Sometimes a chimney makes a direct path from basement to
attic. Then drop wire from attic into second floor walls.

Jay Chan wrote:
Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like
to learn some tips in running wire through existing walls and
floors.
...

Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

Running cable through an existing structure is an incredible PITA, unless
you get extraordinarily lucky. Do you have insulation in your exterior
walls? Any firestops? Good luck then.
An experienced electrician has a lot of tricks learned from years of
frustration that will sometimes let him get around obstacles. I doubt a
novice has a chance at your project. (Last year it took me 6 hours to run a
switch leg up a wall to the attic and down an adjoining wall.)

Go wireless or not at all.

Jay Chan wrote:

Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan


I ran the network cables from my basement to the 2nd floor by hiding
them in the corner of a closet. There's a tiny hole in the closet floor
and one in the ceiling and the wires are exposed but hidden pretty well
inside the closet by the door frame.

Would wireless work if the hub was on the first floor instead of the
basement?

Bob

On no, Jay, don't do it. What you spend in cable, outlet boxes, RJ45
connectors male and female will be far more expensive than a wireless
router, appropriate nics, with a signal booster or two. Best Buy's got a
great deal on Netgear wireless - rebates on everything. Did it over the
weekend, and I'll never look back.

Wireless, or not at all.

"Jay Chan" wrote in message
om...
Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

On 10 May 2004 08:23:08 -0700, Jay Chan wrote:

Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

I would try wired for up and down to the critical locations (do you have a
Replay?), then wireless for everything else. Wireless is up to fairly
high speed, although you're going to need access points (basically,
extensions/repeaters for the network).

--
Bob in CT
Remove ".x" to reply

A little may depend on your future plans for the house, too. A low-voltage
wiring system can add value since future residents may want computers, but
not have wireless. It's a selling point. And watch out for those rebates!
They get you to buy, but they don't like to pay. On the other hand, if you
go to a good book store and look around, you can find books giving a
complete description of how to install a wireless system. Definitely worth
considering, but I wouldn't be quite so extreme in my opinion. You may even
consider a hybrid system.

beekay

"William Morris" wrote in
message ...
On no, Jay, don't do it. What you spend in cable, outlet boxes, RJ45
connectors male and female will be far more expensive than a wireless
router, appropriate nics, with a signal booster or two. Best Buy's got a
great deal on Netgear wireless - rebates on everything. Did it over the
weekend, and I'll never look back.

Wireless, or not at all.

"Jay Chan" wrote in message
om...
Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...
Jay Chan wrote:

Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan


I ran the network cables from my basement to the 2nd floor by hiding
them in the corner of a closet. There's a tiny hole in the closet floor
and one in the ceiling and the wires are exposed but hidden pretty well
inside the closet by the door frame.

Would wireless work if the hub was on the first floor instead of the
basement?

Bob

Hell...wireless works in hotels, which are mostly steel & cement.

"I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor."





In addition to the other postings, I have read that it is against code to
run ethernet exposed on the outisde.

I ran ethernet a year ago, but it was easy. I went up from my utility room
near the fridge ice maker water line, behind the kitchen cabinets, and into
the dining room. Similarly, I followed the CATV from the basement into the
bedroom.

If it is much more complicated, I'd go wireless. Wireless should have
plenty of bandwidth for streaming video, as long as you don't have a lot of
other traffic at the same time.

How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor?

You might get lucky. I just finished running cable from the second floor to the
attic, down to the basement across to the rear addition. We had "balloon
framing", wall cavities that run from attic to basement, some not insulated.
Bad for fires and heat loss good for running stuff up and down. I only had two
holes in the finished walls. Best of luck.

On 10-May-2004, "beekay" wrote:

A little may depend on your future plans for the house, too. A low-voltage
wiring system can add value since future residents may want computers, but
not have wireless. It's a selling point.

If you do go that route, use Cat6 and be ready for gigabit Ethernet.

Mike

Doug Kanter wrote:

"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...
Jay Chan wrote:

Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan


I ran the network cables from my basement to the 2nd floor by hiding
them in the corner of a closet. There's a tiny hole in the closet floor
and one in the ceiling and the wires are exposed but hidden pretty well
inside the closet by the door frame.

Would wireless work if the hub was on the first floor instead of the
basement?

Hell...wireless works in hotels, which are mostly steel & cement.

Sometimes.
Getting wireless to work reliably can be challenging.
It depends on the exact construction of your house on whether you'll
be able to pick up a signal even in the next room.
I can easily lose signal only 5m away, as 1m of that is a stone
chimney-breast.

Thanks for all the people who have responded to my post.

I can see the problem of running wire through an exterior wall because
I will likely get into insulation material that can complicate the
process. But I determine to give it a try to see if I can run wire
through the insulation material.

I have decided to avoid removing the baseboard heating unit in the
second floor. Instead, I will open the dry wall above the baseboard.
This is not too much a trouble to patch up the dry wall. Besides, the
wall color is white. This should be very easy to match color.

The first floor has wood-looking panel in the wall (instead of wall
paper as mentioned in my original post; I dis-oriented myself and got
confused with the opposite side of the house). I should be able to
remove the panel and put it back afterward. If there is fire-stop
block in the way, I should have no problem drill a hole through it
after I open up the panel.

And I don't have a closet in the area that I want to run wire, and I
don't have a chimney in my house. I would have to run wire through the
wall. This doesn't sound like a big deal now that I know the wall has
wood-looking panel instead of wall paper. If the wall was covered with
wall paper as what I originally thought, I would abandon this project
if I found fire-stop inside the wall because I don't want to deal with
re-doing the wall paper in the room.

I try to avoid using wireless because there is not enough margin of
success if I use wireless to stream video. I am afraid that wireless
will likely not be good enough if I need to stream video to two
locations at the same time (one in the first floor, another one in the
basement). Currently, I will likely only need to stream video to one
location. But I can see the possibility of wanting to stream video to
two locations. I need something that has a bit more headroom for
future expanded need. This is the reason why I don't want to go
wireless.

Moreover, my experience with wireless stuff (a wireless headphone) is
not that great. This discourages me from trying other wireless stuff.

My PC only has a 100MB network card and the media-player that I am
interested to get only supports 100MB connection anyway. After saying
this, I am still planning to put cat-6 cable just in case gigabit
network cards comes down in price. The price difference between cat-5
and cat-6 cables is not that big anyway.

I understand that using wire instead of wireless network can cost more
because the cable itself can cost a lot ($69 for a 50-ft cat-6 cable
as seen in CompUSA, and I need at least two). But cost is a lesser
concern than getting a reliable signal for streaming video.

I can see the benefit of using a mix of wired and wireless
connections. I will go for wired network for now. And I will put in
wireless connection when I find the need to do so.

Thanks for the warning of running exposed Ethernet cable outdoor. I
didn't know that this is bad. But I don't intend to do this anyway.

Again, thanks for all the people who have responded.

Jay Chan

Jay Chan wrote:

[snip]
Besides, the wall color is white. This should be very easy to match
color.

You are in for a rude surprise when you try to match the white unless
you have some of the original paint. You will have to repaint the
entire wall to get it to match, but not the whole room.

The first floor has wood-looking panel in the wall (instead of wall
paper as mentioned in my original post; I dis-oriented myself and got
confused with the opposite side of the house). I should be able to
remove the panel and put it back afterward. If there is fire-stop
block in the way, I should have no problem drill a hole through it
after I open up the panel.

I've run some romex from the basement to the attic through the bathroom
wall. By taking out the medicine cabinet, I was able to get to the fire
stops (the rough frame-in for the medicine cabinet *was* the firestop.)
This is not where I wanted the wires, but it was the only place I could
run them easily -- a few hours of my frustration is worth more than an
extra 20 feet of romex.

And I don't have a closet in the area that I want to run wire, and I
don't have a chimney in my house. I would have to run wire through
the wall. This doesn't sound like a big deal now that I know the wall
has wood-looking panel instead of wall paper. If the wall was covered
with wall paper as what I originally thought, I would abandon this
project if I found fire-stop inside the wall because I don't want to
deal with re-doing the wall paper in the room.

I try to avoid using wireless because there is not enough margin of
success if I use wireless to stream video. I am afraid that wireless
will likely not be good enough if I need to stream video to two
locations at the same time (one in the first floor, another one in
the basement). Currently, I will likely only need to stream video to
one location. But I can see the possibility of wanting to stream
video to two locations. I need something that has a bit more headroom
for future expanded need. This is the reason why I don't want to go
wireless.

Moreover, my experience with wireless stuff (a wireless headphone) is
not that great. This discourages me from trying other wireless
stuff.

My PC only has a 100MB network card and the media-player that I am
interested to get only supports 100MB connection anyway. After saying
this, I am still planning to put cat-6 cable just in case gigabit
network cards comes down in price. The price difference between cat-5
and cat-6 cables is not that big anyway.

I understand that using wire instead of wireless network can cost
more because the cable itself can cost a lot ($69 for a 50-ft cat-6
cable as seen in CompUSA, and I need at least two). But cost is a
lesser concern than getting a reliable signal for streaming video.

You can buy bulk cable at Home Depot and add your own connectors.

I can see the benefit of using a mix of wired and wireless
connections. I will go for wired network for now. And I will put in
wireless connection when I find the need to do so.

When you buy a hub or router look for one that has both ethernet and
wireless, even if you don't use the wireless part yet. (Disable it to
keep neighbor kids off of you network.) I've seen wireless routers with
a built-in 4-port ethernet switch for about the same price as just an
ethernet router.

"Jay Chan" wrote in message
om...
The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

Check in the basement for the location of the main drain stack.
Go up in the attic, and find the vent associated with that stack.
You might find that you can work a plumbing snake or wire "fish
tape" down alongside the stack into the basement. Pull a string
back up with the snake, and pull the wire up with that.

Bob

(Jay Chan) wrote in message . com...
Sorry for the long post.

I am planning to network my old house with wire. I would like to learn
some tips in running wire through existing walls and floors.

My house has two floors and one basement. And I want to have network
connection in all two floors and the basement. Seem like one way to do
this is to run a wire through the exterior wall in the second floor,
and run it straight down through the exterior wall in the first floor,
and into the basement. By running wire inside the basement
suspended-ceiling, I can easily run the wire to many areas in the
basement and back up to the first floor. The problem is: How do I run
the wire from the second floor to the basement?

What I am planning to do:
- Find a spot on the 2nd floor wall that is away from power outlet by
at least 16 inches.
- Remove the baseboard heating unit from one side of the wall in the
second floor.
- Open a small hole on the wall behind the baseboard unit.
- Open a small hole near the bottom of the wall in the first floor
where no one will see the hole, and where there is no baseboard.
- Examine the small hole in the first floor to make sure there is no
cable/pipe hidden behind the wall.
- Go back to the second floor, and use a right angle drill to drill a
hole through the base frame to reach the first floor.
- Use a fishing wire to fish the network cable through the small hole
in the second floor to the small hole in the first floor.
- Fish the wire from the first floor to the basement should be
relatively easy.
- Use the baseboard heating unit to cover the small hole in the
second floor. Use a baseboard trim to cover the small hole in the
first floor.

My questions a

- How difficult it is to remove the baseboard heating unit and put it
back? I can do basic plumbing stuff (such as cutting pipes and solder
them back; but I have never touch anything related to heating). Do I
need to drain the water inside the pipe and refill it afterward? Is
there any documentation or book about this? If this requires a
plumber, I would have to leave the baseboard unit alone and open the
wall above it instead.

- How realistic is this to fish a wire from the first floor to the
second floor with only one hole in each floor without opening another
hole near the ceiling of the first floor? If this requires opening
another hole near the ceiling, I would have to cancel this project
because I am not planning to re-do the wall paper in the first floor,
nor to put crown molding in the first floor (where there is none) to
cover the hole.

- Any other alternative that I might have overlooked?

I could have run the wire through the exterior wall to outside the
house and drop the wire down to near the house foundation and back
inside the basement. But this would be ugly and squirrels would bite
the wire (my old cable TV wire was damaged this way). Therefore, I
prefer to run it through indoor instead of outdoor.

I could have used wireless network. But wireless network is probably
marginal for streaming video through two floors (especially if the
video is HDTV when it becomes common). I prefer something that can
give me a higher margin of success.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

I live in an "earth-sheltered" home made of concrete and rebar and
covered with 4' of soil. I have a netgear wireless b/g router that not
only penetrates every room in the house, but 100 feet out to the pool.
Excellent reception everywhere on my 1 acre of property. Bandwidth
maxes out my 3-4Mbit cable connection. Took me about 20 minutes to set
up the encryption to keep neighbors out. Ditch the cable and get a
netgear.

You are in for a rude surprise when you try to match the white unless
you have some of the original paint. You will have to repaint the
entire wall to get it to match, but not the whole room.

Thanks for the warning. But I have expected this kind of thing to
happen. Luckily the entire wall in that area is quite small. Worst
comes to worst, I can repaint the wall without much of a trouble.

You can buy bulk cable at Home Depot and add your own connectors.

I plan to use cat-6 cable. Home Depot doesn't have cat-6 (and I am not
sure if they have cat-5e either). I think I will mail order instead.

When you buy a hub or router look for one that has both ethernet and
wireless, even if you don't use the wireless part yet. (Disable it to
keep neighbor kids off of you network.) I've seen wireless routers with
a built-in 4-port ethernet switch for about the same price as just an
ethernet router.

Good point. I will look closely to find a combo
routers/switches-with-wireless to see if I can find one that is
reasonably priced. Then I will have one less device to get losed in
the tangle of wires. But I have a feeling that the wireless component
in a combo device is probably one generation behind (802.11b) and
doesn't support the latest high speed wireless protocol
(802.11a/802.11g combo or something like that).

Jay Chan

Check in the basement for the location of the main drain stack.
Go up in the attic, and find the vent associated with that stack.
You might find that you can work a plumbing snake or wire "fish
tape" down alongside the stack into the basement. Pull a string
back up with the snake, and pull the wire up with that.

Good tip! I will go looking for the main drain stack. I don't even
know where it is in my house. This is about time to find out.

Jay Chan

"beekay" wrote in message
...
A little may depend on your future plans for the house, too. A
low-voltage
wiring system can add value since future residents may want computers, but
not have wireless. It's a selling point.

having the house prewired to a proper electrical closet with av/computer
feeds to all rooms is a selling point. having a couple three runs of cat5
from here to there isnt.

im with the wireless crew on this one.

randy

I live in an "earth-sheltered" home made of concrete and rebar and
covered with 4' of soil. I have a netgear wireless b/g router that not
only penetrates every room in the house, but 100 feet out to the pool.
Excellent reception everywhere on my 1 acre of property. Bandwidth
maxes out my 3-4Mbit cable connection. Took me about 20 minutes to set
up the encryption to keep neighbors out. Ditch the cable and get a
netgear.

Glad to hear that you have good result with your wireless setup. But I
need to stream videos (MPEG-1 and MPEG-2) through the network
connection; therefore, I believe the performance requirement on the
network connection is higher than just for sharing printer/files and
sharing an internet connection. From reading articles in net, I have
an impression that wireless is probably iffy for streaming video (some
may have adequate result, some may have OK result with signal
boosters, and some may not at all). This sounds like a lot of trial
and error to find out if this will work or not. I prefer to use the
"sure" thing. Seem like I don't really need to go to giga-bps network
connection (1000Mbps); but I probably better off using 100Mbps
connection that will need to be wired, and this will be the "sure"
thing.

If I cannot find a way to run cable through the house, I probably will
try the 802.11a/g combo that is currently available to see if it is
good enough. If that is still not good enough, I will wait one year or
two for the next generation of wireless connection that is supposed to
be able to reach 100Mbps or so (if I read this correctly from the
wireless round-up in the latest issue of PC Magazine).

Jay Chan

For not much more than $69, you should be able to buy a 1000 foot
roll.

Thanks. The one from CompUSA seems to be WAY overpriced. I see that
mail order source has a cat-6 installation kit with a large roll of
cable and assorted tools for just $170. Yes, I will likely go that way
instead of getting the cables from CompUSA.

Jay Chan

On 11-May-2004, (Jay Chan) wrote:

Home Depot doesn't have cat-6 (and I am not
sure if they have cat-5e either). I think I will mail order instead.

My local Home Depot does. Phone around, there may be some in other HD
stores in your town. I've noticed that the newer HD stores have this
while the oldest haven't upgraded their stock. It seems that HD has
gone through a re-stock and new-look change in the last year locally.

Mike

My local Home Depot does. Phone around, there may be some in other HD
stores in your town.

Thanks for the advice. The closest Home Depot store is not one of the
well-stocked Home Depot stores around here anyway. I will look for it
in a well-stocked store.

Jay Chan