At Home In The Woods

[charlz]

I'm still trying to figure out a good way to bring my Cat 6 cables from the floor and ceiling trusses into the network closet. You can see a hole in the back left corner of the closet that we have cut for running the wires through the floor. I may have 40+ wires coming through the floor. The wife doesn't like having an open hole in our floor. The electrician suggested enclosing the hole in the floor with a "boot" used to run a vent pipe through a roof. I'm just trying to figure out how to prep this area before drywall and sheetrook.

If any of you guys could post some pictures of your security panels and Cat5/6 network panels, I'd appreciate seeing them to get some ideas.

How are you going about terminating all the wires? Are you going to use an 'home structured media panel' or are you going with a 'backboard'? We have a structured media panel so all the wires just run inside the walls into the panel. Sits in the wall just like an electrical panel. One thing they did do that I really like was to stub out some low voltage conduit (flexible plastic stuff) from the panel to the attic and crawl space areas. This allowed me to easily additional cables when I needed them. I have a wireless internet provider and had to run CAT5 to the antenna location. Make sure you have some outlets there for hubs/wireless routers etc etc

 

[Obed]

Here are the latest brick pictures. Some of the new brick is covered with plastic to protect it from the rain.

 

[Obed]

How are you going about terminating all the wires? Are you going to use an 'home structured media panel' or are you going with a 'backboard'? We have a structured media panel so all the wires just run inside the walls into the panel. Sits in the wall just like an electrical panel. One thing they did do that I really like was to stub out some low voltage conduit (flexible plastic stuff) from the panel to the attic and crawl space areas. This allowed me to easily additional cables when I needed them. I have a wireless internet provider and had to run CAT5 to the antenna location. Make sure you have some outlets there for hubs/wireless routers etc etc

I won't use a "home structured media panel"; I prefer to just make my own system using network patch panels and attach them to a piece of plywood mounted to the wall. I plan to terminate the wiring like I did in our last house. I'm assuming the home automation controller will also be attached to the plywood. All the Cat 6 wiring will be terminated at a patch panel. I can then run patch cords between the patch panel and the home automation controller where needed. The security wiring for the sensors and door contacts will most likely be terminated directly into the security controller panel.

These pictures show the network closet in my last house. There are 3 conduits running through the floor that are filled with coax and Cat 6 wire.

Obed

 

[charlz]

I won't use a "home structured media panel"; I prefer to just make my own system using network patch panels and attach them to a piece of plywood mounted to the wall.

What we call a backboard then. You can run those D rings like you have in your pics, there are smaller sizes available, down to the floor. If you lace the cable neatly it looks pretty good. Here is what a properly laced cabling system should look like (random pic off the internet but shows what I mean)

Can also run plastic cable duct down to the floor: Wire Ducts, Wiring Duct, Cable Ducting, Cable Routing That stuff is pretty expensive and you don't get the covers unless you order a full case. I would have to look but I think I have had some 2x2 grey with covers laying around... might send it to you just to get rid of it


BTW if you are really paranoid you can either buy fire resistant plywood for the backboard or paint regular plywood with fire resistant paint.

 

[Obed]

More brick.

 

[dcyrilc]

Here is what a properly laced cabling system should look like (random pic off the internet but shows what I mean)

Someone has had lots of practice.:laughing:

 

[Obed]

This morning I talked to the brick workers about how the end of the second retaining wall would be bricked. About 30 minutes later, the brick mason showed up and left with all the workers. No progress today.

 

[Obed]

Bureaucracy Continues

It appears there is more to the eviction story. When we moved our camper onto the west Knox county lot that we we rented for 3 years, we cleaned up the lot. We mowed chest high grass, planted grass and shrubs, and grew a garden. As you may recall, this past December, we moved our camper off of the west Knox count lot and onto our property where we are building our house. The timing of this move was predicated by getting told by the Knox County zoning office that we could not live on the rented lot in our camper.

The lady from which we were renting the lot is elderly. She used to live on that lat until her single-wide trailer burned down. After the fire, she moved in with her sister in her sister's single-wide. Since then, her heath deteriorated until the point where she is now in a nursing home. Her only income is a small social security check which I suspect now goes to the nursing home. So the money we paid her for rent was a great help to her.

Well, after the county forced us to leave the lot, there was nobody available to mow the grass. Our landlady certainly could not afford to pay to have the grass mowed. So the grass on the now vacant lot has not been mowed at all this year and is very high. Keep in mind that the lot is zoned for agricultural use and is out in the country.

About a month ago, our landlady got a notice from the county that said she either needed to mow the lot or they would fine her $450! Can you believe this? I was dumbfounded when my wife told me. You would think that the county would have better things to do. Based on our dealings with the county, it is probable that someone complained to the county about the lot's not having been mowed.

I am now suspecting that Jim may be the person who filed the complaint that resulted in our eviction. Jim lived in the house behind our landlady's lot. I talked about Jim here. Jim and our landlady had some history before we moved there. There were apparently some property boundery disputes between the two. Our landlady's lot is between Jim's house and the road. His property only has about 15 feet of road frontage; his lot is what is known as a "flag lot". I wouldn't be surprised if Jim might be wanting to buy the lot and could be trying to force our landlady to sell it quickly and cheap. She obviously does not have money to pay for someone to mow the lot. And $450 fines add up quickly. Our living on the property and paying our landlady rent while we were there would have been a hinderance to motivating the owner to sell. Making us move and filing anonymous complaints to the county about mowing could play right into Jim's hands if he wanted to buy the lot.

 

[jayste]

Obed, I'm sure you're spot on with the reason behind the county notice. Sounds like old Jim could be putting the squeeze on her to sell and sell cheap.

 

[Defective]

There has to be a member with a bush hog somewhere close. Wouldn't friend Jim have a fit if the lot got cleaned up?