Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?

mgarvie wrote:
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?



Well, you could always install cat-6 for gigabit Ethernet instead of 5e.
You could even add fiber although I don't know what you would use it for
or how it would be terminated. So maybe fiber would be the mark of overkill.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

You've got all the superfluous needs covered, just don't forget the smoke
and monoxide detectors



"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three
wall plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug
outlets for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone
outlet, cable, and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I
forgeting anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?

"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three
wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?



If you want to get close to code make sure that every wall area has at least
one plug. No section of wall should be more than 6 foot to a plug. That is
confusing. A 12' wall needs one plug in the center. A 14' wall need two
plugs. Wall sections less than 2' do not require a plug.

Did you wire the overhead for a ceiling fan? optional
Did you wire for a hard wired smoke detector inter-connected in each BR?
required.

I think that is it.


--
Colbyt
One picture can be worth a 1000 words.
Post yours at www.ImageGenie.net for FREE.

It would not hurt to put a smurf tube or at least a pull string
down in one or two appropriate places. 30 years ago many places
were not wired with cable, Cat 5, etc. Who knows what the next
millennium will bring, although I hope most of it is wireless.
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in
the basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp
breaker. Three wall plugs for whatever they will need in the
future. Three more plug outlets for computer, phone, TV in one
corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable, and a cat 5e outlet
for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting anything or
have I already reach wiring overkill?

Walls less than 2 ft don't REQUIRE an outlet, but I'd recommend putting one
there anyway. Nothing worse than having to pull an extension cord around a
doorway because that seemingly too-small-for-anything wall was just the
right size for a small table with a radio or lamp. There is also always the
need to plug in the sweeper or something.

Also, on that 12 foot wall -one outlet might meet code, but 2 would be
better. Put the outlet in he middle of a long wall and it's bound to be
behind a dresser or bed or something and be inaccessible.

Finally, what about switched outlets? I wired mine so the top recepical was
always hot and the bottom was switched. That way the clock stays on even
when the lamp is off. I also wired them 3-way, with one switch by the door
and the other low on the wall where the bed is located. That way I can be
snug in bed an reach down behind the night stand and turn out the light.
Next night when I come in the room, on goes the light via the switch by the
door.



"Colbyt" wrote in message
news:KNHWf.864276$x96.424124@attbi_s72...

"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three
wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet,
cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?



If you want to get close to code make sure that every wall area has at
least
one plug. No section of wall should be more than 6 foot to a plug. That
is
confusing. A 12' wall needs one plug in the center. A 14' wall need two
plugs. Wall sections less than 2' do not require a plug.

Did you wire the overhead for a ceiling fan? optional
Did you wire for a hard wired smoke detector inter-connected in each BR?
required.

I think that is it.


--
Colbyt
One picture can be worth a 1000 words.
Post yours at www.ImageGenie.net for FREE.

"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three
wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?


Yep. Two things, assuming you still have the walls open.

Fiber optic cable now because its the current big thing.

And a pull string in each wall cavity so that you can add whatever is the
next big thing 10 years from now.

You say router in the bedrom. You need a router in the garage or
elsewhere, with the Cat 6 (not Cat 5, Cat 6) running from it to each room in
the house.

And I would not have a computer in a teen aged boy's room hidden away in
the basement for all the tea in China.

--
Jim McLaughlin

Reply address is deliberately munged.
If you really need to reply directly, try:
jimdotmclaughlinatcomcastdotcom

And you know it is a dotnet not a dotcom
address.

"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
news
You've got all the superfluous needs covered, just don't forget the smoke
and monoxide detectors


And the escape hatches, AKA egress windows. 14 year olds love to do stupid
stuff, often involving electricity or fire. They are code-required on new
construction for basement bedrooms- even if your application is
grandfathered, I still wouldn't put kids down there without it. If you don't
have the big window wells needed, hand each one of them a shovel. They will
appreciate them all the more with some sweat equity. :^/

aem sends...

Good advice all around. Also, make sure all outlets are GFI protected.

If I were doing it, I would run a wire down off the doorbell circuit
and install a ringer so they can hear it if someone comes to the door
(hint, it'll probably be for them anyway).

Also, I would put a push-botton switch on the top of the stairs, wired
to a small bomb or loud bell so you can get them up in the morning
without having to run downstairs 14 million times. Maybe even a PA
system to keep yelling "hey, it's time to get up".

I would also consider a second phone wire, just in case. Or at least
have a 4 wire phone line going down there.

Another post suggested a hard-wired smoke detector in each room. That
a great idea because the kids sleep so deeply. Get the kind that have
both type of sensors -- radioactive and photoelectric -- because they
detect things differently. Also a hard-wired carbon monoxide detector.
Finally, make sure that you have a hard-wired detector near YOU so you
can hear it if there are any problems.

Most importantly, have the basement checked for Radon before you have
them living there.

Finally, do you have heat down there or do you need a bit of electric
heat? And what about a circuit for a microwave?

mgarvie ) said...

Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?

Instead of running cat-5e to that outlet, why not conduit? When you need
something later, it will be much easier to add it. When you need something
ELSE (like a second cat-5e, or something that hasn't been invented yet!),
you will be glad you went with pipe.

Others mentioned wiring for ceiling fans -- we just have overhead light
fixtures in all the bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, and a room we call
our sitting room, but they all have overkill structural support AND have
three-wire cable to the light switch so that a fan/light unit can have
each switched separately if needed.

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"I really think Canada should get over to Iraq as quickly as possible"
- Paul Martin - April 30, 2003
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: if replying by email, remove "remove." and ".invalid"

*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com ***
*** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from http://www.SecureIX.com ***

Yes I would definitely go with Cat 6, as Cat 5e is on its way to
obsolescence. You could even go for Cat 7 if you're really ambitious!
No one else mentioned some speaker wire too. Guys love to run speakers
to the back of the room for surround sound and stuff.

Elliott P wrote:

Yes I would definitely go with Cat 6, as Cat 5e is on its way to
obsolescence. You could even go for Cat 7 if you're really ambitious!
No one else mentioned some speaker wire too. Guys love to run speakers
to the back of the room for surround sound and stuff.

Hmmm,
We're going wireless more and more! Ultrasonic, IR, radio, etc.

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 03:20:55 GMT, "mwlogs"
wrote:

Walls less than 2 ft don't REQUIRE an outlet, but I'd recommend putting one
there anyway. Nothing worse than having to pull an extension cord around a
doorway because that seemingly too-small-for-anything wall was just the
right size for a small table with a radio or lamp. There is also always the
need to plug in the sweeper or something.

Also, on that 12 foot wall -one outlet might meet code, but 2 would be
better. Put the outlet in he middle of a long wall and it's bound to be
behind a dresser or bed or something and be inaccessible.

You're right, your plan is better, but my mother would put an
extension cord in, that reached to one side, before the dresser or bed
or buffet or breakfront went in. She might go years without using
it, but it was there when she needed it.

Of course non-grounded extension cords aren't as obtrusive. It's also
harder to get really shallow flat plugs than it used to be.

Finally, what about switched outlets? I wired mine so the top recepical was
always hot and the bottom was switched. That way the clock stays on even
when the lamp is off. I also wired them 3-way, with one switch by the door
and the other low on the wall where the bed is located. That way I can be

I have the ceiling fixture like that. It's great. After college, I
stayed at dollar a night hotels in Mexico and they had the ceiling
light switch right by the bed. If the cheapest hotels in Mexico could
do this, why not me, I thought. (they didn't have a switch by the
door, but frankly that is less important.)

snug in bed an reach down behind the night stand and turn out the light.
Next night when I come in the room, on goes the light via the switch by the
door.

Absolutely.

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 02:35:53 GMT, "mgarvie"
wrote:

Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?

Burglar alarm wires at the windows?

Speaker wires for when they're (grown and?) gone and you want to play
the same music throughout the house?

Video and 2 audio cables (L and R) for when they're gone and you want
to play the same DVD throughout the house? You can use the RF cable
for that, but for some reason there are times I wish I had A and V
cables. One reason is that the selection box I got at Radio Shack
works with 2A and V, but not cable.

Should be one doorbell in the basement for when the only person home
is in the basement, and he wants to be able to hear the doorbell. I
finally have bells or buzzers on all three floors and now I don't miss
visitors or delivery men just because I have the radio on.

If you do everything everyone suggests, their rooms will be better
than my whole house put together, but as long as the walls are
open......

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 07:45:06 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:

Elliott P wrote:

Yes I would definitely go with Cat 6, as Cat 5e is on its way to
obsolescence. You could even go for Cat 7 if you're really ambitious!
No one else mentioned some speaker wire too. Guys love to run speakers
to the back of the room for surround sound and stuff.

I should have thought of that. I wanted to run audio wires from my
computer so I could listen to webradio throughout the house, stations
I can't actually get on the radio. To save time, I ended up using
wireless, but I'm not really happy.

Hmmm,
We're going wireless more and more! Ultrasonic, IR, radio, etc.

There is nothing like wires to get what you want to go where you want.

Did you hear about the woman who was on the cordless phone with her
boyfriend planning to murder her husband. A neighbor with a baby
monitor heard the whole thing, taped it, and now the wife and her
boyfriend are in jail! (I"m hoping none of you guys are murderers. I
don't want to help you out if you are.)

John,

Just to correct the record here, you do not need category6 cable to
achieve 1000BaseT (Gigabit Ethernet). 1000BaseT is designed to work on
category 5e cable.

Joe Golan, RCDD

-------------------------------------


John McGaw wrote:

mgarvie wrote:
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in
the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker.
Three wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug
outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone
outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I
forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?



Well, you could always install cat-6 for gigabit Ethernet instead of
5e.
You could even add fiber although I don't know what you would use it
for
or how it would be terminated. So maybe fiber would be the mark of
overkill.





--
##-----------------------------------------------##
Article posted with Cabling-Design.com Newsgroup Archive
http://www.cabling-design.com/forums
no-spam Web and RSS interface to your favorite newsgroup -
alt.home.repair - 100297 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##

mgarvie wrote:
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three wall
plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?


One thing I didn't see mentioned. Have 2 different
circuits in each room. When they get all their stuff in
there and turned on at the same time they aren't as
likely to overload a single circuit. Also, it makes it
a whole lot easier if you have to work on an outlet and
still have power in another outlet in the same room.

Bill Gill

Jgolan wrote:
John,

Just to correct the record here, you do not need category6 cable to
achieve 1000BaseT (Gigabit Ethernet). 1000BaseT is designed to work on
category 5e cable.

Joe Golan, RCDD

-------------------------------------
snip...
##-----------------------------------------------##
Article posted with Cabling-Design.com Newsgroup Archive
http://www.cabling-design.com/forums
no-spam Web and RSS interface to your favorite newsgroup -
alt.home.repair - 100297 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##

My understanding was that in the best of all possible worlds, with
shorter runs, and when installed perfectly that Cat-5e could manage
gigabit and that Cat-6 simply added a bit of insurance. But if I
misunderstood it wouldn't be the first time, or even the millionth I
suspect.

If I were cabling anything today I'd tend toward the latest standards to
ensure a bit of headroom for growth but that is just me. But that
doesn't mean I'm going to start rewiring my entire premises any time
soon since most of my equipment doesn't understand anything past 100 and
I'm not really in _that_ much of a hurry.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

If you want to get close to code make sure that every wall area has at least
one plug. No section of wall should be more than 6 foot to a plug. That is
confusing. A 12' wall needs one plug in the center. A 14' wall need two
plugs. Wall sections less than 2' do not require a plug.

Why is that confusing? Standard appliances have 6 foot cords. There
shouldn't be anyplace you can put a 2' wide appliance where you
can't get to an outlet without crossing a doorway or using an
extension cord.

ANyway, I suspect your wiring is adequate, but this seems like
an excellent time to think about soundproofing a bit.

"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...
Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three
wall plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug
outlets for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone
outlet, cable, and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I
forgeting anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?


A second RG-6 cable. One for cable and one for the roof antenna which feeds
the HDTV (I hate paying extra to the cable company for HDTV when I get more
stations off the air) (My TV also has inputs for each)

I found that putting 4 plugs (2 duplex) in the J box behind where I expected
to put the TV also payed off by eliminating the need for a power strip.

The cat-5 is unnessary if you plan to use WiFi (though that will not give
you the fastest speeds). Wired is cheaper and more reliable in the long
run.

Proposed TIA Category 7 / ISO Class F requirements are being developed for
fully shielded (i.e., overall shield and individually shielded pairs)
twisted-pair cabling. Category 7 / class F will most likely be supported by
an entirely new interface design (i.e. plug and socket).

Some vendors are marketing forms of Category 7 wire. The Cat 7 standard is
barely in its infancy, but it's expected to end up as either 600-MHz or
700-MHz UTP when and if it reaches completion.

No standards have been set for this format.


--

the key word here being "PROPOSED" . There is no such standard yet.


Steve Barker


"Elliott P" wrote in message
oups.com...
Yes I would definitely go with Cat 6, as Cat 5e is on its way to
obsolescence. You could even go for Cat 7 if you're really ambitious!
No one else mentioned some speaker wire too. Guys love to run speakers
to the back of the room for surround sound and stuff.

smurf tube.. at least 1". big enough for a couple rg-6 and several cat5e.
minimum of 2 cat5e, 1 4pair tel (could be cat5), 1 rg6 per room.
2 phone jacks, 2 net jacks, 1 coax per location.
could be multiple locations per room.

good to add: additonal rg-6, audio/video/speaker (audio/video could be
another cat5 with baluns.) burglar alarm to all windows.

split circuits. 2 20a circuits split between the two rooms, plus a extra
circuit for overhead lights (if any). quad outlets at desk/tv/bedside.
3way switches for lights/switched outlets. switched outlet for bedside lamp(s).

smoke detectors - hardwired and interconnected.
CO detectors.
doorbell - two tone.. one wired to door, one wired to kitchen.
klaxon/PA system- wired to kitchen.


--
-- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine --
Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net |
| P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 |
-- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? --

Jim McLaughlin wrote:
"mgarvie" wrote in message
news:duHWf.67287$oL.26621@attbi_s71...

Just about done wiring two bedrooms for two 14 year old boys in the
basement. Each room has 12/2 with ground and a 20 amp breaker. Three

wall

plugs for whatever they will need in the future. Three more plug outlets
for computer, phone, TV in one corner. Even put in a phone outlet, cable,
and a cat 5e outlet for a router to be placed later. Am I forgeting
anything or have I already reach wiring overkill?



Yep. Two things, assuming you still have the walls open.

Fiber optic cable now because its the current big thing.

And a pull string in each wall cavity so that you can add whatever is the
next big thing 10 years from now.

You say router in the bedrom. You need a router in the garage or
elsewhere, with the Cat 6 (not Cat 5, Cat 6) running from it to each room in
the house.

And I would not have a computer in a teen aged boy's room hidden away in
the basement for all the tea in China.


A router in the garage (16,24 port or larger) is a great idea, but
putting multiple Cat 6 ports in a room is EXPENSIVE. Yes we need at
least 8 ports in the wiring center, perhaps more as more and more home
entertainment devices come with Ethernet management and reporting
capabilities. Otherwise, one or two ports per room is hte max with 4
port routers added as needs dictate later on.

make certain any basement bedroom has a entrance egress widow so you
could get out in a fire.

conduit run between areas is awesome

run catergory 5e cable it has lots of twisted pairs for phone
applications

Use RG6 for cable its lower loss than the cheaper RG59 and can be used
for satellite tv too

My wife said you should run some 220v, a little water, and a dryer
vent. Then tell the kids they can do their own landry while they're
down cellar.

Don't know if it'll work, but if it did, it would be worth it .......