Comments on: How to Install an Ethernet Jack for a Home Network – Part 1

By: Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:51:42 +0000

> i went in the attic and i couldn’t find where i needed to drill to make the hole. how can i go
> about finding the right spot, when you cant see if from the attic?

There are several techniques for locating where to drill the hole in the top plate of the 2×4 wall to route a new wire or cable: 1) Measure the relative distance to the wall from a ceiling air vent and do the same from the air vent in the attic. Clear away the insulation to see where the drywall meets the 2×4 top plate of the wall. 2) Follow the electrical wiring in the attic to see where it routes down the top plate in the wall. Notice the nail pattern to locate the studs and drill your hole for the ethernet cable between the next set of studs. Do not route ethernet or phone wiring along the 120VAC wiring to avoid interference. 3) If you don’t have “landmarks”, drive a finishing nail in the ceiling directly above where you want to install the ethernet outlet, 2 or 3 inches away from the wall. The nail should pop through the drywall after 1/2 inch or so. If you hit something hard – e.g. ceiling joist or truss – pull the nail out and retry 3 inches to one side or another to avoid the joist. Go into the attic and look for the finishing nail. Now you know where to drill a hole between the wall studs. The finishing nail makes a tiny hole that is easy to fill with a dab of spackle. I used a similar technique to locate a new air vent in this project: http://www.handymanhowto.com/2010/07/05/speedi-boot-part-2/

By: kevin diaz

kevin diaz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:14:27 +0000

nice post!
i keep reffering to it. anyways i need to run some ethernet cables throughout my home. one to the living room, and two, to my brothers room. the main network is in my room (dsl router, cable modem)…

also in my room the techs ran my tv cable through a hole in the ceiling of my closet. i personally dont like it, especially when i have a hole in my wall by my tv and network that seems to be okay to use as a path to run the cables. i need to run the cable cord, a phone line cord, as well as the 3 ethernet cords i will need.
i went in the attic and i couldnt find where i needed to drill to make the whole. how can i come about finding the right spot, when you cant see if from the attic?

By: Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:33:19 +0000

Standard Cat5e is fine in the attic - tuck it under the insulation if you live in a really hot region like Phoenix. Your phone wiring and house electrical wiring are probably up there too with no problems. See this website for temperature rating info.

By: Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:25:16 +0000

An electrician would go through your thinking process looking for a simple direct route and use a combination of fish tape, nylon fish rods and/or string. It's common to cut several small holes in the drywall when there's no other way to get access. Notice that long flexible drill bit I used to drill through the horizontal brace between the 2x4 studs. That drill bit comes with an L-shaped tool to bend and guide the drill bit between the drywall cavity to drill a hole through the sole or top plate of a wall. I used this exact technique on another project pull wire for a clothes dryer hookup and it works well. It's not always easy and perseverance will pay off.

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:46:53 +0000

Continued from previous question….I might mention that there is a basement in our home, so all of our heating and cooling is down there not in the attic. If we ran the cable through the attic spaces do we need to use a weather protected cable?

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:36:07 +0000

Trying to run a single cat5 cable from an office in the middle floor of our home to an upstairs office on the 3rd floor. I have searched all possible options to fish it up there, current phone outlets, and cold air return ducts. The cold air returns do not go to the lower level and they contain electrical conduit piping. I was told not to run cat5 along side electrical wiring, only across it. The phone line runs up to the attic. I found where the phone line comes in through the stud down to the room but have not investigated it more to find out where it is leading from (I assume outside). I can get the cable from the lower level office to the garage (there is a common wall between the two), then I can run it up into the garage roof attic but then it would require me to start to cut wholes in my drywall to feed it through the master bedroom closet and up into the master closet roof attic. I am not crazy about the idea of cutting about 4 holes in my drywall to do this. There has got to be a better, more professional way.

If an electrician were to come in and run a cat5 cable what would be the route they would take?

By: Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Sat, 15 May 2010 04:16:00 +0000

> What did you use to cut the hole out of the wall plate. Begin by marking the outline of the outlet box as illustrated in Part 3. Drill a 3/8" or 1/2" diameter hole in a corner of the outline just inside the lines marked for the outlet box. The purpose of the hole is to get the keyhole saw started without tearing the drywall. Cut along the inside of the marked lines using the keyhole saw. > I missed those two mounting screws behind it that pulled out a chunk of my drywall with the plate... Yeah, that's an "old work" outlet box with the "wings" that extend as the mounting screws are tightened. Nifty invention. > Do you see any issues with this configuration? That will work. My WiFi router feeds my Ethernet switch. > Do you know if most switches (even the $10 – $20 ones) can handle the connection to the router without a crossover cable? Do yourself a favor and buy a quality 8-port 10/100 (or 10/100/1000) Ethernet switch for $50 to $75. A crossover cable isn't needed because your making LAN connections through one (or more) Ethernet switches.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:50:12 +0000

What did you use to cut the hole out of the wall plate. Last time I did a project like this is was for my DirecTV coaxials and I thought I could just pull the old wall plate out. Can’t believe I missed those two mounting screws behind it that pulled out a chunk of my drywall with the plate (wife still not over the damage to her unrepairable faux finish wall). Also, I had planned to run many of my wires from the various rooms up to the attic, plug them into a 5-8 port switch and then wire the switch back downstairs into a wireless router. Do you see any issues with this configuration? Do you know if most switches (even the $10 – $20 ones) can handle the connection to the router without a crossover cable?

By: Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:17:32 +0000

If I understand your description correctly, to summarize:
1) The 8-port Netgear Ethernet Hub is still there in the closet.
2) Four (4) Ethernet cables are plugged into the hub.
3) A fifth Ethernet cable is hanging loose and not plugged into the hub.
4) You have DSL service, the DSL modem is installed somewhere outside of the closet and away from the Netgear hub.
5) The DSL modem can’t be located in the closet next to the hub because there’s no phone line.

The problem is getting an Internet connection from the DSL modem to the Netgear hub.

Solution Description:
In general, the Internet connection will follow the format in this diagram – there needs to be a Cat5e Ethernet cable connection between the DSL modem and the NetGear hub:

First, you can use any of the Cat5 Ethernet jacks in the house to backfeed the DSL modem internet connection to the Netgear hub. You didn’t specify the Netgear model #, but it shouldn’t matter which port the DSL modem is plugged into on the Ethernet hub. You might use Port 1 on the hub just to make things easy to remember.

Second, that fifth Cat5e hanging cable might be the one that was used for the broadband service feed by the prior homeowner, or it might just feed another jack, or maybe not connected to anything. Experiment by plugging it into a spare port on the hub and seeing which jack it lights up by plugging your laptop into the jack and seeing if the connectivity LED lights up on your PC. You can do the same for the other four ports and jacks to trace the connectivity. Label each with a piece of masking tape as you trace it out.

Hope this helps,
Bob Jackson

By: candice

candice — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:43:13 +0000

I hope you can help me, I moved into a new place and I have this box in the closet that contained a Netgear Ethernet Hub with eight ports. All the wiring seems to be done already and the jacks are all installed. There are four ethernet cables in the first four ports on the hub which I assume are to go to the four jacks but then there is a single ethernet cable hanging that goes into the wall somewhere. My internet got hooked up today and the tech did not know what to do. I can’t hook up the modem to the hub directly since there is no phone line around. Do I need a router then? I am sorry if this is a dumb question. If it helps, each jack has a ethernet, phone, and cable outlet.