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Since I was successful at doing some plumbing work, I think I might want to try to do some networking work. I currently only have coaxial TV jacks in the master bedroom. I would love for every room to be TV ready (not that I will have my kids watching TV) but it would be nice to have. Plus, it would be great to learn how to do this, so I add this skill-set to my toolbox.
I reviewed the Lowes and Home Depot how to guides and it seems like this might be something I can do.
Material and Tool wise, I would need the following:
- Wire Stripper
- Crimp Tool
- Fish Tape
- RG-6 cable
- F-Connectors
- F-Connector Jacks
- Wall Plates
- CATV Cable Splitter
My main concern is the fishing part, fishing the cable into the rooms from the attic.
Anyway, I will scope out the details tonight in my attic and if it looks doable, I will go to either Home Depot or Lowes to get the tools and materials.
Like I said, I would love to be able to add this skill to my toolbox.
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If you are dropping it in from the attic you will hit fire stops in the wall frame (essentially a 2x4 that runs horizontally in the middle beams). It's not an issue if you don't care about the height of the jack, but if you want it low near the floor it's going to be harder.
And go to Lowes' they have a new store across from Costco and are more helpful.
Posted by: yohaas | May 12, 2009 12:48 PM
From experience, 2 thoughts:
1 - Make sure you don't start drilling holes until you *know* you're going to do that room. If you get 2 rooms into it and decide nothing is worth the pain of snaking cable (it *is* a pain) for an additional 'x' number of rooms, you really don't want to have holes in the rooms you don't snake to.
2 - Pay close attention to how much you are stretching out your cable signal. I don't know the exact math, but, as with networking cables, you'll want a signal booster in there if you start to do multiple splits over long cable runs.
Good luck!
Posted by: Lewis | May 12, 2009 12:48 PM
Yohaas, good point. I guess I can buy the fish tape and see if it goes down as far as I need?
Lewis, true, that was my plan. but even if I did, I can wall plate the hole. Also, on signal strength, I hope it won't be an issue. Just expanding it into probably two more drops.
Posted by: Barry Schwartz | May 12, 2009 12:56 PM
All new houses have fire stops so it probably won't go all the way down (you can always use a stud finder to check). There are ways around it, but they are not great, especially for a DIY job.
If you have a closet in the room, you can drop the cable into the closet and then put the jack where the closet wall extends, you have exposed cable, but only in the closet.
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