Wiring Existing Home For Network

Also guys, am i going to have issues with a hdmi and a usb module from living room to the garage? Its about 5m but that's straight to it not consideting going up the wall and back down into the garage, rough guess is it'll be around 8/9m?
 
If you can get a simple cable route from the garage to the loft it will ease things a bit for the 1st floor. Although the network points on the outer walls would be easier if those were located on internal partition walls. Not sure if your ip cameras are external or internal or a mix of both? Everything on the 1st floor is quite straight forward, just you'll probably need to chase a couple of walls if you want the network sockets on the external walls.

The two rear IP cameras on the ground floor in the kitchen and dining room I'd chase out the wall in the rear bedroom behind the door leading to/from the smaller bedroom, continue behind the skirting board and through the floor into the ceiling void. From here you can feed both cables to the left for the kitchen and dining room IP cameras. The network points in the sitting room are a bit tricky too, I guess you could take a bunch of cables down the internal wall together with those intended for the network points in the front bedroom but with the sitting room ones continue into the ceiling void and then you'll need to chase the wall out in the sitting room to get them down to the wall height of the sockets. If the front door IP camera is outside which I guess it is, then putting that on the right of the door would make it possible to root the cable along the inside of the garage.

I'd use stranded Ethernet for the IP camera PoE cable runs and solid core copper for the network cable runs to sockets. Not sure if you should use shielded cable since you'll be running PoE and regular data cables in places along the same routes from the garage via the loft etc.

If you're going to use a bedroom as an office I'd consider putting some extra ports in that room and putting servers there rather than the garage for improved security.

You'll also need at least one link between the patch panel and where ever the router is going to be, most likely next to where ever the telephone master socket is.
 
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Thanks thenewoc, im happy to adjust sockets, cameras to internal walls if its going to make my life easier!! Reason i put the cameras where they were was purely so line of site wasnt blocked by an internal door if opened, the only sockets i couldn't "rejig" is the livingroom ones just because of how the room is laid out, it could go either side of the fire place but it would be the same wall.. The front external camera, there is a porch which is roofed and covers the front door and goes directly to the garage which should be the easiest to route.. You've got me reconsidering where to use as "zero" point, its just that office may need to be a kids room in the future whereas i know the garage will always be the garage and the wife as already claimed the understairs cupboard storage in the kitchen... Lol!! I definitely need to rethink the layout a little...maybe... Good point about stranded for cameras and shielded, would it be eaiser to have poe switch in loft for cameras (extra security in a sense) and data switch in garage for media server/data transfer/gaming etc? As i already have a 12 port poe switch and 24 port non-poe switch, was planning on selling both n getting 24 port poe switch but might be easier having it seperated? i just feel twitchy putting kit in loft as its not the best condiion for dust etc!
 
Tbh the external cams will need to be higher so loft might be the way to go for the cams, just got to try and make sure its not to bad up there for switch to last... ive certainly realise ive got to be more security conscious and not so nieve, its just i read somewhere u dont want them too high otherwise u'll just get top of heads... Thanks for everyones helpful input, i'll let you all know how i got on once im in there with pics too if i remember!
 
mingle88 said:
Also guys, am i going to have issues with a hdmi and a usb module from living room to the garage? Its about 5m but that's straight to it not consideting going up the wall and back down into the garage, rough guess is it'll be around 8/9m?
Click to expand...

10m is the limit for HDMI, 5m is the limit for USB without an active extension in the middle - yes, that is going to be difficult :)
 
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bledd. said:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CABLE-ACCES..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1FEQCQ114QKAVT91TV24

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CABLE-ACCES...8&qid=1459236862&sr=8-3&keywords=cabling+rods

There are loads of different brands, some are more flexible than others (something this is a good thing, sometimes you want them rigid).

If I was cabling all day every day, I'd buy something like a SuperRod set.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Rod-S...8&qid=1459236862&sr=8-4&keywords=cabling+rods
Click to expand...


wkd thanks bledd! :D
 
Use this cable. http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat6-cable/21-excel-cat6-utp-cable.html

In your central point, put a patch panel. http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat6-patch-panels/9161-24-port-cat6-utp-ccs-elite-patch-panel.html

At each wall port use these modules. http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat6-modules/28-excel-cat6-utp-rj45-modules-euromod-size.html

If you're putting in cameras or access points (where you don't want a wall port), use these cat6 jacks. http://www.netstoredirect.com/plugs-boots/9549-ccs-cat6-utp-rj45-plug.html (cat6 cable doesn't fit properly into cat5 jacks, so you need the right ones)


Other tools needed..

100mm x 2.5mm zip ties (x100 pack from CPC) http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-power/100x2-5mm-blk-100pk/cable-tie-100x2-5mm-blk-100pk/dp/CBBR6697
Punchdown tool, I like this one as it has the 110 blade for the modules and the krone style blade for the patch panel, using the wrong one is a bad idea. http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRENDnet-TC...9965&sr=8-1&keywords=trendnet+punch+down+tool
Cyclops cable stripper http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/2396-toggle-20020-data-cable-stripper.html
Small side cutters/snips, I use Engineer Inc NS-06 http://www.amazon.co.uk/precision-n...1459239848&sr=8-4&keywords=engineer+inc+snips
Crimp tool http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d03023/crimp-tool-rj45/dp/TL07303
 
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Wkd! will be getting all those recommendations, just looking for black wall port modules instead of white, but they seem to be few and fair between.
 
My initial thoughts are that you should have at least one double wall port in each room apart from the toilets and bathroom, and that for your living room bottom left and top right seem more sensible locations than top left.
 
mingle88 said:
Thanks thenewoc, im happy to adjust sockets, cameras to internal walls if its going to make my life easier!! Reason i put the cameras where they were was purely so line of site wasnt blocked by an internal door if opened, the only sockets i couldn't "rejig" is the livingroom ones just because of how the room is laid out, it could go either side of the fire place but it would be the same wall.. The front external camera, there is a porch which is roofed and covers the front door and goes directly to the garage which should be the easiest to route.. You've got me reconsidering where to use as "zero" point, its just that office may need to be a kids room in the future whereas i know the garage will always be the garage and the wife as already claimed the understairs cupboard storage in the kitchen... Lol!! I definitely need to rethink the layout a little...maybe... Good point about stranded for cameras and shielded, would it be eaiser to have poe switch in loft for cameras (extra security in a sense) and data switch in garage for media server/data transfer/gaming etc? As i already have a 12 port poe switch and 24 port non-poe switch, was planning on selling both n getting 24 port poe switch but might be easier having it seperated? i just feel twitchy putting kit in loft as its not the best condiion for dust etc!
Click to expand...

Actually, on reflection I think you would be better keeping the network sockets on the outer walls for those two bedrooms. What you could do for the smallest bedroom is bring the cables down the same chased out section of wall that you'll need to do on the back wall on the small connecting corridor between the rear bedrooms. When you get the cable down the chased out wall for the two cams (dinning room & kitchen) the Ethernet for the small bedroom can follow the same route until your under the floor and then pass it across to the right. As for the other bedroom, above the garage, if that can go further along the wall you've already shown it on, so it's opposite the door to the bedroom then you should be able to do the following. With the sitting room and bedroom above garage, take the cables from the patch panel into the cupboard under the stairs and then into the ceiling void, in line roughly to where the sockets are to go in the sitting room and bedroom above garage. This should mean that you can pass the cables in both directions in a section of ceiling void between two joists that probably run across the width of the house and hence why the bedroom socket could do with repositioning further along the wall.

That should mean you only needing to chase some wall out between the two rear bedrooms, from socket to ceiling in the sitting room, from floor to socket in two bedrooms.

Any external IP cams on the rear of the property you can run some external grade Ethernet down from the loft to the outside and hide it perhaps behind a drainage pipe with some cable ties.

It might be an idea to put an Ethernet socket or run a couple of Ethernet cables to where the telephone master socket is. That way you could pipe the internet through that feed back to the patch panel and have a router there, possibly rack mounted. The reason I say that is it would only take someone to open the electricity cupboard on the outside of your property and flick the power off and suddenly your offline. A UPS in the garage connected to the switch(es), router etc and you'd still be up and running along with the cams for a limited amount of time. For added security if the router supported 3/4G fail over then any similar attempt to take you off grid by cutting your conventional phone line would give you some chance of resilience to that scenario. If you use an Ethernet cable to bring the telephone service back from the master socket to your patch panel you can also patch the line across to any network port around the house which might be useful if some rooms don't currently have conventional telephone extension sockets.

Also, if you go for the non wireless router in the garage option, then go for a couple of decent dual band PoE ceiling mounted wireless access points, one on the ceiling in the sitting room and one on the ceiling above the first floor landing will ensure you get stronger wireless connectivity than having a single wireless router in the downstairs hall somewhere which is probably where the telephone master socket is.
 
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hi guys

I hope its ok but can I hijack this thread a little bit , instead of creating a new one.

firstly, mingle , can you keep us up to date with how you get on? would love to see what you end up doing and any tips and tricks you learnt after doing it all.

Im looking at doing a much simpler thing in my house, I live in a standard 4 bed detached, bt socket is in the living room downstairs. Ive been using a couple of homeplugs to get a network connection upstairs but ive found they are prone to d/c at random times and as I work in I.T at home 3 days a week I think its time I upgraded to a more permanent solution.

With that in mind, can I get peoples opinion on the easiest way to get a single network point upstairs. I'm thinking either run a cable outside the house, drilling through an external wall to get in and out. Or somehow get a cable from downstairs up through the walls into the loft , and then I can pretty easily come back down through the ceiling of the office room. House is pretty standard 1990's detached, internal walls are plasterboard with a void and external wall I presume is cavity walls.

1. has anyone done either of these?
2. Opinions on whats the easiest / less hassle?
3. If outside, what cable is required to protect it from the elements (thinking when its really cold during winter months? does that matter?)

by all means ask questions if I haven't provided enough info.

many thanks.

Ted
 
Hi Ted,

I did this in a new build house that has a loft room, so over 3 floors plus the loft. What worked here was the fact that the soil pipe runs down through the house internally. As this is boxed in there was a small amount of space around the pipe to feed cables down. When I got down from the loft to the 1st floor I was able access the boxed in soil pipe from the 1st floor bathroom as it runs down the small partition wall at one end of the bath that also hides the pipework for the shower. From here I was able to continue down next to the soil pipe to the corner of the lounge directly below and under the bathroom floor to the 1st floor landing.

If you don't have an internal soil pipe then the thing to look at would be whether any of your internal partition walls overlap each other across each floor level until you reach the loft. If not then whether on some of the levels you have instead a cupboard or built in wardrobe that would line up so you can make a direct vertical route. Once you've identified this type of route where you also don't have light switches or electrical sockets in the way, or their respective cables, then you can saw up a square of chipboard flooring between two floor joists. Using a decent adjustable angled drill chuck you can drill up into the hollow wall and down into the wall below from the same floor opening. If you can't get decent drill accessories then you have to cut a section of plasterboard out, big enough so that you can use probably an arbor extension piece with a circular saw cutting piece to drill down through the floor in the empty space in the partition wall.

The other alternative is if you can identify a route up through the corner of rooms where you could remove a small section of skirting board and create a boxed in section of plasterboard. That way all you need to do on each floor is use a big enough bi-metal drill saw piece to cut a hole in the chipboard floor in the corner of the respective rooms above each new boxed in corner. If some of these corners run through a cupboard then you can forgo the boxing in with plasterboard and removing skirting board on those levels and instead just use surface mounted trunking.

If you don't mind the cable running external to the property then that would be the least hassle option. You may be able to hide the cable behind a drainage gutter pipe with some cable ties and then just drill through into the lounge at the height of your sockets providing it is clear of other electrical cables. Then you can cut a small square of plasterboard out, big enough to recess a 35mm deep metal pattress box and affix to blockwork which you can fix a network faceplate to.
 
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all great common sense suggestions, I guess its all about trying to work out the easiest route through the house.

I cant think of a route that will get me from downstairs to the loft. The other problem is I have carpet in every room on top of floorboards so its definitely going to involve lifting those to some degree.

At this point im seriously thinking of going outside, round the back of the house , which will follow the sky cables pretty much all the way, and then in to the room I need to connections.

so any thoughts on cable type for outside? I see something like this is available on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OUTDOOR-EXTERNAL-cat5e-Network-Ethernet/dp/B009U81EFI

cheers
 
tedrodgers said:
all great common sense suggestions, I guess its all about trying to work out the easiest route through the house.

I cant think of a route that will get me from downstairs to the loft. The other problem is I have carpet in every room on top of floorboards so its definitely going to involve lifting those to some degree.

At this point im seriously thinking of going outside, round the back of the house , which will follow the sky cables pretty much all the way, and then in to the room I need to connections.

so any thoughts on cable type for outside? I see something like this is available on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OUTDOOR-EXTERNAL-cat5e-Network-Ethernet/dp/B009U81EFI

cheers
Click to expand...

To do it properly you ought to use solid core cable like the following.

http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat6-cable/22-excel-cat6-utp-external-cable-ldpe-outer-sheath.html

I suspect that the amazon one is most likely stranded since it comes with the rj45's already attached.

The right way of doing it would be to terminate the solid core cable into a small patch panel next to where you might have a network switch and the other end(s) into a network wall socket.

Something like this, although you can pick them up cheaper elsewhere such as a popular auction site.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intellinet-560269-patch-panel-Ethernet/dp/B000BSJJ1M

You'd then use some short stranded patch cables to go from the patch panel to the network switch or other ports on the patch panel and on the other end, from the network socket in the lounge to whatever device.

Depends how you want to do it though. You said the BT socket is in the lounge so that might be the best place to keep the wireless router. If so, you'd want some network sockets next to the router, in most cases 4 as most routers have that many ports. Using a small wall mounted patch panel, such as above, you can create the route between the lounge network wall socket ports and the rear of the patch panel. Then from another 4 ports on the patch panel take cable from these to where you want network wall sockets upstairs. You can jumper the front of the patch panel between a port feeding the lounge and a port feeding a network socket upstairs. In the lounge you can use a patch cable from the network wall socket to a network port on the router. If the router in the lounge is near to the TV you can choose whether to use some of the ports on the rear of the router directly with the TV or other devices in that area or connect the ports from the rear of the router to the network sockets on the wall. If all you need is up to 4 network ports upstairs, this makes use of your existing router network switch rather than having to have an additional one next to your patch panel.
 
and heres me thinking i'll just plug in a cable to my router downstairs and run it up to a 4 port switch next to my computer.... you guys are next level :) thanks for the suggestions.

I haven't made up my own network cable in about 15 years lol

thanks for the info!
 
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