How to prepare for future Cat6 installation in new home construction

Question

I am working with a builder to build a two-story house with unfinished basement. The house was already deep into construction when we signed the contract (framing complete, HVAC complete, ready for plumbing/electric). The house is a spec house.

I wrongly assumed that since we're in the data age, data cables would be installed throughout the house. Instead, the builder ran a single run of cat5e cable to the master bedroom and called that good. Despite my pleading, the builder is not willing to install additional data cables citing various reasons that I won't go into here. Sadly, there are no conduit runs in the house and the builder won't allow me to install any for future use.

I plan to DIY this once we've closed on the house and moved in. My question is what can I do now while the house is still open to the studs to help make that project easier later? I took some pictures of the exposed walls in the house to document electric/plumbing/HVAC runs, but are there other things I could do?

Answer 1

Above all else figure out how you're going to get one or more large-diameter conduits installed from basement to attic, either at build time or as a planned retrofit. By large-diameter I'm meaning 1 to 2 inch diameter.

With an unfinished basement you can easily gain access into walls of the first story practically anywhere. You just cut a hole in the drywall on the first floor, drill downward with a long cable installer drill bit, and then go look into the basement ceiling to see where the bit emerged.

Accessing the interior walls of the second story is similarly easy from the attic. Estimate the right location, brush attic insulation aside until you find the top plate of the wall, drill downward into the wall. (There is a little more to it: determining where the wall studs are so you can avoid drilling into one, measuring your offset so that the drill goes into the same stud bay as the desired device hole on the first try, etc.)

• Maybe you know some local vandals who, rather than steal construction materials from a job site, sneak into buildings and install one or two conduits under cover of darkness. (I'm joking.)
• Maybe there is a chase that goes through the structure for an HVAC trunk, exhaust for combustion appliances, or a plumbing vent stack. Get good measurements and photos of it so that you can return with a hole saw when the house is yours, make a few holes, and slide the conduit through.
• Maybe there is a spot where walls of the first and second story are stacked exactly one above the other. Measure and plan to insert conduit through there later.
• Maybe the first floor has a closet for coats or linens, or a pantry, or other like place where a well-finished wall is not a big deal. You can plan to cut into the drywall of a wall and/or ceiling in that space to create a pathway.
• Some architectures have attic space above a garage which communicates with attic space above the upper story of the house. If yours does, a conduit installed on the surface of the finished garage wall could possibly connect from basement ceiling into garage attic.

Answer 2

The best thing, by far, would be to run conduit. It will cost now, but doing that while the walls are open is very easy compared to running wires or conduit after the walls are closed.

Builders are always looking at their bottom line. That's normal for any business. So if the minimum for "data ready" is a single CAT 5e to one room, that is all they are going to do.

However, most (not all) contractors like add-ons. The price can be negotiated so it is good for you (cheaper than adding later) and good for the contractor (profit). In a conduit-not-required area they are not going to run conduit for normal electric because it costs more than using NM cable. But for data it makes sense because then you get to decide later on CAT 5e vs. CAT 6 vs. fiber, etc. and to upgrade in the future as well.

I'd go back to them and say:

• We agree this was not in the contract. It is an add-on.
• Quote me a price to run conduit (doesn't matter for this purpose whether it is rigid metal conduit, PVC or flexible non-metallic conduit) for 'x' locations (mark them up on a drawing, with all of them ending in one location).

If they say "we don't do that", ask for permission to hire a licensed electrician to do this before the walls are closed up. Note that you do not need a licensed electrician to do this because it is for low-voltage cabling. However, that is to assure the builder that you aren't going to get some idiot making a mess of the structure - an electrician will know how/where to cut holes for conduit, etc.

If they are simply not interested because they don't want to bother with changes and delays then they won't run the conduit for you (at least not at any reasonable price). But if that's the case then unless they are really nasty (which should never happen but it can happen and right now it is a seller's/builder's market in many areas), they should be OK with a licensed 3rd-party doing the work.

No matter who does the work, make sure they put a pull string in each conduit.

Answer 3

I'd keep hounding him to do it... pay him the going rate. If he doesn't budge, start taking a bunch of pictures. Plan out a route and video tape the route with a measuring tape in the along the walls, ceilings, etc.. so you know where the obstructions are so you can drill through the floors, walls, etc. If you can hold off on painting until after you add your cable, that might help in case you have to open some walls.

Answer 4

Wiring with the walls open takes almost no time compared to trying to fish wire with the walls closed. Conduit helps, but any 90 deg turns will make fishing it a nightmare. Maybe if all the conduit ran vertically up to the attic, then a straight line drop to the bottom of the wall wouldn't be too bad. Crawling around in insulation in the attic is no fun.

Plan out your wiring layout. Twisted pair category cabling uses a star configuration (a hub). All the wires should lead to a central data closet. The point where the wires congregate should have a much larger conduit (1.5-2" at least) otherwise you'll end up having to drill a second hole to fit additional wires.

IMHO you should try everything you can to run Cat6a now. That supports 10 GbE which will be sufficient for decades. What are your options for backing out of the house purchase?

Answer 5

Many, if not most, older contractors are unfamiliar with the correct layout of home network wiring, imho. Contactors still think "daisy chaining" is the way to go. It is not.

Electricians or network technicians with low voltage certifications (not all electricians have this) would be your go-to experts for this. Moreover, you do not need conduit for the low voltage wires although it could make running them later easier. I wired my own, older home with a variety of low voltage wires without conduit after reading books on the subject and getting a certification. You can run a lot of your wiring in basements or attics which can make the routing easier...it all depends on the layout of your home. So, my advice would be to determine where you will locate the hub of your wiring, somewhere central, perhaps in a closet or in the basement or attic.