advice please

[andyturpie]

Morning,

 

I am just getting the final details sorted out on my home renovation and I have been quoted for a complete rewire of the house including having a 10u home network cab with CAT6 cabling around the house. Before I make the commitment to the data part of the work, I was wondering what your opinions are on getting this done. The reason being I will be putting a real wood floor down throughout and if things go wrong I do not wish to have to lift flooring to get to cables etc. I am also looking at the current generation of homeplugs which run at a theoretical 1200mpbs.

 

If you were going through a renovation would network points be something you would consider and if not, why not?

 

I might be able to save myself somewhere in the region of 40% of my sparks cost if the consensus is forget it..

 

All comments and ideas welcome

[Joanne]

I personally wouldn't. WiFi all the way!

 

Unless thick walls prevent that.

 

Side note: I'm successfully using some of the powerline adaptors. Seem to work a treat for my second AP which has a WiFi camera attached to it.

[dry]

If the flooring is out and the place is a bombsite, I'd definitely install network cabling. Triple check locations of network points as it'll be a pain to move them once installed!

 

Personally I'd buy my own high-quality network cable and give it to my sparky for installation. I'd ask him to just run the cable to the points whilst he's installing electrics- and do all the termination/cabinet installation myself. That way you should save on a bit of labour and not pay top whack for low quality cable that your sparky's sourced for you.

[pcstru]

I might be able to save myself somewhere in the region of 40% of my sparks cost if the consensus is forget it..

That sounds like a lot. Personally I'd go with @dry's suggestion - supply cable (is Cat 6 really necessary?) and terminate yourself. If that adds more than 5% to the bill, I'd run the cables myself!

 

Powerline stuff is pretty good though so putting in extra electrical sockets might be better use of the money (and while you are doing the work - never think you can ask for too many electrical sockets!).

[3s-gtech]

Network cabling is extremely versatile. CCTV, home media, device control, home automation. Massive list. I wouldn't use Homeplug when there's an option to wire in fresh, but by all means do the termination if you're confident in doing so (isn't CAT6 much harder to do than 5e?)

[difinity]

I started a complete renovation of my house a couple of years ago, i removed all of the ceilings downstairs and took out a couple of walls to make it open plan.

I did consider Ethernet everywhere but i only have one running from upstairs to down where i will keep a media PC and cable boxes and i haven't even terminated it yet.

I've spent all weekend streaming with Kodi from a laptop to a TV and it's not once buffered so i don't regret not adding points everywhere when i had all my electrics done.

The one thing i should have done but i didn't is include a pipe or route for extra cables being fed to and from the tv as i have mine floating on the wall. I forgot to add an optical cable back from the tv.

 

Edit : I've just remembered i fitted a couple of cat 5 points behind my TV.

Edited September 14, 2015 by difinity

[theeggmaster]

I definitely would. I've just had an extension built on the back of the house and I installed 10 Cat 5e network points into the extension, going back to an HP Gig switch. It just means rock-solid reliability for my Xbox 360, printer, Raspberry Pi media centre etc. If you're copying large files around then you know that you've got a consistent connection, and frees up the WiFi for Wii U, iPad and Chromecast. I've got powerline adaptors for any devices that are upstairs, and the router is wired directly into the Gig switch too. My EE box has one Gig port, and the rest are 10/100, so I know that there won't be any Internet bottleneck either.

[Disaster]

Wireless. It's only going to get faster thus making cabling for (most) home use redundant; and surely most people won't want the site of extra sockets all over the place...?

[dry]

Wireless. It's only going to get faster thus making cabling for (most) home use redundant; and surely most people won't want the site of extra sockets all over the place...?

WLAN is a long way off being as reliable as cabling imo. Yes, maybe in the future we'll get to a point where the two are interchangeable in terms of reliability but that's not going to be for a while. If you've got the chance now, it's definitely worth installing network cabling.

[sted]

a 10 u cab how many points are you installing? I added network cabling to my house when I moved in but ive only got 4 sockets 3 in spare room and 1 in bedroom they just terminate in sockets behind the tv and get plugged into a desktop switch also hidden behind the tv though granted between that and the number of av devices/consoles etc it is a bit messy but that's because im lazy and cheap and cba putting cable management in

[andyturpie]

a 10 u cab how many points are you installing? I added network cabling to my house when I moved in but ive only got 4 sockets 3 in spare room and 1 in bedroom they just terminate in sockets behind the tv and get plugged into a desktop switch also hidden behind the tv though granted between that and the number of av devices/consoles etc it is a bit messy but that's because im lazy and cheap and cba putting cable management in

 

Will be looking at 12-14 ports throughout the house. Would be for at the moment 1x Workhorse PC, 1x HTPC in living room, 1x Tivo Box, 1x PS3, 1xPS4 adding a couple of PoE IP Cams at front and back doors.

 

I'm feeling 6 of one and half a dozen of the other in doing this - looks like a 50/50 split on here so far too lol.

[dry]

I'm feeling 6 of one and half a dozen of the other in doing this - looks like a 50/50 split on here so far too lol.

It's Poll-o'clock!

[john]

IF you have the change to wire do it, best thing I recommend to people building new / major refurb. As someone posted above its such a versatile cable you can use it for so much more than just an internet connection I've used it for sending video from other rooms TV over the house without other wiring, CCTV, Phones etc.. the range of baluns is great for C5.

[MatthewL]

I did it but regret I didn't run enough to my rooms, I would rather have stuff over wire than wireless plus you can run other things than data i.e. CCTV etc.

[Geoff]

It increases the house value, so why not?

[spadam]

One thing to consider is fitting hollow skirting boards and running the cable inside there. That way you can easily move points or add cables over time as needed without completely destroying the walls or flooding.

[sidewinder]

I'd absolutely do it if you're already tearing everything up, no brainer. Even if you don't use a lot of them it gives you or future occupants loads of flexibility

[CyberNerd]

It increases the house value, so why not?

 

Really? I very much doubt it would make the slightest difference to the house price unless you're converting it to an office block.

 

I think the internet of things will be a wireless one.

[Geoff]

Adds about £1000 to the value in my experience.

[pcstru]

Adds about £1000 to the value in my experience.

I'm dubious. Things like that can increase the 'marketability' of a house and they might help hold a price but when buying or selling a house, in the process of negotiating the price £1000 tends to be small beer so it would be difficult to isolate something like that from the value.

[Geoff]

Oh it is small beer, but every little helps and all those 1% improvements start to add up.

[pcstru]

Oh it is small beer, but every little helps and all those 1% improvements start to add up.

Not really in my experience. I sold a house earlier this year to which we had done quite extensive renovations including turning a barn into a man cave which was fully networked etc. In the end the price had everything to do with a) location, b) size of house and c) the general state of repair. I can honestly say it would have made no difference at all if the barn had not been networked. Also in buying my house, the fact that it does not have hard wired network made no difference, nor would I have added anything for that. It's much like chucking a new coat of paint on before selling - it might help it shift faster (you make it more marketable by widening the number of people you will appeal to) but it doesn't make a real fundamental difference to the price. If you want to add value to a house you really need to make more rooms. Modernising will make some money but that is more about fundamentals - kitchen/bathrooms, quality flooring and fittings and up to date electrics. Networking is not something you will get a return on.

[GrumbleDook]

When we converted the garage in our last house (situated away from the house with a 3m separation) we patched it out and then had a cable run from the router location in the house to the converted garage. Having the cable between house and garage added £1000 on its own. I regret not getting the whole house done, but we didn't have any extensive works going on.

 

We have to do the electrics in this house at some point and I will be getting it cabled at the same time.

 

I am looking at hollow skirting boards (some good ones about) or getting tubular ducts in to allow for easy re-running of cables. It won't be for a year or two yet so interested to see how the OP's install goes.

[Pyroman]

I've just cabled my brothers house with CAT5e, even put a network socket behind the fridge for if/when he gets a "Smart Fridge". The house was back to brick and floorboards though so a nice easy job to do while the house was a bombsite

[andyturpie]

When we converted the garage in our last house (situated away from the house with a 3m separation) we patched it out and then had a cable run from the router location in the house to the converted garage. Having the cable between house and garage added £1000 on its own. I regret not getting the whole house done, but we didn't have any extensive works going on.

 

We have to do the electrics in this house at some point and I will be getting it cabled at the same time.

 

I am looking at hollow skirting boards (some good ones about) or getting tubular ducts in to allow for easy re-running of cables. It won't be for a year or two yet so interested to see how the OP's install goes.

 

Thanks all - Cheers Guys, dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s regarding the complete renovation project this week, so will let you know how I get on.

 

If I do go ahead with the CAT6, I will upload some shots of the comms unit etc..