Installing wired home network under floorboards ... best method?

[Technique]

I much prefer wired over wireless. Wireless is a total last resort here.

We are soon (next week) to be having a lot of (damp proofing) work carried out in our living room. The walls are back to brick, not plasterboard (think Americans call it dry wall?) & will be getting treated & plastered. The floor itself - both floorboards & the joists will also be getting renewed. We will be getting a smart TV when the job is done & i guess these work on WiFi but like i said, i prefer wired connections unless you guys can give a good argument for wireless here?

I know of powerline adapters, but these take up another socket & the house wiring is all strange & old anyway, plus i'm not so keen on these things. That aside, i've just realised there's no spare socket in the hallway where the router is.

So my idea was to run a wire from the hall where the router is to the living room next to it. I don't want to go UP as that'd mean lifting carpet upstairs which now everything is down i'm not going to do, so the only other option i see is going DOWN since the floor will be taken up.

I would imagine it'd a simple case of running it across the joists, then down the joists & up through the floorboard to the location where our TV would be. I don't then know if it'd be an idea to have this in to some sort of cat6 wall socket or have it just poking outside of the carpet & then have a small 0.5m cat6 cable running from the TV to the cable from the floor with a female-female connector or what. This is why i'm asking here - as you guys will know the best way & what is on the market & the correct names for things.

I'm not 100% sure on how to have it in the hall. Obviously it'd have to come up through the floorboards also, i imagine up the corner of the room hidden by some trunking & then perhaps direct into the router.

 

I took a quick video of the layout in case it helps. The video starts out in the hall where you can see the router on top of the stand. It then moves to the living room although the corner i highlight there, i've changed my mind & the TV wont be there. It'll be the same wall but the corner at the other end of that wall.

 

 

[jakem1]

Will the damp proofers be removing the plaster from the bottom of the brick walls?  If so, it might be a good opportunity to chase the cables into the walls and install them properly behind faceplates.  Everything will look neat and tidy when they replaster.

[binaryzero]

^

[PNWDweller]

  On 23/11/2015 at 23:02, jakem1 said:

Will the damp proofers be removing the plaster from the bottom of the brick walls?  If so, it might be a good opportunity to chase the cables into the walls and install them properly behind faceplates.  Everything will look neat and tidy when they replaster.

If they are just spraying it on the bricks they cannot put the wires in it.

 

[conna]

Once the floor is ripped down to the joists, you should be able to drill down from the router room and snake a cable to your desired location in the other room. I would run two cables into your TV room if it was me. One where you want and another along the opposite wall.  Now would be a good time to plan on your surround sound wiring also. 

[jakem1]

  On 24/11/2015 at 01:42, Medfordite said:

If they are just spraying it on the bricks they cannot put the wires in it.

 

Assuming they are using chemicals it will be injected into the bricks rather than sprayed on. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't be able to chase cables in, either before or after the damp proofing is done.  The network cabling won't be any different to electrical wiring in the same walls.

[BinaryData]

Hmm.. This is quite different from the houses I've wired. I've never had to deal with brick before.

Honestly, I'd run them with the electrical wiring. You can install wall faceplates. That's what I'm doing with my house, each room will have a single connection on 3 walls.

[binaryzero]

IMHO every house going forward should have ethernet ran throughout. 

My new place I'll run ethernet again, and prob put up some sort of decent AP. Maybe a WatchGuard if I pass my test in Jan. 

[Kelxin]

  On 24/11/2015 at 08:34, BinaryData said:

Honestly, I'd run them with the electrical wiring.

That's great until the electrical wire induces a current into your network wire and starts frying all your high dollar gear in your house.

[Tomo]

  On 24/11/2015 at 08:34, BinaryData said:

Honestly, I'd run them with the electrical wiring.

I'd personally keep the ethernet cables at least 6 inches away from electrical wiring.

Best way would be to either run the cables under the joists or drill through the joists. 

[sc302 Veteran]

  On 24/11/2015 at 11:04, Tomo said:

I'd personally keep the ethernet cables at least 6 inches away from electrical wiring.

Best way would be to either run the cables under the joists or drill through the joists. 

If you go by most, it is a minimum of 12 inches of separation.

 

  Quote

Keep UTP cables as far away from potential sources of EMI (electrical cables, transformers, light fixtures, etc.) as possible. Cables should maintain a 12-inch separation from power cables.

[firey]

I agree with the others, I would run them through the walls (especially now that it's all exposed.  I'd then wire them to Ethernet wall sockets that way you have the freedom to move around and not be worried too much about cable position and where it comes in.

[Technique]

Regards the damp proofing -

They will remove all plaster (i did what i could but i'm not going too crazy around electrical sockets - they can knock off the little pieces there). The brickwork will be washed down with an anti-sulphate wash & then a K11 tanking slurry product will be brushed on (feel free to YouTube/Google K11 tanking from Sovereign Chemicals). On this i believe will go a special kind of plaster & then on this i believe will be the finishing plaster.

I have plenty of cabling (either 30mtr or 50mtr, i can't remember what i bought as it's been so long) but each end already has the connectors ... is this a problem? Or would you just cut one of the ends off & terminate it in to some kind of faceplate/wall socket? Come to think of it, if you was to do that then i guess you would do the same on both ends & have a wall socket in the hall also which you would then run a (much smaller) lead from the router to said socket in hall.

What sort of faceplates/sockets are we thinking of? I remember buying one for at my mothers house but it was a big bulky thing.

[Technique]

Out of curiosity here, is there a good reason why i should leave it wireless (other than it's just 'easier')?

I'm quite happy having the laptop in there connected wirelessley so the only thing i can think of that would require being wired would be a smart TV. Unless i'm missing something i can't think of anything else. The actual PC is upstairs which is connected wired anyway.

 

[+BudMan MVC]

Mobile devices like laptops are what wifi is designed for..  If its not mobile it should have a wire whenever possible!!!  Wire is always better than wireless, the more devices you take off your wifi network the less devices have to share that bandwidth.

I moved my chromecast off wifi because its not mobile, I don't move it from tv to tv.. Its plugged into the back of my av receiver, and they came out with a Ethernet connection for it $15..  Soon as I saw that it was ordered.. It never belonged on wifi in the first place

I think they plaster stuff a lot different there vs here in the us where drywall sheets of plasterboard where there is always space behind that is filled with insulation.. And very easy to run wires behind.  Even if put in front of brick there would be a frame built and there would be space between the brick and the drywall.  Seems like how you explained it -- pretty much solid?  There was another thread where someone wanted to run wire in the same room..  Which here in the us is a nobrainer simple thing - you pop off the baseboards and put the wire behind them..  The drywall never goes all the way to the floor so its very simple to slide a wire in there..  So unless there is a doorway in your path running a cable from end of room to other end of room is very simple.

Without knowing the construction methods its really hard to say what is the easy method..  But let me say again - its always best to have a wire!!  So while they have your wall tore apart I would think the best time to run any wiring you would want to run..

 

[Technique]

Thanks Budman. Did you watch the video? That gives a perfect view i would've thought? As i move from one room to the other i'm obviously going through the doorway, it's not open plan. But the walls in this house are all brick, there's no plasterboard/drywall at all.

Also is there any reason i shouldn't use stranded cabling? I've been told to use solid cabling but i've always dealt with stranded in the past & never had an issue.

[sc302 Veteran]

Solid is better for pulling, more resistant to breaking when pulling. Stranded is better when constantly moving as it was designed for coiling and uncoiling (think of laptop users constantly taking the cable out and putting it away).  Solid is more stiff and can handle a good tug, stranded has a higher chance of tearing mid cable during a pull. 

[SnailSlug]

Try to get shielded cables. That will basically wipe interference off the list of problems. Worst case scenario, it costs slightly more. Since you're going to do the work anyways, put in a wall socket. At least some of them appear to just be female/female connectors stuck on a plate.

Cat5e and Cat6 come in shielded versions. Cat7 is double shielded by default. Cat7 appears to cost approximately $25 / 100 feet on NewEgg.

 

Wireless is only as good as the quality of the transmission space. Brick is slightly better, since it's not all nails, but it could contain rebar, which is much worse than nails everywhere.

Powerline network adapters are sensitive to any large changes in current. Anything circuit in a kitchen, electric furnace, or water heater is basically not going to work. Using power tools will also ruin the connection.

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

Powerline adapters won't take any power sockets, most of them have a socket built in so you can still use the power from the socket with the powerline.

[TAZMINATOR]

  On 24/11/2015 at 11:04, Tomo said:

I'd personally keep the ethernet cables at least 6 inches away from electrical wiring.

Best way would be to either run the cables under the joists or drill through the joists. 

If I were you, I would never drill holes in joints where the bathroom is located if it has a tub.... otherwise it will fall though later.. when the joints get weak and crack/rot....

If no tub, then it may be okay. I wouldn't recommend because if you sell the house to someone else and someone will get a tub installed...

I like my plans better than the ones you all have now ...  old and new homes aren't right which I have been looking at homes these days ...  some are wrong.

I used to be a home builder and contractor years ago.

[Tomo]

  On 25/11/2015 at 02:31, TAZMINATOR said:

If I were you, I would never drill holes in joints where the bathroom is located if it has a tub.... otherwise it will fall though later.. when the joints get weak and crack/rot....

If no tub, then it may be okay. I wouldn't recommend because if you sell the house to someone else and someone will get a tub installed...

I like my plans better than the ones you all have now ...  old and new homes aren't right which I have been looking at homes these days ...  some are wrong.

I used to be a home builder and contractor years ago.

He's talking about his living room, i'm not sure anyone would install a bath in there....

As long as the hole is no bigger in diameter than 0.25 of the depth of the joist "ie 100mm joist = max hole 25mm diameter" then he will be ok (UK building regs)

[TAZMINATOR]

  On 25/11/2015 at 08:59, Tomo said:

He's talking about his living room, i'm not sure anyone would install a bath in there....

As long as the hole is no bigger in diameter than 0.25 of the depth of the joist "ie 100mm joist = max hole 25mm diameter" then he will be ok (UK building regs)

I know that. I was talking about run the wires through the joints across the house.  If you run the wires around the bathroom instead of running under it, it's okay.  If you run under it, it's not. 

 

[BinaryData]

  On 24/11/2015 at 11:04, Tomo said:

I'd personally keep the ethernet cables at least 6 inches away from electrical wiring.

Best way would be to either run the cables under the joists or drill through the joists. 

  On 24/11/2015 at 14:37, sc302 said:

 

If you go by most, it is a minimum of 12 inches of separation.

 

I've never had a problem with my cables being ran with them. In my garage where I have 220v, yeah anything within a foot and it'd cause problems. 

[binaryzero]

Lots of over thinking here... 

Have any of you guys seen how network cable is laid out in office buildings? Haha, lift up one of the roof tiles when you get a chance . 

[Tomo]

  On 25/11/2015 at 09:34, BinaryData said:

 

I've never had a problem with my cables being ran with them. In my garage where I have 220v, yeah anything within a foot and it'd cause problems. 

It's not usually a problem if the cables run along side each other, it's when they start to wrap around each other that you start to get electrical interference, it's better to be safe and try to have some degree of separation.