Cat6 Retrofit Ideas

[Nemo128]

Here's my problem in a nutshell:

The owners of the house I live in are interested in a whole-house data network. Foolishly, they constructed their house in 2006 without a data network. I found a phone network using Cat3 throughout the house, and it is not terminated at an NIC. It's just cable ends hanging in a closet under the main staircase.

I opened up the wall jacks and none of the wires are pullable. The contractor was the husband's father. I'm guessing they stapled sections of the line at points along the run, since I see evidence of that in the attic and it looks like the construction was done pretty poorly in general. The woman (professional architect) walked through some parts of the house with me and agreed that everything was done far worse than they like to describe.

I'm trying to figure out how to run a data network in this house without breaking drywall. Not that I am opposed to it, but the wife home owner would rather not. Powerline networking I feel is a bandaid for a gunshot. Wireless repeaters have been minimally successful because of the location of the main tap and the saturation of all useful channels in our neighborhood.

I've considered fish tape and such, just don't think it will work out that well without an optical camera to guild it because there are no good paths from that closet to the desired jack locations. I thought of cutting paths in the drywall, but again, that's a last resort option.

I also thought of pulling baseboards and trying to run cable around, but I know I still have to cut and patch some holes. Not a big deal, but not as clean a solution as I'd like. Pulling an existing or fishing a new cable somehow would be the best solution.

Ideas?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Just a couple of thoughts/question:
Would it be possible to run cable thru the basement/attic and make small holes in floor/ceiling ?

I know you picked cat6 to future proof the install,but however honestly do you ever see 10gbit networks in private houses?
Cat6 is much less flexible cable than cat5e and much less tolerant to bends....

Plus powerline got better since it came out, so wont necessary ignore it in your situation.

 

[Nemo128]

Just a couple of thoughts/question:
Would it be possible to run cable thru the basement/attic and make small holes in floor/ceiling ?

I know you picked cat6 to future proof the install,but however honestly do you ever see 10gbit networks in private houses?
Cat6 is much less flexible cable than cat5e and much less tolerant to bends....

Plus powerline got better since it came out, so wont necessary ignore it in your situation.

If I use the Cat6, it's cuz I got 1000ft for free.

5e is fine, it won't matter either way. Both samples I have are the same as far as flexibility goes. Cat6 doesn't need to be overengineered, it just tends to be. Mil-std is overbuild no matter which type I get.

The best powerline isn't going to approach Gb speeds for LAN transfers. That plus the pricetag steers me away unless absolutely necessary. I've tested what is supposedly the best system, and it's fine for 100Mb networks, but it doesn't approach Gb capabilities.

The basement is ground floor and it's an apartment. The house is 3 stories. Unfortunately the cable feed is in that closet, so it all originates from there. The only other idea I can come up with is putting the cable modem and router in a room on the 2nd floor and drilling up to the 3rd floor and down into the 1st floor. I guess that's doable. Less holes and cutting.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If I use the Cat6, it's cuz I got 1000ft for free.

nice!

The only other idea I can come up with is putting the cable modem and router in a room on the 2nd floor and drilling up to the 3rd floor and down into the 1st floor.

Sounds like a plan

 

[Nemo128]

Damn... well, probably is my only option without cracking open a lot of walls... gonna look at the plans tonight and see where that room's wall falls in line with the 1st floor apt.

 

[krzywica]

Keep in mind it doesn't matter where the cable feed is. You can always run a CAT6 line to your router from the modem. This centrally locating your modem/switch.

So to be clear you need to wite the 2nd and 3rd floors of this place? Yeah thats gonna be trickey. The 3rd floor woun't be too difficult as you can go through the attic.

Personally I would rough in your wall boxes first for the 3rd floor and then use a right angle drill or a flex bit to drill through the floor trusses and feed the lines all the way through the attic and down the wall to the 2nd floor. You shouldn't have to crack open any walls except for the places where the wall plates will go that will server a dual purpose as you will use them to drill into the lower walls.

Godo luck.

 

[highfigh]

If I use the Cat6, it's cuz I got 1000ft for free.

5e is fine, it won't matter either way. Both samples I have are the same as far as flexibility goes. Cat6 doesn't need to be overengineered, it just tends to be. Mil-std is overbuild no matter which type I get.

The best powerline isn't going to approach Gb speeds for LAN transfers. That plus the pricetag steers me away unless absolutely necessary. I've tested what is supposedly the best system, and it's fine for 100Mb networks, but it doesn't approach Gb capabilities.

The basement is ground floor and it's an apartment. The house is 3 stories. Unfortunately the cable feed is in that closet, so it all originates from there. The only other idea I can come up with is putting the cable modem and router in a room on the 2nd floor and drilling up to the 3rd floor and down into the 1st floor. I guess that's doable. Less holes and cutting.

How many rooms have a cable feed? Look at this:
http://www.actiontec.com/support/product_details.php?pid=192&typ=all

 

[Nemo128]

How many rooms have a cable feed? Look at this:
http://www.actiontec.com/support/product_details.php?pid=192&typ=all

I considered that product, but that's not a cheap solution at all. Still, it is an idea since there's cable in every room.

Keep in mind it doesn't matter where the cable feed is. You can always run a CAT6 line to your router from the modem. This centrally locating your modem/switch.

So to be clear you need to wite the 2nd and 3rd floors of this place? Yeah thats gonna be trickey. The 3rd floor woun't be too difficult as you can go through the attic.

Personally I would rough in your wall boxes first for the 3rd floor and then use a right angle drill or a flex bit to drill through the floor trusses and feed the lines all the way through the attic and down the wall to the 2nd floor. You shouldn't have to crack open any walls except for the places where the wall plates will go that will server a dual purpose as you will use them to drill into the lower walls.

Godo luck.

Problem is, the modem can be anywhere but that doesn't matter for the network jacks I want to install throughout the house. I just have to figure out how best to get the cables to where they need to go without cracking open the walls completely.

You made me think of something else, which would just require more line. If I can drop the fish tape from the attic to that closet, and pull up a couple lines, I can drop the line for the 3rd floor to its needed wall, the line for the 2nd floor to the opposite wall from the closet, and the line for the ground floor to its location at the back of the house. I only need to put one jack in each apt anyway. Then I can keep the modem and router where they are in case I need to access them for maintenance. I only need to worry about fire breaks, and a stud finder should handle that.

 

[highfigh]

I considered that product, but that's not a cheap solution at all. Still, it is an idea since there's cable in every room.

Problem is, the modem can be anywhere but that doesn't matter for the network jacks I want to install throughout the house. I just have to figure out how best to get the cables to where they need to go without cracking open the walls completely.

You made me think of something else, which would just require more line. If I can drop the fish tape from the attic to that closet, and pull up a couple lines, I can drop the line for the 3rd floor to its needed wall, the line for the 2nd floor to the opposite wall from the closet, and the line for the ground floor to its location at the back of the house. I only need to put one jack in each apt anyway. Then I can keep the modem and router where they are in case I need to access them for maintenance. I only need to worry about fire breaks, and a stud finder should handle that.

You would need one front end piece at the router and a back end piece at each location where you need to connect to the network. If you have several at a location, you can use a network switch (pretty cheap) and if you have cable TV, the modem can be anywhere and still be used for that and cable.

Is there a problem with going wireless?

It's not the cheapest way to go but labor, parts and other hardware could make hard wiring more expensive in the ling run.

 

[jinjuku]

I will say this once: Cutting holes in drywall is only a problem if you suck at patching.

Locate all your horizontal and vertical studs and plan your attack. Use single gang box to mark all your cut outs. Just cut in at an angle and keep them as plugs to patch with.

Get in, do it right, get out. Njoy.

 

[FNG212]

I had a very similar problem with my parents house. We wired ethernet to pretty much every room of the house from the basement. We planned it for about a week; 6ft flexible drill bit, stud finder, and drywall patch kit and a weekend later we (they) have ethernet jacks in every room.

Of course a year later it was virtually unused when my dad bought a wireless router. But it was a good experience and now I'm starting prep/plans for doing my house for DLNA and whole house media streaming.

If you've run wire before its no different, just take extra time to plan your runs. It's not as bad/hard as you think.

 

[Nemo128]

I will say this once: Cutting holes in drywall is only a problem if you suck at patching.

Locate all your horizontal and vertical studs and plan your attack. Use single gang box to mark all your cut outs. Just cut in at an angle and keep them as plugs to patch with.

Get in, do it right, get out. Njoy.

The husband sucks at patching, and since it's not my house, I didn't want to put up the money to do all this. That was my plan though, simply locate, cut box, flex bit drill the holes, run the fish tape, pull the lines. Hopefully the insulation doesn't cause too much trouble, plus finding the time to finish it up. I know the wife doesn't want exposed holes in the walls for long so I need to plan and execute quickly.

I had a very similar problem with my parents house. We wired ethernet to pretty much every room of the house from the basement. We planned it for about a week; 6ft flexible drill bit, stud finder, and drywall patch kit and a weekend later we (they) have ethernet jacks in every room.

Of course a year later it was virtually unused when my dad bought a wireless router. But it was a good experience and now I'm starting prep/plans for doing my house for DLNA and whole house media streaming.

If you've run wire before its no different, just take extra time to plan your runs. It's not as bad/hard as you think.

Right now the signal is coming from a wiring closet under the stairs so that router alone doesn't cover the whole house. There are 3 repeater bridges but the performance of them isn't great. We're also in a high population area and every 3-wide band of wireless channels is used doubly, so everyone's signals interrupt each other.

UPDATE: I located the appropriate drop points in the attic and got the fish tape. Now looking for a flex bit. Does anyone know is B.E.S. makes good drill bits? I found those cheap on google. Home Depot wants $45 for a 54" 3/4 flex, and like I said before, I'm not trying to spend a lot when it's not even my house. Kinda doing them a favor due to hard financial times (husband laid off, wife pay cut).

 

[Nemo128]

Any input on above, regarding B.E.S. flex bits?

 

[Rickster71]

Any input on above, regarding B.E.S. flex bits?

Some of those bits need to be sharpened once you hit a hidden nail.
Their Piranhabit claims to go through nails, and seems to be a pretty good price.
Though I've only used Greenlee and Klein.
I'd get the steering handle too.

 

[Nemo128]

Rick, yeah those do help. I'm going to check out a local distributor by my house. Rather give extra dollars to my local business than save a few bucks online.

I'm thinking of removing the baseboard in certain areas to cut the drywall and access the wall cavity. Avoid the need to paint after patching. That's gonna be important to the wife.

Any other tools/advice you guys have that I might not be thinking of, feel free to offer.

 

[highfigh]

I have BES push rods and I think my long drill bit is from them, too. The first time I used a Greenlee, I drilled a hole, hit a nail and stopped. When I reversed the drill, I heard a squeaking sound and then it let go. Turns out, the bit separated from the rod and the threaded tip stayed in the wood at the bottom of the stud cavity in the wall.