how to hide cat5 cable installaton from 1st fl to basement?

[luv2liv]

im installing 8 dome cams in the house. walls and ceiling are all dry wall. so im thinking the best way is to run all the cat5 down to the basement and have the NVR unit there too.
is this the best and clean way to hide the cat5 cables? viewing from the side, you can see i will run the cat 5 inside the wall, then pull it out to insert it into the basement. would be nice if i dont have the cable sticking out on the floor. my fear is hitting a firewall and that just create more work of patching the wall up and painting later.

or should i just buy cable covers from home depot? the ones from home depot isnt great because the plastic cover are only 3ft long, have to use another cover to cover the cover, looks like coupler....
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Legrand-Wiremold-CordMate-Channel-White-C10/202059078

 

[Micrornd]

You should run into insulation as pictured and it will be tough guiding the wire.

Can you drill into the wall cavity vertically from the basement?
If you can, then you could push fish sticks upwards to your destination.
Using an "old work" box would allow you to reach into the wall to find the fish sticks without making an oversize hole and would allow a secure mount for your camera.

Another alternative would be to run the (proper) cabling in the ductwork if you have AC or heat with hot air.

 

[luv2liv]

oh you are right! i forgot about insulation.
the good news is that there are ductwork. after googling about ductwork, i see most people use the return duct. how to identify which is the return? i've never even touched the duct so im a little worried there will be air leaking. looks like i need to find a good youtube vid on this. if that's too much work, i might as well use cable cover.

 

[NetWareHead]

If you cannot drill up vertically from the basement into the wall cavity, try this. Peel off the mopboard/base molding from the wall. Drill a small hole as close as possible to the drywall in the floor. Snake the cat 5 cable up through this hole and then dive into the wall via another hole. You will need to chisel out a recess in the molding for the bend in the cable. Reinstall the molding and use it to hide the hole

 

[NutBucket]

More detail needed batman! Is this a single story home? Is there attic access? Where do you plan on installing the cameras?

Also, easy to identify return ducts. Start by noting which ducts are not blowing air when the fan is on. Generally these tend to be in the floor (guessing your furnace is in the basement).

 

[bommy261]

I would do some research about running any cable perpendicular or parallel with a cold air return. You could find that you maybe in violation of the NEC.

I know for electrical power cables, you can only run romex electrical wire perpendicular to the cold air return. Any runs parallel with the cold air return you have to transition to a MC (metal clad) cable.
I believe if you want to run a cat5 cable parallel to a cold air return as well as between floors you will have to use a "Plenum" rated cat5 cable. Regular old cat5 patch cable isn't meant to be installed behind drywall.

Plenum cable is designed to not release as much toxic chemicals were it ever catch on fire.

 

[NutBucket]

If you're worried about cables catching fire you got much bigger problems! I get the NEC requirements for 120 given you could potentially electrify the entire HVAC system. Low voltage signals/cabling is benign in that sense.

 

[NetWareHead]

I believe if you want to run a cat5 cable parallel to a cold air return as well as between floors you will have to use a "Plenum" rated cat5 cable. Regular old cat5 patch cable isn't meant to be installed behind drywall.

Plenum cable is designed to not release as much toxic chemicals were it ever catch on fire.

You only need to use plenum rated cable if running said cable in the actually plenum. Not really a territory of residential construction. Commercial construction for instance makes use of the air space above a drop ceiling for air movement and this space constitutes the plenum (it usually is the return for an area or floor). A fire that burns cable in the plenum will quickly contaminate the air quality in the rest of the building as smoke is distributed through the ducting and building. Plus plenum rated cable is more expensive so dont buy it unless really needed.

I suppose if you ran cable inside air ducting that it would be prudent to use plenum rated cable. Just stick with riser cable when running through the walls and patch grade cable for your individual connections (e.g. between a switch and server)

 

[luv2liv]

2 stories + basement house.
i plan to install 3 outside cam. 1 on the 2nd flr bedroom, 4 on the 1st flr. most likely i will run the 2nd flr cam outside. so there will be total of 4 cat5 running outside. it will look ugly but that's ok. the house is already ugly.
i think i will use cable cover for the 4 cams on the 1st flr. making it simple.
for the other 4 external cat5, looks like i need them to be rated outdoor, because cat5e is not good enough? and for them to enter the house, i will plug them into cat5 surge protector like this one: http://www.l-com.com/surge-protecto...-10-100-base-t-cat5-lightning-surge-protector still not sure how i can ground them properly. hook the ground wire to a water pipe?

 

[Eug]

Yeah, I just run mine on the outside of the house. Heluvalot easier install. You just need outdoor CAT5e/CAT6 and long drill bits, plus masonry drill bits (+/- hammer drill) if you're going through brick/cement.

You can get waterproof cable that is gel flooded, but that's overkill, plus the gel is flammable. Plus, I find as a DIYer that the gel is really annoying to work with because it leaks out at the ends of the cable. I now just use double-sheathed outdoor cable that has a UV-resistant outer sheath. Regular CAT5e/6 is not good enough because it only has one sheath, and that sheath will break down in sunlight and in the elements. The previous owner installed some regular CAT5 outdoors and while it still works 15 years later, the outer sheath is all faded and looks like it's going to crack if disturbed. The outdoor rated non-gel stuff looks like RG6 in thickness and seems to tolerate the elements quite well.

In the last picture, IIRC, the top horizontal cable is RG6, and the thin middle horizontal cable is fibre optic. The curved cables going into the hole are also outdoor CAT6.

Maybe I'm stupid, but the only one to which I added a surge protector was one that is partially buried and is going 200 feet away to a gazebo. I grounded that using the electrical ground, which in turn is attached to the main water pipe in the basement. The ones going maybe 20 feet on the side of the house I didn't bother grounding.