Adding a coax outlet in a room - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

I-Hate-Hulse · 03-20-2011, 11:37 PM

Currently my co-ax outlet is on the west wall of the room. I'd like to add one on the east wall. Unfortunately, snaking a cable around the room behind the baseboards isn't possible as there are doors. To further complicate things, both walls are exterior walls.

The basement below has a finished ceiling, but I'm not opposed to cutting an access panel to get directly below the where the future TV will go. From here a piece of cable could be routed along a joist to the panel.

The million dollar questions - who do I call to fish wiring like this? AV installer? Electrician? Someone else? Any recommendations?

pylon · 03-21-2011, 12:22 AM

Pull off the baseboards, and CAREFULLY pry back the door casing and you should be able to figure it out from there. Just make sure your carefully score the ridge between the baseboard/casing and drywall with a utility knife first. I have done this numerous times, and it is pretty easy stuff.

Reattaching the door casing and baseboards is as easy as buying a 30 dollar brad nailer from princess auto, and 2 bucks worth of white wood filler.

Mrs. Rathji · 03-21-2011, 12:27 AM

If you are a Shaw customer then call Shaw. Will cost $49.95 I believe and they will fish it in where it needs to go.

pylon · 03-21-2011, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. Rathji

If you are a Shaw customer then call Shaw. Will cost $49.95 I believe and they will fish it in where it needs to go.

^^^ LOL, or do that....

Wow, learn something new every day. As much as I love breaking out my tools to play amateur handyman, that seems far more sensible.

Thanks.

Pinner · 03-21-2011, 05:53 AM

The Shaw installer I got was an idiot, so I wouldn't count on that. Shaw will likely want to run the cable on the out side of the house. Sometimes that can be an eyesore, other times the cable can be well hid.

With a single story house getting from the west side to the east side would be easy via the attic, depending on which way your roof slopes, drilling down through the top of the wall could be easy or a major pain.

bossy22 · 03-21-2011, 07:46 AM

Do NOT use shaw. They take the easiest route possible. I had one guy drilling holes through my closest and running cable on the outside of the casings, in plain view. I flipped when I got home. I had to get an electrician in to fix their eff-up, which Shaw did eventually pay for.

J Diddy · 03-21-2011, 08:56 AM

An electrician can do the job for you. I've used Calgaryelectical.com and they were extremely professional.

There are also integrated systems companies that might be able to help like data-4 (http://www.data-4.com/) or creativetsi (http://www.creativetsi.com/site/) but I assume they would be expensive. I would think to call and ask would be free.

Edit: You may also want to consider running a couple cat5/6 and another coax if you are going to go through the trouble too.

Rathji · 03-21-2011, 10:03 AM

My brother used to work for a place that did this. Don't know what they charge but the place was called SmartSpace I think.

I helped him do his house and it was pretty easy. Hardest part is getting the cable into the attic if it isn't already there. Otherwise just get in the attic, split off the existing cable, and drill a hole through your cap and fish the new cable down to your box. You can cut the hole the right size, and not even need to do any drywall repair, just make sure it is in the right place so you can sink a small screw to mount it on the stud.

The only equipment you need is a drill with a good size auger bit($10 for a 7 bit set at Princess Auto), and fish tape ($17 bucks at princess auto), and something to cut the hole in your wall with.
I also second the idea that you should fish at minimum 1 cat5 cable along with it, even if you don't terminate it, because sooner than later you will wish you did.

Bill Bumface · 03-21-2011, 10:32 AM

If you use a reno box you don't even have to worry about being beside a stud, they just grab right on to the drywall.

I-Hate-Hulse · 03-21-2011, 10:59 AM

Thanks everyone - I think I'll try a few electricians for now. The home AV guys seems to come at a premium. I too have had Shaw staple coax to the exterior of a house and drill in and and somewhat wary of having them do this.

The best option seems to be to route it up through the floor boards (there is a 2nd floor above unfortunately) from the joist below and along it back to the panel where I can tie into the splitter.

Doing this however, it would seem like I have two options:

1) route it up inside the wall and have it come out to a proper outlet (possibly a reno box as some have mentioned).

2) Drill straight up through the floor and have the cables sprout up from the floor.

I'd much rather prefer 1) but given this is an exterior wall I'm wondering how this will work with the vapor barrier / insulation behind the drywall. Or is such a small hole not an issue?

EDIT - Thx JDiddy - Gave Creative a call - $100 a hour is not much more than what electricians want. I'm counting on them to do this neatly!

csnarpy · 03-23-2011, 12:01 AM

Uh, pm me if you like, I run wire's through houses everyday for security and used to run rg6 for satellite. we can set something up for beers or a bottle if you like...