Wiring a finished home

I bought a brand new house about a year ago but didn't get it until after all the drywall and everything had been installed so it was too late to run additional wiring. Now, I want to add some additional cable jacks and figure while I'm doing it I might as well go all out as I eventually wanted to wire the house with CAT6. I want to do this right so I'm trying to get some good advice.

As far as my skill level, I'm a complete noob. I've always rented so I don't have any experience with home improvement but I'm an anal engineering type willing to take the time to do it right. I've looked for some decent books (very mixed reviews on most) and have looked at all sorts of sites and videos to try and get prepared. So in no particular order, here are the items I would appreciate some feedback on:

1. I figure the best and most future proof way to do this is to install a decent conduit so I can add/replace wires if necessary; something like this but cheaper if possible. If this isn't overkill, do you have any recommendations? And should I run it just from the wall jacks to the attic or all the way back to the junction point?

2. From reading some of the threads on this forum, it seems that punch down jacks and wiring blocks are the way to go (for flexibility and to avoid the pain of crimping). How do I avoid having to crimp ends to go from the wiring block to something like a router?

3. Where is a good place to get all this stuff? I usually buy my cables from places like Monoprice but I've never done anything of this magnitude so any suggestions on what or where to buy would be great, especially for stuff like the wiring block.

I know this is going to be a little bit of a pain. I have fire blocks so I'm going to have to cut out sections of drywall in order to run the cables/conduits but I've read up on so I think I can manage. Hopefully I'm not getting in over my head. Any other suggestions, tips, or resources to use (web, book, etc.) would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Patrick

 

I would do the conduit as your suggesting for future proofing

the orange flex will be fine

just run it to a convient spot , no need to go all the way to junction

if your running conduit why use cat6
cat 5e is more than adequate for your application and in the unlikely situation that you need cat6 you could re run it

I'm surprised you have fire blocks they aren't used around here in SW fl

home depot /lowes will have everything you need

sounds like you have a solid plan in place

if you run into any problems post back there are some knowledge folks here and we should be able to help

 

Thanks for the quick reply; good to hear my general plan sounds decent. The orange flex I linked to was just the first thing I found; is $1/foot a good price for that sort of thing? As for the CAT6, I haven't really priced that out but if there is a large price difference I will go with 5e.

Maybe I'm calling them the wrong thing, but I definitely have horizontal beams going from stud to stud about midway up the wall. I thought they were called fire blocks. Whatever they are, it will make this more complicated.

Any tips for what to look for in a wiring block and how to best connect the block to the router (i.e. how to avoid crimping)?

Thanks again,
Patrick

 

I dont have a clue on the pricing on the flex, I dont use it often

it does sound like fire blocking but sounds like you know how to deal with it

I would terminate the room end with a jack and faceplate
something like this

Keystone Jacks

on the other end you can either use a jack like the above or a patch panel like this

12-Port Vertical Cat.5 Patch Panel - Smarthome

 

8-foot or higher ceilings? What you're calling firestops might just be blocking to help keep the studs from twisting. Either way, you have to drill through them to install the Smurf Tube.

You won't have to make any crimps at all if you go with Mango Man's suggestion. The back of the wall plates are punched. The back of the patch panel is punched. You will spend some cash on pre-made ethernet cables to jump between the patch panel's connections and from the wall plates to the computers, but you'll avoid crimping.

BTW, everyone seems to be apprehensive about crimping RJ connectors. It's not difficult as long as you have the proper tools. The cheap $10 crimpers are more trouble than they're worth, but for a homeowner to go out and spend a couple hundred dollars on crimpers doesn't add up versus the cost of buying a few jumpers.

Another thing that Mango has brought up in several posts: Crimping Cat5 or 6 installation cable isn't as reliable as punching down jacks and panels and using factory-made jumpers.

 

Fripplejips - I've had some luck getting some of the things I needed on eBay or craigslist. I needed a couple of data modules and found them on eBay. I had to buy a lot of seven of them, but the total cost with shipping was less than the cost of one new one. These were all new, just someone cleaning out the warehouse.

Just a thought; every once in a while you can find a deal there.