Installing Cable In Stud Wall

[GazzaS]

Hi,

I will be installing cable (Cat6, Electric and Coax) into a Stud wall from an access point by the floor to a hole by an LCD TV mount on the other side of the room.

I've found plenty of US videos showing pitfalls and advice, however I have found no UK advice. Can anyone provide advice or point to any?

In a few of the US videos it showed horizontal wood blocks at various positions accross the vertical studs. It also showed the use of a flexible drill bit (12mm drill on 2m fibre glass extension) to drill holes through the horizonal wood to allow access. Has anyone done this or had experience of this?

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers,

Gary

 

[ColJack]

the're called noggins, and yes they are a pain in the bum..

if you can get above the wall then the use of several extension bits usually suffices to get down to the noggin to drill it, but coming up from under a floor is a little more difficult unless it's a ground floor with a floor void underneath..

there's also the fact that you'll be drilling blind and may hit other things in the wall or even break out the side of the wall if the bit is too close or goes through at a funny angle

 

[1john]

it's common to have noggins at around 1200 from ffl, i have never seen a flexible fibre shafted drill bit, but wouldn't mind knowing if they are available.

You could remove a section of the plasterboard between two of the studs which would give you access to drill through the noggin, also whilst you are at it you can fit a fillet of ply within the wall to take the weight of the TV and guarantee you have fixing points in the correct places, then re board over and patch in.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I think that flexible drill has been discussed here, and IIRC the consensus was that the chances of getting all the holes in the noggins aligned was pretty much zero.

And even with a series of holes, how do you intend threading the cables through them? The usual technique is to cut squares out of the plasterboard at each noggin to allow a hole or notch to be cut and the cables passed through.

How will you get across the room once the cables have run up the first wall?

Are you aware of the rules for concealed cables?

• http://www.voltimum.co.uk/files/gb/attachments/niu/l/attachments/c5-43.pdf
• http://web.archive.org/web/20061110111450/http://www.niceic.org.uk/downloads/concealedcables.pdf
• IEE article
• IEE Article on 17th Edition requirements for concealed cables.

Are you aware of the rules for proximity of cables of different voltage bands?

 

[GazzaS]

Hi,

Thanks for all your responses.

I've managed to finally talk to the developer of my new build to find out that the downstairs room where the first TV will be mounted will be blockwork with dot and dab plasterboard and upstaires where the second tv will be mounted will be a metal stud wall.

Is it possible to feed/fish cable through the dot and dab? Do the metal studs and metal noggins have holes for cable access?

If your interested the video showing the flexible drill bit in US is here: http://vimeo.com/1295795

The electic cables that will be conceald will either be a spur from an existing socket (which I will get done by a pro) or an extension lead plugged in. What are the regulations for this?

Thanks again for all your advice.

Gary

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Why isn't the developer organising all of the electrics?

 

[GazzaS]

Hi,

The developer has been very strict from the beginning not allowing any modifications to the plan and not allowing us access until completion. I spoke to the developer today and was told that they have finished the walls and are about to paint They wouldn't even allow me access to just take photos of the walls to see where other cables were.

Therefore I now need to workout the neatest way to get CAT6 and Coax to all rooms in the house and then extend the tv power to the two mounted TV's. Fun!

Cheers,

Gary

 

[ColJack]

tell him to go boil his head, you're paying for it so you should get a say what goes where within reason ( obviously major changes would need to be charged for but adding a few conduit drops and some outlet boxes behind where the TV will go shouldn't be a major deal breaker. )

metal stud walls don't have nogins for some strange reason despite the studs being more flexible that wood..

 

[GazzaS]

Hi,

Thanks for the response, I have a picture of the developer logo on my dart board

So you say that metal stud walls may not have noggins? If this is the case then this should make upstairs installation a lot easier.

How easy is it to fish coax, electrical and cat5/6 cable through dot and dab?

Has anyone had experience passing cables under the floor boards of the first level? Is there any pitfalls there? The reason I ask is that I also need to install speaker cable into the lounge and therefore need to drop cable from above.

My final question: is it possible to cable through a cavity wall in a new build? I suspect not but it's worth a question Basically my last resort for this installation is to go outside and back in or to start digging channels in the plaster.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[ColJack]

chances are that as it's a new build it won't be floorboards but chipboard sheets.. this makes it a lot harder to run cables as you have to start taking half the first floor up of cutting holes and grooves into the flooring..

fishing through dot 'n' dab is either fairly easy or extremely hard..
it depends on the dabber..
if they put the dot's evenly spaced and left a fair gap between and didn't push the boards down a lot then they may be big enough gaps in a straight line to get the cables down..
if on the other hand they dab's in a random fashion and patted the boards down a lot ( spreading the dabs under the board a lot ) then it will be a PITA...
only trying will tell..
it will be worth investing in a set of cable rods whatever you do..

running in a cavity of a brick wall is a no-no.. and running outside is just stupid..

tell the developer you'll need a few cans of the same paint he's decorating with as you'll be hacking his walls appart as soon as you move in..

 

[GazzaS]

Thanks ColJack, great info.

I was pretty sure using the cavity was a no no And I agree running the cables outside is pretty stupid (as well as very ugly on a new house). I had to laugh the other day when I saw a new build that had a sky install that had just thrown the satellite cables over the roof!

I've got hold of a 10m (in 1m parts) cable rod and an 1m (in 30mm parts) cable rod as well as a boroscope (camera on a 1m flexible tube - £30 on ebay) to investigate the walls. So when I eventually get in I should be able to investigate the accessibility.

You mentioned that I would have to cut into the boards on the first floor. Is there any advice you can offer when doing this as I am almost certainly going to have to do this for the speaker cable.

Have you got any advice on digging the channels into the plaster if this is what I am left with? How do I fill them back and finish them to make it look like new?

Thanks,

Gary

 

[ColJack]

where is this speaker cable comming from?

if it's the same room then put up coving and hide the cables behind that ( or fish it through the gap behind it if it's already fitted.. )

for dealing with the floors then it's either a circular saw or you can use one of these and the plugs to fill the holes..

 

[GazzaS]

Well thats the complicated bit. The HDMI source, and AV AMP (speaker source) will be in the study in a server cabinet which is next door to the lounge.

The speaker cable will need to go up the study wall and into bedroom 3 above then through the flooring in bedroom 3 and bedroom 2 into the 5 speaker points (front left, front right, back right, back left and back centre).

The other cat6 cables will need to go from the study in the bottom left corder of the house to all over the house: 3 cat6 to each bed room (12 cables), 2 cat6 to the lounge, 2 cat6 to the dinning room and 2 cat6 to the kitchen. I'm also going to place a few extra cat6 cables in the loft and under the stairs for expandability.

Then on top of this I will have a freeview aerial in the loft going into a 6 x distribution amp and a satellite with quad LNB providing 4 inputs into the loft. I intend to then run two freeview and two satellite feeds to the study (where the AV equipment it) and then provide 1 coax feed to each bedroom (4), the lounge, the kitchen and the dining room (I was planning to have the cables terminated into the loft so that I could switch them between the different inputs depending on what we needed).

Then finally I am planning on mounting the 42inch LCD TV in the lounge and therefore need to work out away of getting power to the TV and the HDMI receiver behind it. I was originally thinking of creating a spur from another lounge socket and creating a double socket behind the TV or just expanding the TV's and receivers power cables. The only problem is that the TV mount I have purchased is low profile giving a max of 1 1/2 inches (just enough for a HDMI cable and power cable).

So as you can see this is a huge DIY project. I've installed several networks and TV systems but have always either used ducting or gone from outside. However for this new build I would like to do it right

Thanks for the help.

Gary

 

[inkypinky]

how was the project progress...i am trying to do the same and wondering what you have done for your project and if there are some pics?

 

[GazzaS]

Hi,

Yes project is all done. Took a couple of weeks and finished March 2010.

I ended up having the server cabinet (home made 18u cabinet made from an £15 ikea bedside table) under the stairs in a cupboard and then distributing CAT6a cable out to three bedrooms, my study and the lounge. The cupboard is connected straight to the playroom and kitchen. I then mounted LCD TVs in the main bedroom, playroom and lounge.

I also installed a Quad LNB Satellite dish and a freeview aerial in the loft amplified to 8 outputs. I then distributed the Satellite cable and two freeview cables to the stairs cupboard and then the rest of the freeview to the three bedrooms, lounge and kitchen.

The project involved a lot of patience! Upstairs was all metal stud and involved fishing the cable through using fish wire and cable rods. I also had a £40 boroscope camera which allowed be to examine the area where the cable was being fed. Downstairs was metal stud on 50% of the inner walls and dot and dab on the rest. I therefore stuck mostly to using the stud walls to feed cable. For the upstairs floor I used a cavity access hole drill bit with matching plugs and then used the holes and lots of string to pull cables through. Under my upstairs floor were 12 inches of space between floors with wood panels separating horizontally spanning the floor every 2 foot. I used a small hand drill to make tiny holes through the wood panel to allow cable access.

I think the most important thing is to plan ahead and investigate all the space to find a path for all the cables.
Below are some pictures of the project (hosted in House AV Wiring Album):

Lounge in progress:
View media item 30663 View media item 30662
Bedroom in progress:
View media item 30665
Floor access:
View media item 30655 View media item 30661
Stairs cupboard in progress:
View media item 30668
Homemade server cabinet:
View media item 30667 View media item 30666
Finished lounge:
View media item 30658 View media item 30657
Finished bedroom:
View media item 30659
Finished cupboard:
View media item 30669