RE: guidance on cat5 wiring a house?

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gosh! - prepare to be inundated with LOTS of replies...=09

I'll start the ball rolling...

Put in many more than you think you will need. I guarantee you will be
grat=
eful later, when some new use comes along that you hadn't previously
antici=
pated.=20

Consider putting them to positions that you might not necessarily think
you=
'll need now, but who knows what might be required in future.. so,
consider=
putting a CAT5 into:

Every light switch backbox
Every radiator valve position (if rads are being used)
Doors and windows (opening ones)
TV / AV points

Then you will be pretty much future-proofed if you ever want to install a
"=
proper" lighting system, motorized rad valves for zoned heating
control, do=
or & window sensors (either for security or just occupancy detection),
and =
whole-house audio or video or CCTV distribution systems.. Fancy
touchscreen=
s also invariably use CAT5 wiring, so if you ever fancy one of those in
fut=
ure, you'll probably need a CAT5 cable to wherever you want to put it. You
=
can use a CAT5 cable for just about *any* kind of sensor you can think of,
=
so consider if you might want (for example), temperature sensing anywhere
(=
conservatory?), flood sensing (washing machine?), PIR's, microphones,
light=
sensors etc. etc. etc. - and put a CAT5 cable in those places.

You absolutely don't *have* to hang anything off the end of all those runs
=
straight away, - I have some CAT5 cable in my house that has been there
for=
7 years and still hasn't been connected up, - but I recently needed a coup=
le of them and boy was I glad that they were there, ready, and just
waiting=
to be used. - If I'd had to try to put a new cable in now, after all the d=
ecorating is finished, it just wouldn't have happened, (even if SWMBO
would=
allow it, it would have taken too much effort, disruption & grief).

If you want to pull multiple cable runs to the same position, then buy
mult=
iple boxes of cable and pull them all at once. It's so much easier to do
it=
this way than to pull 1 run, then go back and pull a 2nd to the same point=
, then repeat.... yadda-yadda... buy 4 boxes if you want to run 4
cables...=
- It can help in this respect if you buy mixed makes/colours so that when =
you are at the far end with 4 cables in your hand, you can tell them apart
=
at a glance. This will be aided by the fact that some cables will
potential=
ly need to have mains rated outer sheathing (any CAT5 cable that enters
the=
same enclosure as mains needs to have mains rated insulation, and this inc=
ludes runs going into lightswitch backboxes, or running alongside mains in
=
the same trunking) - And this pretty much means you will have to buy at
lea=
st some of the CBUS pink CAT5 cable (I'm not aware of other mains rated
cat=
5 cable, although there may be alternatives out there) CBUS pink CAT5
cable=
is a bit dearer that normal grey cable, but it does have that all-importan=
t mains rated outer sheath, so is safe (and legal!) to run into backboxes,
=
consumer units, etc.) Apart from that, it is absolutely the same as
standar=
d CAT5 cable, so you can use it for all other purposes as well if you need
=
to (so no need to worry about buying a whole 305m box, if you think you
onl=
y need 50m or so of mains rated stuff).


Standard grey CAT5 cable can be had for just =A325 per 305m box, pink CBUS
=
cable is about double that, so 3 of grey, 1 of pink is about =A3125. there
=
is *absolutely* no excuse for not doing it at those prices, - in the
contex=
t of a whole house refurb, =A3125 is but a mere p1ss in the ocean...

One other piece of advice, I would *strongly* advise that you label each
& =
every cable run as you go! - I had to rush when I was pulling mine,
because=
I was working literally just minutes in front of the plasterer (and since =
I was paying for the plasterer by the day, I didn't want to hold him up).
C=
onsequently, I ended up with hundreds of cable ends in Node 0 and no idea
w=
here they all came from. It has been a task I would rather have avoided to
=
trace them all!

HTH

Paul G.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Richard
> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:02 PM
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: [ukha_d] guidance on cat5 wiring a house?
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> Hi,
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> A friend is renovating a house and I suggested he take the opportunity
to
> put cat5 throughout and then he could make use of it for video and
audio
> etc
> - so he came back and said what a great idea but how?
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> And I'm kind of stuck - I'm no networking expert and assumed that you
jus=
t
> run cat5 back to a convenient node0 point and when he is ready can
instal=
l
> a
> patch panel switch etc but can anyone advise on the pitfalls and any
> advice
> on placement in rooms - how many lines into each room etc
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> Thanks in advance
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> Rich
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