of Cat5e or Cat6. Plus any phone lines you might want.

Everywhere else, I usually run 2 coax and one Cat5e.

Since I also run an internal coax distrubution and also watch OTA, I add 2 more coax to each location, btw.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, have an empty pull tube wherever you can. That way you can add "the next" big thing someday.

And don't forget speaker wires... :)

Peace,
Tom
That's the advice I'd follow....

I did that same drill when I built my dedicated Home Theater....and never regretted it at all. It saved me alot of headaches and $$$ later on when I made various changes, and all the right wiring was still where it needed to be.

You might also want to think about a whole-house UPS, or at least several decent-size units for your expensive equipment.

[TheRatPatrol]

My pre-wire suggestion for most rooms is home runs of cables to each room that might have a TV (which includes master bath.)

For the home theatre or main TV viewing room, I suggest 4 runs of coax, 2 runs of Cat5e or Cat6. Plus any phone lines you might want.

Everywhere else, I usually run 2 coax and one Cat5e.

Since I also run an internal coax distrubution and also watch OTA, I add 2 more coax to each location, btw.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, have an empty pull tube wherever you can. That way you can add "the next" big thing someday.

And don't forget speaker wires... :)

Peace,
Tom
I agree with Tom, but I would run 2 CAT5e's to each room, because you just never know. :)

[odorcide]

Check out the commdeck for your roof

http://www.rstcenterprises.com/

[curt8403]

prewiring a new home seems to be a very up and coming thing. I can tell you that it is impossible to run too many wires. If I were prewiring, I would install a 1 inch conduit in every corner of every room.

[firefighter4evr]

prewiring a new home seems to be a very up and coming thing. I can tell you that it is impossible to run too many wires. If I were prewiring, I would install a 1 inch conduit in every corner of every room.

Hmmm.... i have been kicking around the idea of starting a business doing just that... designing custom pre-wired systems for new and older homes.... the more i think about it and see just how its been a very up and coming thing, i am starting the see i may have stumbled on a GOOD idea:scratch:

[rudeney]

Prewiring is a good thing, but don't go overboard. If you have a multi-story house on a slab, then it makes sense to run as much cable as you think you might need in the rooms that are between the slab and upstairs living space. For walls that have attic above or a basement or crawlspace below, it's usually not difficult at all to fish new wire. I would take plenty of photos and/or video of the walls right before the sheetrock is installed so you know where electrical and plumbing runs to avoid those area if you later want to add an outlet.

Don't forget your electrical wiring, either. So many homes are "under powered". Our house was terrible! The entire living room was on one 15AMP circuit except for an outlet shared with the dining room 20AMP circuit. Two bedrooms (one that I use as an office) were sharing one 15AMP circuit and the master bedroom was one 15AMP. I ended up running about eight more circuits int he house. May advice would be to plan where your A/V system will be and have a dedicated circuit to it, plus two 15AMP circuits per bedroom (especially if they will have large TV's, DVR's, PC's, etc.)

[bb37]

I would take plenty of photos and/or video of the walls right before the sheetrock is installed so you know where electrical and plumbing runs to avoid those area if you later want to add an outlet.
That's the approach I took. I'm buying a production house and the builder wanted something like $125 for each additional telephone (single CAT5) or TV (single RG6) jack above the standard four phone and three TV that come with the house. The house is a one-story on a full basement. Before the drywall went up, I took digital photos of every wall in every room. After I'm in, I plan to run a lot more CAT5 and RG6.

If it was a two-story or if it was on a slab, I would've spent the money and had the builder do it.

Granted, I'm probably undervaluing the time and aggravation I'll go through doing my own wiring, but it will give me a sense of accomplishment and I'll know exactly how it was done.

[jpitlick]

When I bought my townhouse 6 1/2 years ago, I wanted to wire it for ethernet. It turned out that the builder installed two sets of Cat5e and two sets of coax standard to each bedroom, kitchen, living room, and rec room. They only terminated the lines in the master bedroom, living room, and rec room. They were charging an ungodly amount for additional terminations. Since the drops were there, I bought the keystone ports did the additional terminations myself. For me this was enough wiring to each room. If I need more than one ethernet port in a room, I use a switch. The other Cat 5e is used for the phone/DSL. Now that I have SWM, I plan to use the second coax for FiOS internet.

[firefighter4evr]

Prewiring is a good thing, but don't go overboard. If you have a multi-story house on a slab, then it makes sense to run as much cable as you think you might need in the rooms that are between the slab and upstairs living space. For walls that have attic above or a basement or crawlspace below, it's usually not difficult at all to fish new wire. I would take plenty of photos and/or video of the walls right before the sheetrock is installed so you know where electrical and plumbing runs to avoid those area if you later want to add an outlet.

Don't forget your electrical wiring, either. So many homes are "under powered". Our house was terrible! The entire living room was on one 15AMP circuit except for an outlet shared with the dining room 20AMP circuit. Two bedrooms (one that I use as an office) were sharing one 15AMP circuit and the master bedroom was one 15AMP. I ended up running about eight more circuits int he house. May advice would be to plan where your A/V system will be and have a dedicated circuit to it, plus two 15AMP circuits per bedroom (especially if they will have large TV's, DVR's, PC's, etc.)


The extremely sad part there Rodney is that your house was wired exactly how the NEC codes say it should be done! I am hoping that when the 2012 NEC codes come out they change that a bit.... one good thing is that in 2012 there gonna require that all circuits in new construction have ground fault breakers... personally, i agree with it... i also would not mind them also requiring whole house surge protectors too....

[rudeney]

Granted, I'm probably undervaluing the time and aggravation I'll go through doing my own wiring, but it will give me a sense of accomplishment and I'll know exactly how it was done.

It definitely gives you a "sense of accomplishment" when you run your own wire, especially when you run into challenging situations that you are able to tackle. I'd definitely recommend investing in a set of "glow rods" and a fish tape. You might also think about honing your sheetrock skills. Really, once you overcome the fear of patching holes int he wall, you start to feel pretty invincible when it comes to running your own wire.

[rudeney]

The extremely sad part there Rodney is that your house was wired exactly how the NEC codes say it should be done!

Yeah, I know! I really can't even remember how many new outlets I've installed. My neighbor was complaining about not having enough places to plug in his Christmas lights and didn't understand how we got all of ours working. Our houses came with one outdoor receptacle - on the back porch. I have since added one on the front porch, another on the side of the house, plus I have a 20AMP circuit int he backyard for the pool filter and landscape lighting.

I am hoping that when the 2012 NEC codes come out they change that a bit.... one good thing is that in 2012 there gonna require that all circuits in new construction have ground fault breakers...

I hope it's actually "breakers" and not those ground-fault outlets that allow daisy-chaining. I'll never forget our first week int he house. The bathroom circuit tripped while my wife was using her blow dryer. I went to check the breaker panel and nothing was tripped. So then I had to go through the whole house to look for a tripped ground-fault outlet. Guess where it was? On the back porch! I figured it saved them about 20' for Romex to put it there instead of in the bathroom. :nono:

[Canis Lupus]

If you go for a media closet type setup, I recommend a cooling system and/or exhaust for all those devices that run hot - like XBoxes and PS3s etc.

[firefighter4evr]

Yeah, I know! I really can't even remember how many new outlets I've installed. My neighbor was complaining about not having enough places to plug in his Christmas lights and didn't understand how we got all of ours working. Our houses came with one outdoor receptacle - on the back porch. I have since added one on the front porch, another on the side of the house, plus I have a 20AMP circuit int he backyard for the pool filter and landscape lighting.



I hope it's actually "breakers" and not those ground-fault outlets that allow daisy-chaining. I'll never forget our first week int he house. The bathroom circuit tripped while my wife was using her blow dryer. I went to check the breaker panel and nothing was tripped. So then I had to go through the whole house to look for a tripped ground-fault outlet. Guess where it was? On the back porch! I figured it saved them about 20' for Romex to put it there instead of in the bathroom. :nono:

Hmm.... going out of code to save 20' of romex:nono2: :nono2:


Yeah, they are actually "breakers".... they go right into the panel box like standard breaker would... Right now, we use them at work "if" the customer requests them (electrical tech by trade.. till i get my own business underway).

There really neat (but, expensive) they can sense trouble on the circuit ie a shock, or short an kick off power... :p

[hdtvfan0001]

Don't forget your electrical wiring, either. So many homes are "under powered".
Ergo my additional suggestion of a whole-house-UPS...something that I suspect we may see more commonplace in the next few years...

[rudeney]

Hmm.... going out of code to save 20' of romex:nono2: :nono2:

Actually, I don't think it was out of code. The circuit was GFI protected, it's just that the "master" GFI receptacle used was not very conveniently located. My MIL's house is similar, but her GFI master receptacle is in the garage.


Yeah, they are actually "breakers".... they go right into the panel box like standard breaker would... Right now, we use them at work "if" the customer requests them (electrical tech by trade.. till i get my own business underway).

There really neat (but, expensive) they can sense trouble on the circuit ie a shock, or short an kick off power... :p

Oh yeah, I'm quite familiar with them. In fact, I installed five or six in my panel to get rid of the GFI receptacles and when we added the screened porch and pool circuits. I'm just surprised they doing this as the breakers are expensive and to use them for every circuit seems wasteful.

[firefighter4evr]

Ergo my additional suggestion of a whole-house-UPS...something that I suspect we may see more commonplace in the next few years...

Yes.. expensive but, alot of insurance companies are starting to give one hell of a discount on home owner policy rates to people who install them.

[asjamias]

Yes.. expensive but, alot of insurance companies are starting to give one hell of a discount on home owner policy rates to people who install them.

a whole house UPS?

I did a whole house surge protection device from Leviton...

[firefighter4evr]

a whole house UPS?

I did a whole house surge protection device from Leviton...


Make sure you send the pictures to the insurance man that has your home owners policy most likely they will give you a sweet discount. i am sure if anything happens then they would rather replace that surge protector than every little component that was fried!

[hdtvfan0001]

a whole house UPS?

I did a whole house surge protection device from Leviton...
Very nice!

[bb37]

I'd definitely recommend investing in a set of "glow rods" and a fish tape.
Already have the fish tape and have put it to use where I'm currently living. Wasn't familiar with the term "glow rod". After Googling it, I realized that I've seen an older, non-glow-in-the-dark version used for data-com installations in drop ceilings. Thanks for the tip.

[firefighter4evr]

Oh yeah, I'm quite familiar with them. In fact, I installed five or six in my panel to get rid of the GFI receptacles and when we added the screened porch and pool circuits. I'm just surprised they doing this as the breakers are expensive and to use them for every circuit seems wasteful.

The main reason for doing this is simply fire prevention (due to electrical issues). As its not gonna totally wipe out electrical fires... its sure gonna be a big help... also, they will help cut down on electrical shocks... as you know, anything we can do to protect us from our stupid selfs we have become these days:nono2:

[purtman]

My pre-wire suggestion for most rooms is home runs of cables to each room that might have a TV (which includes master bath.)

For the home theatre or main TV viewing room, I suggest 4 runs of coax, 2 runs of Cat5e or Cat6. Plus any phone lines you might want.

Everywhere else, I usually run 2 coax and one Cat5e.

Since I also run an internal coax distrubution and also watch OTA, I add 2 more coax to each location, btw.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, have an empty pull tube wherever you can. That way you can add "the next" big thing someday.

And don't forget speaker wires... :)

Peace,
Tom

Tom, curious as to the numbers. It seems like a lot to me. Why the four coax and the two runs of the others? I'm sure I'm missing something. thanks!

[brant]

P
Don't forget your electrical wiring, either. So many homes are "under powered". Our house was terrible! The entire living room was on one 15AMP circuit except for an outlet shared with the dining room 20AMP circuit.

that's not terrible. if you're living room was on a 15A circuit by itself, that's above average. we don't give away additional circuits, and builders certainly don't want to pay for them.

Ergo my additional suggestion of a whole-house-UPS...something that I suspect we may see more commonplace in the next few years...

UPS or stand-by power?

a true whole-house UPS (uninterruptible) would be insanely expensive.

a backup generator, combined with compact UPS' installed on individual components would be a better investment.

[carl6]

Tom, curious as to the numbers. It seems like a lot to me. Why the four coax and the two runs of the others? I'm sure I'm missing something. thanks!

If you are using non-SWM technology, you need four coax in order to either (a) feed two DVRs or a DVR and non-DVR receiver (not uncommon), or (b) install a multiswitch for multiple outputs in that area. Plus, if a line goes bad in the future, you've got pre-wired built in replacement.

As to the other lines, you can't have enough network wire anyplace. If you want to connect a couple of networked devices (e.g., DVR & game box), you've got the connections without having to add a switch.

[Tom Robertson]

Tom, curious as to the numbers. It seems like a lot to me. Why the four coax and the two runs of the others? I'm sure I'm missing something. thanks!

Yes, it is a lot--but I disagree with the group that says it is easy to fish later. Just fish and fix the sheetrock adds up very quickly. Finding a person to do the work for you, that you can trust, does a good job, etc. is not always a simple task.

And I've done my share of fishing (many hours actually). I don't like my sheetrock skills. :)

So, as Carl6 very correctly mentioned, with four coax into a room, you can have as many tuners/receivers as you can ever imagine, just by putting more switches in there.

I'm not yet sold on long distance HDMI via standard HDMI cable runs to a wiring closet. That might happen, but those cables are more expensive than a bunch of coax right now. Roughly $1/foot for HDMI vs. 1000ft for $50... :)

Cheers,
Tom

[rudeney]

Yes, it is a lot--but I disagree with the group that says it is easy to fish later. Just fish and fix the sheetrock adds up very quickly. Finding a person to do the work for you, that you can trust, does a good job, etc. is not always a simple task.

I guess I'm lucky because I only have to look as far as the nearest mirror to find my cable guy! ;)

And I've done my share of fishing (many hours actually). I don't like my sheetrock skills. :)

Me neither (that is, I don't like MY sheetrock skills - I've never seen yours). So, I almost never do any fishing that required sheetrock work other than cutting in a box. I did do one job for my sister-in-law where I had no choice and I did the cuts in a closet. Oddly enough, that sheetrock work turned out to me one of my best, yet no one will ever see it!

Really, it just doesn't get much easier than fishing wire from a basement, crawl space or attic into a wall. Of course insulation and "fire stops" can make it slightly more challenging, but that's part of the fun of DIY work.

[curt8403]

I'm not yet sold on long distance HDMI via standard HDMI cable runs to a wiring closet. That might happen, but those cables are more expensive than a bunch of coax right now. Roughly $1/foot for HDMI vs. 1000ft for $50... :)

Cheers,
Tom

what do you think of HDMI over powerline?

[Tom Robertson]

I guess I'm lucky because I only have to look as far as the nearest mirror to find my cable guy! ;)



Me neither (that is, I don't like MY sheetrock skills - I've never seen yours). So, I almost never do any fishing that required sheetrock work other than cutting in a box. I did do one job for my sister-in-law where I had no choice and I did the cuts in a closet. Oddly enough, that sheetrock work turned out to me one of my best, yet no one will ever see it!

Really, it just doesn't get much easier than fishing wire from a basement, crawl space or attic into a wall. Of course insulation and "fire stops" can make it slightly more challenging, but that's part of the fun of DIY work.

I've found interior walls from attics or basements ok, but I have firestops and no basement in this house.

Thus, I've had to do two sheetrock openings in this house--so far. I'll SWM the other two rooms now that SWM exists. :)

I don't much like exterior walls where the roof meets the wall, especially in a vaulted ceiling. There isn't any room to do the job.

So... I go back to wire first. :)

Peace,
Tom

[Tom Robertson]

what do you think of HDMI over powerline?

I haven't seen HDMI via powerline yet. I've seen ethernet via powerline. And HDMI via coax, fibre, or cat5/6. (actually have some HDMI via fibre--it's cool!) :)

Peace,
Tom

[Tom Robertson]

Ok, read the thread about HDMI via powerline and don't think I'd use it except in an emergency. (Here is the CNET Review (http://reviews.cnet.com/networking-and-wi-fi/acoustic-research-hdp100-hdmi/4505-3243_7-33408746.html?tag=mncol;txt))

1) if you are building a room for AV equipment to distribute around the house, this HDMI via powerline solution doesn't seem to work--you'd need home-runs of the AC power to the cabinet.

2) inadequate video performance

3) if you're pre-wiring the house, you don't need this solution. HDMI cables are still cheaper than the $300/room.

Peace,
Tom

[purtman]

Yes, it is a lot--but I disagree with the group that says it is easy to fish later. Just fish and fix the sheetrock adds up very quickly. Finding a person to do the work for you, that you can trust, does a good job, etc. is not always a simple task.

And I've done my share of fishing (many hours actually). I don't like my sheetrock skills. :)

So, as Carl6 very correctly mentioned, with four coax into a room, you can have as many tuners/receivers as you can ever imagine, just by putting more switches in there.

I'm not yet sold on long distance HDMI via standard HDMI cable runs to a wiring closet. That might happen, but those cables are more expensive than a bunch of coax right now. Roughly $1/foot for HDMI vs. 1000ft for $50... :)

Cheers,
Tom

DUHH!!! I didn't even think of two cables for each box. It totally makes sense. I totally agree with what you say about doing it later. If you have a sharp-looking home theater, who wants to fish and possibly cut up the sheetrock?
Tom and Carl, thanks for the info.

[hdtvfan0001]

Running the appropriate # of cables through an adaquate PVC pipe in-wall run, along with a "pull line (just in case you determine 5 years from now you need another new cable for some reason) is one good way to "futureproof" your low voltage cable setup (coax, Cat 5 or 6, etc.).

I did that very thing with my projector, speakers, and other low voltage wiriing in the dedicated Home Theater here...and never regretted it. I also made the decision to use quad 4 shield speaker wiring (yes it was not cheap) for my THX 7.1 speakers, to avoid ever having to think about replacing it from weathering, wear-and-tear, or based on the impact from any source of interference. In one case, I upgraded one cable to my projector and the "project" took about 45 minutes, with no damage or "construction" work required.

I invested about $1300 in pre-wiring here alone (no labor)....but it could easily have been half that...with different choices in wiring quality or levels of shielding.

In any case....figure out what you need, what you might need in the future, and design the means to put that into place. It may just require "today's needs" for now, but also provide some way (like PVC runs in the walls) to avoid having to open up drywall some day down the road.