Re: I need a break

["ianh1000" <ianh1000@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Paul,=20

With a story like that you can understand why Wifi is so popular ;-)

My house has a similar construction and last year I started installing
our Comfort system, we have a nice hall that opens to the first floor.
I had great plans of teh screened cable from the door station simply
hidden between the plasterboard and the internal wall, told SWMBO that
a little "keyhole" work was all that was required.=20

What I did not realise was that the power for the outside light went
up 8" then horizontal. I spent ages with my trusty rods trying to
dodge what I thought were plaster dabs, in the end the wall looked
like swiss cheese! But hey now you would never know.

The best tip I can give is one I read here, for every cable you
"THINK" you will need lay at least double. You WILL use them and
it is
SO much easier to do it once! In fact I followed this rule and in two
locations should have laid 4x what I thought I needed.


Have fun!

regards
Ian=20

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Paul Bendall" <paul@...> wrote:
>
> I am shattered!
>=20
> Since Friday night I have been working on linking my integrated=20
> garage with the loft space so I can run cabling across the loft
space=20
> and then drop down to Node0. The house is fairly modern so I had a=20
> small void between the plasterboard and thermablock.
>=20
> I started on Friday by creating a hole in the daughters=20
> wardrobe "floorboards" which are sheets of plywood. All went
well and=20
> managed to miss the water pipes and gas supply pipes (why are=20
> plumbers so lazy and notch the joists just below the floor level?)=20
> Also made a small hole in the plasterboard in the wall above the=20
> skirting. Then drilled through the plasterboard between the skiring=20
> board and the void in the floor.
>=20
> Moved up to the loft space with my torch and clambered across the=20
> joists to where I had measured I would need to start drilling. I
had=20
> my trusty Bosch Green SDS drill and a 400mm x 8mm bit. Started=20
> attacking the "dabbing" that held the plasterboard below to
the wall=20
> and created the void space. Not easy but patients prevailed. Also=20
> uncomfortable as the loft wasn't boarded in this area so had to be=20
> careful of feet positioning and bent around a roof trestle. Once=20
> through with a large enough hole to fit two 35mm PVC conduits I
then=20
> pushed the first conduit down and it went fairly easily. However,
the=20
> second one would not go more than a foot, so back to the drill.
This=20
> went on for an hour!
>=20
> Finally, after bending a couple of conduits out of shape in=20
> frustration (ok more like temper) I managed to get the conduit down=20
> three of four feet before it stuck once more and would make no more=20
> progress. With the torch out of juice and my mood dark I called it
a=20
> night.
>=20
> Saturday morning and I returned to the task and concluded I was
going=20
> to have to remove more plasterboard to attack the probable blockage=20
> from below and also realised the conduit I had wasn't long enough
to=20
> go the full height of the room anyway. So with Stanley in hand I
used=20
> a screwed piece of wood to score a nice straight line and remove a=20
> piece of plasterboard about 4 feet long. Fighting with the dabs of=20
> adhesive I removed the drywall and then used the SDS chisel=20
> attachment to remove the remaining adhesive. I then added a bit
more=20
> conduit to my first run and attached it with some hardened steel
pins=20
> which were designed to be hammered into masonry. Then it was back
to=20
> opening the hole up for the second conduit. It seemed to take ages,
a=20
> good hour or so from below and then above in the loft. But=20
> perseverance paid off and finally I could push down the second
length=20
> of conduit and fix it in place.
>=20
> It was then down to the integrated garage to drill a series of
holes=20
> into the ceiling to break into the room above and meet up with the=20
> existing work. That was easy as the ceiling was just two pieces of=20
> plasterboard. Then I used a 47mm surface mount single back box to=20
> provide a junction to the existing cabling and the uplink to the
loft=20
> space. For now I only really need one cable but I have doubled up
to=20
> two. In the future I may also need to run Cat5E cable for
hardwiring=20
> computers. Plus I also have the option of running a dedicated power=20
> supply from CU to the loft. So although I am using =BC of just one=20
> conduit I have the option of sending up another 14 cables if
required=20
> with no additional work.
>=20
> Now for the easy bit running the cable from garage to loft. My HA=20
> system is from IdraTEK and I have used shielded and stranded Cat5E=20
> cable for the wiring. A few months ago I purchased some electrician=20
> rods from TLC-Direct and this makes it very easy to run cable. From=20
> the loft I dropped down four sections of the rods and then used the=20
> cable grabber attachment (it is a wire mesh like a Chinese Finger=20
> Puzzle so when you pull cable it grips tighter the harder it is=20
> pulled whilst pushing the mesh opens it up so you can feed the
cable=20
> in and out.)
>=20
> With the cable runs completed it was a case of making good with a=20
> sheet 0f 9.5mm plasterboard and 18mm plyboard from the local
Wickes.=20
> All that remains is to skim plaster over the plasterboard and paint.
>=20
> So a lot of effort for something that will hopefully never be seen.=20
> But it is worthwhile as I can easily add more cables if the need=20
> arises. Plus dropping from the loft space is going to make for a
fast=20
> and relatively easy deployment of HA to the upstairs rooms.
>=20
> But I am now shattered! Who said HA was supposed to make life easier?
>=20
> Paul
>