Running Ethernet Cable from roof space to rest of house

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Running Ethernet Cable from roof space to rest of house - thoughts

prob

225 posts

Master Geek

#303381 6-Feb-2023 15:34

Geetings.

I wonder if anyone has some thoughts about my proposal to put some ethernet through my house. I am particularly interested in suggestions about how to waterproof a run outside the house...

My new house isn't wired for ethernet. However, it looks reasonably easy to put a run of ethernet cable from where the fibre optic terminates in the lounge (the Optical Network Terminal) to the roof space. The roof above the lounge is pitched with good access.

Running the cable from there to my home office is a bit more challenging because the home office is under a flat roof.

The easiest option looks to be to take the cable out by an existing vent in the roof, run it under some weatherboards, and then back in where an air conditioning vent is installed.

While I am comfortable drilling holes etc in Gib, I am wary of putting holes in the exterior of the house.

Here are close ups of the roof vent, and the air conditioning connection.

For the roof vent, the side of the vent looks like it relies upon lots of sealant to match the weatherboard profile. Will it be as easy as cutting away the sealant, running the cables, then applying more sealant afterwards?

I haven't opened up the cover for the air conditioning access point, but I expect to find a hole with lots of sealant.

So, things doing well, all I need is lots of silicon sealant.

Thoughts?

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4014 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3032573 6-Feb-2023 20:32

Go to coreys or ideal electrical and get some marley conduit fittings.

They have things like a Marley 51.32G conduit box which allows you to drill a cable through a wall, place the box over the hole with lots of roofing silicone and seal it nicely, and if your hole is big enough you can bring other cables through in the future.

Once you are standing in front of the marley display with all the various fittings etc in the shop it will suddenly make sense how it all works.

You will also need some half-saddles, conduit (20/25/32mm) and appropriate bends.

When cutting lengths of conduit, pay attention to where the flared end is so you can save the flared end for join pieces of conduit if needed.

Ray Taylor

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Scott3

3963 posts

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#3032718 6-Feb-2023 20:59

Standard Ethernet cable isn't rated for outdoor use, so you either need to get special outdoor stuff, or put it in conduit.

pih

649 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3032736 6-Feb-2023 23:13

Don't cut away the silicone and think it will be an easy job slapping some more in there when you're done. Silicone sticks to a lot of things, but cured silicone isn't one of them. Unless you get rid of every last bit of the old stuff, the new stuff won't stick and you may get a slow leak via capillary action.

I agree with conduit, but outdoor rated CAT6 isn't too expensive if you'd rather have it naked.

You can pay the Marley tax, or find Deta at Bunnings for about 80% less. Whichever way you go, if you're making a hole on your exterior wall and mounting a conduit box over the hole, only add sealant ½ - ¾ of the way around the top of the hole before mounting the box, leaving the bottom unsealed to prevent build-up of any moisture that does happen to get in. Again, be wary of capillary action.

martyyn

1971 posts

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#3032750 7-Feb-2023 04:19

Scott3:
Standard Ethernet cable isn't rated for outdoor use, so you either need to get special outdoor stuff, or put it in conduit.

I have close to 30m of standard Ethernet running from the router down under the house, across soil, under grass, up over gravel, along a fence, down under more grass and then up into a caravan window.

It sees sun, wind, rain and salt as we're at the beach.

10 years, no problems.

Brunzy

2016 posts

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#3032754 7-Feb-2023 08:00

martyyn:
Scott3:
Standard Ethernet cable isn't rated for outdoor use, so you either need to get special outdoor stuff, or put it in conduit.

I have close to 30m of standard Ethernet running from the router down under the house, across soil, under grass, up over gravel, along a fence, down under more grass and then up into a caravan window.

It sees sun, wind, rain and salt as we're at the beach.

10 years, no problems.

Give it time -;)

martyyn

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#3032773 7-Feb-2023 10:16

Even if it dies tomorrow, I'll be using another strip of standard Ethernet.

Absolutely no need to pay for the expensive stuff.

hsvhel

1237 posts

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#3032774 7-Feb-2023 10:28

Slightly off point, but are there louvers for the vents that have been removed?

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MikeAqua

7773 posts

Uber Geek

#3032788 7-Feb-2023 10:48

pih: Silicone sticks to a lot of things, but cured silicone isn't one of them.

It's one of the lesser-known laws of thermodynamics that silicon adhesive sealant sticks to nothing you want it to and everything you don't want it to.

Whereas PU sealant just sticks to everything - 3M 5200 is the worst I've used for this.

Mike

paulgr

883 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3032811 7-Feb-2023 11:44

I'd consider using a hybrid approach here.
Put cables in where it is easiest/more practical.
Areas that are difficult to wire up I would use a powerline adapter to connect to problem areas.

scuwp

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#3032822 7-Feb-2023 12:25

You don't say what the use case is, and I definitely get the attraction of Ethernet, however given the huge advances in mesh networking options, quality, and stability, I wonder the value in cabling these days, particularly trying to do this in an existing home. Maybe cable the rooms you can, and for everything else a mesh set up would be more than adequate for just about everything else a family could ever need. Or just invest in a good mesh system and forget the cabling. Just chucking the idea out there.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

MikeAqua

7773 posts

Uber Geek

#3032841 7-Feb-2023 14:11

scuwp:

You don't say what the use case is, and I definitely get the attraction of Ethernet, however given the huge advances in mesh networking options, quality, and stability, I wonder the value in cabling these days, particularly trying to do this in an existing home. Maybe cable the rooms you can, and for everything else a mesh set up would be more than adequate for just about everything else a family could ever need. Or just invest in a good mesh system and forget the cabling. Just chucking the idea out there.

I have a Deco mesh network, It's great but I still find wired better for Smart TVs and Teams.

Our Smart TV if run via wireless develops a network issue every day or two that can only be resolved by power cycling (or by deleting and reconnecting the WiFi). If run via wired, the issue does not occur.

Teams, seems much better via wired, I think because windows chooses random moments to download updates (org policy, which users can't change) and so do some applications.

Mike

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3032853 7-Feb-2023 15:06

Slightly off topic, but if this is a new house, should there not be a head flashing over the top of that vent outlet? (eg simialr to the type of head flashing over windows). It looks like it only has silicon at the top and silicon will likely eventually fail over time.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3032854 7-Feb-2023 15:08

martyyn: Even if it dies tomorrow, I'll be using another strip of standard Ethernet.

Absolutely no need to pay for the expensive stuff.

I had the same experience and as long as it is easily accessible along the run it shouldn't be an issue. The issue is more if you are putting it underground or in an area where it can't easily be switched out. Also I imagine you do was to do want to avoid splicing new bits in.

prob

225 posts

Master Geek

#3032931 7-Feb-2023 16:21

hsvhel:

Slightly off point, but are there louvers for the vents that have been removed?

Yes, I took them down to clean them. They are real dirt magnets.

prob

225 posts

Master Geek

#3032934 7-Feb-2023 16:28

scuwp:

You don't say what the use case is, and I definitely get the attraction of Ethernet, however given the huge advances in mesh networking options, quality, and stability, I wonder the value in cabling these days, particularly trying to do this in an existing home. Maybe cable the rooms you can, and for everything else a mesh set up would be more than adequate for just about everything else a family could ever need. Or just invest in a good mesh system and forget the cabling. Just chucking the idea out there.

I have some upmarket Asus routers running Aimesh. It is generally OK but the routers need to be rebooted now and then and, being wireless, they drop packets which messes up my VPN back to the office.

My plan is to use the Ethernet for a wired back haul so that the Wireless network is faster / more reliable, and hard wire my servers and home office.

I also want to make the most of my 950 / 500 internet ...

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