All my background has been in commercial. So, I am sending out work to electricians that need a data guy. Problem is, some of them do residential work. I have not done any residential work before. I imagine it is easier then commercial IF, it is new construction and the wall board is not up yet.

What do data guys use to terminate the voice cabeling with in houses? I would think that bix is a little over kill. Secondly, I imagine the termination is in a walk in closet where it comes in though the floor? Or maybe just a junction box with beanies. With home theater and smart homes being built, I imagine it would be something on the order of a bix wafer.

Thanks

For voice just use a square QBB1A (or B) connecting block with screw terminals, unless it's a really large residence, in which case I use BIX Definitely BIX if there is a system involved.

Don't use beanies. Makes it harder to trouble shoot.

I do commercial and residential wiring however I'm a looooonnnngg way from BC. With that said, I would look long and hard before jumping into residential. Commercial wiring to me is much easier than residential and commercial customers are "more" likely to understand the expense of wiring. Residential customers always want the walls fished etc. but are not always understanding with the costs etc. On another note, if you do a good job you keep your commercial customers and you work on "your" wiring instead of always working behind someone else in residential. Unless you're like me, a rural area where if you don't do it all you don't eat. Then you do whatever you can.

As far as the connections. I just regular 4p4c wall plates unless there is data also run (which I always suggest). in that case, I use keystone inserts for both voice and data. And for the termination point, I NEVER use junction box to house my connections. I bring all of my wires to a central place near where the alarm system with terminate. As a last resort I make my connections in the attic (we don't have basements) but they are always accessible. I punch all voice wires down on a 66 block (they're cheap) and find that its much neater and faster than beanies. Then its also set up for any future changes that could be made. Again, I never place these in a JB. Thats the things you find in residential work and the JB is always located behind some piece of furniture that you can't get to. Good luck.

I use 66 blocks also...I know Dave and the guys from Canada don't like them
A lot of new homes have those smart wiring panels which have a module for phone that terminates on 110. Not sure if they use those in your neck of the woods though.
Give me a space to install a nice backboard to mount everything (phone, data, video) on and I am happy!

Jeff...as a short reply and not to distract from the original post.. No, structured wiring etc is not real common here. I do come across the panels that connect 110 however it normally with large PBX's. yes, you hit it right...give me space, I'll provide my OWN backboard and I'll be happy also.. good day! PS-- I believe the smart wiring panels are a bit (no alot) pricey for what you get. Call me someone who doeens't want to give up the old way but I don't see the benefits versus the expense.

They're also junk in my opinion. If you insist on using a "block" for residential, stick with BIX. 66 Blocks are soooooo passé in Canada.

Yes, home runs are always best, just like commercial, but I couldn't care less where the alarm panel is. Run them back to a spot near the D-Marc. If it's outside, run ONE wire inside then go from there with your connections.

Hey Dave, my only point with making terminations at the alarm panel is where all involved equipment is centrally located which makes cross connects and troubleshooting a little easier....you also have electricity there for the future. Just a preference. However if the panel isn't convenienty located I do my own thing......as far as Bix, not going there....but if I lived in Canada I'd surely use Bix ....I'd be afraid not to, 66 block equals death by hanging.... just joking....good day!

In new house construction, we treat the installation exactly the same as a small industrial or business job.

All voice, data, TV, alarm wires are home runs, and all go to the same place. Feeder wires go from wherever the utilities bring their circuits into the building to our backboard. We specify a minimum of a 4 x 8 sheet pf plywood, furred out so that wires can be passed behind the board.

We specify a 15 amp dedicated receptical for us, and one for the alarm panel.

We have a policy about the Leviton whole house boxes: whenever we see one, we throw it out and rewire the system in a sane and orderly way. Thank God for Leviton. Without their ill-conceived and bizarre equipment, I would never have been able to stay in business this long.

We terminate all data wires on one or more 12-port panels (same footprint as a 66 M block).

All voice wires on 66M50 blocks, for ease in cross connecting and trouble-shooting.

**WE** run the alarm feed wire, so it's run neatly, correctly, using the correct wire type, and not otherwise f'd up. We leave it with a tag at the alarm panel.

Everything is terminated on ICC brand keystone jacks at the far end.

We install a shelf for the modem, router, UPS etc to sit on. When building the shelf leave an inch space behind it so that patch cords and power cords can hang down out of the way.

Around here that f/n panel could be hidden anywhere, even in attics (supposedly so a burglar can't find it).

Thanks for the information. Now as for routing the wire to each drop, is it fed though holes drilled in the center of the studs or for example on the center of the walls top plate ?

Personally, would also avoid residential. Warranted issues would scare me if something happened to the wire in the walls. Would be very expensive to replace it since it is behind sheet rock. Perhaps if the wire was in the attic and fed down a hole in the walls top plate, would not be so expensive to replace if something happened.

BTW, what is the typical length of time for a warranted on commercial and residential wire installation?

Do whatever it takes to protect the cable from DRYWALLERS!

It only takes one drywall screw to "screw" with your perfect installation, and by that time everything in closed up tight!

One thing I did was put a metal strip on the stud or plate where the 'rockers' might run a screw!(Which is pretty much everywhere!) And then there are the IDIOTS that use a router with a 1 inch long bit to route out the box behind 3/8 sheetrock.

I know in one home construction show, there was a building law that required metal plates in front of plumbing pipes. That will prevent a screw or nail from piercing the pipe.

But for general home construction, does the wire enter in from the top plate and go down say from the attic? that would make alot of sense.

I was thinking of drilling horizontal holes across the ceiling joist leading from the demark to the walls top plate, then push plastic conduit down or up, into that hold to the wall plate and pull the cable though it after that part is done. IS this how it is done? I can also just visit some home construction sites to see how its done.

In my experience low voltage residential wiring is done with the same overall methods as the rest of the electrical.

In general you find a path that reduces the amount of ladder work and drilling to keep the installation time low. You need to avoid mechanicals and keep a good separation from line voltage cabling, a reasonably direct route, and satisfy code.

Generally I go from the mud ring up the side of the stud to the attic. Or down the stud and through the bottom plate to a lower floor. Staple along the side of a truss or floor joist to reach your central path. On the studs staple your cable near the mudring, run about a foot past the mudring and staple again a couple of inches from the end of the cable. When the wallboard is on and hole routed you can reach in and pull the cable out of the last staple and out of the wall to terminate. The cable will hopefully be in the center of the stud, far away from the drywaller's rotozip with this method.

I find a centralized path that most of the cables will head toward and when I get them that far I pull them all together through any holes necessary to reach the demarc. Don't drill any engineered lumber or trusses, find a way around.

99% of builders will want you to to be fast and cheap. Standard practice is to home run all phone cables from jacks (maybe 6 or so runs in an average house) directly to the demarc box. Leave a couple feet and let Telus deal with that end. Only in that other 1% of average houses will you get to do some more elaborate wiring involving a backboard or punchblock of any kind.

Coax for Shaw will be the same unless you have more than 4 runs, they want a different box and extra runs to an amplifier location if you exceed 4.

Anything above standard builder grade houses and you should claim a 4' x 4' chunk of wall in the mechanical room for low voltage wiring and home run there, terminating on BIX blocks with a run out to the demarc. Good luck with getting space for a backboard. :-P

Mike

Mike, I wish you'd teach the sparkies in MY area! :dance:

Charles,

If I cannot drill though the ceiling joist, then I cannot run the cables over them. That would only last so long before they are crushed by contractor foot traffic. If the cables are run along wall edges then, that may make sense?