Running wire through attic (roof, AC, heat, phone)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I couldn't find a thread about this so I'm starting one.
Our wireless options for networking have not panned out. I've tried a number of things and they work, but.
We have a house in Las Vegas, which means the attic temps this time of year are scary. The roof peak is pretty low so I can't stand up in it.
I need to run cat5/6 through the attic and down the same holes as the electrical or cable so I can add outlets in 4 places.
What I'm wondering is if there are some "tricks" to do this in a safer manner. I will need to get across the attic to pull the cables over to the opening where we enter the attic, which is where I'd plan on starting out for the other locations. A place to get out of the heat for a while. Then to the existing openings. All the while hoping the openings are large enough to push a cat cable through without drilling - more time in the heat!.
Cat 6 has a spline in it, the biggest problem for new ethernet cable runners is kinking the cable. Do not kink, if you can't afford an electrician, you'll want either Keystone punch down ethernet jacks, or if you want to try an experiment learn to splice a cable into an RJ45 male. Splicing is harder than punch down. If you splice, look for something like an EZ crimp, if you decide to punch down, look for a 110 punch down tool.
Kinking will occur if you apply force to jerk it along if away from the cable box. Never pull the cable hard, do not try to staple it at a right angle. You will need at the very least an RJ45 test device (to tell you if all the wires are properly connected between each end).
Nope. You need to drill new holes that DON'T have AC wires in them.
Try hard to avoid the same stud bay as well.
Delay the job until winter. Then hire it out.
How about cable lines? They are close enough. If no I'll just drill new. Won't wait till winter. Around here that's December or later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by functionofx
Cat 6 has a spline in it, the biggest problem for new ethernet cable runners is kinking the cable. Do not kink, if you can't afford an electrician, you'll want either Keystone punch down ethernet jacks, or if you want to try an experiment learn to splice a cable into an RJ45 male. Splicing is harder than punch down. If you splice, look for something like an EZ crimp, if you decide to punch down, look for a 110 punch down tool.
Kinking will occur if you apply force to jerk it along if away from the cable box. Never pull the cable hard, do not try to staple it at a right angle. You will need at the very least an RJ45 test device (to tell you if all the wires are properly connected between each end).
Coax is fine thought you May find degraded speed over the ethernet/static on the TV, power lines are not (for sharing a hole). Always best to drill new.
Cat 5 is no different from Cat 6 when it comes to kinking/running. Cat 6 is Vastly different when terminating the ends (that's where most of the CAT 6 standard is found, in the ends, not the wire) ~ you'll end up with CAT 5 as a DIY at home regardless.
Last option, run a wireless access point that simply sits directly over the room you'll be running cable to. That way you're only fishing wires up one wall, and with the right equipment you can supply power over ethernet. That access point can share your SSID and the devices will simply hand-off depending on which signal is stronger, exactly like a cell phone works.
Do the work as early in the morning as possible, you'll probably need to quit by 10am. My attic here in Georgia sees temps north of 130 with outside temps in the mid and upper 90's. I can't even fathom what an attic is like in Vegas/Phoenix when air temps are in the teens ~ I know it feels like opening a 400 degree oven door to ride a motorcycle out there in the summer. :/
How about cable lines? They are close enough. If no I'll just drill new. Won't wait till winter. Around here that's December or later.
Cat 5 it is, then. Thanks.
Without the spline Cat 5 is more likely to kink than Cat 6. Don't pull with a lot of force, don't kink, and no very tight close angles. When running from cabinet to cabinet in my home, we always use 5 lines of Cat 6. In the event of a failure, we have additional options.
Use copper cable, not CCA (copper coated aluminum). If you decide to use power-over-ethernet (e.g. to put a wireless router in the attic or on the ceiling below), you'll need that.
And wait until winter unless you want to do it at midnight.
I just got done adding several circuits in the attic here in Phoenix-
My tips would be -
Start at 5 am & watch the forecast, you'll have some days with lower overnight temps..
wear a particle mask, knee pads & gloves for when you're dealing with insulation.
Don't be afraid to cut drywall- here, I can get someone out for a minimum charge of $150 ish to repair small holes - its not that big of a deal to cut a hole in the ceiling above the header & another one below the header so you can get the wires where they belong quickly..
theoretically, you can fish a wire blind, but if you don't mind having a drywall guy out, you can fish a bunch of wires quickly & do much of the work from the ground level..
To avoid having to walk on the attic rafters, I used an extendable painters pole to get wires over the vaulted ceilings.. saved a lot of time & much safer than trying to walk across joists you can't see because they're buried in insulation..
When we were renovating our house, I pulled CAT 5 to very single room. We use one line. Everything else is wireless, although we did have to get every more powerful routers. Currently I can connect to our service from about 1/4 mile away.
I have no trouble pulling the wires. You have to be really not paying attention to kink them. For our attic simlar situation only crawling room, hot, I put a fan up there and had one of our kids go up (they are skinny so heat is less of an issue. I poked my head up and gave him directions and sprayed water on him form time to time with a spray bottle. He thought it was fun.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
