Attic installation question

[tigerwillow1]

I'm moving into a new house. The good news is that there's a decent-quality RG6 run to just about every room. That's the end of the good news.

The other end of all the RG6 lines are coiled up and attached with a big staple to a wall in the attic. They're about 12 feet from the ceiling hatch, and the attic has 16" of blown-in insulation. And in an example of poor planning, there's a built-in closet shelf under the access hatch. So just getting into the attic requires some gymnastics, then getting to the cables requires swimming (or whatever) through the deep insulation. My question is: What's the installer going to do about this when he sees it?

[raoul5788]

I'm moving into a new house. The good news is that there's a decent-quality RG6 run to just about every room. That's the end of the good news.

The other end of all the RG6 lines are coiled up and attached with a big staple to a wall in the attic. They're about 12 feet from the ceiling hatch, and the attic has 16" of blown-in insulation. And in an example of poor planning, there's a built-in closet shelf under the access hatch. So just getting into the attic requires some gymnastics, then getting to the cables requires swimming (or whatever) through the deep insulation. My question is: What's the installer going to do about this when he sees it?

Depending on the accessibility and condition of the wire, he may elect to run new cable. It sounds like you should try to get some sheathing in there so he can get around without falling through the floor. Maybe you can temporarily remove the shelving. If getting into the attic is too difficult, he may decide to run cable through the walls into each room. How many rooms are you getting?

[tigerwillow1]

Thanks for the response. I'm going to infer from the lack of responses that the question is a tough call in the forum setting, and that the installer could go either way with respect to using the existing wiring or running new wiring. I'll have only one receiver initially, which I think would make use of the existing coax runs less attractive. If I want the installer to use the existing wiring I think I need to get into the attic myself and being them to a more accessible location.

[hdtvfan0001]

While having that setup may be hot and messy...the general idea of a single place for them all to meet up on one end is actually a plus.

You certainly can have an installer leverage the existing runs of coax...but have plenty of ice cool beverages handy...:D

[RobertE]

If you have an attic fan, turn it on and have it run continously either the night before or the morning of the day of your installation. The cooler up there the better.

Water, lots of ice water.

If no attic fan, any fan that could be put up there or can blow air up there to get some air movement.

Water, lots of ice water.

As already mentioned, some sheathing or something to get from the hatch to the existing coax will be very benifital to all invovled. It will provide him something stable to walk on, and you no foot holes in your ceilings.

Water, lots of ice water.

Have a nice big dropcloth or two in that closet and or the room with the hatch. No matter how hard one tries, that insulation will find it's way out of the attic. Have your shop vac or something to clean it up. The tech may offer, but don't be upset if he doesn't.

Water, lots of ice water.

If there are lights up there, make sure they work.

Water, lots of ice water.

Offer to assist (if able), but don't be glued to the guy like a prom date.

Did I mention ice water?

[veryoldschool]

If you have an attic fan, turn it on and have it run continously either the night before or the morning of the day of your installation. The cooler up there the better.

Water, lots of ice water.

If no attic fan, any fan that could be put up there or can blow air up there to get some air movement.

Water, lots of ice water.

As already mentioned, some sheathing or something to get from the hatch to the existing coax will be very benifital to all invovled. It will provide him something stable to walk on, and you no foot holes in your ceilings.

Water, lots of ice water.

Have a nice big dropcloth or two in that closet and or the room with the hatch. No matter how hard one tries, that insulation will find it's way out of the attic. Have your shop vac or something to clean it up. The tech may offer, but don't be upset if he doesn't.

Water, lots of ice water.

If there are lights up there, make sure they work.

Water, lots of ice water.

Offer to assist (if able), but don't be glued to the guy like a prom date.

Did I mention ice water?
Show him where the bathroom is too. :lol:

[harsh]

I've used a ladder or strips of 1/4" plywood to "float" myself over deep insulation. 16" is miserably deep and it can be pretty dangerous to move around if there isn't some sort of rigid "flooring" between your foot (or knee) and the ceiling.

Missing a joist and damaging the ceiling or fixtures below will cost more than the install pays.

[hdtvfan0001]

Show him where the bathroom is too. :lol:
For sure...and make him recite the directs back to you...there's no margin for error on that... :D

[adrock13]

baby powder on the arms works good to prevent irritablilty from insulation. you'll definately want to put down a sheet or some towels to keep the insulation from making a big mess. techs are used to having to work around insulation and know what to expect. if you're willing to offer some water that's always a plus.

[dsw2112]

The other end of all the RG6 lines are coiled up and attached with a big staple to a wall in the attic. They're about 12 feet from the ceiling hatch...

As previously mentioned at least all the runs are in one spot, that can be very helpful. The fact that they're in the attic will make it even easier if the dish is a roof mount. I noticed you said the lines are coiled up -- if un-coiled will the connectors reach the attic access? If so I would either un-coil and bring them to the hatch ahead of time, or see if the tech will do that part for you. Having all of the connections right by the attic access will make things much easier in the future! In any case the attic may be hot with a lot of insulation, but otherwise this is a pretty simple install for most techs.

[rudeney]

Other than the installer having to deal with a hot attic, I don't see an issue here. Blown-in attic insulation can be gently moved around to expose the joists for safely walking or crawling around (but should also be moved back in place afterward to restore its insulating properties). The location of the access hatch has nothing to do with the installation. Since all the cable runs terminate in the same place, that's likely where the installer will be the mutliswitch (or splitter if using a SWM setup). The only cable he should have to run is from there to the dish itself.

[Juanus]

This brings up an interesting question about where people have their lines terminate. I am currently in the process of building a new house and I am going to have the cable and ethernet terminate to a loction. But I am not sure where yet. I was thinking the basement would be best, but I wanted to get a consensus of what others are doing or what would be your optimal setup. Maybe a media cabinate in the basement or something?

[harsh]

I would suggest homing everything to the center (horizontally and vertically) as much as possible so you don't have to use WAPs or extremely long runs to reach the far corners house. Walk-in closets are often a good choice.

[dsw2112]

This brings up an interesting question about where people have their lines terminate. I am currently in the process of building a new house and I am going to have the cable and ethernet terminate to a loction. But I am not sure where yet. I was thinking the basement would be best, but I wanted to get a consensus of what others are doing or what would be your optimal setup. Maybe a media cabinate in the basement or something?

Basements usually work well as builders tend to home run everything there on new houses anyway. But basically anywhere you can get access to the connections will work. Switches will eventually fail or need to be added, so it's always nice to have easy access to the lines.

[bonscott87]

This brings up an interesting question about where people have their lines terminate. I am currently in the process of building a new house and I am going to have the cable and ethernet terminate to a loction. But I am not sure where yet. I was thinking the basement would be best, but I wanted to get a consensus of what others are doing or what would be your optimal setup. Maybe a media cabinate in the basement or something?

I have run everything into my pantry in the basement and have "patch panel" where I have installed the switches and stuff. The AT&T Uverse guy really liked this since for his install I told him the exact line that Charter currently used for Internet and so he took that line and ran it into his box vs. Charters splitter. He didn't have to run any cabling in the house, just hooked into what I already had.

Also, label everything. I just have masking tape with marker for words but it works. So I have cables going out labeled "patio", "upstairs", "ota", "computer room" and so forth so I know exactly what things are. Because 6 months from now you will certainly forget what they are. :D In my example above my line for Internet I had some blue painters tape around so I knew it was different.

[rudeney]

My Ethernet home runs to my walk-in closet in the master bedroom. I put both a cable and phone jack there for my choice of DSL or cable modem. I have my wifi router and switch wall mounted, and my Windows server box in there. My D* coax all homes in the attic over my garage as does my voice phone line server and the alarm system. I figured I'd need easy access to the computer network so that's why it's in the closet. The coax and phone line wiring hardly ever gets touched, so the attic is fine (it's floored with easy access via a drop-down ladder).

[swillotter]

i'm a service tech and when there are lines running god knows where through however much insulation in however hot an attic i am supposed to just deal with it and figure it out....once in a while someone will give me some water but customers generally don't plan anything like turning fans on..once i was in a crawlspace under a house and the customers actually turned on their heater. it got so hot under there i thought i was going to die...it was a huge hours and i lost my sense of direction. all i could see were ducts. i had a panic attack and crawled out as fast as i could. might have damaged some ducts...not sure...told the customer i could not fit under there but they said..."well our son did it before" ...i left them 100 feet of cable and told them to get him to run the second line for dvr

[whoray85]

This brings up an interesting question about where people have their lines terminate. I am currently in the process of building a new house and I am going to have the cable and ethernet terminate to a loction. But I am not sure where yet. I was thinking the basement would be best, but I wanted to get a consensus of what others are doing or what would be your optimal setup. Maybe a media cabinate in the basement or something?

Being an installer, I would suggest your cables exit the home very, very close to the power meter on the exterior of the house. This does several things: provides a centrally located access point for the m/s or swm splitter, provides for grounding the satellite system, and keeps all your services in/around the same spot of the house. (power/phone/sat/cable). I also suggest running dual lines to over the fireplace and anywhere you KNOW you are going to put a DVR.

[joe diamond]

This one could be a good example of something I have seen done!

How about..run4 lines from the dish to a wb6x8 in the attic.
Connect all runs to the 6x8 except 1.
Run 1 rg6 with ground to a ground block at the e meter & ground there per standard install.
Run that one line to serve the nearest receiver on the same floor or in the basement.
Waddytink?

Without turning this into a grounding thread.....any reason the multiswitch needs to be on the first floor? Is the system grounded?

Waddytink?

Joe

[wallfishman]

This one could be a good example of something I have seen done!

How about..run4 lines from the dish to a wb6x8 in the attic.
Connect all runs to the 6x8 except 1.
Run 1 rg6 with ground to a ground block at the e meter & ground there per standard install.
Run that one line to serve the nearest receiver on the same floor or in the basement.
Waddytink?

Without turning this into a grounding thread.....any reason the multiswitch needs to be on the first floor? Is the system grounded?

Waddytink?

Joe
why bother , theres plenty of electric ground right in any attic.

[Clark143]

Being an installer, I would suggest your cables exit the home very, very close to the power meter on the exterior of the house. This does several things: provides a centrally located access point for the m/s or swm splitter, provides for grounding the satellite system, and keeps all your services in/around the same spot of the house. (power/phone/sat/cable). I also suggest running dual lines to over the fireplace and anywhere you KNOW you are going to put a DVR.

When I was looking for a new house, I had two requirements. Good clear southwest view of the sky (live in NC) and good cell phone coverage.

As a bonus when I found the house I liked, the cables were homeruns directly outside next to the power meter. I pole mounted my dish. It was an easy install for the installer. The installer did have to run a couple of extra lines through a window (i didn't have a swm), but I have since changed that out myself to eliminate the extra wires.

[armophob]

might have damaged some ducts...not sure...told the customer i could not fit under there but they said..."well our son did it before" ...i left them 100 feet of cable and told them to get him to run the second line for dvr

Oldest trick in the books. Always have a roll of silver AC tape or duct tape with you to repair the "accidental" tear in the AC duct. It always happens right next to where you are going to be working for a while.:D

[joe diamond]

why bother , theres plenty of electric ground right in any attic.

True,

I just missed a finger pointing session once where a tech opened a screw on a steel plug box and grounded a cable ground block. The cable QC guy was making money on chargebacks but even the main contractor company bought what he said; "yur not licensed to even touch house wire...and if you do...and something happens....we go to you for repairs...if we find out about it we backcharge you once and then throw you off our system."

They had a point. But antenna cable runs to an attic location still happen.

Just a thought,

Joe

[harsh]

Steel boxes connected by conduit to the service panel are acceptable bonding points but isolated steel outlet boxes are not.

[joe diamond]

Steel boxes connected by conduit to the service panel are acceptable bonding points but isolated steel outlet boxes are not.

The whole house was BX cable with the ground as part of the cable outside steel sheath. Don't see much of it anymore.

I can see bonding to a conduit. What the tech did was technically a ground but then he put himself in the business of working on someone's house electric without an electricial's license.

I have seen grounding to the chassis of AC units and air handlers. One guy even opened a plastic gang box and wire-nutted a ground wire to the 12/2 romex ground wires in the box. While some stuff works you are also putting your neck on the block.

Still wonder about the single rg6 with ground to a single line ground block. Seen it but never bothered to do it.

Joe

[harsh]

What the tech did was technically a ground but then he put himself in the business of working on someone's house electric without an electricial's license.The biggest failure in this and many other similar discussions seems to be distinguishing between a simple ground and a "bonding point". Grounds are available all over a modern home, but there are rarely more than a handful of bonding points. Grounding directly to a bonding point is the only method that is NEC compliant.