Standard install = crawl space wiring?

[cornflakes]

Hi everyone, DirecTV is coming out tomorrow afternoon to install a Genie system. I want to ask you folks to see if you know the answer to this.

Most of my house is prewired. I paid a company a lot of money to do it for me. I have CAT5e and RG6 cables from various rooms running into a closet in my office, including feeds from up on the roof for the satellite feed.

Except my living room... Stupidly I didn't have the technician install it there because I was already over budget, and I have a room set up for my home theater, so at the time, I didn't think I would have a TV in the living room.

Well, now I have a TV in the living room.

So the question is... Will the DirecTV installer run a wire between the living room and the office closet for me so everything is centralized? The only way to do that would be to run it beneath the house through the crawl space. Or will he just drill through the exterior wall and run exposed wires?

Is having the installer do a nicer job an option?

For what it's worth, the install job, minus the fact that my living room is not wired, should be pretty easy for the installer because everything else is already hooked up and wired... But I don't think that factors into anything.

Any help? Thank you!

 

[cornflakes]

Also if it helps... I've already drilled a hole behind the wall through the floor and into the crawl space in the living room. I attempted to run the wire myself, but the crawl space is just too tight (and frankly it's dark and creepy down there), and I don't really have the proper tools to fish wires...

 

[superiorman01]

I think your second post answered your first. Tell the guy you will give him a big tip if he runs the wire for you.

 

[cornflakes]

I don't have a problem tipping or paying... If this sort of thing isn't part of the standard install, I just need to be prepared for it...

 

[raoul5788]

It's not part of a standard install. Some installers will do it for the right price. That's a discussion you should have with him.

 

[mdram]

both my dish and directv install were wired in a crawl space at no additional cost, its th eonly way to run the wires

 

[Joe Diamond]

Count the blocks.

Three cinder blocks or more in height down there is possible to EZ. Less than 18" or below two blocks gets difficult to impossible. Crawling in mud probably won't happen after he leaves your house he has to arrive somewhere else clean and ready to work again.

Any light down there? What he will probably want to do is push a bunch of cable down one hole and push it back up the other while routing it over pipes and ducts...having a wood rod around to help find the holes would help as would a light....you want to keep cable out of standing water....stuff like that.

Joe

 

[Liquidforce88]

Running in a crawl space is no extra charge. Fishing walls is.

Now if the crawl is so tight you can't move around in it, if it has standing water or it's really nasty the tech may not go down in there.

The thing that has me orried is the cable from the roof to the closet. Does it run by the house common ground source. Going straight from the roof to the closet will not work.

 

[mr_tv]

I have always done it as a standard install. It is when they say I need you to come down from the attic that I start discussing wall fish rates. Most crawl spaces are pretty easy. Another option... Do you have a room next to the living room that has service. I have often connected to the service in the other room and poked a coax through the wall and put a new plate it the room that I just poked the coax into.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Most crawl spaces are pretty easy. .

Must not have many dirt floor 2 stack with AC ducts around you. There are many in my area that you can't hardley move under them. If I can't crawl on my hands and knees, where I have to get down and belly crawl it, I don't go in the crawl.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Must not have many dirt floor 2 stack with AC ducts around you. There are many in my area that you can't hardley move under them. If I can't crawl on my hands and knees, where I have to get down and belly crawl it, I don't go in the crawl.

"Sir, where is the entrance to your crawl space?"
"You afraid of snakes?"
"Nevermind!"

Joe:

 

[Hutch1814]

"Sir, where is the entrance to your crawl space?"
"You afraid of snakes?"
"Nevermind!"

Joe:

Had a guy tell me once that they had a 4-6 ft snake in the crawl space that's been there for about 2 years. Safe to say, the house was wrapped when I left

 

[cornflakes]

Thanks for all the replies... So the outcome was this...

The installer originally wanted to run a cable to the exterior wall then up to the roof. He also suggested running an exposed wire around the door frames which I felt was even worse. We looked into he possibility of running it up to the attic and back down in the other room but due to the configuration of the house that wasn't possible.

I asked him a couple of times about running a cable through the crawl space and he came up with alternatives instead. But I was polite and asked if there was any way to make the install as clean as possible, and if that's the only way, go ahead and run the cables in the least intrusive way he can, and I'll hire someone to run the cable under the house and rewire it for me in the future. He said he'd look at the crawl space. So I showed it to him and he said "oh, this will be easy, lets just do that." There were no discussions of tips, additional fees, or moaning about how he shouldn't do this because his supervisors may come check the work and blah blah that I often hear.

(My crawl space is dry... LA weather... Fairly clean, it's just cramped that's all)

So he went under there, used a 12' pole that I had lying around to help him reach certain places, and he was done within 10 minutes in there.

The rest of the install was perfect. Couldn't be happier (well, would be happier if he didn't drag his feet as he walked on my clean carpet with his boots but that's a different story).

I tipped the man $80 for the crawl space work. He was surprised and happy to receive that.

I did the rest if the wiring behind the walls myself, the genie client c31 boxes are so small they're easy to hide behind the flat screen. Awesome!

 

[raoul5788]

I'm glad it all worked out for you. BTW, you are a generous tipper!

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks for all the replies... So the outcome was this...

The installer originally wanted to run a cable to the exterior wall then up to the roof. He also suggested running an exposed wire around the door frames which I felt was even worse. We looked into he possibility of running it up to the attic and back down in the other room but due to the configuration of the house that wasn't possible.

I asked him a couple of times about running a cable through the crawl space and he came up with alternatives instead. But I was polite and asked if there was any way to make the install as clean as possible, and if that's the only way, go ahead and run the cables in the least intrusive way he can, and I'll hire someone to run the cable under the house and rewire it for me in the future. He said he'd look at the crawl space. So I showed it to him and he said "oh, this will be easy, lets just do that." There were no discussions of tips, additional fees, or moaning about how he shouldn't do this because his supervisors may come check the work and blah blah that I often hear.

(My crawl space is dry... LA weather... Fairly clean, it's just cramped that's all)

So he went under there, used a 12' pole that I had lying around to help him reach certain places, and he was done within 10 minutes in there.

The rest of the install was perfect. Couldn't be happier (well, would be happier if he didn't drag his feet as he walked on my clean carpet with his boots but that's a different story).

I tipped the man $80 for the crawl space work. He was surprised and happy to receive that.

I did the rest if the wiring behind the walls myself, the genie client c31 boxes are so small they're easy to hide behind the flat screen. Awesome!

You tipped him $ 80 ?

WOW, can I be of any help for you ?

 

[cornflakes]

LOL oh it's well worth the $80 considering how much time I've wasted trying to figure out how to do it myself!

 

[charbison4]

I don't have a problem tipping or paying... If this sort of thing isn't part of the standard install, I just need to be prepared for it...

I work for dish net and it is our standard to run the wire the way u want it unless u want the wire fished down through an insulated exterior wall