New Construction wiring is one of our top specialties because we look after the before, during and after of the project. Before getting started, we must have the entire scope, quantities and locations solidified with the client. We map out wiring routes in our mind’s eye, so that we know where we can drop floor to floor, and how we will go side to side. Many times, the builder, electrician, security, and other subs are involved to gain approval for every detail, big and small. Floor plans, ceiling plans, elevations and any renderings are printed out on letter sized sheets. Floor by floor, devices, locations and LABELS are listed out in plain text, and also visual markups on the plans themselves. Once the game plan is finalized the material delivery begins. This includes not just wiring and hardware, but tools and supplies, permits, safety equipment, full size color plans, workorders and wiring tables. The first day on the prewire we are getting reacclimated to the site. Where other trades stand, such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical, framing, etc. Putting marks room to room indicating exact room names, which room gets what, and exact wiring locations. This is marked up with green spray paint and big writing. Then we confirm or revise some of our wiring routes, negotiating obstacles in the way such as steel beams or framing that can’t be drilled. Or old construction with incredibly bulky lumber and lots of extra framing. Sometimes, we come upon jobs with concrete and other masonry right in our path. Usually questioning our life’s choices in these instances. Our entire scope written up on paper, marked on plans, and visually marked at the job site, we’re ready to start drilling. And we mostly start in the rooms and work our way back to the head end. The first direction we ALWAYS start drilling is UP. As in up from walls into ceilings. Any location marked in green, we will drill a path up from wall into the ceiling above. ALL the walls in the home that are to be wired for TVs, speakers and subwoofers, data or telephone jacks, wifi boosters, motorized shades, touchpanels, doorbells and all the rest. A fraction of the time we do drill down, through a floor and into the ceiling below. The approach is flexible but one way or another we create pathways into ceilings. The next direction we drill is ACROSS. Left, right, front, back and across ceilings. These are mid to large pathways, “branch” routes, that will carry cabling back toward the head end. Invariably you will find all other utilities running through ceilings, and wiring for smarts is very similar. HVAC, plumbing, gas, electrical, fire and alarm wiring all must also get back to a head end. Since our work mostly starts up after the HVAC and plumbing, we know we won’t be in the way of any major utilities once our work takes shape. It also serves as a guide where and how to run our cabling. It provides a sense of how you could run, and where you shouldn’t run, your cabling. And electrical of course is another utility we must consider. If the electrical wiring hasn’t started when we are started, we must envision where they will route the majority of their cabling, and steer clear from that. All that considered, we opt to drill our cabling routes through ceiling joists, instead of stapling all cabling to bottoms of framing. For electricians, stapling is the code compliant, traditional way of routing cables front back left and right. Instead, with no code dictating that low voltage cabling must be stapled across joists, the best approach is to run through the joists. This approach ensures we can get our runs in place with more efficiency and integrity, and less legwork and compromise. A lasting integrity and confidence in your infrastructure is of top priority. When the cabling goes through a stud bay instead of under it, we aren’t having to staple many cables many times, and it is less affected by spray foam insulation. Less stapling eliminates chances of causing damage, because no matter how great your hammering skills, it’s great to be able ot focus time and effort elsewhere. And when sprayfoam comes into the picture, which bows the cabling outward, it’s more susceptible to damage from the sheers used by insulation techs when prepping for drywall. Any opportunity NOT to have to come back because somebody cut into your cables, is a standard practice for us. From a convenience standpoint, having spacious holes drilled through joists creates routes that are easy to work with. By the time the cabling is run from one location to another, it’s basically a finished job because it is already secured through the ceiling. Plus inevitably when additional runs get added, they just get added to the same exact routes as the ones before. There could easily be 20-30 cables running across a single span in any given room. And having to route and staple such quantities would not only consume more time and effort than it’s worth, but physically it takes up a lot of real estate. Cabling is spanned out when running along bottoms of joists. So that it doesn’t run into the finish ceiling installation. And when spanning out 20-30 cables, it takes up spacing that could otherwise be used by electricians, or possibly interfere with theres. Rather, when 20-30 cables are grouped together, they can simply pass through 2” or 3” holes. This approach is the same as having a single bulky run, versus many small runs. It is with great diligence we plan out our branch routes. And if the ceiling routes are the branches, then the trunks would be the floor to floor “drops”. These drops carry all cabling from the main equipment area to all the branch routes. And they complete the link between the main equipment area, and all the devices in every room. While there could be a half dozen or more branches through ceilings, there are ideally only a few drops floor to floor. One to three is best, and is the straightest path from basement to attic. It starts becoming necessary to have multiple vertical drops when there are multiple panel or rack areas. Such is the case when lighting or shade panels come into the picture. Many times we can follow the same approach that the plumber or HVAC followed, as mentioned earlier with branch routes. Since our objective is also to get service from the equipment area to each floor of the house, it’s helpful to follow a similar path. We can follow a similar path as long as we maintain a healthy distance from their material. Especially when there is high current electrical cabling that accompanies some HVAC systems. Existing Equipment Racks Even greater than construction wiring is our proficiency with equipment racks. Specifically the wire management and ultimately the overall form and function of the home system as a whole. We can manage all cabling best because we adhere to a technical routine with room for creativity, combined with the implementation of rack hardware. A professional installation starts coming together long before the physical equipment rack arrives or is assembled. For rack assembly to begin, all the cabling must be easy to work with, in a number of facets. They must all be grouped together by type, be the same or similar lengths, and have clear and concise labels. Having them grouped together by type, instead of by room, is best practice because cables of similar type will all hook into the same equipment. And since equipment is grouped together in the rack by type, so to must all the cabling. Having them the same length ensures that they are easy to work with, that there’s not a shortage of length or excess of slack, and that once landed everything has a pleasing flow, both technically and aesthetically. And having cabling labeled is a practice and benefit that can’t be overstated, but unfortunately other installers lack the routine or conventions to even manage this one simple step. Granted that the labeling is a job in itself for many reasons. Often times the names of rooms indicated on plans is not accurate to real life. What one person calls the Family Room the other person may call Living Room. Other times there are no plans to begin with. A big step is just to determine what each room is called. And then there are conventions used with labels, which could vary from one installer to the next. All these details must be finalized before a label goes on a single cable. That way when it’s time to install equipment, anyone could look at any cable and know exactly what is on the other end. To achieve the best outcome for our cabling, we ensure that it’s grouped, trimmed back and labeled long before equipment rack assembly. This type of preparatory work doesn’t need to take place just before equipment rack assembly. It can be done long before the finish or even the trim phase of the job. It’s simple to prep your cabling for finish way at the start. There’s no reason all cabling can’t be grouped, same lengths and labeled when the rough is finished. It takes more legwork than simply leaving a heap of wiring to be tended to later. But the same work will just have to be accomplished later. We prefer to do it sooner. The key is to ensure that over time the work isn’t undone. Primarily the labeling because when there is plastering and painting and flooring and sanding, we can assume that some material is going to land on our cables. To make sure our labels are preserved no matter what, we cover and tape our cables when the job is done. When the cabling is prepared as such, it’s ready to drop right into an equipment rack. And it’s not ready to be dropped into an equipment rack until it’s prepared this way. Structured Plans Coordination
