Help me out with my re-wiring project? (Ethernet)

[UnixBasher]

I took a look at the survey that was filled out when we bought the house. All the walls except the one that divides my mother's room and my brother's room are plaster bonded to brick. Masonry was also mentioned.

Moreover, the wall that I want my socket on is the one shown in the picture. I'd like it to the left of the left socket.

Would I need metal backboxes and a masonry drill piece to do this job? Damn old houses that don't have plasterboard...

 

[UnixBasher]

so should have run them in the safe zones

Being under the capping, right? I don't know all the safety stuff, I just know about ethernet cabling and plasterboard really.

 

[ericmark]

This shows safe zones for buried cable at less than 50 mm below surface. It has been like this for many years. There was a change with capping in 2008 plasters like metal capping as it does not move. But if metal then now it needs earthing which is a real pain so in the main plastic is now used. This is not much good for the plaster as it flexes and makes it harder for him. But it tends to stop the plasters trowel from damaging the cable. It is smooth where the cable is more rubber like so catch a cable trowel tends to dig in but catch capping and it tends to be deflected. However there is really no need for capping.

Unless special cables are used or steel conduit then there is really no option but follow safe routes. This includes all cable be it low voltage (230) or extra low voltage although for the latter no one really worries.

So get the electrician to correct before it is plastered. As I have said before it is covered it technically does not break any rules. Only after plastered over does it brake rules so technically it will be the plasterer at fault.

But seeing an electrician do work so bad really does raise questions as to if really an electrician.

 

[Bilabong007]

Ok so you have established your going to be "chasing" the cables into a block work or brick wall.

Ideally you need to know how thick the wall is and therefore how deep you can safely make the cuts into the wall. Essentially you will be digging out a channel into the wall. It's very messy. You can hire machines that do this or use a drill and bolster. The technique is known as stitch drilling.

The points mentioned above about safe zones are v important. You need to make sure you lay the cable in the right place. Remember that others including your "electrician" may not abide these rules so be careful you don't hit an elec wire or gas pipe.

Every project grows arms and legs in my experience. From what you initially thought to what you realise is going to happen, I'm sure your beginning to realise this.

Graeme

 

[UnixBasher]

Ok so you have established your going to be "chasing" the cables into a block work or brick wall.

Ideally you need to know how thick the wall is and therefore how deep you can safely make the cuts into the wall. Essentially you will be digging out a channel into the wall. It's very messy. You can hire machines that do this or use a drill and bolster. The technique is known as stitch drilling.

The points mentioned above about safe zones are v important. You need to make sure you lay the cable in the right place. Remember that others including your "electrician" may not abide these rules so be careful you don't hit an elec wire or gas pipe.

Every project grows arms and legs in my experience. From what you initially thought to what you realise is going to happen, I'm sure your beginning to realise this.

Graeme

I can still see where the wires are going from the new sockets. They go down behind the skirting board and under the floorboards, so I won't be hitting those. My only concern is that I have a chimney breast and hearth tiles near to where I'd like the socket, so I am concerned that it could perhaps have been a gas fire but I doubt it.

I am beginning to realise that the task at hand is becoming bigger and bigger, yeah. I guess we just have to power through that. I think the end result will be worth it if I do my research and do it properly first time round...

I'm going to firstly buy some better real pure copper cable. Would I perhaps be able to rather than fishing the cable upwards, maybe run it under the floorboards? Not sure how that'd work in terms of going to the router downstairs, however.

 

[Bilabong007]

Ok going back to the beginning,

You want to run multiple cat5 cables from a point in the living room to various places on the first floor.

Best way (IMO) is to take all cables up together, ideally if there is an existing path for cabling from ground floor to first floor. Existing electrics must do this at some point. In my house I noticed a tv coaxial socket on the wall. Turned out there was conduit laid within the wall that I can pull cables through.

If you can't use an existing g>1st route you need to make one. Choose a good location and chase the wall. Place the cables under the ground floorboards to the router socket.

On the 1st floor the cables should be placed under the floor to the locations you need.

 

[UnixBasher]

Ok going back to the beginning,

You want to run multiple cat5 cables from a point in the living room to various places on the first floor.

Best way (IMO) is to take all cables up together, ideally if there is an existing path for cabling from ground floor to first floor. Existing electrics must do this at some point. In my house I noticed a tv coaxial socket on the wall. Turned out there was conduit laid within the wall that I can pull cables through.

If you can't use an existing g>1st route you need to make one. Choose a good location and chase the wall. Place the cables under the ground floorboards to the router socket.

On the 1st floor the cables should be placed under the floor to the locations you need.

I'll go have a look and see if anything is going upstairs. The previous owners had a Sky dish and we got an aerial installed, but neither actually have a SOCKET... just a wire into the wall. Give me a moment. You still online?

 

[UnixBasher]

Sadly no existing conduits other than to the aerial and Sky dish outside, so I guess I'd need to make my own path.

 

[Bilabong007]

Ok so you need to plan where you are going to take the cables from ground to first floor.

Maybe do it close to the downstairs socket, maybe do it in the middle of the house to make it easier to distribute upstairs. It's your design.

It's still a thought experiment. Maybe post drawings of ground and first floor plans of the house? You need to exactly plan where each cable has to end up and exactly how it's going to get there.

Graeme

 

[UnixBasher]

Ok so you need to plan where you are going to take the cables from ground to first floor.

Maybe do it close to the downstairs socket, maybe do it in the middle of the house to make it easier to distribute upstairs. It's your design.

It's still a thought experiment. Maybe post drawings of ground and first floor plans of the house? You need to exactly plan where each cable has to end up and exactly how it's going to get there.

Graeme

I know that the floorplan for downstairs is exactly the same as upstairs, eg the rooms are the same size with walls in the same place.

I will make a floorplan later and post it here.

 

[UnixBasher]

Not sure what to do as almost all of the walls are plaster, not plasterboard, so running cables DOWN from the ATTIC will be impossible?
Also, I do not have a drill at all. I was hoping that I'd be able to borrow one to make the few needed holes in the attic, but now that seems this is not possible.

As I am only doing this for the experience, I'm considering doing this at my dad's house instead, if he lets me? He has plasterboard walls, so things should be easier...

 

[a546345]

Hi.
Any reason you're going for cat6 instead of 5e?
What makes you think the CCA cable won't be good enough?
Are you running a 10Gb LAN?

 

[UnixBasher]

Hi.
Any reason you're going for cat6 instead of 5e?
What makes you think the CCA cable won't be good enough?
Are you running a 10Gb LAN?

Wanted to go for cat6 for really fast internal transfers and future proofing for when our area is cabled by Virgin Media or upgraded to FTTP by BT.
The CCA cable is no good for running through the attic or under the floor as it fractures way too easily, and that's going to be a pain as I don't want to have to re-run the cable all of the time.

Our router, unsure of the speeds it can do, but it has a 1900Mbps WIRELESS throughput. It's an ASUS RT-AC68U.

Also, with the CCA cable, it's not good but I'm more annoyed at the fact it is on sale as "CAT6" when CCA cable doesn't even meet CAT6 standards, making it... illegal... to sell it as CAT6 due to the Copper Clad Aluminium material. The fact it is CCA and not pure copper was not noted anywhere on the item description, so I presumed copper pure as otherwise it wouldn't be CAT6.

 

[AlanE]

Also, with the CCA cable, it's not good but I'm more annoyed at the fact it is on sale as "CAT6" when CCA cable doesn't even meet CAT6 standards, making it... illegal... to sell it as CAT6 due to the Copper Clad Aluminium material. The fact it is CCA and not pure copper was not noted anywhere on the item description, so I presumed copper pure as otherwise it wouldn't be CAT6.

This applies to CAT5e as well. Specification is for solid copper.

 

[Bilabong007]

I think maybe your initial thoughts of wiring an entire house were a bit beyond what you could achieve at your level. Like I said it's very disruptive to rewire a house.

Focus on a specific goal of doing a single connection. Your going to need more than a drill on block walls specifically planning, attention to detail and a vac to clean up.

Don't give up, just rework your initial thought experiment.

Graeme