Building a Home Network...

GhostWKD

GhostWKD

GhostWKD

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Joined
21 Jan 2013
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1,869
Location
Banbury, Oxfordshire
Hi all,

After a bit of advice. I'm about to run cables in the walls of my house to deliver hardwire network connections to various rooms which are currently reliant on wifi. I'm also planning on running some security cameras by POE. Thought was to have a switch and NAS up in the loft but feeling rather out of my depth right now.

Current setup is BT Home Hub 5 (Infinity 2) which powers 1 to 3 computers in the office at any time and then wifi for the rest of the house.

What I want to end up with is network cables run for; Living room (x2), Bedroom x1, Bedroom x1. I've had plastic trunking put in the walls whilst the house was being built for cables to be run into each of these rooms from the loft (also have trunking to the office). I also want to have a few security cameras (unsure of position/qty just yet).

I had looked at a 8 port D-Link switch with four POE ports to go in the loft but not sure this would offer all the connections I wanted unless I can still use the Home Hub for the (up to) 3 computers in the office? Would I be better looking at a 16 port switch for the loft and just using the Home Hub to provide the internet connection, not sure if this may present an issue with 3 cables coming back down for the office PCs though? Think I most likely am still looking to the HH to provide the wireless for phones etc.

From a NAS perspective, I was looking at something like this; https://www.overclockers.co.uk/syno...4-bay-network-attached-storage-hd-091-sy.html but not sure if there are better solutions out there (also not sure what the power consumption of something like that would be?). Plan would be to run a HDD or two in there for the Security Cameras and then one or two for film storage/streaming to TV.

Thoughts/builds on the above greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex
 
If I was in your situation I would run a couple of cables for AP's on the ceiling instead of half arsing and relying on the HH.

An attic might not be the best place for a NAS because of the temperature it will be exposed too.
 
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GhostWKD said:
Thought was to have a switch and NAS up in the loft
Click to expand...

This is a fire risk. Don't do it. I had equipment in the loft and was very lucky to not lose my house when a bug got in and blocked a fan, causing the equipment to overheat.

GhostWKD said:
What I want to end up with is network cables run for; Living room (x2), Bedroom x1, Bedroom x1.
Click to expand...

Double those. You'll thank me in the long run.
 
I like the idea of running cables to central hallway or stairway ceiling locations so you can site a wireless AP there in the future should you so decide.

I also like the idea of running 2 cables in wherever you're thinking of putting 1 in,again for possible future use or just to give you a little redundancy.

I think the main idea is to have the router located in the loft with a switch attached,doesn't matter if that's an 8 or 16 port switch now because you can always change up should you want.
Then run a cable or 2 in the trunking to your office where you can have a 4/8 port switch so you can hook up your 3 machines and whatever else you need.

Then follow the same plan for other rooms if you need a few ports in the living room for tv,xbox etc just put a switch in there and use a single cable to take that traffic back to the loft.
 
Thanks guys appreciate the feedback. A friend is trying to get me to fit some AP's he's got spare but the other half isn't keen from an aesthetic point of view.

Hadn't thought about the NAS being an issue in the loft so appreciate the heads up on that, will have to adjust plans a little in that respect, assume switch is ok being up there however?

I've got a 200m reel of cat6 which was donated by a friend so I'd say it's a good shout to run a couple of cables on each run :)

Ideal would be to locate the router in the loft but not sure if it would suffer through having an extra cable taking it all the way up there? Also imagine it would be a pain if need to reset it at all?
 
No, the loft is not an okay place for your switch - or any untended electrical equipment. Do you have a cupboard under the stairs? That's the place for your server / NAS and switch.
 
GhostWKD said:
Thanks guys appreciate the feedback. A friend is trying to get me to fit some AP's he's got spare but the other half isn't keen from an aesthetic point of view.

Hadn't thought about the NAS being an issue in the loft so appreciate the heads up on that, will have to adjust plans a little in that respect, assume switch is ok being up there however?

I've got a 200m reel of cat6 which was donated by a friend so I'd say it's a good shout to run a couple of cables on each run :)

Ideal would be to locate the router in the loft but not sure if it would suffer through having an extra cable taking it all the way up there? Also imagine it would be a pain if need to reset it at all?
Click to expand...

A dumb switch with no POE I might chance in the loft but one with POE and an electrical transformer inside I wouldn't.

Have you looked at Ubiquiti AP's? They are quite asthetic for what they are.
 
Aye the ubiquiti's look more like smoke alarms than access points :)

If you've got something like a wardrobe built over the stairs (which seems reasonably common in houses built in the 70's, at least round here), it can be an ideal place to put the network equipment, as you can run the cables into it from the loft easily.
It's what I'm starting to do as it's an easy to access place that is also out of sight and fairly central for the house.
 
Wouldn't having trip switches on your electrical circuit be sufficient to run a managed/PoE switch safely in the eaves or a loft?

After all there are no moving parts in there.
 
Your normal loft is going to regularly have a temperature that's outside the operating range of most electrical devices. It doesn't stop you mounting equipment up there, but it needs proper thought.
 
I recently put my NAS up in the loft.

I built a 6 sided cube from a Lack table with 2x 120mm intake fans at the lower front and 2x 92mm exhaust fans at the upper rear. Going to add a Pi up there to closely monitor the room temperatures.
 
Humidity? A running NAS will be warm enough to avoid any condensation forming.

High temperatures are going to be the killer. I know my loft gets to a summer temperature where I'll avoid going up there during the day; it gets stupidly hot. I'm certain that a running NAS in my loft would regularly have the drives, if not the entire device, well out of its operating range.

When I was planning to have to equipment up there my intention was to run a duct to the outside to get fresh air.
 
Is the office on the floor at the next level down from the loft?

If so would there be enough room in the office to fit some floor to ceiling cupboard against an outside wall?

or

A storage cupboard like an airing cupboard that already exists on the next level down from the loft. Maybe suitable if it isn't a heated cupboard.
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Alternatively if you could have floor to ceiling wardrobes in a bedroom that's below the loft then you could use some dead space towards the top of such cupboard. Not as desirable as using the office unless you don't mind the NAS being in the office instead as it will most likely have some noise from fans and drives. As far as the patch panel and a fanless switch is concerned you can get away with those being in a bedroom without any noise issue.

Still use the loft where necessary to facilitate routing of cables to rooms below but I wouldn't put electrical equipment up there personally.
 
My kit is about 2/3m away from where I'm sat now,accessed through a large hatch into the eaves.
I have a switch and a PoE adapter in there with the plug for the switch being in the room I am in.
There's another hatch at the the other end of the room with a plug in the room powering another switch in the eaves for that side of the house and a tv booster too.
Had that set up for a good 5 years now with no issues but overall I agree it's not a perfect situation and needs addressing,luckily it looks like the time is coming up for a little upgrade so I should be able to sort it.

The house is south-west facing which means that the side with the PoE adaptor in it gets the heat during the summer but I generally have the hatch open as soon as it gets warm enough and I run a fan into the eaves as it keeps the whole house quite a bit cooler with that door open and some airflow going in there.
 
Just had a thought,think I'll add some smoke detectors in the eaves where the kit is running.
 
Mounting equipment in the loft/attic is perfectly fine as long as you know what your doing and it's done properly. From professional experiences problems can arise from any given location given damp/humidity/high&low temps/fire risk/electrical exposure/theft etc etc..

As long as you've given thought and planned out what your doing, you'll be fine :)
 
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