How to install ethernet network in a home?

[imcrapatdiy]

Hi,

I'm not an expert but willing to spend some time and money to cable up my five bedroom 12 year old house with Cat6. I have a two storey house with internal plasterboard walls, and also plasterboard against external walls. Loft space is accessible. I'm wondering what the best way is to cable up my home? It currently looks like this:

I am targeting something like this:

My gut feel is to run cat6 from server room to loft space and then cable down from there. Not sure if cable should be tacked to the wall or behind the plasterboard. Any ideas on pros and cons here? What equipment would I need?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[foxhole]

Cat 6 ? are you running an edit suite? cat 5 would be fine [or did the cat 6 fall of the back of a lorry ]

You need to avoid crossing any power cable as it affects the Cat cable.

Personally I use power of ethernet plugs , no hassle.

 

[cajar]

Behind the plasterboard would be the more professional way. Tacked to the wall will end in divorce lol.

Layoutwise it seems ok, but not everything has to be cabled from the loft as your modem will have ports built in that can be patched, so some downstairs points could be ran to there if convenient.

Equipment you'll need is a krone tool, drill, good wire cutters and strippers, and cable rods. buy the ones from super rods the cheaper ones tend to frustratingly fail when you want it least.

 

[imcrapatdiy]

Cat 6 ? are you running an edit suite? cat 5 would be fine [or did the cat 6 fall of the back of a lorry ]

You need to avoid crossing any power cable as it affects the Cat cable.

Personally I use power of ethernet plugs , no hassle.

As you can see I'm currently using powerline ethernet home plugs. They're not up to the abuse my household throws at them. I'm going for cat6 because it's going to be a lot of effort, and the expense is in the effort, so just a bit of future proofing.

 

[imcrapatdiy]

Behind the plasterboard would be the more professional way. Tacked to the wall will end in divorce lol.

Layoutwise it seems ok, but not everything has to be cabled from the loft as your modem will have ports built in that can be patched, so some downstairs points could be ran to there if convenient.

Equipment you'll need is a krone tool, drill, good wire cutters and strippers, and cable rods. buy the ones from super rods the cheaper ones tend to frustratingly fail when you want it least.

Never done this before, so what would I do with those tools? What's a krone tool? What's a cable rod and how do you use it?

 

[cajar]

Think you'll need to get someone to help you.

 

[Monkeh]

You'll really need to find someone who's done this before to help you, or you'll spend hours (or days) without getting anywhere.

Don't put the switch in the loft, find a cupboard for it. You'll need a small rack for the patch panel or it'll be a horrible, unreliable mess (and require more tools).

Do away with all the extra switches, if you're running one cable, run four. Or eight.

 

[mattylad]

Run more than 1 cable per room, 2 at least - 4 preferred.

In my lounge I have 2 pc's xbox, media box, sky\vm tv box so I have to use a switch as I only have 1 cable to the main switch setup.

in my last house I ran 2 cables to each room & used dual sockets, if it wasn't for my walls being 22" stone I'd do it all again.

If you put them in you do not have to use them but if you need them and they are not there then your stuck with the devils own homeplugs.
Once it's all working you can take a hammer to the homeplugs

 

[Monkeh]

Once it's all working you can take a hammer to the homeplugs

Or better, send them to an independent laboratory to be tested according to the regulations supposedly enforced in this country. And send the gigantic fail reports far and wide.