Running Ethernet Cable Behind Drywall?

[James474474]

I now have gig internet at home but cannot realise its full potential because I dont have ethernet run through the house.
The house is quite large and l-shaped with the internet connection terminating on one side of the house, and my office being on the other. It is a modern house, approx 10 years old so drywall throughout.

I am therefore considering running ethernet cable into the loft, placing a switch and then running other ethernet drops into the rooms I want wired ethernet. However, I have no grasp on how big an undertaking this would be!

Looking on youtube etc it appears relatively straightforward but most of the videos are american and I dont know if UK houses are significantly different in construction.

I have run AV wires behind drywall plenty of times before but only within a single room, so this is a much bigger undertaking.

How difficult is this likely to be?
Does the cavity run continuously from attic to ground or will there be floorboards etc within?
Do I simply need a cable fish, drywall saw and stud finder?

I already have the fastest powerline adapters available and they sync at >1Gb but only provide 350Mb of usable bandwidth. Mesh wifi isnt reliable enough without an ethernet backbone and I have a NAS array that I want to locate in the attic so I dont hear it.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[foxhole]

Feasible but a little easier to choose a central point in corner of a room to create a riser (small box section) to drop the cable down and then lift floors to distribute.Avoid running parallel to power cable as it affects performance.

 

[endecotp]

Work out where any existing voids, e.g. for pipes, extractors etc, are and see if you can feed wires along those.

It’s easy to drop a wire down inside an empty stud wall, but noggins and insulation make it much more difficult.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Or buy external cable

 

[Mottie]

My mate did something similar and he used a lead fishing weight on some fishing line and dropped/wiggled it down the walls from inside his loft and then tied that to his cables and pulled them through.

 

[James474474]

Feasible but a little easier to choose a central point in corner of a room to create a riser (small box section) to drop the cable down and then lift floors to distribute.Avoid running parallel to power cable as it affects performance.

That would require lifting the upstairs floor? Not an option because we have karndean fitted.

 

[James474474]

Work out where any existing voids, e.g. for pipes, extractors etc, are and see if you can feed wires along those.

It’s easy to drop a wire down inside an empty stud wall, but noggins and insulation make it much more difficult.

I was thinking of this because we have mvhr so ducting to all of the ceilings. I am unclear how I would get from the middle of the ceiling to the bottom of a wall though?

 

[James474474]

Or buy external cable

Not allowed to do anything visible

 

[phatboy]

For internal walls, I'd drill the top plate in the loft where you want a cable, and push some cable rods down, if you get about 2m in, then you are OK. Maybe you will hit a noggin, so try elsewhere. No harm done if it's only a hole within the loft.

If drywall has been dabbed to external walls, they should have a continuous bond around all sides, which would make it harder. But they may not be sealed properly, so you can push cable rods down and see how it goes... see if you hit a dab you can't avoid, or if you are lucky!

Once you know you can get rods where you need, cut the holes and crack on.

 

[DIYSOS2018]

Did exactly this for myself and for a friend. Up into the loft from the router, down into the rooms (drill up to the lift not down!)

Took the best part of 1/2 a day but worth it.

I also took an additional cable up for a second router acting as a WAP for upstairs. Far superior than powerline adapters

 

[Diver Fred]

No suggestions to offer but I will say congratulations on being thoughtful on how not to use Powerline Adapters or Mesh/WiFi if you can avoid it.

Do wish they would put network cables into house when they build nowadays. Had to cable up the last house - 2 phone lines, 2 internet feeds (employer at time had a secure network so wouldn't allow private/personal use). From the incoming phone point cable to the network shelf (broom room under stairs), feeds from there to Home Office (3N/2P), B/rooms (1N/1P per room), TV point (2N and yes both are used), 2N others in lounge, Kitchen & Garage (1N/1P). Switched the WiFi until wifey had an iPad. In that house we can 'see' something like 15 WiFi routers and we could not use WiFi in some rooms the other signals are that 'strong'. All hidden in the 1st floor void - luckily could lift the carpets.

 

[Tigercubrider]

It would make sense to at least plan a route when designing houses.
I managed to talk to my plumber out of his original wiring plan and into a route that hid the cables, because I spent a while thinking about it and had familiarity with the layout and possible routes.
I imagine that houses on estates are just planned for quick builds and any riser style route is regarded as wasteful of space.
A mate lived in a house that originally had hot air ventilation and it was a boon to running cables