Hey guys, I'm on the verge of wiring my home.  Looking for a solid network instead of wifi.  House was built in 95 and I'm not comfortable walking through the attic so i was going to run all the cable through the crawl space.  I need some advice on how to pull this off... would really prefer to drill holes through the sole plate of the wall; into the crawl space and run cables.

Here is my current setup:
coax cable from the internet company comes into the NE corner of the house.  This is in my 9 year old daughters bedroom; so she now has a cluttered corner consisting of her computer, cable mode, and wireless router.  

I'd like to push the existing coax back into the wall and extend this through the crawlspace so I can relocate the modem and router to a coat closet in the center of the house.  From here i want to run Ethernet cable back out to various rooms of the house.  I'm thinking four ports in each of the three bedrooms, four in the garage, four in the living room and two more two port plates in a couple other locations.  A total of 24 jacks.

I think I've got the equipment identified:
Cisco Gigabit Switch
Cat6 Cable

I still need to grab some gang boxes, jacks, and face plates.


I just need to know how to best approach drilling through the sole plate.  The previous owners appear to have installed some coax cable in a couple of the bedrooms and the living room.  I was hoping to be able to use those locations and just run the new Ethernet through those existing boxes, add the jacks and go on.  But Im not sure if i can drill through the bottom of the gang box already installed AND the sole plate to be able to feed the cable into the crawlspace.  There are some rooms where i will need to install new boxes for the Ethernet, but i want to minimize the damage to Sheetrock as much as possible.  This is why i thought reusing the existing coax boxes would be best.

I can possibly get pics for anyone who might like to see anything from the above; just let me know.

And thank you in advance for any discussion/input/advice.

I would leave the existing boxes alone and put old work boxes in your new locations.  That way, you you have a nice 2x4 inch hole to work through.

ETA: I just did my house, and found these guys to have great prices.  Everything I ordered was dropped on my porch the next day.

https://www.tselectronic.com/

One more tip...  PVC pipe hangers worked great.

Genesis 5092 Cat6 Voice-Data Cable

Heavier wire for $129.  You're welcome.  

Whatever you do, make sure you terminate everything to a patch panel.  Solid core wire should not be crimped

Go for the better copper avoid CCA. I'm in the process of redoing mine. Get some pull string, fiberglass rods, and a flex bit. The flex bit will help you save your drywall. Bore a bigger hole so it's not so tight on the cables. I have to redo mine since I just had ran terminated cables to the modem and I desperately need more ports than I had originally planned 5 years ago.

Thanks, i should have a flex cable by end of the week.  I think i went with a 3/4" bit which should be big enough for four cables, maybe 5/6.  The wife thinks I'm crazy but i am wiring each bed room with four ports.  Overkill? yeah probably... but if one dies i have three alternates.  Going to try and run conduit or something so if i need to full on replace a cable i can just pull through and not have to go back under the house.

As for a patch panel, should i go full panel, or do those keystone panels work pretty well?  They are much cheaper and i dont mind using a punch-down tool on the keystone jacks and just pushing them into a panel cover.

I just wired my house. Old work boxes are a must. I would use a full panel and your 3/4" holes should be more than enough. As for 4 ports in each room, that's about what I did; 4 CAT6, 2COAX in all 3 bedrooms and double that in the living room. Make sure you account for the heat that the switch, router, modem produce. I put a fan in my closet that blew into the attic, keeps it at a reasonable temp (also have my NAS and RasberryPi VPN host in there).

Good point on the fan.  Did you just make a cutout in the ceiling?

I'd use a regular patch panel, they are punch down just like keystones I don't know how much the keystone panels are and if they include the jacks. I'm not go a run conduit, just going to leave some string I case I need to add more. I put my stuff in the basement so no worries about heat.

If this ticket is resolved, please fill out the quality survey.

http://questionpro.com/t/ALhoWZStmB

No Cat6; sounds like I may be sticking with Cat5e

There is no functional difference between the two at gigabit speeds, so meh. My house is entirely cat5e (and om3 between file server, desktop and between switches )

Did you see the link I posted.  They have what you want for less.  And better wire.

It's better if you have long runs using POE.

False...Just make sure to buy the right connectors, this is a myth propagated by people how don't know how to spec out the correct hardware.

 




 

I'm not doubting there are high quality connectors available, however regarding the use of patch panels, the more cables you run, the more it makes sense from an organizational point of view.  Reading tiny numbers written on cables or tiny stickers that come off later in time can make a simple job into a long one.

Yeah I saw the link. I would have ordered but was given approx 1400ft of CAT 5e for free. Couldn't turn it down.

Nope.  That's a good price.

FIFY

Are 6inch patch cables big enough to go from patch panel to switch on a 2U rack?

Look at the picture I posted right after the OP.  Those are 12" patch cables.  6" would have been too short.

I'd recommend keeping cable types separated by at least 4", if possible  (data, coax, power, etc)

-surge protect any cable(s) coming in from outside the house
-bond all electronic devices to a common ground

Yea. Just flush fit a 6" fan in the ceiling and attached some 6" metal duct to the end to throw the air towards my attic vents.