How to Use a Structured Wiring Design Kit

Structured wiring design is not nearly as difficult as it sounds. Your home already has a structured wiring system in place for your electrical system, coming from your breaker box or fuse box and running the entire interior of your home. The structured wiring systems are no different.

What to Have With You

Structured wiring panels many times come with design plans and suggestions to make your cable running experience an easy one. Be sure to look over these documents and familiarize yourself with the information. Also be sure you totally understand what you plans are and what the notes contain because this will make wiring your home for telephone, cable and network an easy process.

What to Consider

When designing your home for a structured wiring design it is a good idea to make sure you have a pretty good floor plan of your home. It does not have to be exact scale but a relatively accurate rendition of the home will make your design process much easier. After you have a good diagram of your home decide where you are going to install the structured wiring box. In this case a centralized location in an attic or utility closet would be a good choice. Many times a structured wiring panel is installed beside the electrical control box but this is not absolutely necessary.

Also consider what types of devices you will be running cables for. All these cables can be run from their external location through an attic to where the panel will be installed and then hooked directly to the panel. In this way all the cables will begin in a self-contained location. Determine where in your home you will want each device to be connected. When you are doing this make sure that you have adequate power available for any electrical equipment that will need to be plugged in while in use. It does not make good sense to have your power outlet on a different wall from your network outlet.

Designing Wiring Diagram

Now that you have made your decisions on placement of the structured wiring panel and the in-home connections it is time to ensure viability of your design. It is difficult to run cables down walls that have fire stops because of the density of the block. It is also difficult to run wires on external walls where the roof slopes to the attic floor. If you find these complications you may wish to rethink your placement of your cables. Keep the floor plan with you to re-direct your connections as needed. You should be sure to mark any electrical outlets on the floor plan as well. 

Structured Wiring Design Kit

By obtaining an entire wiring design kit you have taken the first and best steps to ensure that your structured wiring project will be as seamless as possible. You will have full understanding and knowledge of the basic concepts as well as how your home would benefit from the structured wiring you have chosen to install.