Running ethernet and CCTV cabling in house

[joe384]

Hi,

I want to run some ethernet cables through my house but I am struggling to find the best way.

The house doesn't have flooring or carpet installed at the moment but everything else has been done. It is also does not have a loft (first floor is roof space with dormers at the front).

The flooring on the first floor is screwed in so I assumed it would be just a case of running the cables that way. Unfortuately, it is tongue and groove and also the stud walls on the first floor are built on top of the flooring (which I gather is common these days).

I bought a cavity master but I am worried I'll end with holes everywhere - Also if I have to go across joists then it's not going to be much help..

I also want to run some cables to the soffits for the CCTV - I thought I'd be able to go between the knee walls and soffits but the "knee walls" on the first floor are rather odd as well - I assumed these would be stud work with interior plasterboard, but it seems there is extra wood behind the wall so it's difficult to see in the roof space behind the wall.

I also have an extra coaxial cable in the house which I assume was for an aerial but I can't find where it terminates!

I guess what I'm really asking is - Is there any other things out there that would help me run / trace cables without causing too much destruction?

 

[Sureitsoff?]

cable routing can be very messy and frustating, sometimes you just have to go for it and accept that there will be holes in floors etc if you want to hide the cables. i ended up having to lift the entire length of the landing floor, and yes it was t&g chipboard, as the joists ran the wrong way. but once it is done you will soon forget about the hassle it caused

 

[joe384]

The position where I want the side camera is very close to the corner of one of the rooms on the first floor - I plan to make a hole for a faceplate (the nvr will be in this room) and see if I can reach the soffit. This will be the first stage!

I've looked behind one of the mains sockets on the knee wall and it's very odd - There is a plasterboard box holding the socket, but behind that is a empty metal back box which the cable feeds through. It is like this on quite a few of the sockets - I never seen this though?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Just a thought-coax is a bit oldschool for CCTV these days, PoE Cat5 or above is the in vogue deal at the moment. And good luck with fishing cables through unknown voids...

 

[joe384]

Just a thought-coax is a bit oldschool for CCTV these days, PoE Cat5 or above is the in vogue deal at the moment. And good luck with fishing cables through unknown voids...

Yeah, I have a POE system with 4 POE cameras.

The coaxial cable I mentioned was something completely different - I have 3 coax cables near the consumer unit - but only 2 aerial sockets (one in the lounge, one in the bedroom) I have identified the ones that go to the sockets but I have one that I can't seem to trace. Randomly I put my inspection camera into one of the ceiling roses in the lounge and spotted 2 black cables up there.

With regards to the ethernet cable/s I drilled an inspection hole into the knee wall to see if I could reach the loft space behind but behind the plasterboard is totally packed with insulation.

The whole house is packed with insulation it's going to be a nightmare running cables I think - I am back to thinking is it really worth it?

So I think I am going to look at the powerline stuff again. I am quite against it though as we have some powerline stuff in my mums house and the latency does cause issues from time to time.

 

[winston1]

So I think I am going to look at the powerline stuff again. I am quite against it though as we have some powerline stuff in my mums house and the latency does cause issues from time to time.

Not to mention the serious RF interference it can cause to your neighbours.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper195

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Only you can decide if the hassle is worth the effort. Avoid the powerline stuff, it is a nasty bodge. For Ethernet it might be worth looking at running a couple of backbones around the place (outside is possible), then have local WiFi hotspots for 'normal' data and maybe ideally short links from the hubs to your cameras. Always a bore trying to non-destructively route cables through a finished house you didn't build- you don't know where noggins or cable routes are.
Soft insulation can be pulled out and returned easily enough, PIR is another matter.

 

[joe384]

I think the stuff in the knee wall is probably PIR or something similar as seems really thick. Probably explains why my stud finder was giving odd readings. Under the floorboards it seems like kinda like the brown candy floss which is much thinner (although still a bit of a pain)

I still can't get my head around the construction of the knee wall though, as I think I might have mentioned if you take the one of the mains sockets off there is a 1/2inch gap behind the dryling box then a metal back box and you can see lots of wood and osb. But where I drilled my hole 4 inches to the right its all thick insulation.

Anyways, I think I may do things a bit differently now, have the NVR somewhere else and probably scale down my cable runs as well

 

[securespark]

Regarding the back box arrangement, perhaps the socket was going to be fixed to the wall originally. For reasons unknown, it was built out and the original box was no longer suitable so a new box was fitted in the cavity.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You can buy a cable tracer. They come in two parts, the signal generator (transmitter) and a tracer (receiver). The generator is connected to the end of the cable and the tracer will make a noise when it's near the cable, along its route.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Not to mention the serious RF interference it can cause to your neighbours.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper195

You nay not have noticed, but technologies -including power line- have moved on since 2011.

 

[joe384]

You can buy a cable tracer. They come in two parts, the signal generator (transmitter) and a tracer (receiver). The generator is connected to the end of the cable and the tracer will make a noise when it's near the cable, along its route.

Are these the tone generators? I've seen videos where people had said they can be good enough to trace a wire through walls, but then I've also seen videos which seem to show some are only good enough if you are literally touching the end of the cable with the tracer!

 

[winston1]

You may not have noticed, but technologies -including power line- have moved on since 2011.

The laws of physics have not changed however. Mains wiring has not become screened, balanced, or terminated. So PLT continues to cause harmful interference.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes, that's the one. BT use them all the time and I have one of the BT versions, it works very well indeed.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes, that's the one. BT use them all the time and I have one of the BT versions, it works very well indeed.

All that stops them working is earthed metal screening.