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Just bought a 2-story house that was built in 2010. It has ethernet in only one upstairs bedroom along with a retrofitted Fiberoptic drop in the same room from (it looks like) a few years ago. Everyplace else has to rely on wi-fi... and I could possibly approximate what I want with extenders, but I strongly prefer LAN connections--especially for my WFH situation.
I want the fiberoptic drop to be relocated more central to the house & then retrofit "plumb" ethernet cable behind walls & under floors into several upstairs & downstairs rooms for computers, TV's etc with "keystone" wallplates for a more elegant finished look.... and also some exterior PoE security cameras on a few outside perimeter locations. However the thought of creating numerous interior penetrations into drywall (some textured drywall) patching, painting, etc is a bit daunting. I'll need our "ISP" to relocate the drop, but I think I can take care of the rest with about 250 - 300' of cable and a couple of hubs. Planting cable on visible walls is not an option-- except inside closets to expedite the routing. Actually, there are a few soffits & hollow spaces that may accommodate all of this-- or at least make it easier than it sounds.
Anyone done this before and can share some wisdom? Is it easier to peel back carpet, remove baseboards, drill holes in the upstairs floor and route cable under the subfloor... or crawl in the attic & do it all from above? Any specialized tools that will make this easier? Or should I hire it out to a electrician? ... or other tradesman?
I worked in facilitating the supplies for our technician,so I'm partial to letting a network tech get the schematics and any further professionals required.
2010 is within the current day building codes or close to it for electric panels and fishing the power lines.
I did this in a 100+ year old home. It you drop it from the attic you at least have gravity on your side. For just the ethernet, all you really need is a spool of CAT6 or whatever is available, a crimping tool and knowledge of rj45 twisted pair pinout.
Just bought a 2-story house that was built in 2010. It has ethernet in only one upstairs bedroom along with a retrofitted Fiberoptic drop in the same room from (it looks like) a few years ago. Everyplace else has to rely on wi-fi... and I could possibly approximate what I want with extenders, but I strongly prefer LAN connections--especially for my WFH situation.
I want the fiberoptic drop to be relocated more central to the house & then retrofit "plumb" ethernet cable behind walls & under floors into several upstairs & downstairs rooms for computers, TV's etc with "keystone" wallplates for a more elegant finished look.... and also some exterior PoE security cameras on a few outside perimeter locations. However the thought of creating numerous interior penetrations into drywall (some textured drywall) patching, painting, etc is a bit daunting. I'll need our "ISP" to relocate the drop, but I think I can take care of the rest with about 250 - 300' of cable and a couple of hubs. Planting cable on visible walls is not an option-- except inside closets to expedite the routing. Actually, there are a few soffits & hollow spaces that may accommodate all of this-- or at least make it easier than it sounds.
Anyone done this before and can share some wisdom? Is it easier to peel back carpet, remove baseboards, drill holes in the upstairs floor and route cable under the subfloor... or crawl in the attic & do it all from above? Any specialized tools that will make this easier? Or should I hire it out to a electrician? ... or other tradesman?
Thank you.
I did exactly this in a home built in 1940, Plaster walls, full basement, partial attic (attic located only where roof slope restricted headroom).
I had the service provider put all their equipment in the basement, and routed all the cat-5 for the first floor outlets along the basement joists. Wherever I wanted to put a wall outlet, I first cut the hole in the plaster for the outlet box, and then used a drill with a 36" long bit, steeply angled into the wall from the box opening, so that I could drill down through the bottom sill of the wall and into the basement.
This method is fairly common, and worked well for me. You can use a bit only 1/4" diameter if you like, just to establish a pilot hole, and then go drill from below with a larger, normal length bit to get the size opening you need for the cable
Then, having a closet underneath the stairway to the house's second story, I used that closet as a passage to reach the second floor. In My case, we had a first floor restroom right next to the stairway, and there was a small plumbing chase accessible from the back of the closet, so I just routed the wire alongside the pipes to the bathtub, through the plumbing chase into the closet, and up underneath the stairs to a central wall in the upstairs.
And yeah, I had to cut off a little plaster in one wall of the second story, just to route the second story cables through. I ended up placing a decorative wooden panel over this opening, but could have used a hinged access door, or whatever,
Then I fished the wire from that location into the attic, put a second router in the attic, and then ran from there to all the second floor outlets.
It'll all be much easier if you just shell out the money now for a quality 200' electrician's "fishtape", and use that for wiring through all the blind spots.
Some times it can be challenging hitting your mark at both ends, but with a little creative thinking it's amazing what can be reached.
Last edited by Always Needmore; 07-09-2022 at 11:21 AM..
I wouldn't relocate the fiber. My service terminates in a non-central location, my garage. Then one ethernet cable to my centrally located wiring closet.
Unless you have health concerns, the only other wires I would run are for a wifi system. I used to prefer ethernet for everything, but wifi works well nowadays. A well-designed wifi system will cover the whole house. And it's not like you can avoid wifi anyways. I have phones, laptops, tablets, doorbell, thermostat, security cameras, smart speakers, TVs, TV streaming devices, garage door opener, etc...all on wifi.
If you are handy and know the basics of what might be where inside walls (water and drain lines, power, etc.), it may be something you can do yourself. If not:
1) If you have access to an electrician that has worked on the house in the past, consider contacting them to ask if they believe Ethernet cables (or whatever else would be needed - coax, etc.) could be snaked to the desired locations and the cost involved for both raw runs and also completely finished / terminated with the required wall plates. I have seen electricians that could work wonders in getting wires routed, but were horrible at the finish stage and left connections that were faulty and caused massive issues with connectivity after the job was completed.
2) Pick a location to have everything start from (head-end). This is usually in a basement or utility space / closet where any needed parts can be installed (network switch / coax splitter for cable, power, etc.). This will allow you to easily identify each run to the respective room / location. Also, make sure each run is labeled and tested as needed for the type of cable run.
3) Try to avoid multiple jumps between locations - a single network switch in the 'head-end' that feeds individual locations is better than one run that feeds a small switch in room A, that in turn feeds another switch in room B, etc. Daisy-chaining network feeds can cause a lot of troubleshooting issues if one device begins to act up and everything downstream is erratic because of it.
4) If you do decide to use an electrician for getting wires run, chances are they will know a contractor that can put things back the way they were after any holes are drilled / walls need to be worked on. You can probably ask for this during any conversations about what you want to be done in your house.
You may also be able to find an audio / video company locally that has experience in running / snaking cables. If so, they would *hopefully* be able to do everything, but most likely would be more expensive than an electrician for the wire-running portion. It may be a situation where a combination of the two trades could be used to achieve the desired end result.
Is the house already wired for cableTV throughout the house? If so, you might try looking at MoCa (Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance) adapters, which allow you to use the coaxial cable already wired throughout your house as an ethernet network. I live in a house built in 1962, but remodeled in 2000. When the owners remodeled it, they installed coax in all the remodeled rooms. I use that coax to extend my network using MoCa adapters. It does not interfere with your cable at home, and should not mess with your cable line outside of your home. I live in a two-story house with the cable modem in the downstairs corner of the house. I use 4 MoCa adapters to spread the internet throughout my house, which also allows the wifi to reach my detached garage, and also the neighbors yard (for a security camera located in their yard). Wired Cat-6 would definitely be better, but creating a "roaming network" in my house using MoCa works really well for me.
I used to prefer ethernet for everything, but wifi works well nowadays. A well-designed wifi system will cover the whole house. And it's not like you can avoid wifi anyways. I have phones, laptops, tablets, doorbell, thermostat, security cameras, smart speakers, TVs, TV streaming devices, garage door opener, etc...all on wifi.
Came to say this. I got tired of dealing with wires and crappy wifi. I would buy a $70 router... hmm... not great. Let's try adding a mesh... mmm... still not great. Finally cracked and said screw it I am going to buy some seriously high end wifi. I spent $270 on a Wifi 6 Netgear Nighthawk router and it blankets my house now, every corner of the house has extraordinary coverage. So much better.
Is the house already wired for cableTV throughout the house? If so, you might try looking at MoCa (Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance) adapters, which allow you to use the coaxial cable already wired throughout your house as an ethernet network. I live in a house built in 1962, but remodeled in 2000. When the owners remodeled it, they installed coax in all the remodeled rooms. I use that coax to extend my network using MoCa adapters. It does not interfere with your cable at home, and should not mess with your cable line outside of your home. I live in a two-story house with the cable modem in the downstairs corner of the house. I use 4 MoCa adapters to spread the internet throughout my house, which also allows the wifi to reach my detached garage, and also the neighbors yard (for a security camera located in their yard). Wired Cat-6 would definitely be better, but creating a "roaming network" in my house using MoCa works really well for me.
To the OP: I second this suggestion. I use DirecTV's version (DECA) to get network connections to other parts of my house. It works very well and have never had any issues with it. I'll take a wired connection over wireless any day.
Came to say this. I got tired of dealing with wires and crappy wifi. I would buy a $70 router... hmm... not great. Let's try adding a mesh... mmm... still not great. Finally cracked and said screw it I am going to buy some seriously high end wifi. I spent $270 on a Wifi 6 Netgear Nighthawk router and it blankets my house now, every corner of the house has extraordinary coverage. So much better.
This, although I have an Orbi mesh system that works well. Fiber comes into the basement, runs across the ceiling of the utility room, drilled a hole in the floor to the middle level to bring it to the router. I have the router on the middle level along with a switch to run everything in the A/V cabinet. I pulled a Cat6A cable down that same hole from the router to a switch on my desk (my office is in the basement) - I came down the hole, across the ceiling and down the wall. I just put in a wall plate to pull the cable through going to my switch, then everything else in my office runs off the switch.
Satellite for the mesh system is on the 3rd floor almost on top of the router. I have coverage everywhere, including the camera outside the house, plus my backyard - and everything I need wired, is wired.
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