Network Rack Install—Attic Penetrations—Best Practices...

[MacFun]

In a residential situation, with a new network rack being mounted in a closet, how would you handle the attic penetration to get Cat-6 (10-20 cables) and fiber from the attic to the closet living space? I assume you would:
a) drill one or more holes in the top-plate of wall and install new low-voltage box in the sheetrock (avoiding wall cavities with high-voltage wires), high on the wall and bring all wires through the top of the wall in the attic down through the wall cavity and out of the newly cut box. Then dress up the closet with a nice faceplate and to go the extra mile, seal the wire penetrations at the top-plate.

OR

b) make a hole in the sheetrock ceiling…. If so I would assume you would have something special to dress up that penetration….

I'm assuming "A" is the pro option. Also, I assume that you would mount the rack on 3/4" plywood.

Please tell me how the professionals might handle this aspect of an install.

R

Attached: the actual closet destined to be my NOC... This will be a rental or leased home.... this closet will likely be locked.

 

[bp2008]

There are already a lot of cables coming into that room. Can't run them through the same spot for consistency?

Attic is straight above this? It wouldn't be particularly pretty but I'd probably just buy a chunk of large PVC conduit (at least 2" diameter) and feed it straight up through the drywall ceiling. I'd seal between the conduit and drywall with transparent or white silicone/caulk. Then after feeding cables through the conduit, I'd stuff a rag into the conduit to prevent significant airflow moving through it.

 

[MacFun]

There are already a lot of cables coming into that room. Can't run them through the same spot for consistency?

Attic is straight above this? It wouldn't be particularly pretty but I'd probably just buy a chunk of large PVC conduit (at least 2" diameter) and feed it straight up through the drywall ceiling. I'd seal between the conduit and drywall with transparent or white silicone/caulk. Then after feeding cables through the conduit, I'd stuff a rag into the conduit to prevent significant airflow moving through it.

The wires on the right are primarily (quantity: 8) Belden 8768 (6 shielded pairs per cable)that my dad ran these when the house was new in 1978, he was an electronics technician for NOPD. I always thought these wires were alarm related but on closer inspection they seem to be for an intercom system or something unknown. Since my dad passed in 2014 it's too late to ask about the original intent. At this point I think I need to put a cover over this bay and seal this off. The way this is run, I think that a large air-gap is in play and dust and dirt from the attic is in play. Also since the rack will be straight ahead and high on the wall the existing bay on the right is also not convenient location. Also, we still need to air-seal this bay. At the moment, I'm thinking option A. I've done it this way many times and it seems to make the most sense. And, Elon likes it. Okay, inside joke.... whenever I ask Grok... I tell my GF that "Elon said...." or "according to Elon...".

R

 

[Flintstone61]

You could come thru the ceiling dryway right next to a joist so you have a "bite" on some wood to fasten a pass thru wall plate, but it might be hard to insulate vs. the PVC pipe suggestion by @bp2008 which could be stuffed with firestop after the cables are pulled.