Discussion has been good on my initial “new home” post, so we’re following it up today with a video from the basement — which is made up of a large 22′ x 16′ common area, that I’ve claimed as my office and lab, two utility closets, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
The home was built in the mid-70s and wasn’t pre-wired for much, if anything, other than power and a couple of phone outlets. In the mid-80s, the house was occupied by 5 college students who had to have phone and cable in every room. And I suspect a good amount of the crazy coax, speaker, and phone wiring happened during their tenure. However, the previous occupants, of the last 25 years, came in with their own grand speaker plans.
As you can see in the video above, if we do migrate to Verizon’s FiOS TV and Internet services, I’ve found a pretty good wall to mount VZ’s ONT that provides easy access to power and existing coax runs to the basement and living room. Getting “cable” upstairs will still be a challenge and I wonder if they could leverage some of the existing outside wiring that pops into the home at a second location through the attic(s).
As I mentioned yesterday, the siding (and insulating boards behind it) is being replaced next month. So I’m trying to remove as many outside entrance points as possible ahead of the work. Phone cabling enters the house at three locations – into the basement utility closet, and on either side of the house. This is how things evolve, I suppose, and it was much more efficient than running wires within the structure. The phone line that enters near the chimney is being removed today, as I believe it only powers jacks in the dining room and garage. The line on the other side is less clear and may feed the living room and basement. I’ve activated copper phone service, which should go into effect today, solely to better trace these wires and perhaps help me cleanup even further.
In terms of “boxes” attached to the side of the house, I’m hoping to move that cable one recorded yesterday to the fence or a post assuming that meets code. I’d rather not sully the new siding with it and simply moving it a few inches should be efficient. The phone box disaster, as photographed over the deck, would over go away if we run with FiOS. That could be motivation enough.
I’ve made a little progress since the last post… having removed the speaker wire that runs out back and temporarily sealing the entrance point, as only one of the two outdoor speakers is still in existence and I just don’t think we’ll use it as configured. Another Sonos S5 on the deck or in the sunroom, as needed, is a better solution. The new heat pump is going in as we speak, and the crew created enough space for me to pull down some of the remnant aerial wiring. Unfortunately, in that area, I’ve discovered more abandoned speaker wire I’ll need to get to at some point. As soon as Verizon turns on the POTS today, I’ll start tracing and removing copper — hopefully both secondary runs.
Click to enlarge:
“Discussion has been good on my initial “new home” post, so we’re following it up today with a video from the basement — which is made up of a large 22′ x 16′ common area, that I’ve claimed as my office and lab, two utility closets, a bedroom, and a bathroom.”
I think there would be tremendous viewership for a 24/7 livecam feed in one of the utility closets.
Yeah, we’ll call it “Theater of the Mundane”. ;)
AC crew is still working. It’s mostly an all day job. Unfortunately, they’re where I want to be right now stripping out that speaker wire and tracing the phonelines. Still waiting for VZ to turn on the copper so at least I can work that one run on the side (which is relayed through the outdoor cable box). You can’t electrocute yourself on powered phone line can you? Maybe the PS3 will arrive and distract me for a bit.
Your electric meter is located in an odd place. From the picture, I am assuming it is coming up through a deck of some sort? The previous owner probably should have had the power company out to move it when they put the deck up (they usually will do it for free).
I hate to add to your list (since it seems long enough as it is) but you might want to have someone come check that out too.
Yeah, it’s up through the deck. There was a previous larger deck that wrapped around this area and the home originally only had one way out the back prior to the sunroom. Now there’s some french doors off the living area and they cut holes as you can see through the new deck (when they put it on just this last spring). Not sure if I have time to move the power before the siding work, but I will call. The old water heater powering cycling program has been terminated, so an electrician is coming out (on Dominion’s dime) to remove that box in two weeks – so that’s one less tumor on the siding (and cut through the deck).
But for every box I lose I seem to be gaining a new one. The AC crew just attached some sort of circuit breaker box near the outside fan unit to bring us up to code. The old AC stuff used to be near the meter and where its power originated from.
Maybe I need an electrician to clean all of this up.
we bought a home recently and decided to rewire the house in a few spots. the electrician was able to open up the walls, run the cables back to the homerun and close up everything in 2 days. it was really efficient and clean; we were repainting several rooms anyway so it wasn’t a big deal to have to repaint the patches. i wouldn’t be afraid to open up a few holes and have them patched up nicely. it ended up being easiest to find a run from the basement up to the attic; and then we dropped from the attic down to the second floor. And we were able to get from the basement to the first floor. worked out great.
Think I just solved the cable from the basement to top floor problem!
While older construction kinda sucks in that the laundry stuff is in the basement… we have a laundry chute straight from the top. So I think we run the coax through that duct work which ends only a few feet from the attic where the cable splits and drops into two of the four bedrooms.
So thanks, Andy, for triggering that thought process.
Great news on the laundry chute! That whole Copper phone box outside can be moved inside. Yes you can get hurt working on Phone lines. The are AC and save when not in use BUT when the line dings it jumps to 48 volts. So you think you are safe until come one calls and you scream.
Fire safety tip! Close off the laundry chute with firesafe insulation. This will provide a fire stop and make any fire much more contained. You can put it out again if you need to run wire.
If you are going to take the time to pull new coax. also pull a Cat6 line. Streaming HD works so much better over gigabit.
I noticed that your splitters weren’t grounded. Once you attach the splitter to a surface. Get a ground clamp and attach to the ground line. In video it was near the old antenna block. Then run a 12 gauge solid line to the ground screw on all splitters. the This not only protect you from static buildup on coax line but also grounds the shielding improving the interference resistance.
Being that washer and dryer are in utility room I would take some protection against humidity into design for enclosure of Fios or Cox connection. I usually get a storage container see link below. Screw to wall cut holes for wires and then seal the holes. I then put a strip of weather seal on edge of container. put lid on and the stuff is all safe.
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/07/31/49/98/0007314998686_500X500.jpg
But… I want to keep using the laundry chute. It’s cool! And surprisingly practical.
I have seen a few grounds around the place, but maybe not enough or in the right places. Based on the good commentary, I’m bringing in an electrician earlier than planned so assist with some of this (in addition to new recessed lighting, wall switch for the overhead bedroom closet, consolidate two rheostats and a switch near each other, etc).
Or maybe some of you guys can swing by to help me. :)
Don’t worry about phone wires. There is always -48v DC on a phone line (assuming is activated from the phone company or TA device). Superimposed ringing current is what will zing you, but certainly not kill or scar you. Just don’t lick the wires when someone is calling you :)
You can utilize the old phone wires (or speaker wires) as pull tap/string. So before you yank them, be mindful that you can re-utilize them to pull another string or wire with it. Provided the run isn’t stapled or the holes are too small to pull another cable through.
It never hurts to run some cat5e cable along with some quality RG6Q cable on all your runs. Worse case? You can tuck it away and use it later. But it’s harder to run a cat5 cable when everything is buttoned up!
Good news about the chute. That’s save you loads of time. But seriously, run some cat5e cable there too!
Also, I had all my old drop lines ripped from my house and just have a nice clean fios drop going into my house (into basement directly). The old phone and coax cable got dumped. I just wrapped the old drop around the telephone pole for the cable guy to deal with later. The fios installed just removed the old copper drop.
I then did the same things as you, resided. Looks great.
As for the old school TV antenna cables, they might hook up to the OTA tuner on your tivoHD for clean OTA HD signal, you know, in case you ever decide to cut the cord.
Bunk, any ideas how I can handle that orange cable-co cable going into the box on the side of the house? Can I safely cut that line and cap it in some way if I go FiOS? Hm.
Andy, the problem is those antenna cables are cut in multiple locations and no longer make it into the house or run clear across it. In fact, there’s a bunch of wire hanging from the roof near the chimney – probably visible in my first video. I assume either the roofing or siding guys will dump it.
Ah yeah, homeownership. I just painted our master bedroom ceiling and all the trim around 3 windows, 2 doors and closet.
When I ran new RG-6QS with Cat5e, I pulled the cable up to the attic through a small gap around the chimney for the furnace. Once the cables were up in the attic, I was able to drop it down where I wanted it. For my office in the basement, it’s right outside of the laundry room, which has a drop ceiling. Undone coat hanger and fish tape are your friends!
The orange cable is special flooded underground coax. It has a gel inside of it to resist moisture. It’s good quality cable used for underground. I guess you could cut the end off once you get fios. Maybe bury it, but leave it in the ground just in case.
Yeah you got quite a bit of work to do, but when it’s finished your going to feel quite a sense of accomplishment. Keep us posted from time to time. I know this is primarily a tech blog, but a lot of us gadget lovers have homes as well!
Cypher, based on the traffic you’re not alone – these two posts seem to resonate with a decent number of folks. Unfortunately (?), I’ll be outsourcing most of my home improvement projects this time around in order to keep the blog alive. The last time I renovated, I did nearly everything myself over a several year period. But that was pre-blog.
Just friend me on Facebook and you can read more mundane home ownership challenges. Like our big surprise on moving day when the movers couldn’t get the queen box spring up the stairs and around the corner. So a week later we have a king size imitation Tempurpedic from Serta with split foundation. The queen mattress fits comfortably in what we’ve labeled the guest room and I’ll pick up a simple platform bed, assuming the pieces can make it upstairs. Or how about I ordered the wrong water filter for our fridge – apparently the side-by-side fridges uses a different model (MSFW) than the stacked versions (GSFW). Of course, that’s partly on Amazon for not listing the supported units. Or maybe GE didn’t provide the info? Either way, TGF-Prime two day shipping.
Regarding that orange coax, I could also just unhook it at the junction box. There’s an electric warning on it, but as far as I can tell the only power comes from phone like that relays in and out. Unfortunately, the side where the orange coax enters is sealed with a bolt I don’t have an attachment for. Hm
I assume the rusting black coax (attached to the gutter, also being replaced) is long since disconnected at the other end. Think I’ll cut at ground level.
When I got new siding on my 70’s home in NoVa, the siding guy took all the runs on the outside of the house and ran it under the siding and chalked all the entry points. He even took the time to show me how to pop the siding off if I ever need to run more cable and hide it. (which I have already done). It’s a lot easier than crawling around the attic and fishing wire as long as you don’t mind working on a ladder.
Dave,
Looks like the orange coax goes into an Arris cornerstone voice port. This was how cable providers used to provide voice service prior to Packetcable based eMTA’s (think the arris tm or Motorola sbv series). So prior to that, it was a little more proprietary. They got the power from the coax feed itself. If the cable system uses this stuff today, they have power passing taps on the system that will allow the 60 or 90VAC down to the voice port. This is why there is a warning on it, and they also lock you out from the orange cable side. Inside that box, it strips the voltage before sending the signal to your tv’s and modem.
Today things are more standardized with Packetcable and DOCSIS. Nowadays the homeowner provides the power, and the eMTA has a battery backup built inside it.
Oh if your interested, here’s the info on that Arris cornerstone voice port that’s attached to the side of your house. They do make a DOCIS/Packetcable version, so I’m not sure which one yours is… but the legacy voice port vs. e-mta isn’t used much today (especially in new installs).
(PDF)
http://broadbandsoho.com/PDF/Broadband_SoHo_Arris_CTI.pdf
http://www.bhntampa.com/www/CenFL_SCTE/presentations/Arris_Cornerstone_Platform.pdf
OK… so can I safely open the box and disconnect the orange coax? Do I need to terminate it in some safe way? We currently only get cable television and Internet services off the line, no VoIP. But who knows if there’s power or not.
UTGkar, good info on the wiring under the siding. I figured as much, but I still want to lose the boxes if possible and there’s a chance the siding will come in during CES so I want to either be done with as much as I can and/or possibly skip the trip to be home to get educated, make my requests, and monitor the project.
Also and update on the phone situation… the lines were wired before the last owners moved in (mid-80s) and after chatting with them I’ve learned there were two lines/numbers, perhaps adding to the mess. Then again, if memory serves you just use different colors but the same connections. Ah well, we can still blame it on those college kids.
If there’s voltage on it, I wouldn’t touch it!
Far after your 100% certain they disconnected that drop from the tap, then maybe.
I tried posting 2 PDF’s about the cornerstone voice ports, but id didn’t show. Chrome error, or delay in posting links, who knows. I made one of those links in the URL field, so click my name for a PDF about it if your interested.
Not sure if my comments are going through, or if I have a Google Chrome issue…
Yeah a normal phone wire has red, green, yellow, black.
Red and Green make up Line 1
Yellow and Black make up Line 2.
And if your wiring is Cat5, then Red and Green = Blue and Blue/White. Yellow and Black = Green and Green/White (assuming 568b wiring standard).
Pretty much it could be any color, as long as it’s the same on both ends… but that’s the standard.
“Yeah, we’ll call it “Theater of the Mundane”
OK. If the utility closet webcam doesn’t make sense, how about waiting until you get FIOS installed, and then you can set up a 24/7 live ONTcam.
The flickering lights will prove hypnotic. I aver your viewership will be higher than Dancing with the Stars within 18 months.
Also, since I’m in the mood to provide useful hints:
While you’re messing around inside the walls of your house, consider sticking a bunch of subwoofers in there.
That way, you can get the actual walls of your house to vibrate and act as super-subwoofers to generate better sound quality for your lean-back setup.
cypher, two of your comments got flagged as spam. Who knows how that plugin works. Normally I scan for false positives and release, but last week I was hit with 4,000 messages and couldn’t wade through them — did a mass delete. But it seems to have settled down and I just released yours.
Given that their may be power into that Arris box, I may just hang it off the back fence prior to the siding work instead of dismantling it.
So far it looks like there’s one phone line in, one phone line out, one ground out (black wire), the orange coax source, and then one coax out. The phone line stuff I’m taking off – probably over the weekend so it’s light out when I’m home.
Here’s the pic again so folks know what we’re discussing:
https://zatznotfunny.com/2010-12/this-old-house/house-wiring4/
LOL re: GE refrigerator filters
I had the same thing. Ended up getting from Filtersfast.com via Amazon. Also, having lived with the side-by-side for 2 years, I have already had a motherboard replaced and installed a heater kit on the water dispenser since the water line has a tendency to freeze!
RE: Orange Cox feed. Up to the d-mark the box on side of house Cox owns the line. They will not be happy about you messing with it. But they will come and remove the box it you call. I would still move the line through the block to basement for future use. You never know Cox might offer 500mbs at $50 in a few years.
Dave I just noticed in the COX outside d-mark that a gas line might be running under the box. That yellow line might be gas be careful.
SouthPaw, Long term, I agree it needs to go away or into the basement. Short term, I’ve got to efficiently get that box out of the way so the siding people don’t reattach it. Should I hang it on the fence or get some sort of small post? Hm. Thinking post is simpler so I don’t have to run another ground.
And, yes, that yellow line comes from a propane thank that feeds the retrofitted gas fireplace, gas stove, and not-yet-acquired gas grill. Not sure why the looped it all together like that. Half assed contractors?
John, Didn’t even realize my fridge has a motherboard. Sometimes the extra computational power comes with a cost. Like the Vizio Internet-connected TV that rebooted while I was watching the Monday Night Football pre-game show.
For the Cox d-mark I would pull from wall, cover in garbage bag with tape sealing the cables. This will allow the siding guys to move round as needed. Then you could even lie it in the window well.
I guess my first task is find out how to open “their side” of the box so I can remove the cable from under the gas line. Also, there’s a screw in their side that needs to come out to get it off the siding.
Good luck with your projects, Dave!
But as a Houston resident, I got to ask three questions: what’s a basement, what’s FIOS, and what’s that white stuff on the ground in your photos? ;)
(No houses in Houston area have basements, we don’t get FIOS, and it’s 82F on the first day of winter!)
Yeah, it’s still a little foreign to me too as a native Floridian (~20yrs).
For the dmark hacksaw blade with a duck tape handel to slide behind box to cut screw. Faster then trying to open secure side of box. Do label the box and “do not attach to building”. Good siding guys sometimes are too helpful. ;-)
If you are careful you can probably pull one of the gas line clips and move gas line enough to get box below gas line.