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jessica562

Low voltage decisions Cat 6

jessica562
9 years ago

We are at the end of the framing stage and need to make decisions regarding the low voltage wiring of our new home. My husband is of the opinion that we don't need to install any coax. (We are cord cutters and run our tvs through Roku boxes)

I am thinking of one Cat 6 to every room wired to a central closet. We currently don't have home phones and don't plan to get them. Is there any reason to wire more than 1 cat 6 per location? Is there something I am forgetting?

Thank you for any and all suggestions!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our house building site

Comments (4)

  • bus_driver
    9 years ago

    I prefer to run 3 of ENT 3/4" in each room to wall boxes with the other end of the ENT accessible in the attic or basement as the case may be. Who knows what cabling may be developed in the future? Would you want to be stuck with Cat 6 if Cat 15 should become the norm?
    The conduit offers the maximum flexibility for installing whatever the situation needs.

  • njbuilding143
    9 years ago

    From what I have learned reading through all the different forums is this is the time to wire.. Everything is open and you will want to future proof the house.. It will never be cheaper then it is now.... For example, you say you want to run 1 cat 6 to every room.. Well what happens when you rearrange furniture and the cat6 outlet is on the opposite side of the room.. Now you need to run wires on the OUTSIDE of the walls to get to where you need them.. I am looking to build a very electronic friendly house and will have about 76 cat6 wires throughout the house.. This includes 16 for video cameras, 40 data cables for computers, laptops, smart tv's, gaming systems, DVD players, etc), and another 20 for the whole house music system.. Obviously we will not use all 40 data cables at the same time but this will future proof the house.. For example a spare kids bedroom will have 5 cat6 cables which will allow placement on any wall..

    Also you need to think resale if you ever want to move out.. Future buyers may want hardwired telephone lines, coax, etc.. And as stated above I plan on running conduit from basement to attic to allow for future cabling..

  • lookintomyeyes83
    9 years ago

    I'm not a huge fan of 'wireless' homes, so personally I'd recommend the other poster's suggestion for conduit.

    Wireless can be flaky, some people are concerned about if it may affect their health, but wires in a conduit - nothing can harm then, and you often get better performance out of them (compared to wireless).

  • grubby_AZ Tucson Z9
    9 years ago

    Run wire to every wall. It's cheap while everything is open. This is not as visually intensive as it may seem because one wire can go to EITHER side of any wall, just cut for a ring when you're ready. You can rediscover wires easily using cheap tracing tools.

    If you think it's a possibility you will ever go with DSL, run two (backup!) wires out to the telco interface box. Cat wire can be used for phones too, so run two wires to each spot. You then have a data backup line. This leads to even doing it with a phone line, a data line, and rg-6 together.