Cabinet Installed for large home install, Plus prewire pics

Firefighter

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I know this isn't strictly cctv stuff. If that's ANY issue let me know, we did 7 ip cams in this post.


Hey guys, this is a nicer house we've been prewiring and thought you guys might get a kick out of some of the IP related stuff and work during construction.

We did all the low voltage in the house including IP CCTV.
In this house, the IP CCTV is a very small part of what we did. ( 7 Cams )

Obviously lots and lots of cat6.
some cat5e, Alarm wires, Speaker wires, Coax etc...

Got the cabinet up yesterday and all of our low volt pulled through.

The cabinet swings open for easy access to the multiple patch panels and equipment we'll have to put in there.

Here's an older photo when we did the prewire.





And just got the swinging cabinet up...



Each room has 2 plates and most look like this with about 7 rooms.

Next to the beds where a night stand will house each rooms equipment like
tv box, dvd player, game system or audio player for the room.






And plates behind the tvs in each room

Coax RG6, HDMI (from other side of room) (2) Cat6 and (2) cat5e.
The 2 cat5e's have a specific role. One is for controls of tv/ir etc...
The other is cctv display from main closet. Cat5e can stream 4k no problem but not sure if the stream is 4k or 1080p yet for this specific install. Regardless it's plenty fine for the purpose.
One Cat6 is for Data and the other cat6 is a spare/extra. Lots and lots of other Cat6 data drops through out the house. Door bell locations even got cat5e for video door bells.

Regardless, every single port has a 2" smurf tube in case anything needs replacing or adding.




So here's some photos of the smurf tubes. Every port got one that runs all the way to the attic for future access if anything needed to be replaced, added or removed.

2nd floor tv location, you can see the downstairs smurf tube as well to the right.



2nd floor room with the 2 story entry foyer in the back ground.
Again 1st floor smurf continues through the floor.



more







smurfs in the attic before being secured to be above blown in insulation etc...



Anyway, I thought some people here might enjoy the photos of how pre wire is sometimes
ran in a larger residential home.
This guy has fingerprint scanners for his doors coming into the house.
I was surprised to find they're relatively cheap now at $159 from home depot/lowes.
Something I'll be replacing my digital locks with so i can get in faster with that bag of groceries.

I'll come back with an update once we punch down everything in the cabinet.

You guys would shoot me if you saw the camera locations. But, you can only persuade the client so much before they tell you they'll just hire someone else who will do what they want. Oh well.
Their in the eaves, way up high. I get it though, it's a gated area inside a gated community so he just wanted general coverage. I did manage to talk him into one inside the garage atleast incase someone broke into his cars or made entry into the house that way, and I managed to get one above the front door. Wasn't having it eye level. The video door bell maybe help, not sure what boss has got to install there. Maybe ring. Better than nothing...

front porch with a front yard eave cam also in the back ground.
Turrets. 8MP ip, Again you can tell clients all day that a 2mp star light has better night image and clarity
and sometimes it doesnt matter. If the neighbors have 4k, they have to have 4k.
And if you don't do it, they'll hire someone who will. I say this again because I'm well aware the 2mp starlights are better night performing cameras but until you're literally told face to face "I'll just hire someone who will do what I want" it can be hard to understand sometimes.




Here's the living room



I'll return back when we get more done.
 

hikwpg

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No strain relief on those bundles?
No jhooks above either?
Should have stubbed down that wall with pipe to a proper junction box, rather than just a hole in the drywall. At least then you can add a cable easily in the future. Spray foam on the top plate etc. We always run a spare, empty pipe for that reason.

Edit- by proper junction box, I mean anything other than those god awful low voltage tubs! So flimsy!


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Relief loop and everything is up top. It's a huge attic. Your not looking at the top in the photos.
That's not a hole on the wall.... it's a box.
The box is in the very first photo... lol
There was nothing else fitting in between those studs so no, its plenty fine. Anything else would require a new box anyway. Thanks for the cc though.

Its plenty easy adding anything you need in the future.
Plus you wont have to worry about tearing out a misfit box because you were trying to future proof. Theres already lots of extra cat6, and I'm sure whatever you need to add in the future will not fit or be the box you install "just in case". The. You'll have to tear the box out and install the right one and it's a waste of money and time. Theres lots of room and access in the rest of that utility network room to add or run anything you could possibly want in the future. Been there done that. This specific install didnt need it.
 
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hikwpg

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Looks good overall.

We typically pipe everything in wall for added protection, easy additions, and fire rating.
No matter how much you pull, there never seems to be a cable where they want to add something!
We don’t use core line or smurf tube or w/e Americans call it.

There are some really cool in wall cabinet/boxes that are listed for electrical as well. You can prewire your receptacle inside. It’s nice to just hang the cabinet and terminate.



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hikwpg

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When you cut out the back of the cabinet, how did you cover your edges? Looks like tape.

Have you seen this stuff?
Grommet Material, 30 ft. | Middle Atlantic

I use it on everything from cabinets to transformers. Anytime you cut an odd size hole, this stuff is awesome.
Cut to length and it covers everything nicely.


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Firefighter

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Absolutely, that box has an outlet in the bottom of it on it's own single breaker in the box for powering the swinging cabinet which in turn will power all of the equipment that will eventually go inside. The electrician hadn't done that yet in the photo. Photos are randomly timed.
First photo is from about 8 months ago. Cabinet photo is from this week.

Yeah definitely times where we install piping in the wall for future proofing when it feels like its needed. These walls are now spray foamed, so that's why we used smurf tube to every single plate location, we had to have flexible pipe. Future proofing wall wise. This home was very specific, they will never move the bedroom layouts. Religious reasons dictate which direction they sleep, so this custom home is built and wired very specifically... some thought was put into future owners which is why we ran extra plates with everything to other walls. Ie above the fireplace. He said he will never put a tv there, but obviously most will so we ran that too.

I defintly understand, lol. This client has already changed some hard wired stuff to wireless on us so even more will be extra now. Oh well.

The back of the cabinet is pre cut. So no sharp edges. If it ever needs to be cut yeah we use the same stuff you linked. Boss put the cabinet up while I was terminating ends so I'll take a closer look when I go back...
Between the wall box/drywall and the cabinet is a 3/4" 2ft x 4ft piece of birch wood that we bolt to the studs securely, then we secure the cabinet to the board providing a well evened out spread of the weight across the studs. We find it more secure especially when you start swinging a fully loaded cabinet. Lots of weight.
 

Firefighter

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Hell that does look like tape. Lol
Must have not had the rubber trim you linked, it's not done yet.
 

hikwpg

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I love seeing stuff like that.

Post more when you get them.
I am sure there are other guys in here who would benefit from your pics.


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Tom Lorek

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When we built our house two years ago, I had the builder run 4 smurf tubes from the basement into the attic above the garage and then into the attic above the second floor. Cost $200. With an unfinished basement, I can pretty much run what I want where I want, although what I’m looking to do with it is *very* small potatoes compared to what Firefighter has done!

Sooooo much easier to do plan for future runs before / during construction than afterwards.
 

mark_whocares

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what part of the country is this in ? just based on what I see for the HVAC makes me thinking "southern half of the US".
 

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TN, I hate the soft ducts. I replaced mine with hard ducts in my own home.


Edit: What makes you say that? I only ask because I find it interesting how different parts of the country do things differently. I'm genuinely curious what makes it obvious the havac is in a southern state.
Apparently this soft duct cant be pinched off or kinked, I'm not an hvac guy... just overheard the installer telling the owner that. This house has 5 separate multi ton units.

I'll have to upload the photo of me in the attic.
 
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Looks like middle TN, that construction style and build actually looks like an ole south build even down to what looks like farrer bros wrap
 

looney2ns

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TN, I hate the soft ducts. I replaced mine with hard ducts in my own home.


Edit: What makes you say that? I only ask because I find it interesting how different parts of the country do things differently. I'm genuinely curious what makes it obvious the havac is in a southern state.
Apparently this soft duct cant be pinched off or kinked, I'm not an hvac guy... just overheard the installer telling the owner that. This house has 5 separate multi ton units.

I'll have to upload the photo of me in the attic.
The only benefit with the flexible duct is for the installer, a lot less labor intensive than proper ducting. Hard duct whenever possible for best efficiency.
 

CCTVCam

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Slightly concerned you don't have enough Cat5 connections for the Tv's. These days, the TV, the set top box, the cinema audio system and maybe even the BluRay player, will need an internet connection. That's 4 plus the CCTV. Who knows what else will want connecting, an Alexa or similar maybe? Would have though these days you maybe need 6 behind the TV on that basis to cover now plus future needs.
 

Kevin_Essiambre

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Slightly concerned you don't have enough Cat5 connections for the Tv's. These days, the TV, the set top box, the cinema audio system and maybe even the BluRay player, will need an internet connection. That's 4 plus the CCTV. Who knows what else will want connecting, an Alexa or similar maybe? Would have though these days you maybe need 6 behind the TV on that basis to cover now plus future needs.
8 port gigabit network switch. Problem solved.

On another note, I like the way you did this All! Way more lines than the house I'm doing (5k square feet).

Also, hi I'm new on this forum.

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mark_whocares

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TN, I hate the soft ducts. I replaced mine with hard ducts in my own home.


Edit: What makes you say that? I only ask because I find it interesting how different parts of the country do things differently. I'm genuinely curious what makes it obvious the havac is in a southern state.
Apparently this soft duct cant be pinched off or kinked, I'm not an hvac guy... just overheard the installer telling the owner that. This house has 5 separate multi ton units.

I'll have to upload the photo of me in the attic.
i'm not an HVAC , builder, construction ..etc anything. so this is just an amateur observation.

that said, seeing soft ducts and some of the other "styles" of how wiring is run ..etc reminds me of when I was seeing it in TX and NC. New construction I've seen within Colorado lately I always saw it done just a little differently and I don't see as much use of soft ducting in Colorado/Wyo.
 

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The TV box's will all be "wireless" and there won't be cinema type audio in every bedroom. There's a theater room for that. Still, we ran stuff to every port in case it wasn't wireless.
If the multiple ports arent enough, theres always the conduit already there in case it ever needed another wire. It should be fine though.

Here's that attic pic I said I'd upload. There's 5 Air Units up here and this is just one part of the attic. It's crazy huge. I'm 6'5"....
prewire etc...

 
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