I have a one-time opportunity to get this right and unfortunately, now I have caused my project to come to a halt simply because I feel I have too much information and can't make a decision on how to proceed.
I am looking for recommendations on how best to prepare the room in such a way that if needed I can later add/remove cables without having to trash the room. I plan to create a false wall over my fireplace to help hide wires behind the TV, I also have the luxury of running cables under my living room floor without pulling the floor up at the moment due to a void under the house.
What other cabling should I be running? I already have a TV aerial cable that I will try and extend over to the fireplace, and also cables from the satellite dish for freesat.
Conduit
What sort of conduit should I use to run cables from the top of the fireplace to the bottom where I plan to store all of my AV equipment? Do I just use a PVC pipe as I'd use for plumbing? I failed to install this in my last house due to access issues inside the fireplace and trying to get cables around a 90-degree bend without damage was near impossible. I read on here somewhere about getting something with a sweeping bend but doesn't seem to be much around in the UK, the only one I found so far is only 20mm wide or is this the sort of thing I am looking for?
Network Cable
Over time I plan to try and get at least one network socket in each room of the house, I'm not sure yet if I will terminate it at the top or bottom of the fireplace so need to plan for that I guess by adding another piece of conduit in the fireplace. From what I've read I am best to install CAT6 cable? Any recommendations on which drum of cable to get? There seems to be so much choice - and the costs can vary greatly too.
Is this what I should be using?
Speaker wire
This is something else I failed to plan for in my last house, I currently only have 3.1 surround but will be upgrading as soon as money allows and so want to run speaker cable to all possible locations that I might need before decorating. The problem is I don't currently know if I am going to have floor-mounted or wall-mounted speakers, top or bottom but I can run a cable up to both locations now I guess. Should I again run some conduit in the wall to help make this easier to access wires or should I just try and drop it down the inside of the wall? Any recommendations on speaker wire?
Is this what I should be using?
I am looking for recommendations on how best to prepare the room in such a way that if needed I can later add/remove cables without having to trash the room. I plan to create a false wall over my fireplace to help hide wires behind the TV, I also have the luxury of running cables under my living room floor without pulling the floor up at the moment due to a void under the house.
What other cabling should I be running? I already have a TV aerial cable that I will try and extend over to the fireplace, and also cables from the satellite dish for freesat.
Conduit
What sort of conduit should I use to run cables from the top of the fireplace to the bottom where I plan to store all of my AV equipment? Do I just use a PVC pipe as I'd use for plumbing? I failed to install this in my last house due to access issues inside the fireplace and trying to get cables around a 90-degree bend without damage was near impossible. I read on here somewhere about getting something with a sweeping bend but doesn't seem to be much around in the UK, the only one I found so far is only 20mm wide or is this the sort of thing I am looking for?
Network Cable
Over time I plan to try and get at least one network socket in each room of the house, I'm not sure yet if I will terminate it at the top or bottom of the fireplace so need to plan for that I guess by adding another piece of conduit in the fireplace. From what I've read I am best to install CAT6 cable? Any recommendations on which drum of cable to get? There seems to be so much choice - and the costs can vary greatly too.
Is this what I should be using?
Speaker wire
This is something else I failed to plan for in my last house, I currently only have 3.1 surround but will be upgrading as soon as money allows and so want to run speaker cable to all possible locations that I might need before decorating. The problem is I don't currently know if I am going to have floor-mounted or wall-mounted speakers, top or bottom but I can run a cable up to both locations now I guess. Should I again run some conduit in the wall to help make this easier to access wires or should I just try and drop it down the inside of the wall? Any recommendations on speaker wire?
Is this what I should be using?
