Dropping cables in a cavity wall

Felix

Felix

Felix

Soldato
Joined
25 Jan 2003
Posts
2,701
I want to drop cat5e and coaxial cable to various rooms in my house. Its a new build and I want it to run from the living room to the rooms.

Is there any harm in putting the cables between the outer and inner skin of the house? I have tried to feed them between the plasterboard and the inner skin but its impossible!
 
If you mean in the cavity then it'll probably be full of insulation, they do put an air gap in there now but i don't think it'd be easy to route them there.

If you find the right place you can run them behind the plasterboard, there will be dots of adhesive to between but its possible, ive routed 10mm copper behind there before.
 
why running it from living room? Usually these things are ran to a central location, which is often a cupboard / utility room etc.

Run it all back to central place and into a patch panel.
 
If it's a new build then it will have cavity insulation so you will struggle somewhat especially if it has high density compacted fibreglass board.....I've done it a few times but to be honest it is really time consuming and a real ball ache.
The only way you can succeed is with fibreglass rods that screw together, but like I say it's a nightmare and the rods can go off target with ease and cause much frustration..
Other than that there will be no harm in running the inside the cavity.

Your best bet is to run cables inside trunking in the corners of the rooms......looks a little unsightly but if you caulk the gaps with a good quality flexible caulk then paint them you can disguise them.
 
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Floor board is a no go as its across the whole house.

The router is in the living room as that is where the master socket is, there is 1 other socket in the house and thats in the master bedroom. My connection speed is pretty dire so having it in the master socket squeezes out as much speed as I can!

Trucking is a no go, I can't stand the stuff!

As far as I can tell the plasterboards are attaced to the inner skin of bricks with adhesive/d a bs and the cavity between the 2 skins is just air. and aorund 2 inches thick so plenty of space.
 
Felix said:
As far as I can tell the plasterboards are attaced to the inner skin of bricks with adhesive/d a bs and the cavity between the 2 skins is just air. and aorund 2 inches thick so plenty of space.
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Plasterboard will be attached by the 'Dot and Dab' method hence the inability to run the cables straight down.
Down the cavity it is then with the fibreglass rods.....run the rods down the cavity with the cable attached and then hook the cable through a hole in the wall, cut, and then retrieve the rods :D
 
WRT the cat5e why not just use wireless or the system that plugs into the electrical wires? It's not going to affect your internet speed as it will be far faster than most and it saves you having to try and get it through the walls. :)
 
Its certainly the easiest solution, though I have read that its not recommended and frowned upon but I can't see why unless it bridges condensation though you have cables and pipes already going through the walls.
 
Amp34 said:
WRT the cat5e why not just use wireless or the system that plugs into the electrical wires? It's not going to affect your internet speed as it will be far faster than most and it saves you having to try and get it through the walls. :)
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Several wireless PCs/laptops transferring large files and an internet radio soon cripples wireless. Also seeing as I am routing the coax I may as well do cat5 too.
 
If you drop a cable into the cavity from the attic how do you fish it out.

You would have to make a substantial hold considering the cable diameter to be able to retrieve it out of the wall.

Can anything be ran externally, hidden behind downpipes and such?

I have dropped cables from attics into internal walls (bedrooms) many times. Just pick a reference point, measure everything off of it then drill from above. If you put a TV or network socket near a mains socket you can take the mains socket and pattress out to give you access into the wall space. If the wall is full of noggins though you're screwed. Can be done but requires making good afterward.
 
Felix said:
Several wireless PCs/laptops transferring large files and an internet radio soon cripples wireless. Also seeing as I am routing the coax I may as well do cat5 too.
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Ah ok. It's just you mentioned master sockets and bandwidth so I assumed you were more interested in getting a higher internet speed. :)
 
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