routing cables thru attic to garage - seeking advice

[xmfan]

Happy Hump day friends

I am planning to climb up in the attic to start routing my cables. I will route around 10 cables from various endpoints then they will all meet and bundle up at the garage wall.

Question: I will need to pass thru that bundle of 10 cables thru the drywall of the house into the attached garage. While I am relatively handy and thought to use one of those hole saws used on a new door when installing a lock, would that be ok or is there something better?

Also, most likely, the hole in the wall might be slightly bigger than the cable bundle, what can I use to 'plug' up the hole to create a weatherproof seal around the cable bundle? hope this made sense.

Any tricks and tips offered would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

[griffths]

Most likely the wall between your house and garage is considered a fire-stop and therefore you should maintain the integrity of the fire-stop.

My first suggestion would be to use a short piece of 1-1/2" EMT (thin-wall conduit) to penetrate the wall with then run your cables through the conduit and seal each end with a fire-stop rated caulking.

If you decide not to use the EMT through the wall then, at a minimum, I would use the fire stop caulk on each side of the wall where your cables go through. Keep in mind that if you ever have a fire in the garage and without the metal pipe in place, the wires will melt away and you will be left with a hole that the fire could pass into the house through.

Unlikely, but we all wear our seat belts and have home and auto insurance for the what-if's...

My .02 and worth every penny.

 

[mat200]

Happy Hump day friends

I am planning to climb up in the attic to start routing my cables. I will route around 10 cables from various endpoints then they will all meet and bundle up at the garage wall.

Question: I will need to pass thru that bundle of 10 cables thru the drywall of the house into the attached garage. While I am relatively handy and thought to use one of those hole saws used on a new door when installing a lock, would that be ok or is there something better?

Also, most likely, the hole in the wall might be slightly bigger than the cable bundle, what can I use to 'plug' up the hole to create a weatherproof seal around the cable bundle? hope this made sense.

Any tricks and tips offered would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Hi xmfan,

Definitely recommend a short section of EMT or similar to run the cables through.. and then some sort of firestop product... hmm... we had a few good links in a thread on a GB product that was reasonable. ( looks like a block of clay, greenish... can't find the reference here right now though )

 

[xmfan]

@mat200 and @griffths - guys, thanks SO much for this valuable info.
I'm on home depot website, looking for EMT conduit as well as firestop rated caulking.

 

[xmfan]

I did some quick math, 10 cables bundled add up to 2.48" in diameter. I got the outer diameter of one cable then multiplied by 10

With having an additional 1/2 inch "wiggle" room, I was thinking to use this 3" EMT fitting. I can then seal it with the fire retardant sealer

Otherwise, I would need to buy a long pipe and cut off a very small section. Getting the fitting seems quick(er)

 

[Walrus]

I did some quick math, 10 cables bundled add up to 2.48" in diameter. I got the outer diameter of one cable then multiplied by 10

That's not how it works. It'll be much smaller.

 

[griffths]

@xmfan, your math is faulty.

I made the assumption that you are using IP based cams so figured 10 cat5e or cat6 drops. If I am correct in my assumption then the overall diameter of the hole needed will be MUCH less than 3". Even if you are running the analog Coax stuff you should be able to get 10 drops through a hole much smaller than 3" in diameter. Heck you could probably even get 10 drops of Siamese coax through a hole smaller than 3".

 

[griffths]

And to followup on your other question, anything metal will be better than nothing but if it were my install, I would use a piece of EMT WITH the following fittings AND also plastic bushing on the threads of the fittings to protect the cable from nicks and cuts.



But I like to over engineer and make large projects out of small ones.

My napkin math as well as the fill chart I attached above tells me that even 10 cat6 drops will fit comfortable in a 1-1/2" EMT conduit.

 

[xmfan]

@griffths - you are correct in assuming, I am doing ip cams, using CAT6 cable.

ya know, what a bonehead math I did.

Checking monoprice website, the outer diameter is 6.3mm, I then multiplied with 10, got 63mm which equaled to 2.48", well THAT would make sense if I was STACKING the cables one on top of the other

indeeeeeeed, a 10 cable 'bundle' won't take up 2.5" diameter

 

[xmfan]

And to followup on your other question, anything metal will be better than nothing but if it were my install, I would use a piece of EMT WITH the following fittings AND also plastic bushing on the threads of the fittings to protect the cable from nicks and cuts.

View attachment 41563 View attachment 41566

But I like to over engineer and make large projects out of small ones.

My napkin math as well as the fill chart I attached above tells me that even 10 cat6 drops will fit comfortable in a 1-1/2" EMT conduit.

I am the same way. I like that suggestion, will keep that in mind when get the correct fitting size

 

[mat200]

AH, OK! Found the reference here on ipcamtalk, thanks to Solar Deity for posting this elsewhere here

GB Duct Seal ( Gardner Bender - tags: fire block, duct seal, fire stop )

Review-I'll be the guinea pig for the new SD59225U-HNI PTZ.

Just some standard GB duct seal. It's awesome waterproofing putty.

Expensive at Amazon.

Amazon.com: Gardner Bender DS-110N 1-Pound Duct Seal Compound: Home Improvement

$2.99 a lb at local Home Depot/Lowes

Shop Gardner Bender 1-lb Pug Duct Seal at Lowes.com

Gardner Bender 1 lb. Plug Duct Seal Compound-DS-110 - The Home Depot

The boot wouldn't work as well here with the limited space behind the mount.

SD

Note also thanks to Tony who also mentions it here:

Bringing cables from attic to garage POE switch

 

[xmfan]

@mat200 - thank you for your research and posting the additional relevant thread links. I will certainly go through them to gain additional knowledge.

 

[tigerwillow1]

To find the bundle diameter I'd just cut 10 pieces of the cable, a few inches long each, and bundle them with a rubber band.

 

[tangent]

I am planning to climb up in the attic to start routing my cables. I will route around 10 cables from various endpoints then they will all meet and bundle up at the garage wall.

Are you sure the garage is the best place to terminate the cable? Pictures / drawings / blueprints are always helpful when discussing such things.

Were you planning to just put a network switch in the garage or an NVR / PC?

 

[bababouy]

If you are you going from the attic to the garage, are you going to cut a hole in the top plate of the wall, then fish down the inside of the wall and come out of the drywall into the garage?

 

[xmfan]

Are you sure the garage is the best place to terminate the cable? Pictures / drawings / blueprints are always helpful when discussing such things.

Were you planning to just put a network switch in the garage or an NVR / PC?

@tangent - I will take some pics. The drawings, blueprints are works in progress, I am no where near having a usable picture of my house …. but yes, there will only be a POE switch in the garage and one data cable will be routed to the home office to a PC running Blue Iris.

I debated for a while, deciding whether to convert the shelf of the hall closet as 'network shelf' or install in the garage. I was concerned with the additional heat in the unfinished garage (no insulation) but some one (from Palm springs, CA) posted info of their PoE switches running flawlessly in the garage with no issues. That being said, I will put a couple of small fans on the switch's vents to help with the airflow.

Based on that, I decided to go with the garage.

 

[xmfan]

If you are you going from the attic to the garage, are you going to cut a hole in the top plate of the wall, then fish down the inside of the wall and come out of the drywall into the garage?

@bababouy - There is an entry door from garage to the house. I plan on cutting the hole over that door, about a foot below the unfinished ceiling in the garage. All the cables will come from that dry wall hole (there will be an EMT conduit). Once the cables exit, they will run down about 5ft to a ubiquiti 8 port-150w switch mounted on the wall. One of those ports will have a CAT6 (existing) cable that will route the data back into the house to a PC that will run Blue Iris.

 

[tangent]

@tangent - I will take some pics. The drawings, blueprints are works in progress, I am no where near having a usable picture of my house …. but yes, there will only be a POE switch in the garage and one data cable will be routed to the home office to a PC running Blue Iris.

I debated for a while, deciding whether to convert the shelf of the hall closet as 'network shelf' or install in the garage. I was concerned with the additional heat in the unfinished garage (no insulation) but some one (from Palm springs, CA) posted info of their PoE switches running flawlessly in the garage with no issues. That being said, I will put a couple of small fans on the switch's vents to help with the airflow.

Based on that, I decided to go with the garage.

You can always pop one of these in the wall in a larger closet:
ELK-SWB28 Structured Wiring Box, 28 inch