What tech wiring in new build house?

[corn18]

We are building a home that we might live in for a while. Our current house is wired to the max for tech, but we currently have no home phone and only use wifi for our TV (Roku + YouTube TV). So if it were up to me, all we would have in the new house is electrical outlets. But that might not be good for resale. I don't want to spend a bundle on cat5, telephone, cable, surround sound wiring and what not. So, what would you want in a house for tech wiring? We have our design meeting in Jan and have to pick what to put in.

 

[JoeWras]

If I had to do it over again from scratch, I'd have the following at a minimum:
- A "rack area" in a closet or basement. All drops would end at the rack.
- Cat6 to office
- Cat6 to master
- Cat6 to kitchen
- Cat6 to mostly likely TV location
- A conduit from the rack to potential future locations, capable of pulling. I'm thinking basement to attic kind of thing

Surround sound? Too hard to know what you need. Cable? Forget about it, make them use the cat6. Phone? You can use cat6 for that if you want it.

That's just my opinion of a minimum.

 

[REWahoo]

If the house is located where you can get good OTA TV reception I'd run RG-6 coax from the attic to all locations where you think you might want to place a TV. I did that when we built 20 years ago, put in an attic antenna and have found the ability to easily connect wherever needed to be a great convenience.

Cat 5 might also be nice but with the ever improving quality of wi-fi mesh network systems it probably wouldn't be worth it.

I'd skip anything beyond that.

 

[Clone]

We built about 5 years ago. Here is where we come up short.


There are still power strips near the main TV. Cable Modem, Router, Blu Ray, TV, Firestick, Soundbar, & Tivo. And we have one audio cable hanging between the tv and the furniture below the TV. Some of the power adapters are large such that they cover multiple outlets. If I were to do it again, and I will eventually do this, I suppose, I would put a 4 plex up in the air to have more power for TV, firestick, and whatever else might show up. I would put in a tunnel from up high to down below so that we could hide more stuff like HDMI and audio. We have one tunnel now, and it is full.



We need another circuit where the laser printer sits. We have popped a breaker there. Lots of things with computer stuff, plus I usually end up with a power supply, soldering iron, PLCs, etc. I would put in a tunnel for expansion. We currently run a fiew pieces of Cat5 to connect laser printer to main router.

 

[Music Lover]

I'd run speaker wire for a good home entertainment center and make sure the cable/internet location is on a convenient wall location instead of a hole in the floor but that's about as far as I'd go.

You could also run cat5 and ethernet in a few walls before drywall stage and just leave it there for possible future use. Just take a few pics with measurements so you can easily find it later. Chances are that with Bluetooth and wireless technology you may never need it but it might be worth the effort.

 

[RockyMtn]

We ran cat 5, rg6, phone and speaker wire throughout the house. Pretty easy because all of the walls were open. Put 4plex electric and rg5, cat 5 at all places where TV's would hang. Might be a bit of overkill given today's technology but I'm sure not going to take it out!

 

[ncbill]

Or run conduit so you could pull cables later.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

NOt tech but wiring: If I were to build my current house from scratch I would make the powder room and kitchen outlets less conspicuous, they are so in your your face and ugly. I would have a foldout panel, put them on a corner wall concealed or some such. And I would make arrangements for where I like to charge my phone etc. I would also have a carefully chosen location for the wifi router and perhaps an amplifier for it as we get more and more items pulling wifi. Ours is tucked to the side and our house has a large footprint so the signal is not great everywhere. Same goes for a carefully chosen place for an out of sight but easy to access printer/peripherals. I wouldn't screw with stereo or surround sound with resale in mind. Only do it if its your thing. Say you want one wired in on the back patio or whatever. Also as a Texan, if somewhere you will be outside can possibly have a fan, have a fan there or allow for one to be added in future.

 

[Dash man]

If the house is located where you can get good OTA TV reception I'd run RG-6 coax from the attic to all locations where you think you might want to place a TV. I did that when we built 20 years ago, put in an attic antenna and have found the ability to easily connect wherever needed to be a great convenience.



Cat 5 might also be nice but with the ever improving quality of wi-fi mesh network systems it probably wouldn't be worth it.



I'd skip anything beyond that.

Isn’t Cat 7 the standard now with the 4K steaming?

 

[pb4uski]

We built in fall 2011- spring 2012. I would put more electrical outlets in the locations where televisions would be... between the tv, cable boxes, streaming sticks, etc we end up with power strips. Also, where desk will be... between shredder, printer, lamps, etc I run out of outlets too quickly.

I like the idea of a rack in the utility area... I ended up building a shelf that has the cable modem/wifi router, Ooma Telo VoiP, cordless phone base unit, module for wireless thermometer and Blink master module, etc.

Another thing to consider if you have natural gas or propane is an outside connection for the gas grill.... this never crossed my mind during the build but did the first time that I had to replace a tank the following summer.

While we ran phone wires to various rooms that was a waste because we have cordless phones. We also ran cable to various rooms and do use that with Dish TV. All our internet is wi-fi and it is plenty fast for our needs.

 

[RunningBum]

Conduit for sure. I'd do speaker wire for surround sound too. I'd consider CAT 6 like JoeWras said. My son likes wired for online gaming. I'd also consider RG-6 for OTA like Wahoo said. Extra outlets where you know you're likely to need them (by a desktop computer, by a TV that might have a receiver and VCR, etc. I'd consider adding USB to a few outlets like on each side of where I expect a bed to be. Power strips and wall warts just add to clutter so it'd be nice to clean that up some.

 

[JoeWras]

Or run conduit so you could pull cables later.

Yes. At a minimum. Determine a good place for the cable/fiber entry point and set up a space for a rack or something. Granted, maybe soon there won't be a need for cable/fiber entry (5G), but for now you need it.

If you don't run cable, then make sure to run a conduit somewhere far to at least run an access point to the other side of the house.

We built about 5 years ago. Here is where we come up short.

There are still power strips near the main TV. Cable Modem, Router, Blu Ray, TV, Firestick, Soundbar, & Tivo. And we have one audio cable hanging between the tv and the furniture below the TV. Some of the power adapters are large such that they cover multiple outlets.

Power! Power! This is a good point! Extra power in the office and entertainment areas. Multiple circuits. Yes!

 

[nobody]

I pulled a lot of Cat 6 and RG6 when I did my basement finish, hardwired is so much better then wifi. Another popular item around here is to add switched power outlets in the soffits for xmas lights and wiring for external hardwired cameras for security.

 

[HFWR]

Overwiring is much better than doing the belly crawl through insulation.

 

[Mykle57]

Assuming you're not asking about electric, I'd say none. Everything is wireless today!

I've friends with homes built in the 80's with built-in speakers installed in the ceilings and network wiring to every room... it just looks very old, speakers sound terrible, network jacks are oxidized and work poorly.

 

[Chuckanut]

Or run conduit so you could pull cables later.

I know of several people who have done that.

 

[davebarnes]

Better answers at https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=298231

 

[CRLLS]

If your new home design allows for it, on the first living level, access for future wiring in every room from below the floor (the crawl or basement ) and access for the 2nd floor rooms from the attic . Home runs for every one. No in-wall splices or series wiring (phone, OTA wiring and ) And for goodness sakes label each and every run on both ends. DS recently bought a home a few years ago with many different runs to an entertainment equipment closet or wall mounted AV connection box with no idea what goes where and what was non-functional. He's still stripping out unused wires.

 

[njhowie]

If you are wiring for resale value to a future owner, what you install today will only suffice so long as it is in line with current tech standards. You indicate you will live in the home for a while. Therefore, if the objective is resale value, then you have little choice than installing whatever current top of the line is and hope that it is still in use when you sell. Alternatively, knowing how far wifi has come and the current state of affairs, it would be reasonable to expect that wifi (along with 5G) will continue to progress well into the future, and becoming even better.

So, if it were up to me, I would have the house installed with standard cable, to allow future owners to contract with local cable provider if they like, for cable and/or internet. Skip the ethernet wiring - whatever you install may very well be obsolete by the time you sell.

 

[OldShooter]

Or run conduit so you could pull cables later.

+1 I have done this in two houses. I used plastic conduit, which is easier to install and easier to pull wires through. No need to worry about code since it is for low-voltage wiring only.

In a 3-story house I ran a larger conduit (1" ?? don't remember) from the basement to the attic, then I ran straight pieces with a box on the end down into the walls of the 2nd floor rooms.

In our current one-level rambler I we have a sunroom without a basement underneath. I have plastic conduit from the attached garage, a larger conduit from the garage to the attic, and a horizontal piece of conduit running from the area of the vertical piece into the garage.

There is no need to connect all the conduit together as long as open ends are available in the attic, basement suspended ceiling, etc. Wires can just be exposed, maybe with a tie-wrap once in a while to make a loose bundle.

Years ago when people were first talking about home automation, the recommendation for new construction was to home run everything to a cabinet in the basement where controlled switches, dimmers, etc. could be installed as needed. For example, a simple ceiling light connection would be run to the cabinet, as would the controlling switch. The connection between the two would be made there. Without a lot of care, such a cabinet could turn into a real rat's nest but certainly it preserves the max in flexibility. I don't know what the code thinks about a cabinet like that.

 

[GrayHare]

Agree about conduit. My place came with one, and it has been a huge help. You'll need to find a spot where you can make a straight run from basement to attic, which grows more challenging the more levels your house has. Note that it can also become a crawlway for critters, so cap the ends.

Anywhere you'll operate something that draws lots of power, such as a laser printer, install multiple different circuits. This helps minimize the flickering of room lights as the device operates.

 

[sdtech]

We wired LED lighting under cabinets in the kitchen. This is low voltage DC stuff like speaker wire. A motion detect switch turns it on so when you go into the kitchen, the undercabinet lights come on and later turn off automatically. Requires a transformer - in our case the basement under the kitchen, but many people put it above or in a cabinet.



I used to run ethernet wiring, but now just put in google mesh pucks where I need them and sometimes drop an ethernet cable from them to a printer or TV.

 

[Ronstar]

Or run conduit so you could pull cables later.

+1000. I’ve changed and added cabling several times since I built the house 25 years ago. The best thing I did was leave an access way from basement to attic. I would have put conduit through the whole house back then if I knew that wiring would change many times through the lifetime of the house.

That said, I now have a rack in the basement that houses surround sound equipment, Ethernet hub and wireless gateway. I only have 2 TVs run from there- one hdmi and the other buried conduit with coax to my workshop. Also have Ethernet running between gateway and separate access point.

I wired phone and tv to every room in the house when I built it. None of those original lines are used today. Everything has been rewired. Hence the need for conduit.

 

[REWahoo]

Isn’t Cat 7 the standard now with the 4K steaming?

Could be. I'm focused on wireless so haven't kept pace with the latest cabling standards.

 

[OldShooter]

We wired LED lighting under cabinets in the kitchen. This is low voltage DC stuff like speaker wire. A motion detect switch turns it on so when you go into the kitchen, the undercabinet lights come on and later turn off automatically. ...

Yes. Very handy. What I did with ours is to cut and stick mirror tiles on the bottom of the cabinets, then install the LED strips on the mirrors. This makes for brighter and more even lighting.