Networking Conduit - Your Advice Appreciated
It doesn't seem that long since I was thinking of networking in the new house. Now I am actually doing it!
For the past week my dad and I have been busy removing a chimney breast. It's now at the point where there's a clean run of brickwork all the way through the house, as below.
This view is from the loft (attic) straight down, through a bedroom, in to the "back room" downstairs. This is probably the one and only time there will ever be a chance to run anything through the house like this. Obviously I want to take the chance to get some conduit set in to the wall. My brother is a builder and I've borrowed his 12" diamond-tipped angle grinder. Using this I plan on cutting a channel all the way down, to house the cable's conduit (and just when Karen thought all the dusty work was over ;-). You can just make out a line running down the wall in the photo, which is the plumb bob I'm using to get a straight run!
At this point my concern is mainly over how much capacity I need in the conduit; i.e. how wide it needs to be. I've found this flexible stuff that's an inch in diameter. Is that enough? Should I have two runs of this?
Obviously the required capacity depends on my requirements for the house. Most of the network points will be upstairs, with maybe just one WAP to cover the rooms downstairs. To the left of the "back room" (which has a concrete floor) there is a cellar. When the conduit reaches the bottom there's going to have to be a bend so it can go through the wall and in to the cellar. From the cellar I can then run any cables to the loft, which includes the main telephone line and maybe a TV cable. So, in it's most basic setup there will be one network cable, one phone cable and a TV cable. One inch should be plenty, should it not?
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The way to decide what you need is what do I need to put in there now, and what will/may I need to put in there in the future. Whatever you do, make sure you leave a piece of string in there to pull the cables through in the future.
Guessing what I need in the future is almost impossible though. Let's hope everthing is wireless by then ;o)
Suprised you didnt opt to hide the conduit in the brick work,the conduit will probably only be 20mm inside so it may be worth adding a spare run in while your at it.
You may find it easier to bury solid plastic conduit as it may be a little shallower and easier to fix, using a flexible type round any bends, ( if you can, put a access point at the joint)
I would suggest pulling all three cables through together so as to stop them wrapping round each other, also leave a draw wire/string in so that you can feed other wires through at a later date.
Good luck
That was my plan originally David, but there isn't enough space in there. That would also mean there's no way of getting at in an emergency. With the channel the worst I would need to do is chop away some plaster.
Good idea to use solid ducting on the straight section! Hadn't thought of that.
As you've got a straight run down, why not use rigid conduit (much cheaper) and put a backbox in the wall with a blanking plate over, then right angle to the next location. If you need to put anything else in, its easier with the junction box as a half way point. That flexible stuff is very expensive in the UK (about 1/5 the price in France i noticed recently), and because its ribbed makes pulling cables later more of a problem. Put a string in like others have said, and/or by a nylon cable puller, which is stiff enough to push through the condiut, then tie the cable on and pull.
Don't forget that channels should be no deeper than 1/5 thickness of the wall. Oval channel is better from this point of view. Also, you are not supposed to put more than 40% cable in a given conduit, to allow for heat dissipation.
Golden rule - if pulling one cable, pull two. Cables are generally very cheap compared to the cost of pulling again later. This builds some future capacity into everything you do.
In our recent build (still in progress!) I put 8 cat5 in, just run into the ceiling space, and 3 of those flexible cables empty for future! That was onyl 6 months ago and I'm already looking at it and thinking of other things that need to go in!
Wireless may in future be the nivrana, but for now it can't cope with some of the things we already can do. Ripping DVD's to disk and then playing them back for example (11g can't cope with the bandwidth unless compressed).
With HD prices so low per MB, its only a couple of years before we'll all have terrabyte storage servers with DVD quality films and TV programs on demand to be streamed to sets around the house.
Have fun!
jake, why aren't you using wireless? You can get 108Mbps routers these days. Are you worried about coverage throughout your house or speed or connectivity issues?
Call me old-fashioned Chris, but I feel a lot better knowing there's some wires there to hold the whole thing together. I love wireless and have three WAPs I intend on deploying about the house. However, I only think of wireless when I need to. Laptops and gardens etc.
The main drawback with wireless is the cost. The price of a drum of CAT5 and some conduit is a hell of a lot less than the latest wireless kit!
I also need the conduit to house the phoneline and a TV cables. It's seems daft not to stick a few network cables in there as well!
I'm reminded of the apocraphal estimation method: think of a number, then double it, then triple that -- so by your reckoning you'll need 6 x cat5, 6 x telephone and 6 x tv cables.
There's your estimate!
Also, have you considered surround sound? It is becoming more commonplace to have sound systems (and also increasingly pc-based) in one room that control multiple entertainment channels throughout the entire house.
When we refurbished about ten years ago I put cables from the 5.1 surround sound system around the sitting room and also fed off into the master bedroom.
Also, don't forget another conduit for the house cables (they aren't recommended to be close to other cables due too insulation deficiencies, etc). Even if you aren't putting an alarm in immediately, this is another big pain in the neck when you do decide to.
HTH
5:1 surround sound. Now there's an idea. Maybe I could have it ready for Jarre's forthcoming album - Aero, the first in the world to be recorded note-for-note in 5:1! {Link}
Alarm? No way! I will never ever have a house alarm installed in any house I live in!!
Interesting ... sounds like a story there! (Tell me story! Tell me story!)
You might want to consider putting in the facility to wire up an alarm, because it is almost impossible after you have put all the plaster and walls back together. (Good idea if you are not 110% sure that you will be carried out feet first from this house ... other people don't have your distaste for alarms.)
I don't like motion-sensor alarms, personally (pets tend to obviate the utility of these ;o) but wires reporting the seals on windows etc is very useful, not to mention you might want to add camera feeds from around the house (home security) etc etc etc.
There are sooooo many little technological gadgets that you might like to add to a domicile ... even an internet-aware fridge! {Link}
There's no real story Patrick. Just a hatred of both house and car alarms. They're nothing more than a useless annoyance. The number of times I've laid awake in the middle of the night waiting for a neighbour's alarm to stop ringing...
Not only are they annoying but their installation means laying cable all over the house, which is always ugly.
What I might get though is a network cctv camera!
Jake,
A valiant effort Sir!
I stumbled across this info recently and I think it's pretty neat, as our US brethren would say:
{Link}
Well, we have something else in common beside Lotus - I'm a do it yourselfer too.
While you have it open add another two runs of the flex stuff - it is probably not that expensive. You may find that one is used for electrical stuff and the other for not electrical and the third for plumbing. I alway plan for more, expecialy when I gut to the level you have and it open.
Any interst in seeing my projects?
Been there done that didn't bother with the T shirt. My advice - plenty of CAT5 and 2 TV aerial cables(digital quality) plus some cabling for 5:1 - single high density coax if you can afford it.
Why 2 TV aerial cables - DIY Sky into all rooms - Sky box downstairs needs to feed up to the loft where its distributed to all upstairs rooms. Sky install will always connect direct from the dish to the digibox.
Personally I'd keep the TV coax cables away from the data stuff in a separate conduit
PS - Having seen that photo I do hope you have actually purchased the house now :-)
Thanks Jim. Advice taken!
Errm, yeah. We still don't actually own the house yet. Don't worry though, we will!