New construction/pre-wire

Whether you are building your new dream home or you are a contractor creating a home for a customer, you may not be familiar with how to get that home ready.
Here are some basic guidelines:

Structured wiring
Minimum:

  • (2) coax cables from the distribution panel to each room
  • (2) CAT5 wires from the distribution panel to each phone/computer location

Standard:
  • (2) coax cables to each TV outlet
  • (8) coax cables to a possible satellite dish mounting site
  • (2) CAT5 wires from the distribution panel to each phone/computer location

Optimum:
  • 2 locations per room consisting of a bundled cable (this cable has (2) CAT5 and (2) coax all in one jacket, and can also be ordered with fiber strand(s))

Multi-room audio:
  • 1 CAT5 from the distribution panel to a junction box in each room
  • (2) 16/2 speaker runs from the junction box to the room's speaker locations
  • A bundled cable that has a CAT5 and a 16/4 speaker wire all in one jacket is the most ideal and will allow you the most options for the future

Security:
  • (1) 22 AWG 4 conducter wire to each door and window regardless of height to the main distribution panel
  • There should also be a home run to each keypad and smoke/motion/carbon/water detector. (CAT5 should be run for keypad if touch screens are required.)
  • It is also ideal to provide a cable to anything in the home that you want to control or monitor though the security system, such:
    • furnace
    • electric or gas fireplace
    • motorized blinds
    • sprinkler system
    • sump pump
    • front gate
    • garage doors

Front door entry/surveillance
  • 1 CAT5 and (1) 18/2 to the front door area for a door bell/camera
  • 1 18/2 to the opening side of the front door for a door strike/mag lock to open the door

CCTV
  • (1) 18/2 AWG and (1) CAT5 to each corner of the home or business

Home theatre surround
(5) 16/2 speaker wires from the four corners plus a center area back to either a point in the room for the receiver or back to the distribution point Rg-59 for the subwoofer If a remote location is to be used than a CAT5 should be run back to the room for each device so the remote controls for each device will still be able to function.