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Solution of the Week
Wire Your Home for the Future
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Been thinking about upgrading the wiring in your 20-year+ home to handle 21st-century technology? So did one of our customers who asked us what products Smarthome had to help him out. We replied that that we offer hundreds of residential wiring products that can be combined to create a system that meets his specific needs.
| | | What He Wants | |
This customer had purchased a 22-year-old, 2,500-sq. ft. home about a year ago. Although he had upgraded the house cosmetically, he hadn't yet done anything with the wiring. It was still wired for basic telephone and cable service, and nothing more. Fortunately, the house had attic and crawl space underneath, making the retrofit project much easier.
His primary goal was to access DSL high-speed Internet service and a central printer from six different rooms — that way he can connect his laptop to the network from any room, while his wife, who works from home two days a week, can work in the home office simultaneously.
His secondary goal was to implement whole-house audio and a perimeter surveillance camera system he can monitor from any TV in the house. But he explained that these weren't immediate needs, and it might be a year or more before he's ready to set those up.
| | | Our Recommendation | |
For this retrofit project, we recommended that each connected room be equipped with:
- 2 runs of coaxial cable
- 2 runs of Cat. 5E cable
- 2 runs of speaker cable
We recommended that all these wires be "home run" to a central panel � meaning that all the cable connections for each room directly connect to the main panel (the laundry room was where the customer wanted to keep the main panel).
| | | The Shopping List | |
The Cable
For video and computer networking, we recommended a bundled cable that combines two runs of Cat. 5 and two runs of coaxial cable. Because these cables are combined, installing them is much easier and faster than if they were separate. We did recommend that he use a separate speaker cable for whole-house audio, since these cables are generally terminated in different locations than video and computer networking cables. To approximate the length of cable needed, we asked him to measure the total linear distance and add 25-ft. per room as a safety cushion.
The Panel
For the central panel, we recommended the Leviton model, which can be customized for his specific needs by adding additional modules.
The Wall Jacks
For terminating cables in each room, we recommended the following products.
The Tools
Although he has a pretty extensive set of tools already, we suggested that he invest in a the following specialized tools that would simplify the wiring installation process.
Although these were the products he'll need to complete the wiring, when he's ready to move onto his secondary goals, we suggested that he look at:
| | | The Installation | |
Now for the part that sounds complicated, but is actually much easier than you would expect: installation. Because our customer's house is already wired with telephone wire, we recommended that he use the old cable to pull the new cable through the same path. This method requires minimal work, and does not involve cutting into the drywall.
If there's a location where he needs to run cable where he can't go through the wall, we recommend running it through the closet. Because many two-story homes have closets that are in the same position on both floors, this method is ideal for taking cable from one floor to the other. Once you've routed it into the closet, punching it through to the wall jack location is easy, and the only person who knows the wiring will be you.
Another option, when you can't pull wire through the walls, is to use on-wall conduit available at most home supply warehouse stores. This conduit is basically baseboard or crown moulding with a gap behind it for housing cable.
We gave the customer dozens of other ideas for running cable (too many to print here). We also offer a couple of other great references for installation ideas, including a comprehensive book and a 3-hour+ video course.
With these products and tools, and a little bit of planning, our customer is on his way to giving his home a technological makeover that will keep his home up to speed for decades to come.
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