I'm building a new house and have run RG6 from a central structured wiring panel to all TV locations as well as two runs into the attic to the area where the dish will be mounted. Right now those two cables are just hanging on a truss in the attic, and I'm wondering if there's anything else I should do with those two cables while everything is still open to make it easier on the dish installer so he doesn't have to crawl back into the furthest recesses of my attic to do something I could have done beforehand. Where do installers usually make the penetration from the attic to run the coax outside? Do they typically go directly through the roof? Or do they go through the fascia on the edge of the roof? Or should I just leave it alone at this point and trust that the installer will take it from there when we move in?
New construction prewire at roof...
- Thread starter turjohn
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 23
- Views 3K
While you're up there, I'd run a couple or three of Cat 5 as well. In the future you'll never know if you need eithernet and if not, you can always split off the wires in case you need audio or power run up there. You may, in the future also add an in-attic OTA antenna, I have one inside my attic and it works great. Needed a RG6 and also I was glad to have an extra wire for the pre-amp I purchased.
Also when the soffits are open, you might want to talk to the electrician about wiring for down lights or switched flood lights to the outside of the house.
In the vicinity of the planned dish location, under the eave, terminate the 2 rg6 cables in a deep double gang box, just below the top plates of the exterior wall. The installer can drill a hole in the weather resistant plate to accommodate the rg6.
Typically, penetrations into the attic are through the soffit. Just make sure the tech doesn't have to crawl all the way down to the eave, where it's a very tight space
No kidding. It would be virtually impossible to drill downward from inside my attic. So I drill up from below. Even in that case it's not easy to snag the cable from the inside.
I put together a couple of wall fish rods with a piece of ground wire shaped into a hook taped to the end so I can push it down there and try to grab the cable. Not always easy
If I was building a new house I would run conduits from my attic and wall plates back to the electrical panel or at a minimum an accessible point in the basement. I can't tell you how many times I have had to fish a coax, CAT 5 or HDMI cable. When the technology changes (and it will) you can easily add whatever cable you need. Central vacuum pipe is cheap if you don't want to buy PVC.
SmartHome sold an orange “interduct” flexible conduit (orange for low-voltage as opposed to the blue flexible conduit for AC power) with a nylon braided pull tape already inside. Then, you can pull whatever cables are needed back to the home run box. Just remember to pull another length of pull tape along with the cables in case you need to run more In the future.
Also, don’t forget the ground block where the cable(s) enter your house.
Also, don’t forget the ground block where the cable(s) enter your house.
And no more than 2-90° bends in a single run or may be too difficult to pull through.
And that is the best solution. Have those cables accessible and if you're pre-running coax in from the outside, take into consideration the need for Satellite (up to two cables), OTA and Cable internet, meaning four cables to the home run point from outside
Well, no current setups really use three cables although you can ask why not four to install an international dish, which in my experience is more common than two Hopper 3s with a DPP with a 42 switch but the answer to that would be to put the 42 switch outside and use the two cables to run inside to a hub and splitters or taps
I remember the days of the super dish, dp34, 322's and 522's before diplexers and separators. Gobs of cable to make it all work...lol.
Yup, that was me as well. A fist full of cables running all along the eve's of the house!
They sure are. That reminds me. Ever since my gutter contractor placed leaf deflectors on, my cables have made an unsightly mess from where they go off the roof and then enter through the soffit...
