How to minimise impact of wiring Cat5/6 into Victorian house?
Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.39 PM
Hello,
We've just bought a 3-floor, 6-bed Victorian house and want to wire it for Internet using Cat5 or 6 cables, using an accessible kitchen cupboard as the central routing point.
We'd like a socket for Ethernet in pretty much every room, so the wires need to go all over the house, but we're keen to avoid making much mess as we're on a budget and don't want to have to pay for replastering all the walls.
Which of the following methods would you recommend / are safest?
* Running under the floor, along joists
* Running under the floor, through joists
* Going down (unused, clean) chimneys
* Running behind skirting boards then putting them back
* Cutting channels in the walls, plastering over
* Running alongside mains power cables, wherever they happen to be (not sure yet)
* Something we haven't thought of?
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
to avoid any electromagnetic interference between data and main power cable , regulations state , so minimum distance between data cable and power cable should be not less than :
For instance, the minimum separation distance between unscreened power and unscreened UTP cable is 200 mm. This is reduced to 50 mm for screened data cable and to just 30 mm if the power cable is screened.
as I can assume Your power cable are not screened / standard PVC-grey/ You will have two option
- more expensive screened data cat6
- standard cat6 , but You need to keep distance
going to the point to avoid any not necessary damages my recommendation is running cable under the floors , as much is this possible and using any clean zone suitable for cabling / BS7671 state exactly how the cable shall to be run in cabling zones on walls, floors etc/ so You will need to invite an electrician who will make a survey and help You with planning this works
Cabling would be best run through joists under floors, your best bet is to keep network cables away from power as they do interfere with each other, you would be fine with cat5e to be honest but for long term future proofing cat6 is the common choice
you do need to consider where your broadband/router is positioned as if its not in the central cupboard you will need to get a cable to it.
You will also require a Network switch in the Cupboard to distribute the signal throughout the house so ensure their is sufficient power for this.
They also sell cat6 in external form this is sometimes an easier option if your not confident lifting floors etc
