House
I've been spending most weekends this winter working on the house, wiring things. It's been both frustrating and gratifying, and I'm getting stuff done slowly but surely. Nearly all of these projects involve running cable from the basement to the attic, and I figured out that I could do this through the central load bearing wall. I pulled off the baseboard in the second floor, in order to be able to open a few small holes in the wall to drill in the wall cavity between the second floor and this first floor.
1. 2F Doorbell
The house had only one doorbell, in the kitchen on the first floor. It was quiet on the first floor and impossible to hear on the second floor, making it difficult to know when company was at the front door. I chose to work on this first, as the 18/2 used for low voltage wiring is very flexible and easy to pull. Problem 1: I discovered when drilling from the second floor to the first floor that the central walls are offset by about 6". Let's call this a learning experience; I ended up with holes through the kitchen ceiling and dining room wall. After that snafu, pulling cable was easy, and I now have a doorbell in the hallway on the second floor. Problem 2: The old doorbell transformer can't drive two doorbells. I got a replacement during the next trip to the hardware store, and it works like a charm. Problem 3: The new transformer buzzes. Loudly enough that you can hear it in the entryway, or even standing on the front porch. I'll have to break down and get a toroid the next time I order electronic parts. At least this is something I can live with for the time being.
2. Thermostat
When the heating system in the house (hot water, mix of radiators on 2F and baseboard on 1F) was zoned, the owners at the time apparently couldn't be bothered to run cable to the second floor for a thermostat for that heating zone. Instead, they left the bathroom / laundry room on that heating zone, and stuck the thermostat in there. But, that's by the drafty back door, and we had to keep the bathroom door closed all the time in the winter to avoid ending up with 80+ degree temperatures upstairs. This uses the same wire as project #1, and pulling it was just as easy. As a bonus, I took the time to level the thermostat when I moved it, so its setpoints are actually pretty accurate.
3. Network, part 1
There are a lot of telephone jacks in this house, but the only one that had a good enough signal to allow the DSL modem to sync was in the back room on the first floor. My linux box (which serves as firewall, router, web server, etc.) is in my office on the second floor. The result was a 100' ethernet cable snaked through the entire house. I decided that I ultimately want to end up with my network equipment in the entry to the attic on the second floor, and the DSL modem right next to the point of entry in the basement. I installed a telephone jack in the basement right at the point of entry, and pulled several runs of Cat6 from the basement to the attic (one for telephone, two for ethernet). I got bitten by the central wall offset again and ended up with a second hole into the dining room wall. I also discovered that the studs in the wall that I chose to install the network terminations in the attic are sideways, so the wall cavity is only 1.5" wide. The hard way, by ending up drilling through the wall into Diana's study a couple times. Grr. But, terminating Cat6 jacks with a punchdown tool turned out to be trivially easy, and I no longer have a bright blue ethernet cable running through the whole house.
4. Power, part 1
I didn't really want to tackle pulling power cables yet, but in order to move network equipment into the attic I actually needed a power outlet in the attic. 12/2+G is a very different beast from signal cable; it's stiff enough to push through holes, which is nice, but it's also stiff enough that you can't pull it around corners, which is annoying. And, the attic is still on the original house wiring from 1931 (or 1937, depending on the handwriting), sharing a circuit with half the rest of the house. I really didn't want to rewire the attic, either, but this was apparently the time to do it. I figured I could take the opportunity to install a light in the attic entry, so you could actually see the stairs heading up into the attic (and the network stuff, once it gets moved), and remove the old mechanical timer on the attic fan, which didn't work anymore.
Problem 1: I got bit by that stupid wall offset a third time while drilling holes to pull cable. It's really difficult to hit the top of the wall cavity coming down on an angle. It's really annoying to have missed three times in a row. I'm hoping that I'm nearly finished drilling holes, so I can patch up my learning experiences and move on. Problem 2: I ran out of cable in the middle of the first weekend, so I ended up with new outlets, but the lights and attic fan were still on the old circuit. Problem 3: I ran out of time on the second weekend, so I ended up with no lights in the attic. This weekend, I wrapped things up, so I now have outlets in the attic, and that room is no longer uses scary old wiring.
5. Network, part 2
This was just a little diversion after running out of cable while wiring the attic; I installed a network drop from the wall in my office behind the printer to the network termination in the attic. The one catch was the cross-brace halfway up the wall, which was a royal pain to drill through and pull cable. It took half a day to figure it out, but I didn't end up with any bonus holes this time. And, the printer no longer needs a network cable running across the floor in my office.
Looking forward, the next projects on the horizon are pulling network cable into my office and Diana's room, and rewiring the power in my office and Diana's room. The network cable will be challenging, as I'm going to need to pull cable down an exterior wall. The power wiring will be very difficult, for the same reason.
1. 2F Doorbell
The house had only one doorbell, in the kitchen on the first floor. It was quiet on the first floor and impossible to hear on the second floor, making it difficult to know when company was at the front door. I chose to work on this first, as the 18/2 used for low voltage wiring is very flexible and easy to pull. Problem 1: I discovered when drilling from the second floor to the first floor that the central walls are offset by about 6". Let's call this a learning experience; I ended up with holes through the kitchen ceiling and dining room wall. After that snafu, pulling cable was easy, and I now have a doorbell in the hallway on the second floor. Problem 2: The old doorbell transformer can't drive two doorbells. I got a replacement during the next trip to the hardware store, and it works like a charm. Problem 3: The new transformer buzzes. Loudly enough that you can hear it in the entryway, or even standing on the front porch. I'll have to break down and get a toroid the next time I order electronic parts. At least this is something I can live with for the time being.
2. Thermostat
When the heating system in the house (hot water, mix of radiators on 2F and baseboard on 1F) was zoned, the owners at the time apparently couldn't be bothered to run cable to the second floor for a thermostat for that heating zone. Instead, they left the bathroom / laundry room on that heating zone, and stuck the thermostat in there. But, that's by the drafty back door, and we had to keep the bathroom door closed all the time in the winter to avoid ending up with 80+ degree temperatures upstairs. This uses the same wire as project #1, and pulling it was just as easy. As a bonus, I took the time to level the thermostat when I moved it, so its setpoints are actually pretty accurate.
3. Network, part 1
There are a lot of telephone jacks in this house, but the only one that had a good enough signal to allow the DSL modem to sync was in the back room on the first floor. My linux box (which serves as firewall, router, web server, etc.) is in my office on the second floor. The result was a 100' ethernet cable snaked through the entire house. I decided that I ultimately want to end up with my network equipment in the entry to the attic on the second floor, and the DSL modem right next to the point of entry in the basement. I installed a telephone jack in the basement right at the point of entry, and pulled several runs of Cat6 from the basement to the attic (one for telephone, two for ethernet). I got bitten by the central wall offset again and ended up with a second hole into the dining room wall. I also discovered that the studs in the wall that I chose to install the network terminations in the attic are sideways, so the wall cavity is only 1.5" wide. The hard way, by ending up drilling through the wall into Diana's study a couple times. Grr. But, terminating Cat6 jacks with a punchdown tool turned out to be trivially easy, and I no longer have a bright blue ethernet cable running through the whole house.
4. Power, part 1
I didn't really want to tackle pulling power cables yet, but in order to move network equipment into the attic I actually needed a power outlet in the attic. 12/2+G is a very different beast from signal cable; it's stiff enough to push through holes, which is nice, but it's also stiff enough that you can't pull it around corners, which is annoying. And, the attic is still on the original house wiring from 1931 (or 1937, depending on the handwriting), sharing a circuit with half the rest of the house. I really didn't want to rewire the attic, either, but this was apparently the time to do it. I figured I could take the opportunity to install a light in the attic entry, so you could actually see the stairs heading up into the attic (and the network stuff, once it gets moved), and remove the old mechanical timer on the attic fan, which didn't work anymore.
Problem 1: I got bit by that stupid wall offset a third time while drilling holes to pull cable. It's really difficult to hit the top of the wall cavity coming down on an angle. It's really annoying to have missed three times in a row. I'm hoping that I'm nearly finished drilling holes, so I can patch up my learning experiences and move on. Problem 2: I ran out of cable in the middle of the first weekend, so I ended up with new outlets, but the lights and attic fan were still on the old circuit. Problem 3: I ran out of time on the second weekend, so I ended up with no lights in the attic. This weekend, I wrapped things up, so I now have outlets in the attic, and that room is no longer uses scary old wiring.
5. Network, part 2
This was just a little diversion after running out of cable while wiring the attic; I installed a network drop from the wall in my office behind the printer to the network termination in the attic. The one catch was the cross-brace halfway up the wall, which was a royal pain to drill through and pull cable. It took half a day to figure it out, but I didn't end up with any bonus holes this time. And, the printer no longer needs a network cable running across the floor in my office.
Looking forward, the next projects on the horizon are pulling network cable into my office and Diana's room, and rewiring the power in my office and Diana's room. The network cable will be challenging, as I'm going to need to pull cable down an exterior wall. The power wiring will be very difficult, for the same reason.