John Hendow

In the past few years I’ve installed a fair amount of cable in our house. The current total is something like this:

• Cat 5E : Over 1100 feet and counting. This is both for the internal data network (gigabit throughout the house) and the voice lines. Early in this project I completely removed all pre-existing phone lines from the house and pulled all new cable. This has greatly improved stability and allowed us to switch to digital voice. There are a few additional data drops to install, but we’re getting pretty close to having the data lines completed. Then again, I keep discovering places in need of a network port…
• RG59 : Over 400 feet of new cable is now installed in the house. When Comcast digital cable was installed, the tech simply ran cable along the outside of the house, around the back, and through the wall behind our TV. I never liked having it on the outside and eventually removed it, pulling the line up into the attic and running inside the walls for a cleaner install. In the process of doing so I decided to pull additional feeds for the garage and upstairs.
• Speaker wire: Over 500 feet of CL2/3 rated 12-gauge speaker wire is already in place. I’ll be installing more as we continue to expand the whole-house audio system. We’re enjoying great audio throughout the upstairs, in the garage, and on the deck.

And of course there will be more…