New Home Construction Wiring

[chadwi]

Were going to be building a new home and I would like to get everything wired enough to last for many years.  I've read where running conduit is the best way to go, but don't fully understand how that works.  Do I run the conduit to every jack I plan on installing then bring it to a central hub where all my connections will take place?  

With a new house I want the incoming DTV cables to enter as clean as possible, what is the best way to run the 4 Coax cables into the house?

Finally does anyone know of a good local company that will do this for a reasonable price or a guy that may want a side job to do this?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Doug Mohr]

I've always been a fan of conduit. 3/4" or 1" PVC conduit run from the wall box to wherever it can be reached from. I don't have a finished ceiling in part of my basement, so those conduits just go from the first floor boxes into the basement ceiling and just end there. Other locations run from the box to the wiring closet. For the second floor, they run to a central access area then there is a chase (3" plumbing PVC) that runs to the basement.

The way I look at it is the cost of the conduit and the cables you currently need should even out against the cost of structured cabling.

Installing the conduit yourself is pretty simple. A few screws, a saw, a drill and some PVC cement and you have all you need. You can add in some flexible conduit if you have some odd turns, but you need to make them gentle enough that you'll be able to pull wires through it later.

A few years from now, you be very happy you went this route instead of the structured cabling. I am.

Doug

[gparris]

My builder offered it for a small extra charge when the framing went up.
I installed four main PVC "tubes" from top to bottom (as in basement).
Here the main hub in the basement could  be accessed from the tubes' connector cabling, if the future deemed, it directly to the RG-6 and CAT5 wiring hubs.
One tube each on the sides of the house 10 feet from actual sides,  two in the middle-center of the house with wiring boxes and switch plates to cover the holes in the walls (like on the second floor areas).
Then I even took a fifth tube placed along the chimney inside, away from the actual fire venting area, for satellite support if needed, too, if a dish was placed there instead.

Maybe this helps you.

[chadwi]

This is great information.  Thank you for the help.

[chadwi]

I've been getting some quotes for professional to do this and the prices have ranged from $1000 to $2000....I'm not sure if I could do it myself for that price.  Does this seem valid to everyone?  

Also, does anyone have a nice clean way to get the 5 RG6 cables from the outside to the basement?

[Stanley Kritzik]

I've been getting some quotes for professional to do this and the prices have ranged from $1000 to $2000....I'm not sure if I could do it myself for that price.  Does this seem valid to everyone?  

Also, does anyone have a nice clean way to get the 5 RG6 cables from the outside to the basement?

One thing to keep in mind with DirecTV:  they are field testing a couple of features involving frequency translation and a special multi switch that, when combined, will allow for all their channels plus an OTA antenna's input to go from the dish/antenna combo. into the house with ONE wire.  Not only that, all the wiring in the house can be one wire per location using splitters and diplexers at each location.  With splitters and diplexers for OTA, the in-house wiring can be greatly simplified.  See //www.dbstalk.com for details -- there's an advanced topics section.

Of course, going this route locks one into D*, so you have to really be in love with them.  But, if they can do it, I'd guess that the others will have to respond to competitive pressure -- the idea of only having to run one cable to, say, a two-receiver combo with sat. plus OTA is pretty appealing.  The question is: will they release it all in 2007 (as scheduled) or will it slip into 2008, and they've been six months late with a lot of stuff.

D* is coming on strong, with this stuff plus a slew of pronised HD channels.

Stan

[chadwi]

Wow, that would be fantastic.  I've got about 4 months before I will need to wire, so my guess is I'll miss it.