Hard wiring home network

[gatorguy7]

I know this thread is a little off-topic from the forum but I've seen quite a few GC's on here and thought someone may have some tips for me.

I'm looking to hardwire a home network in my house since my wireless reception has been less than adequate. I'm a CPA and work from home at night during tax season. A wired connection would be more reliable and reduce some frustration I've gone through fighting WIFI. My broadband service comes into the house in the laundry room. I'm planning on running an ethernet line from there to the middle of the house where my office is located (only 50' or so).

The problem is I have vaulted ceilings and scissor trusses. Anyone have any tips for traversing my attic with this type of construction? I've got no problem with the actual wiring as I've done some of that at work. I'd be happy to share some tips on that with a write up if anyone is interested.

 

[RNeumann]

I can help with this but I need a bit more info-
How far is the scissor truss run? Do you have a flat ceiling on either side of that- i.e. Just vaulted over the living room?
Are you on a slab or raised foundation/basement?
I'm assuming the office is on an exterior wall?

 

[M E Cook]

I can help with this but I need a bit more info-
How far is the scissor truss run? Do you have a flat ceiling on either side of that- i.e. Just vaulted over the living room?
Are you on a slab or raised foundation/basement?
I'm assuming the office is on an exterior wall?

If you have a crawl space run it there !!

 

[gatorguy7]

The scissor truss runs all the way across the house. The living room, kitchen etc. are one big great room and the office is within this space as well (highlighted in orange). Here is a diagram that shows the layout of the house. The house is on a slab so no crawl space. Down in Florida I don't even think to mention its on a slab! haha

 

[/pine]

If you can't find a way to snake a fish tape/wire in the attic... depending on the scenario a wire can sometimes be hidden behind baseboards and door casings etc...
...If any of your clients work in the home security business...some of them still run hard wire and may have some trade tricks...

Good Luck...

 

[RNeumann]

So scissor trusses have more room at the peak then they do at the exterior wall. You don't say where the laundry is but from what I am seeing I would go into the attic in the garage and see what you can see in the scissor area. If you can do that you are set-not a fun crawl but doable. Florida has lower insulation requirements than other parts of the country so the chances are better you will have room.

To help you will also want to invest in a few of the long fiberglass rods for fishing wires. The newer ones are even glow in the dark.

If not the second choice is buying Cat5/6 that is exterior rated.

Let me know where the laundry is and we can hone in a bit more

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

You can get a fiberglass wire running kit that will take you a long way. Here's one from Harbor Freight.

You can also get some loooong drill bits that will make a lot of things possible that are not, otherwise. Like cutting a hole in a wall the size of an outlet box, and reaching up from their to drill through the top plate into the attic space. Please do NOT make the mistake of drilling holes that are just barely big enough. If you are running CAT6 (and you should), drill at least a 1/2" hole. Otherwise, you'll have a ton of friction while pulling the cable.

A fish tape may also help. Crawling is also an option.

 

[Fossil Farm]

If you have no good access with your trusses, you can hide it behind crown molding for the horizontal runs or along the heat/ac runs if available. Use plenum rated cable. Verticle drops where needed for your connections. Add additional drops to the other rooms while you are at it. Each drop should be a separate cable, connected to a switch in your laundry room where your outside connection resides. Laundry room in the garage? Doesn't show on your drawing.

 

[s219]

Don't overlook running the wire on the outside of the home. Sometimes that is the best option when there are other issues. Depending on your siding/trim/soffit type, it can be easy to hide along the wall. Heck, bury it next to the slab if you want to. Just use outdoor-rated cat5e cable either way.

As for how to go through the wall, there are a lot of options, some less disruptive than others. You probably already have a convenient path "out" of the wall in the laundry room where the broadband cable comes into the home.

 

[MossRoad]

If you can't find a way to snake a fish tape/wire in the attic... depending on the scenario a wire can sometimes be hidden behind baseboards and door casings etc...
...If any of your clients work in the home security business...some of them still run hard wire and may have some trade tricks...

Good Luck...

Like /pine says.... this is the way to go.

Otherwise, you're looking at poking access holes into your ceiling and walls at a couple points. I've run litterally hundreds of miles of network in our factory over the past 25 years. Many in finished office spaces. Looking at your drawing, and making some assumptions, I'd do this:

Removed the baseboards and door molding that are on the inside of that 6' wall between the garage and office.

On the yellow side of that wall, in an area behind the baseboards, use a 48" long flexible drill bit like this:

$8.00 at harbor freight.
3/8 in. x 48 in. Flex Drill Bit

to bore a hole into the garage.

Attach a fishing line through the hole in the end of the drill bit and pull it back through the wall.

Use the fishing line to pull the cable through the hole.

Now here's where you have some decisions. Lots of molding has a channel cut into the back of it that will let something like a CAT5 cable sit right behind the molding. You can cable staple or tape the CAT5 cable to the wall directly behind where the molding goes, and then replace the molding. Putting a little pressure on the cable won't hurt it at all. If there is no channel on the backside of the molding you can either use a router and cut a channel (don't ruin your molding), or you can cut a channel in the drywall with a rotary tool.

Either way, you only need a very small channel for the CAT5 cable to run.

Work your way along the baseboard, around the door frame, the next baseboard, around the corner to your office, etc...

Use the existing nail holes in the molding and put it all back in place. No one's the wiser but you.

If you want a wallbox termination at either end, you'll have to locate some studs, cut a hole in the wall for a wallbox and use a drill to poke a hole through the wall in the area behind the molding in the office.

 

[MossRoad]

And as other's have mentioned, that's assuming the laundry is in the garage.

 

[dstig1]

The baseboard trick might be even easier than stated. The drywall almost never goes all the way to the floor. There is typically a small gap below it which they need to be able to get a kicker in to lift and snug the lower sheets to the upper ones. Often 1/2" wide or so. Plenty o' space for a cat5 or 3. Just carefully pull baseboards with a very thin flat bar, and protect the wall with a scrap of hardboard or something to avoid denting the drywall when prying.

 

[OKnewguy]

First off, good deal that you decided to go wired! Wired is THE way to go. I myself have a 24 port switch, and all of my tv's and a couple towers are hardwired. I think you need to get a switch and that way you can have multiple ethernet drops. If your gonna do it go whole hog. At the bare minimum use the switch outputs to feed your office and then some Ubiquiti AP's, these will dramatically improve your wifi! In general running cable in your attic is not to bad, your just need to picture how the halls are built. You can usually see the top plates from the attic and drill thru it with your cordless. Try to make your drops on interior walls, exterior walls are difficult to drill the top plate (especially on low pitch roofs) and they will have insulation which is much more difficult to fish. If you have to fish a wall with insulation, use a fish with the end cut off. This will allow it to shot thru the insulation, you then have a helper tape a pull string to it from your box cut out. Pull the string up, and use it to pull your wire down. If I have to use a string, always leave some string in the wall for future!
There are lots of tricks, for running wire. Bendable drill bits, these lets you drill from the room thru the cut out and into the top plate. Make sure and use a good dust mask, and a head mounted light. If you have the old rock wool insulation, cover up! I new a guy that would put panty hose on his arms, it stops the fibers from getting to you.
If this sounds too difficult, you might contact a alarm installer. These guys are some of best at getting wiring to any part of a house!
P.S. I love these cat connectors!
Platinum Tools 1C EZ-RJ45 Cat 6+ Connectors, Clamshell, 5-Pieces - Crimpers - Amazon.com
Dave

 

[gatorguy7]

Thanks for the tips guys. Sorry I forgot to label the laundry - its actually a room between the garage and master bedroom. Running the cable along the baseboards would be quite cumbersome as there's a pantry and door way between the office and laundry room. I think its time to crawl around in the attic a bit more.

 

[RNeumann]

So the garage laundry and master appear to have a flat lid?. If that's the case this will be fairly straight forward as the actual vaulted section you will need to cross is only about 10'-12' depending on where the door from the living room to office is.

So most 8' walls don't have a block in the stud bay. But exterior walls and the wall between the garage and laundry probably have insulation.
With that in mind you can get into the attic from the laundry by running up the wall between the garage and laundry- this can be done by going inside the wall or on the surface with wire mold.

I'm assuming you want to be in the wall in the office so here it goes-


I'd use the wall that is between the living room and office. I'd try this to avoid any insulation on the exterior wall and the closer to the middle of the house the more room in the scissor truss. Find a stud bay and cut in a single or double gang open back low voltage box (typically orange and available at the box box or hardware stores). Then follow the instructions in the video.

How to Run Cable Through Wall Demonstration | Home Cabling Installation - YouTube

I'm betting with this method you won't need to crawl in the scissor truss area at all!

If you have any other questions let us know.

 

[MossRoad]

You can't crawl in a scissors truss at all.

 

[MossRoad]

I think I need a picture of the roofline. I'm not getting it. In my inlaws house, everywhere where there is vaulted ceilings, there is no attic space. You can't go from one side of the house to the other.

 

[RNeumann]

You can't crawl in a scissors truss at all.

Hmmm we may have a different definition of a scissor truss.

This is what I was thinking of-

Scissors truss - Wikipedia

The inside pitch is lower than the outside leaving more room toward the peak. With Florida insulation he may have a chance although with only 10' or so he may not need to get into that area.

 

[CurlyDave]

Thanks for the tips guys. Sorry I forgot to label the laundry - its actually a room between the garage and master bedroom. Running the cable along the baseboards would be quite cumbersome as there's a pantry and door way between the office and laundry room. I think its time to crawl around in the attic a bit more.

I would think about running the wires exposed inside the garage. It is a garage, not really living space. Go through the wall from the laundry room into the garage and then run straight up to the ceiling. Run the wire in the joint between the ceiling and the wall.

Drop down to floor level and go through the garage wall into the LR wall. Go behind baseboard to office wall & go through.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Plenty o' space for a cat5 or 3.

There is no reason at all to use CAT3 or 5. We are not living in the 20th century anymore. This isn't going to be easy; he should put in the best available, and the price difference just isn't that much for a project this size.