snaking ethernet cables in a house

You'll have to identify a pathway to get from point A to point B. Attic, HVAC chase(s), crawlspaces, etc. You should know up front that fishing wires (not finished cables) through multiple floors is usually not simple, and is probably best left to a pro - just for the "tricks of the trade" knowledge based on your local construction styles.

If they're connected with wire - you can repurpose those wires for Ethernet. Either consume the phone line (go cordless base station instead), which is likely the cat5e cable they installed, or look at the MoCA Ethernet-over-coax adapters for a much easier solution than tearing into multiple walls and possibly ceilings...

Or go wireless.

Jeff

Possibly, but how hard it is will depend on whether thy used conduit or not and if the exisitng cables are stapled to the studs. Are you sure they didn't run wire and just not connect it? I found that there wer a lot of rooms wired for cable in my house but they were never connected either at the wall or the box. I manged to connect some of them up and I had to have other new ones run. I used a pro and he found a path in 5 minutes that I spent hours trying to figure out.

Think about how the house is layed out and can you use the inside of exisitng closets to get from floor to floor? Can you use the garage under/above a room? It might be easier than you think.

Good luck!

I won't suggest wireless, but power line enet works great and let me avoid what you're going through.

It's not that hard. I did it in my house. I'm assuming you're referring to the patch panel when you say breakout box? See how many open jacks you have on your box. The panels are usually in groups of 8, and most newer homes use Cat5 to wire up telephone (they'll show on the patch panel as "voice" or "data"). The nice thing about this option is that you can easily switch a phone jack over to a data jack at the panel without any additional wiring. If you have a phone jack in the room already and aren't using it, this might be your solution

If not, you'll basically want to do some home runs from the panel to each one of the rooms. If your panel is in your master bedroom, the easiest way would be to run new lines up into the attic and then come down through the top plae in each room to fish down to the jack. If you're not interested in pulling the wires yourself, I wouldn't pay more than about $35 an hour for someone to do it. Considering that the interior walls aren't insulated this should go pretty quick for someone that knows what they're doing.

Typically, converting a phone jack to a data one in newer homes is as simple as moving a cable at the patch panel. For example, my office has two jacks in the wall. While the builder planned for one to be phone and one to be data, I can simply move a cable on the patch board in my basement and turn them both into data or both into phone. It basically works how the old phone operators did where they would unplug one cable and plug it in somewhere else to "patch" the call through.

As far as materials, you can order them online. Check out monoprice.com or parts-express.com for cat5 or cat6 cable. A spool of 1000 feet should run you about $100 or so. If you're looking for someone local to do it, I would check angie's list. Most electricians will be able to this, but anyone with low voltage experience should be able to handle it.

Worst case, you'd have to cut a hole in the wall where a junction box would go. The cables come out of the wall into a wall plate that contains a keystone jack. It looks very similar to a standard phone jack, but bigger.

If you take a look up in your attic above the panel, you should be able to see where the cables come in. My guess is that they're in a conduit (builders are calling them 'tech tubes' these days so they can charge extra for them). You'd simply pull your new cables up through the tube and into the attic, then drill a hole down through the walls where you want the cables to go. If you're not comfortable with this, hire someone out to do it. If you have 2 rooms that share a wall, you'd just run the cables down the same hole and install a box on each side in the room.

I ran about 600 feet of cables over 3 floors and 4700sf in my home. Most of it was cabling for the theater space in the basement, but I ran 10 new runs up to my 2nd floor. I have a conduit in place from the attic to the basement. These 10 runs took maybe an hour to pull - tops.

You're in a 5 bedroom 4000 sqft house and you're carping about costs? And you've never even looked in the attic? That doesn't garner a lot of sympathy, y'know?

If you're going to DIY you're going to have to sack up and start figuring stuff out. Like how your current wiring has been run, and deciding if you want to continue that way.

Running wire isn't rocket science, it can be as simple as just putting a few holes down into the top plate of the wall, from the attic space above. The trick is knowing the right place to do it and recognizing the wrong places. As in, you don't want to drill down where there might already be electrical wires or plumbing. But once you know the path the wire needs to take it's just a matter of some pretty simple steps to getting it installed. You don't really even need much in the way of specific tools for it either. But there are few that do make it easier, like fish tape and rods, possibly a flexible auger bit, a stud finder and wood drilling bits (paddle, auger or forstner if you know you're clear of nails).

My thought would be to get up in that attic and see how the wire is being run from a place that you KNOW already has cabling. Then see if that same sort of stuff was run down into the other rooms that don't have it. It's entirely possible the wire was run and your brother just missed it. But you'd know for sure by checking the wall from above (assuming that's how the pre-wired room has them).

Ok, this has to be hyperbole. There is no way it took you only an hour to do that, unless you mean that you pulled 10 wires through conduit that was already installed, and that's all you mean you did. I installed cable, phone (at the time, I didn't realize how cheap wireless phone systems would become), and cat 5e (now, cat6) though my much smaller house. It took months of weekends, and there's still wiring in the attic that's not installed. Granted, I installed 4/5 wires to individual outlets throughout the house. I did all the research to buy and install a box where everything is connected and all the corresponding connectors, and I installed all of the outlets everywhere through the house. But I also cut holes in the walls for old work boxes, cut holes in the top plates to route wires to the holes in the walls, etc. And then I had everything inspected.

Just the work required to install one box takes several hours. You have to find the studs in a wall, cut an opening for the box, then measure carefully to ensure the hole you drill in the top plate will actually align with the box, climb in the attic, measure carefully again, remove insulation, cut a hole in the top plate, then fish a fish through the wall to someone who's waiting to receive the fish. Heck, getting the fish to hit the hole sometimes can take 15-20 minutes, especially if your hole isn't at the correct spot. Then you have to pull the wire and route it through the old work box, properly seal the hole in the top plate, tack down the wiring in the attic correctly, etc. Then you have to route the wiring to your whole-house point.

That's ONE box and some wires, and you haven't even connected the wires to the proper connectors (many of which take specialty tools).

Personally, given the original posters level of experience, if I were him, I'd pay to have it done. It takes a lot of time to determine how to do this and the tools to buy, etc. Just paying someone will be cheaper in the long run.

Pretty sure I'm aware of how much time it took to do this in my home, but thanks. The fact that you mentioned it took you hours to install a single junction box might clue you in. Don't assume everyone is at the same skillset level, but absolutely make sure you know the person before you attempt to call them out on something.
Edited by mn_hokie - 11/18/12 at 9:50am

This will take a lot of time to research, and accomplish. I was in the same boat as the OP several years ago, when I moved in. But, I found a new LV hobby, and have pulled dozens of retrofit cables since, and learned a great deal about my house.

If you don't want to put a lot of time into the project, hire someone.

There is no way I'd hire some random LV installer for my house. Find someone insured, at a minimum; not sure if homeowner's would cover a flood from a drled pipe. Experienced often means more expensive.

One can go to great lengths to avoid drywall repair, and take a lot of time to do the install. Or cut drywall, and work much faster. Drywall repair and painting is pretty cheap. The pro will cut more drywall than you would, but it will save time and money. If DIY, you have the luxury of time.

You're in luck! That tube is most likely a conduit from your tech box up to the attic. The best thing to do in that situation is to go in the attic (you'll see the tube coming up out of the ceiling) and drop your new lines down into the box. The other (and harder) part would be running the lines down through the top plate in the walls to the rooms you're talking about wiring up. If you're not up to the task, definately hire it out, but with the conduit in place, the workload becomes MUCH less.

This is a great basic guide for retrofitting cables, from Wayne Pflughaupt:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-design-construction/6038-how-wall-wiring-your-home-theater.html#post47983

Maybe you can save some money, and run a few of the easier ones, if not most.

I prefer fiberglass fish sticks/rods/stix to fish tape. I rarely use the tape, and you can probably avoid buying it.

Go on Angie's or call ur Home theater store or electronics and see if u can get a referral. Get 3 names if possible, CHECK their references and ask them out to ur home for a bid. This way u meet them, they see the job and go from there. Hint: the cheapest price isn't always the cheapest. Or u can do it urself and hope for the best.

Your conduits should be empty. It looks like you have three. Where do they run to? Usually builders should leave a pull string in them to help, but its still fairly easy to pull new cables.

You won't die of you fall. Worst case, you'll blow a huge piece of your drywall out you'll need to juste sure you walk on the ceiling joists and keep your head low so you don't hit the nails with your head.

If you're not comfortable with it, I would call someone. The hard part is already done.

For when someone wants to run more cable after the walls are up. Kinda, um, exactly what you're doing!

The original cables are run outside the conduit because (a) they aren't required to be in conduit to begin with, (b) they'll never be removed - worst case - abandoned in place, and (c) running new cables is much easier in an empty conduit compared to one with other cables in it.

One look at that picture tells me that house was built with some A/V or networking futures in mind... Consider yourself quite lucky.

Yes, stay on the ceiling joists. The insulation / drywall below will NOT hold your weight and yes, you could fall through and hurt yourself. Again, if you're not comfortable, hire someone.

Since you've got conduit, probably easier to start at one end, pull the cable up the attic, and continue it down the other conduit. If you start in the middle, you'll have to spool off enough wire to make it to the other end, then cut the wire. If you cut it too short, you'll have to start over.

From the photo, it appears there are pull strings in the conduit, tied off or slit into the end of the conduit. Attach a nylon string (or wire pull string, you can get it at Home Depot) to your wire when you pull it through, so that the next time you want to add a wire, you've got a new pull string to use.

This job is much easier if you have someone else to help, by the way. Someone to help feed the wire into the conduit at the other end, and/or pull the string.

Jeff

The conduits may or may not go to the unwired rooms. Stick your head up there again, and spend some time figuring out where they should be going, based on their locations. Then, check wall plates again.

No, you'd pull the cables down, when you can. Use gravity.

I see 3 conduits, 2 of which end near the attic access hole you stuck your head into. Looks like 2 of the conduits end up at the home run location, 1 of which ends near that attic access. Is there another access point to that attic, at the other end?

Reading back to your original post, when you pull the wall plates in those first floor rooms, you say you have coax and category/Ethernet cables for the land lines. Are using those for phones? As someone else said, they could be repurposed for LAN.

I bet one of those conduits runs to the other attic. I have similar disconnected attics, that are really connected.

If you're young, energetic, have the time, and like to get your hands dirty using a drill, then this might be a fun project.

Snaking cables down from that attic to the 2nd floor is the easy part. You said you need them down another floor.

Repurpose those phone line category cables, or hire someone.

If drilling the top plates of exterior walls, and no floor, you should bring up a couple small pieces of plywood to work on.

One option that I might suggest is to use one of your cables that does come from the basement, and put a gig switch upstairs in addition to the switch in the basement. Then you go from that gig switch to the other ports in the upstairs.

This is only if you cannot run more cables from downstairs to upstairs.

But if you are afraid of heights, and afraid of going into the attic, I would suggest hiring an expert to run the cables for you. If you have not done this before, it is something that you do not want to do yourself.

Can we go back to the part where you have a cat5e line to a phone jack you're not using in that room that you could simply re-purpose for Ethernet?

I had this issue when setting up my Blu Ray player. It was not wireless. For the same cost of buying the wirelsee dongle, I bought a wireless dual band extender with ethernet port. Then I could plug the player into the ethernet port so it THINKS it's wired. My wireless router is on the top floor and the extender on the middle floor. I've been able to stream netflix through a Roku in the basement and on the deck with no issues. Laptops connect throughout the house, too!

A solid wifi network is extraordinarily helpful, but hardwired is best, as you know.

Pick up the phone, get it done. Have them run some extra while they're at it. Add some WAPs.