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Wire Your Home with Ethernet Cable Step 3 - Starting the Installation Here in Step 3, we'll start the installation by cutting into the wall, running the cables and installing our outlet boxes. We're starting in the home office, but you could really start from either room. With the general location of the wall jack determined by the layout we reviewed in Step 2, we're ready to install the first jack location. We begin by using the paper template that came with the low voltage outlet plate mounting bracket to mark where we want to install the box. (If you're using the metal wallplate bracket, simply trace around the inside of the bracket) For most installations, you should select the wall height to match AC outlets and phone outlets installed near by. For our installation, we needed to select a position above a combination cable TV / phone outlet previously installed. Once the template is in position and level (you can use a level or eyeball it if you're good), mark around the outside with a pencil.
Next, use the drywall saw to carefully cut out along the pencil line. You won't need anything to start the cut since the drywall saw can just be pushed through the wall to start the cut. As you complete the box, be careful that the piece of drywall you're about to cut out doesn't accidentally fall out. That could rip the paper outside the area that will be covered by the wall jack and require additional work.
Now, with the hole in the wall, it's time to go to the "open space" mentioned in Step 2 and find the location to insert the fish wire and begin the process of fishing the wire up to and through the hole in the wall. In our case, we selected a hole already drilled for a couple of phone wires and a cable TV wire. We simply inserted the fish wire into the hole and fed it up into the wall while the other person waited to see it, grab it and then pull it through the hole we had cut out in the step above.
Next, we're ready to install install the electrical box or wall bracket...but ONLY after successfully getting the fish wire through the hole in the wall. Why? First, as you can see in the photo above, you may have to force your hand into the hole in order to help find and grab the fish wire. Second, even if you use the open-back wall bracket, having anything in the wall could make it more difficult to get the fish wire through the hole. In this case, we used a wall bracket and, as you can see, inserted the fish wire through the middle of it, pressed it into the wall and partly secured it with two screws.
Now, we're ready to pull the UTP cable back through the hole in the wall, through the wall and back down out of the original hole. To start this process, tape the end of your bulk cable to the fish wire. Make sure to use plenty of tape to secure the UTP cable to the fish wire. As you pull it back out of the wall, you might hit a snag or two and if the UTP cable becomes separated, you'll have to start all over again. Here's what a good tape job looks like:
Back at the "open space" pull the fish wire slowly back through the initial hole. Have a helper at the other hole guide the fish wire, tape and UTP cable down into the hole in the wall. They also need to make sure that the bulk cable unwinds easily and doesn't get tangled. If it does, add another 30 minutes to the project to untangle the mess that will result. If all goes well, in no time you should have the UTP cable running from the hole in the wall to the open space. You'll use a similar process to get the cable from the open space to the next room, although you'll likely end up pushing the fish wire and UTP cable taped together from the open space to the hole in the wall. Another option is to feed the fish wire into the hole in the wall created in the second room and try to feed it through the small hole and into the open space. A third option is available when dropping the wire down from above into an inside wall. As long as you are within the right two studs and there is no insulation in the wall, you can simply drop the cable down (without any fish wire) and grab when it's near the hole. Either way, you should soon have the UTP cable running from one room to the other and through the walls in your house. Cut the cable from the bulk spool or box and you're left with cable ends at both rooms. You're ready to make the connections to the jacks in Step 4.
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