RE: I need a break

["Tim" <timsyahoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cor, that brings back some memories!
I remember running my cables under floors - lifting carpets, cutting access
through chipboard floor sheets etc. Very hard work, but ultimately it's
worth it.

SWMBO is still a little unconvinced as to the scale...but it's all getting
used gradually.

There's also some parts of the house still to do, but these are very tricky
to get access to, so they may have to be wireless and/or the Ethernet over
mains devices.

Once the aches have subsided you'll realize what an achievement it was, and
how much you saved yourself by D-I-Y :-)))

Cheers,

Tim.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Bendall
>=20
> I am shattered!
>=20
> Since Friday night I have been working on linking my integrated
> garage with the loft space so I can run cabling across the loft space
> and then drop down to Node0. The house is fairly modern so I had a
> small void between the plasterboard and thermablock.
>=20
> I started on Friday by creating a hole in the daughters
> wardrobe "floorboards" which are sheets of plywood. All went
well and
> managed to miss the water pipes and gas supply pipes (why are
> plumbers so lazy and notch the joists just below the floor level?)
> Also made a small hole in the plasterboard in the wall above the
> skirting. Then drilled through the plasterboard between the skiring
> board and the void in the floor.
>=20
> Moved up to the loft space with my torch and clambered across the
> joists to where I had measured I would need to start drilling. I had
> my trusty Bosch Green SDS drill and a 400mm x 8mm bit. Started
> attacking the "dabbing" that held the plasterboard below to
the wall
> and created the void space. Not easy but patients prevailed. Also
> uncomfortable as the loft wasn't boarded in this area so had to be
> careful of feet positioning and bent around a roof trestle. Once
> through with a large enough hole to fit two 35mm PVC conduits I then
> pushed the first conduit down and it went fairly easily. However, the
> second one would not go more than a foot, so back to the drill. This
> went on for an hour!
>=20
> Finally, after bending a couple of conduits out of shape in
> frustration (ok more like temper) I managed to get the conduit down
> three of four feet before it stuck once more and would make no more
> progress. With the torch out of juice and my mood dark I called it a
> night.
>=20
> Saturday morning and I returned to the task and concluded I was going
> to have to remove more plasterboard to attack the probable blockage
> from below and also realised the conduit I had wasn't long enough to
> go the full height of the room anyway. So with Stanley in hand I used
> a screwed piece of wood to score a nice straight line and remove a
> piece of plasterboard about 4 feet long. Fighting with the dabs of
> adhesive I removed the drywall and then used the SDS chisel
> attachment to remove the remaining adhesive. I then added a bit more
> conduit to my first run and attached it with some hardened steel pins
> which were designed to be hammered into masonry. Then it was back to
> opening the hole up for the second conduit. It seemed to take ages, a
> good hour or so from below and then above in the loft. But
> perseverance paid off and finally I could push down the second length
> of conduit and fix it in place.
>=20
> It was then down to the integrated garage to drill a series of holes
> into the ceiling to break into the room above and meet up with the
> existing work. That was easy as the ceiling was just two pieces of
> plasterboard. Then I used a 47mm surface mount single back box to
> provide a junction to the existing cabling and the uplink to the loft
> space. For now I only really need one cable but I have doubled up to
> two. In the future I may also need to run Cat5E cable for hardwiring
> computers. Plus I also have the option of running a dedicated power
> supply from CU to the loft. So although I am using =BC of just one
> conduit I have the option of sending up another 14 cables if required
> with no additional work.
>=20
> Now for the easy bit running the cable from garage to loft. My HA
> system is from IdraTEK and I have used shielded and stranded Cat5E
> cable for the wiring. A few months ago I purchased some electrician
> rods from TLC-Direct and this makes it very easy to run cable. From
> the loft I dropped down four sections of the rods and then used the
> cable grabber attachment (it is a wire mesh like a Chinese Finger
> Puzzle so when you pull cable it grips tighter the harder it is
> pulled whilst pushing the mesh opens it up so you can feed the cable
> in and out.)
>=20
> With the cable runs completed it was a case of making good with a
> sheet 0f 9.5mm plasterboard and 18mm plyboard from the local Wickes.
> 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.
> But it is worthwhile as I can easily add more cables if the need
> arises. Plus dropping from the loft space is going to make for a fast
> 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=20