Planning ahead - laying tv aerial under render

[macadonald]

Hi Guys,

New here so please be patient. Hoping for some advise on TV aerials. We are in the middle of renovating our 3 bed semi. Render is off most of the walls and I want to use the opportunity to lay tv aerials around the house with connection points in all the possible places.

I suppose I have 3 questions:

1 - what aerial cable is best to use considering the way technology is moving. I obviously don't want to spend thousands, but want to make sure I'll be good both now and in years to come. Is it old standard cable or this HDMI stuff and any advise on average costs per m. This may be a 'you get what you pay for answer'

2- What I'm not sure about is how to plan this. If we connect to Virgin for example through cable, it would be a connection at ground level in the front of the house. If we went with sky satelite, the satelite dish would be at the back of the house on the roof. So, not sure if I'd be best running it from the front of the house and then I could just run a cable from the roof down to this if need be or the other way around?

3- Assuming that I may have 2 tv's upstairs and maybe 2 down stairs and I know it's possible nowadays to watch different channels on dif tv's, do I need to have an entirely seperate feed for each point OR is it ok to simply use junctions/splits and have a single network - essentialy a cable in with splits 2 each room. Then I could possibly bring a feed in from the loft for satelite and the front ground level for cable?

I suppose a last question would be is it okay to simply place the cable under the render or must I use conduit etc? which would involve chasing channels into brickwork

Many thanks in advance.

Maca

 

[Sam Gangee]

As a general rule, copper foil screened coaxial cable exposed to rain and sun in the UK lasts around 5 years before signal loss (satellite) becomes measurable (but not necessarily a problem). Aerial signals are at a lower frequency so the cable would be usable for longer. Aluminium foil screen cable tends to fail much sooner.

If you protect the cable from moisture and sunlight, it should last forever. I always recommend painting it but render should be fine, provided that it keeps out moisture.

WF100 cable should be fine for TV and satellite connections.

Useful information links:
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable.htm
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lofthelp.htm
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/multiswitches.htm
http://www.The-Cool-Book-shop.co.uk/satellite_freeview.htm

Some of your questions relate to personal choice and for some the answer is "it depends...". Read all available information and plan carefully. You might want to run CAT5 cable, HDMI leads or even optical fibre for "future proofing".

Having a large scale wiring diagram helps in planning and helps if you sell your house or if something goes wrong. When I wired my house I took numerous photos before the plasterboard went on, then lost them! So now I have to rely on memory, which ain't good.