[mythtv-users] OT: Wiring a new construction home for A/V, Ethernet, etc

[R. G. Newbury]

Matt S. wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 12:52 AM, Allen Edwards
> <allen.p.edwards at gmail.com> wrote:
>> You got a ton of great advice.
> 
> 
> You aren't kidding!  Thanks a ton everyone.  I've got a ton of work
> ahead of me, and this will only help me hone my focus and go down the
> right path.
> 
> Any thoughts on if I should run my own AC wire as well?  One person
> mentioned that, in addition to all of the A/V stuff, networking, etc
> stuff I should also home run all the electrical stuff to a single
> closet as well to futureproof for home automation reasons.  I hadn't
> planned on touching any of the "hot" stuff like outlets, switches,
> etc...I was going to leave that up to the qualified electrician.  But,
> is this something I should either do myself or ask my electrician to
> do for me?

It's your house, and you are going to pay for the work the electrician 
does. So I see no reason why you cannot at the least pull all the wire 
for the outlets. Among other things, no matter how much thought you put 
into the planning, you WILL realize when the studs are there and you can 
  really visualize the room, that you want an outlet somewhere you had 
not realized.

If you have been given some instruction on placement and securing the 
wire, and stringing rules (how many of what type together or through one 
hole etc...all in the code too), there is no reason why you cannot have 
most of the house pre-wired before the electrician comes back to start 
putting in boxes, or wiring up the boxes.

Just as an example, you will pay extra if you decide, AFTER the run is 
strung that one particular outlet should really be on 2 different 
breakers because of the load. That means stringing another 14-2 wire or 
carefully pulling out the already strung 14-2 and replacing it with a 
single run of 14-3. Much better if you make those decisions with bare 
studs, and you can use a marker on the stud to describe what goes into 
each box. All that has to be completed before the drywall goes up, and 
electricians are EXPENSIVE. Your time is worth EXACTLY that much to you 
if YOU do it..

I did the re-wiring on my kitchen reno and the 'leccy thought that I did 
a neater job than he would. I drilled the joists for the new wires (not 
a nice job, at all! I mounted the boxes and the outlets, etc. and he 
inspected everything. I did not do any of the connections on the breaker 
box and he did all the outside wiring for the upgrade from 60Amp to 200 
amp service....So I was always working on dead wire anyway.
At the same time, you can be running your cat5 and coax. and YOU can 
make sure that it is always separated by 2 foot from any parallel runs 
of power line, and ALWAYS crosses at 90 degrees etc. Your electrician 
probably will not know and will not care.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that the guys who can install a 
$100,000 home theatre are NOT electricians, and that the run-of-the- 
mill electrician cares not one whit about reducing cross-talk and noise 
in audio or rf lines. But you might be able to teach your electrician 
something. And if he's so brain dead that he shows no interest, he's 
probably not a good electrician anyway. My electrician is an over-70 
master journeyman, and he was still interested in sucking up every piece 
of info I knew about these sorts of effects. And I didn't know much. 
Google is your friend! And the high end Home Theatre magazines!

Geoff
-- 
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