building new townhouse (cabling ?)

[dchoe]

i am getting a townhouse built and the framing is going up this week or next and wondered if i should get the contractor to go ahead and run 2 sets of coax for time warner and d*. i assume i can just ask to have all wires labeled by room coming out one in one spot in the attic (??) and get an installer to finish it

thanks

 

[fkostyn]

I would actually reccommend getting 2 Coax, 2 cat 5 to each room, and 4 coax 2 cat 5 to the family room / living room. I would also reccommend putting all of the wire junctions in a structured wire panel, and have it in a closet.

Here is my photo of my install (located in my hall closet)

http://www.kostyun.com/frank/photos/misc/wire2.jpg
http://www.kostyun.com/frank/photos/misc/wire3.jpg

The wires on the left are all my cat5 locations, the 2nd to the left are all incomming lines (4 from the satellite dish, 1 from the telco, 1 from the cable co, and 2 antenna lines) 2nd from the right is cat3 for all of the phone jacks in the house, and the far right is all of the coax connections. My cable modem is located below the wireless router.

2nd photo is an example of my "larger" wire jacks

 

[dgordo]

Why not run 3 coax, minnimum, to every room. What if you want cable and a tivo? Or ota and a tivo? If I could start from scratch I would run 4 coax to all my rooms.

 

[Brewer4]

Good suggestions. Key is, if you are building new, put more in than necessary. And then double that. My suggestions (at least) PER ROOM.

3 Cat 5e (can use for network and video/audio over twisted pair. Awesome stuff)
4 Coax (RF)
1 Phone Jack

 

[ShadowEKU]

I would actually reccommend getting 2 Coax, 2 cat 5 to each room, and 4 coax 2 cat 5 to the family room / living room. I would also reccommend putting all of the wire junctions in a structured wire panel, and have it in a closet.

Here is my photo of my install (located in my hall closet)

http://www.kostyun.com/frank/photos/misc/wire2.jpg
http://www.kostyun.com/frank/photos/misc/wire3.jpg

The wires on the left are all my cat5 locations, the 2nd to the left are all incomming lines (4 from the satellite dish, 1 from the telco, 1 from the cable co, and 2 antenna lines) 2nd from the right is cat3 for all of the phone jacks in the house, and the far right is all of the coax connections. My cable modem is located below the wireless router.

2nd photo is an example of my "larger" wire jacks

where did you get that box? I am buying a house i have to wire for network and coax and would like to put them in a box like that. does it lock? would a 24 port switch fit horizontally in there?

 

[dchoe]

I am already getting cat5 in every room, plus I already have a wireless router & a repeater. Well, I'm gonna tell my contractor for 1 coax for time warner and 2 for d* in every room and maybe 3 for the living room. where should i have the d* coax coming out at? attic?

Thanks guys

 

[nlk10010]

I was in your position 5 years ago and, if I had it to do over again, would follow the other advice in this thread. 4 Coax (mix of cable/satellite and DVR extra tuners) plus Cat5 (at least one to every room, obviously more to a computer room) and TWO phone lines. Clearly you don't have to include EVERY room but try to be generous; for example, I never thought I'd need CAT5 in my bedroom but it turns out I like to surf the web from there AND my ReplayTV can network so I could have used two runs.

Run all the lines down to the basement (or wherever the cable comes in) where you can locate the cable modem. JUST AS IMPORTANT: try to figure out where you might want to mount a dish and run FIVE cables from each location down to that common location. That's right, FIVE, as the newer D* dishes supposedly will have a multiswitch built-in with five outputs. Since you don't know in advance where you will be allowed to mount the dish pick out alternative locations. With me I had the wires run from one location down to the basement and then the CA told me I needed to move the dish and I had no wires at the new location. Had to run them outside the house because, among other things, my floors are solid concrete slabs.

Once you've got the satellite, cable and room runs all coming together in the basement you can patch then together any way you want.

Good luck with your new home; to me, there's nothing like moving into a BRAND NEW house. The smell is intoxicating.

=NLK=

 

[sksatellite]

One of my customer I did suggested him has 5 pairs coax from out side to his living room where the entertainment will located, then from there, four pairs go up to attic and at least a pair to each room.

 

[uboatcmdr]

I would actually reccommend getting 2 Coax, 2 cat 5 to each room, and 4 coax 2 cat 5 to the family room / living room. I would also reccommend putting all of the wire junctions in a structured wire panel, and have it in a closet.

Here is my photo of my install (located in my hall closet)

http://www.kostyun.com/frank/photos/misc/wire2.jpg
http://www.kostyun.com/frank/photos/misc/wire3.jpg

The wires on the left are all my cat5 locations, the 2nd to the left are all incomming lines (4 from the satellite dish, 1 from the telco, 1 from the cable co, and 2 antenna lines) 2nd from the right is cat3 for all of the phone jacks in the house, and the far right is all of the coax connections. My cable modem is located below the wireless router.

2nd photo is an example of my "larger" wire jacks

Structured media panels are nice, but what really needs to be thought out is how many and what route the incoming wires will take to get to the panel. I'm not talking about the coax being output to each room, but those coming in from the dish, antenna or cable company. The current PhaseIII dish has four outputs (not sure what the upcoming 5 lnb dish will have). Pre-planning on dish placement (a site survey should be done before the house is finished and it is too late to properly route the wires) can save you from having a bunch of wires wrapped around the outside of the house and the number of headaches you will have trying to figure out a route once the walls are up and covered. And always allow for expansion.

 

[fkostyn]

The structured media panel is a leviton 42" - picked it up on ebay cheap. One thing that I did to, was to run conduit (2 1.5" and 2 2") down the wall into the structured media panel. Makes additions, changes VERY easy to do. My dish is actually located about 25' from the panel (30 ft of wire)

 

[ShadowEKU]

The structured media panel is a leviton 42" - picked it up on ebay cheap. One thing that I did to, was to run conduit (2 1.5" and 2 2") down the wall into the structured media panel. Makes additions, changes VERY easy to do. My dish is actually located about 25' from the panel (30 ft of wire)

yeah where we are buying out house our crawlspace has enough dryness and water tightness to put that panel on the floor of our linen closet and daiy chain off of an outlet in the crawl space (explain to me the usefullness of 4 outlets in the crawlspace, 1 i could understand for one of those plug in lights but jesus) and ill be set. thanks.

 

[mikethedishguy]

This is a townhouse, and you will need to check on the rules you will need to follow in putting up the dish. Read the FCC guidelines on where you can and cannot put the dish without "permission". Then have the survey done and plan the wiring from there. Just remember it is much easier to rune wire before the sheet rock is on the walls.

 

[ShadowEKU]

This is a townhouse, and you will need to check on the rules you will need to follow in putting up the dish. Read the FCC guidelines on where you can and cannot put the dish without "permission". Then have the survey done and plan the wiring from there. Just remember it is much easier to rune wire before the sheet rock is on the walls.

I think if the landlord is building the townhouse and wiring it for Satellite he doesnt mind where it goes.

 

[DirectMan]

The structured media panel is a leviton 42" - picked it up on ebay cheap. One thing that I did to, was to run conduit (2 1.5" and 2 2") down the wall into the structured media panel. Makes additions, changes VERY easy to do. My dish is actually located about 25' from the panel (30 ft of wire)

Home Depot stocks the entire Leviton structured media line.

 

[Mike500]

I do a lot of new work and old work home theater, cable, dbs, and high speed network systems.

I like the open work method. Run all cables drilled through one inch holes through the top plate or the sill plate centered in the width of the stud and right next to it. If doing new work, use nail on electrical boxes, but cut off the nail holders along with the nails. Cut two 3/8" holes on one side of the box spaced 3 inches apart and 1/2 inch back from the lip. Using a 2 inch hole saw cut 2 inch holes at the top and bottom of the box where the cable entry holes reside. When installing the boxes in new work, drive 1-1/4" dry wall screws through the sides of the plastic boxes into the studs. The reason for this preparation will be clearly seen, if you will ever have to upgrade. Run all of the cables necessary. Apply clips or staples in the attic or in the basement to lightly tension the cables. It is important that the clips or staples are only in areas accessible after the walls and floors are finished. After installing all of the cables, tape the front of the box and all of the cables in place with blue masking tape.

If you never staple the cables onto the studs inside the wall, you will be able to take off the accessable staples and use the existing cables to pull new ones. The side of the studs will also direct push rods and guide any new cables you need to pull.

By preparing the box as stated above, a screwdriver can be used to remove the two dry wall screws holding it to the studs. Since the nail holding protrusions are gone, the box will also come out the front hole in the dry wall without making the hole larger. It can also be easily replaced.

 

[dchoe]

thanks for all the advice - i might just send him a link to this thread. but i will own all 4 walls (it's a free-standing townhouse, go figure).