Installation question for house on concrete slab?

[cpa4u]

I live in a patio home that is built on a concrete slab (thus no crawl space). The installer is coming tomorrow and he says the only way to install is to run the cable on the outside of my house and then drill a hole through the wall to the rooms where the TVs are located. I am getting a 522 and will be running 2 TVs (in different rooms). My question is how the cables will look that will be coming through the wall. Will he install some sort of faceplate similiar to what I have now with cable? He says there will be 3 cables. 2 coming in from the dish and then 1 going back out for the second TV. That is quite a bit of cables to put through a hole in the outside wall, right??? Has anyone else had to do this?

Thanks

 

[Claude Greiner]

It depends on the installer and the house. Sometimes we will install wall plates in a situation like yours, where as with others we will drill a hole through the wall and run the cables through.

The real issue here is does your installer have a wall plate with (3) Coax Cables and a Phone connection for the 522? Chances are he doesn't, because I know my guys do not carry this plate on their truck unless we are doing a custom install in a big home.

If I where you I would go to Home Depot and they sell custom wall plates by Levitron and for about $12-$15 you can put together a custom wall plate to suite your needs. In addition, I would buy one of those Blue old construction electrical boxes and have it there for the installer to install

 

[cpa4u]

Could you please give me more info on the Blue old construction electrical boxes please.

 

[wobbie]

I'm thinking the insataller could use a dual wallplate. drill a whole thru it in the middle for the third cable. The phone line could be run thru the same hole as the cabe. Cut a V on the side of the wallplate and run the phone line between the plate and the wall thru the V. Use a stick on or screw on wall phone jack (Biscuit Jack) A 5/8th drill bit will allow three cables and a phone line. I would think that most installers could carry a 29 cent wall plate. The blue electrical box is also used for wall power outlets. Also look for a cable caddy, that is a metal from that you put on the wall to mount your wallplates. Sold in boxes of 25 thos. Good luck with your install.

 

[t00ld00d]

The boxes are simply the same kind of box your electrical outlets and light switches are in, only they're designed to be used on existing walls. Instead of being nailed to a stud when the home is being built they have a couple of screw clips that allow them to be secured to the wall. I just used three of these for my new TV setup and they work really well. They're maybe $2 each so they won't break the bank

 

[cpa4u]

Thanks for the speedy replies. I will run to our Lowe's tomorrow before he gets here and see if I can pickup the supplies. I am going to see if he can drill the hole from the outside into the closet that separates the living room from the "computer room" where the second tv will be. I assume I will need 2 of the faceplates. One for the outside wall and a second one to use on the living room wall? Will I also need 2 of the "blue boxes"? Or will I need 3 faceplates in all? One for the outside wall and one each for both sides of the wall between the living room and inside of the closet?? Sorry for so many questions about this. Also, I assume there is some sort of rubber plug for the outside of the house, so bugs and weather doesn't get into the wall from the outside?

 

[SimpleSimon]

Unh - if the second TV will be in an adjacent room, he does NOT need to run a cable back outside - it's just a simple TV cable run. Sounds like this install will be simpler than what you've been led to believe - that's not the installer's fault in what he said - I'm under the impression that he gave you a fairly standard explanation.

The outside hole should be sealed with a special grommet that we all have on the trucks.

 

[mbarnes]

Simon, Tell us more about your special grommet, please.

 

[Grandude]

I use clear silicon 'bathtub caulk' for sealing around the cable(s) in the outside wall.

 

[Mike500]

I prefer the Carlon orange colored low voltage wiring box frame sold at Lowe's or Home Depot. I use these, when I need access inside the wall, and especially when I heed to place the combination stacked RJ11 phone jack and "F" connector. In the case that I need to use more than one cable, like for a 322/522 or two line DirecTiVo or separate satellite and OTA feeds, I just remove the barrel connector and enlarge the hole to 5/8 or 3/4" with a step drill like a unibit. That way, I can feed up to four coaxes through the hole directly.

If I'm installing a one outlet wall plate or one that doesn't require a phone jack, I use a 2 or 2-1/8' hole saw and cut a hole or the paneling, where the wall plate should be. The hole allows easy wall fishes. This way, you can also place the outside entry hole(s) anywhere within the wall cavity between the studs, even with insulation. Or, in case of a basement or a crawl space, you can drill into the floor plate and get the cable into the hole for an internal wall fish. If you can get to the top plate in a one story house, you can locate the position in the attic with a small wire trough the dry wall in the ceiling. In this way you can use Greenlee "Fishsticks" fiberglass poles ($30 at Home Depot) to push the wires down to the position of the hole.

I especially like using those white or beige blank nylon 2x4 wall plates. You can use a step drill to cut any number or combination of 3/8" holes for barrel connectors and nuts or to make a large round hole to feed multiple cables. These are sure a lot cheaper than those special plates with outlet inserts. Plastic 3/16" screw shields and a supply of #6x1" oval head sheet metal screws are ideal for securing these plates to dry wall. In wood or paneling, no screw shields would be needed.

Hope this helps. I do almost all high end "wall fish" installs for dbs installs and Home Theater, as well as "old work" electrical wiring.

 

[Mike500]

I use clear silicon (sic) 'bathtub caulk' for sealing around the cable(s) in the outside wall.

Better than any caulk is Electrician's duct seal, a pliable grey modeling clay like material used to seal openings around electrical cables. It provides a perfect seal and peels off easily, when no longer needed. A large block casts $2 for a one pound brick at Home Depot. It is sold as GB Duct Seal.

I no longer use silicone to cover the mounting screws for roof mounts. This duct seal can be placed over the screw heads. To remove the mounting foot, just peel away the duct seal. Back out the screws. The mounting foot comes off clean, without taking off the shingles, like RTV silicone that glues to foot to the roof. If the duct seal removed from the screw tops is still pliable, it can be used to fill small screw holes in the roof. From the distance of the ground, they will not even be noticed.

 

[cpa4u]

Mike 500

Wow, really sounds like you go the extra distance to make the install clean. I hope that my guy makes it look good. I don't want any big ugly holes in my siding or any of my interior walls. He said something about running the wire to the 2nd TV around the baseboard. He said something like "it won't even be noticable if you put furniture in front of it". I am guessing that means he is planning to leave the coax laying on top of the carpet just up against the wall?

How difficult of an installation are the electrically boxes that have been mentioned in this thread? Will he have to use a saw or something to cut a portion of the drywall out? I assume the faceplate then goes over the blue/orange box that will then be in the wall?

 

[Mike500]

Wow, really sounds like you go the extra distance to make the install clean. I hope that my guy makes it look good. I don't want any big ugly holes in my siding or any of my interior walls. He said something about running the wire to the 2nd TV around the baseboard. He said something like "it won't even be noticable if you put furniture in front of it". I am guessing that means he is planning to leave the coax laying on top of the carpet just up against the wall?

How difficult of an installation are the electrically boxes that have been mentioned in this thread? Will he have to use a saw or something to cut a portion of the drywall out? I assume the faceplate then goes over the blue/orange box that will then be in the wall?

I do a lot of installs in homes a million dollars and up. They want everything like it was installed before the walls were closed up. The orange brackets allow you to mount the wall plates and hold them closely to the wall. They come with a template that tells you how to cut the holes. Having used the boxes for over 15 years, after they fist come out, I use the box as a template, remembering that I must cut a hole with a "mirror image" pattern. Also, since the opening provides a large access hole into the wall cavity, the cables can enter anywhere between the 2x4's in that area of the wall cavity. If you have vinyl siding, Home Depot or Lowes sells a tool called a "side swiper" (made by a tool company called Malco) that allows you to remove and replace vinyl siding with ease. Since the coax is low voltage, it can be allowed to be placed between the siding and the sheathing on the outside wall. Just have a friend hold the siding up and out of the way, when you drill the sheathing from the inside wall, so you do not drill through the siding.

 

[cl1986]

Hah, good luck, my installer drilled an ugly hole in my siding and ran the wire vertically 3' up to the dish, when he could have just drilled the hole 3' up ( I have an unfinished basement) Then the i told the moron to put it up as high as he could, he said he would. Hmm, i guess i was supposed to tell him it was ok to use a ladder, he put it up as high as he could reach from ground level. GDSB!! Now any kid can come steal my dish or block the signal just for the fun of it. The only good thing i noticed was he used good rg6 ends, kinda like how a hydrolic hose is made, its pressed together with a special tool. This was on a brand new house also, reminded me of when i had my trailer house, ya know, just drill holes anywhere u like.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Simon, Tell us more about your special grommet, please.

There's nothing special about it. A plastic mushroom with a hollow stem. The dual version is wider.