Home Automation - DIY Home Wiring

I've recently bought my first house which is 60 years old and needs a bit of work.
While I'm patching, stripping, and painting (walls are still in place, though, I'm not pulling down the plaster) I thought it would be a good idea to run wires everywhere. Since it's old, it only has one or two phone jacks and a single cable outlet.

I've read about wiring your home, and the article on this site
http://doityourself.com/electric/rightconnections.htm
Recommends hiring a professional. I've got a friend experienced in wiring cable and phone, and I have to think that he and I can do this. Don't kink up the cables and bring everything to a central location. Use Cat-V for both phone and internet, RG6 for the cable.

Finally, my questions:
1. Am I kidding myself? We can do this, right?
2. Where to locate my "hub" room. I know all of these should come to a central location, but I'm not sure where that hub should be. My basement is a bit dank and dark, and the attic is usually quite hot. There is no real good place in the house itself, since it is so old and has a real dearth of closet space. I'm leaning toward the basement, but I guess I'll have to do some work to make something more 'moisture-proof' or something. Is there a panel or something I can buy that is a self-contained hub for all three of these?
3. Am I missing anything? I was simply going to run multimedia outlets (all 3) to each bedroom, the living room, and upstairs rec room.

Thanks - I know these are broad questions. If there are other resources out there, let me know.

Jesse

Wiring your home is easy... a lot easier than electrical work because you don't have to worry so much about frying yourself or creating a fire hazard. I haven't worked with plaster walls, but if you can do everything else you're planning, you can definitely do this.

A few suggestions -- if you haven't already purchased the cable, make sure you buy good stuff. Look at one of the structured wire systems -- they put 3-7 different wires in one bundle (usually 1 phone, 1-2 coax, 2 Cat5, and maybe some fiber). It's a bit more expensive than buying separate, but you only have to pull one cable instead of 3+.

If you buy separate cable, make sure you get good stuff. Cat3 works well for telephone wiring. Get something marked as Cat5 or Cat5e for your ethernet cabling. Don't buy anything less than RG-6 quad shield for coax cable. If you are planning to run speaker cable, video cable, or other home theater type connections (to, oh say, a projector), then go to a supply store (not HD/Lowes) and purchase some RG-6 quad shield solid copper core. The stuff you get at the big boxes is copper cladded steel -- good enough for cable, but not for A/V wiring. The solid copper core is exactly that -- copper through and through -- and will carry low impedence signals better. It's about 2-3x the cost of "regular" cable, but worth it. Better than putting speaker wire in your walls too, since it's shielded.

I recommend Leviton Quickport or similar style faceplates -- they're very handy for putting exactly what you need in each location, and means you can run up to 6 things to a single-gang wallplate, instead of having to cut 3 different holes for phone, cable, and ethernet.

As for your hub room -- central is nice if the home doesn't have walls yet, but unfinished is better otherwise. Your basement is a good choice, and I doubt you have to worry too much about humidity. Put a dehumidifier down there and it won't be an issue.

There are "all-in-one" products out there -- check Leviton, Square D, and just about any other big electrical supply company and they have solutions. They're considerably more expensive though and probably overkill for a 3 room project. You can buy patch panels for phone and ethernet pretty cheap -- look on eBay for real deals on computer switches and the like (I picked up a 48 port cat5 patch panel for $20, shipped... over $200 new). The downturn in the technology field has put a lot of gear out there for pennies on the dollar. Frankly, I don't know that you even need a patch panel if you're only going to wire 3 rooms.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Some follow up questions - forgive me if they're a tad basic:
1. Where can I get the structured wire you spoke of? Is it more A/V or a HD/Lowes thing? Electrical supply store?
2. Conceptually, the phone, Ethernet, coax, and speakers are all separate systems, and we're just leveraging the wire pulling by running them together, right? Therefore I can literally treat each one differently in my 'hub' area without one of those combo boxes.
3. Follow up - I've never seen a 'patch' panel for coax or phone. Is Cat-3 basically the same patch equipment as Cat5? Is there such a thing for coax?

Thanks,

Jesse

Home Depot/Lowe's may have the structured wiring now -- not sure. If they don't then your best bet is either a local electrical supply house or online -- a lot of websites carry the stuff, and the web is probably your best bet for research on what you need anyway. Search on google for structured wiring - I've never bought the stuff, so I don't have any particular recommendations. When I was wiring my house it was more expensive than it is now and didn't seem worthwhile. I think I would've saved myself a lot of effort with just a little more money though, so I do recommend them :)

Yes, they're all separate and you're just leveraging the pulling as you say. You can split them out however you need once you get to your hub room. Obviously, having things closer together is nice since then you don't have to sacrifice a bunch of coax because your ethernet panel is 10' further away.

Phone patch panels are pretty common -- I think HD/Lowe's may even carry them now. I got mine from my brother-in-law for free, and it's a wonderful thing. Radio shack may carry them as well. Basically you're just looking for a 4 conductor patch panel -- which could handle either cat3 or phone cable.

As for coax -- I asked the same question just a few days ago. After doing some more searching on the web I found some solutions, but all they really are is a few splitters and an amplifier in a box with a huge markup (as in $200 for $40 of equipment). So I'm sticking with high-quality splitters for now. I'll put in an amp if I need one.

Zathrus gives good advice, but I would be cautious and take your time doing research before you dive in. My business is wholehouse audio/video, and I can't tell you how many times we have been asked to come in and 'finish' a job that was started by a good-intentioned DIYer. Its not so much what to do as what NOT to do. Zathrus says wiring is 'easy'. I would agree that it doesnt take a great deal of skill to simply pull wire through open ceilings or walls. It takes a bit more skill and experience to fish wiring through closed walls and ceilings.
But thats not the point. Deciding what the correct combination of wiring is for your particular application...thats where a pro earns his money. Another thing you must consider is termination. So you get the wires from point A to point B. How are you going to terminate your coax? RG-6 quad wire is great, but if you mess up the ends it doesnt do anyone any good. Special crimping tools and ends are required, and they are not cheap. Proper phone termination requires a punchdown tool, again not always a cheap tool. Many of the tools/wiring/devices we use are not available at a local Home Depot or hardware store. They are specialty tools and wire that are found and suppliers for those of us in the business. I take many phone calls from people looking to purchase just wire and or parts, but they don't seem to really understand what they are after.
I admire anyone who wants to spend the time and save the bucks by doing-it-himself. Just take your time and make sure you have clear understanding of what you need to do.

Good Luck!

Doctorhifi

Thanks Doctor, and good words of advice there too.

Always take the time to do research. Always use the right tools. And while good tools do pay themselves back over time, also consider how much you're likely to use the tool -- I got a cheap punch down tool off eBay for $30. I know it won't last as long as a good punchdown, but I'm not a professional who will be doing dozens or hundreds of punches daily.

I would very much like to hear your views on coax termination -- it's what I have the least experience with. I have some crimp on ends and a decent crimping tool, but they're certainly not as good as what my cable company uses.

Oh yeah - if you're running coax, buy a coax stripper. They're cheap (around $5), work well, and are a lot easier and safer than stripping coax using a utility knife.