Plan: Network Wiring
This is the plan for wiring network cable in the rooms. The middle and smallest room is probably the best computer room. There is one closet. I intend the massive storage server to be caseless, built on wood braces into the closet.
I don’t like that I would spend so much time in the smallest room, but it makes sense. Yoga requires space, so the larger bedroom will not fill up. An air mattress can be thrown down quickly. If there is a reason in the future to repurpose the rooms I don’t have to rewire and move computers.
Route
Network wires will run to each room, Master Bed, Master Bath, 1st bedroom, 2nd bedroom(to closet), Kitchen, Living Room, Living Room Ceiling (future), Wash room, Garage. That’s pretty much every room except the water heater, A/C, 2nd bath, and backyard. These were considered, because I like the idea of letting a server monitor the appliances. Perhaps control the house temp over the internet. The security panel could be in or near one of these and a network access to it might be nice.
Wall Plates
Wall access gives me some concern. I’m not a fan of the full 2 X 4 wall plates for “phone” connections. Then I found these Quickports at HomeTech. They provide 1-6 interchangeable jacks that can be used for anything; SVideo, RCA, Speakers, Network, Phone, etc.
Which brought up another project. It would be very nice to run a closed cable wire through each room. The bedroom TiVo has the cable box and records the most. Instead of depending upon MultiRoom TiVo, which can be slow, I could watch the house cable line and broadcast to all the rooms from the bedroom. Get a Radio Frequency IR blaster to allow changing the channels from the Kitchen or Living Room. This would basically be one long cable wire through the whole house with splitters for each room. I don’t know if cable can do that.
Cable Choices
There are four overlapping choices of cable. Plenum vs non plenum and Cat5e vs Cat6. Plenum cable is designed to run in air ducts, which are great conduits of fire in a building. So plenum cables are flame retardant. Cat5e is very common. It conducts frequencies up to 350 MHz. Cat6 is the most recent Gigabit standard with frequencies up to 500 MHz and 50% less signal loss compared to Cat5e. The price comparisons are below.
Plenum Cat6 : $600 per 1000 ft
Non Plenum Cat6: $300
Plenum Cat5e: $325
Non Plenum Cat5e: $150
I favor the Plenum Cat5e. Signal loss and cable length shouldn’t be too bad on this small house. Fire resistance looks pretty cheap for $150. And I like the idea that fire fighters wouldn’t have to breathe in toxic gas from burning network cable.
Anyway, I’ll need some 4 or 6 port wallplates, lots of blanks, network jack per room plus closet, a panel in the closet, a drywall saw.
I don’t know what I’m doing, so I’ll do this in phases. Phase I is Master Bedroom, Closet, Living Room.
Parts List Phase I:
3 4-Port Wall Plates $2 x 3 = $6 (Rooms)
1 12-Port Wall Plate $4 x 1 = $4 (Closet)
8 Cat5e Ports $5 x 8 = $40 (2 extra)
20 Blanks Ports $3 x 2 = $6 (2 extra)
1 Basic Wire Tester x 1 = $30
1000ft Wire x 1 = $325
10 1 Wall Box $12 x 1 = $12
1 2 Wall Box $4 x 1 = $4
Fish/Puller ? (Can I make one with fishing weights and the old car speakers I replaced last year?)
Crimper? (Do the ports autocrimp?)
Total: ~$500 (Most cost is in the wiring)
Under Carpet Kit
Adjacent Room Kit This shows a Flash video of how to cut a hole in the wall with the drywall saw and install the wall plates.
Magenepull Cable Retrieval System
Research: Wiring for Network
One of the first TODO items is networking the house. These are some relevant links.
Ideas for running cable from the attic along the wall to the right hole in the wall:
1. Make hole. Insert pen laser shooting up. In attic, wave hand around looking for laser or see it on a timber.
2. Use dental floss mirrors or a compact to look up the wall.
Cat5 to Every Room of the House
Wiring your house or office
How to Wire You Home with Network Cable
Wiring Tutorial for 10BaseT Unshielded Twisted Pair
Data Communications Cabling FAQ
The Compass DeRose Guide to Ethernet computer network wiring
Comparison of 4 MS Mice
My current one’s getting kind of crusty. I post here for later review.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/28/microsoft_breeds_four_unique_mice/
Answers to Some Questions
I had some questions for the home owners yesterday. Garret got back to me with the answers.
How much do the the utilities run? I’m not saying
What kind of the trees are planted? Pecan trees
What type of wood floor is in the hallway so I can match? Wood Laminate from Sep 06
Who’s boat is under the tree? The home owners
Dilbert: Bulletin Boards for Corporate Use Only
The fun of working for a large corporation. Policies that make no sense and restrict harmless behavior, because there is no foreseeable advantage to the company. This is a recent email from HR. I’m sure its against policy to post it.
In order to be in compliance with the recently communicated employee handbook, we will be reviewing our bulletin board procedures. More specifically, as outlined in the employee handbook under Solicitations and Distribution of Literature on page 64: To maintain an effective avenue for communicating with employees, the Company maintains bulletin boards. Bulletin boards are to used by the Company to communicate official government information on equal employment opportunity, wage and hour, health and safety and other issues. They are also used to communicate information regarding the Company’s policies, business and announcments including, but not limited to, job postings, safety rules, health items, benefit programs, and notices announcing special Company-sponsored events. Employees may not post, tape, tack, or affix any form of literature, printed or written material, photographs or notices of any kind on the Company’s bulletin boards. Likewise, the Company’s bulletin boards may not be used by employees or outside parties for the posting of commercial notices and advertisements, announcements and witticisms, sales of personal property or any other matters. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me.
Therefore, these items specified above can no longer be posted on the bulletin boards.
Walking Robot
This is very cool and includes a 60s YouTube video of the walking robot. It took 6 yrs to develop and walks like we do; a controlled fall constantly rebalancing ourselves. Teaching an inanimate object to balance and walk teaches us how we do it.
New Vista Wallpapers
New Windows Vista Wallpapers Very nice
Research: Trees
Selecting trees will mostly consist of going to the nursery and seeing what is available. But some basic knowledge is a must.
Selecting and Planting Landscape Trees
Old Landscape Tree Care
UC Davis Shoppers Guide
UC Davis Tree Selection
Trees for Texas Landscapes
Texas Plants
LANDSCAPING FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION
High Plains Gardening * Amarillo based - the best site by far
Amarillo Botantical Gardens is offering a Landscape Design Class 3/24 9am-noon
Pigeons Mating on Patio
Wow, spring is definately in the air. As I was sitting at my computer with the patio door open in the other room I heard a lot of tick, tick, tick from bird feet and some flapping. I went to investigate and caught to pigeons going at it on the patio. They danced around and at one point I think the male tried to mount the female, but they seemed unsuccessful.
The camera was nearby and I recorded 6 30s - 90s videos. Sorry, most of them were shot through the screen door, which really makes it hard to see. I was about 10 ft away at 10x zoom, being as quiet and still as possible. Thank God, I stocked up on camera memory at Christmas and that the camera was close at hand.
And this is the MySpace Video
Schedule
Move In: 3/12 (inflateable mattress, 1st box, closet clothes)
Bills move over: 3/12
Deliver Refrigerator: 3/13
Kitchen TV: 3/21
Move: approx. 3/13-317
Wood Floors: scheduled/do by 3/21
Pull bushes, cut trees: scheduled/do by 3/21
Clean Apt: 3/24
Easter: 4/8
House Warming: 4/14
Build/Plant Raised beds: 5/5
Undated:
Pull network cable
Move water heater
Replace A/C, move condenser
Purchase and outfit woodworking area
Repair gazebo
Replace countertop stove
Replace Oven
Replace Dishwasher
Plant trees in backyard
Plant bushes and flowers in front yard
Have plan, outline for backyard
Till, enrich backyard soil
Replace sink fixtures
Add washlets
Position of underground wires/pipes
Paint/fix tool shed roof
Add tool shed vent ($1 floor vent added to cut hole near roof)
Informal goal:
One significant home improvement per month
Research: Adding a Ground Wire
The inspector said the house is a 2 wire, no ground, system and that adding a third wire is expensive. This makes it harder on modern electronics like computers, TVs, DVD players, etc. He suggested using a power strip on everything to provide a cheap minimum breaker. The equipment would still get damaged, but not as bad. Also, adding a GFCI in the kitchen, bathroom, or outside as City Code requires would require a ground wire to be effective.
These are links investigating adding a ground wire.
Adding a Ground Wire to Old Circuits
What to do with old 2-wire cable?
Ungrounded 3 prong outlets
Need more research
Research: Pets
I’ve been thinking about pets for some time. A normal dog or cat seem rather boring and they have problems with pooh, jumping, barking, cleanliness, and attachment disorder. Cats aren’t too bad and they will even roam around depending on the personality. Dogs probably have the most issues. But what other animals are there?
I think rabbits would be good; lots of sizes, pooh is plant fertilizer, quiet, soft, and cute. They can get a tendency to dig holes and I’m concerned a neighbor cat might get them.
House Rabbit FAQs
Rabbit Care Guide
Rabbit Care
Precious Pet Rabbits
ASPCA: Rabbit Care
Wikipedia: Rabbit
At Yoga class someone suggested a duck. Which is a very interesting idea. Would really go with the pond. I don’t know a lot about taking care ducks.
A Personal Pet Duck FAQ
Backyard Ducks
Duck Care Notes
Another idea I had long considered was a potbellied or miniature pig. We raised pigs for show and auction growing up. They are quiet, have strong personalities, pooh in one spot, and are generally clean. Though they do need a mud hole in the summer and can have attachment disorder. I always liked the idea of a pig and a cat or rabbit(s). A pig needs a bit of space and I would probably loose half the backyard.
What to Expect from a Pet Pig
Guinea Pigs as Pets
ASPCA: Guinea Pig Care
Fennec Foxes as Pets
Comments
It surprised me how many people were following my house buying adventure. Feel free to leave a comment or question on the appropriate post. Other people might have the same question, like two blond cousins I know. There are not any passwords. I did this on purpose to make it easy for people to reply. Everything has to get approved it goes up, which means checking my email. That’s because a lot of spam tries to get on as comments. Just look at the Spam Counter. You don’t want to see it; just poker and porn.
House Update
I thought I would make a post, because it will be Mon. or Tue. before another is possible. Based on the Home Inspection we asked for $200 for the water heater and that the AC would be fixed by a lisenced technician. Still need the insurance inspection, waiting on it. Everything is turned in. Nothing much else going on. Packing and waiting.
Inline Pictures
I was listening to Net@Nite and they commented on how boring large blocks of text look. Wow, I have a lot of that. So, I tried editing one of the posts that had pictures. This took a little bit of work. It’ll be easier next, but not easy. I’m starting to realize the limitation of WordPress 1s editor. Table are very hard to do and getting text to flow around pictures is time consuming. It think the results pay off, but I may be editing more if I’m in a hurry.
In researching this ability, I discovered 2-3 promising WordPress 2.x plugins for Flickr photos. So, the upgrade to it should provide some useful enhancements. I really hope the editor is improved.