A Line on the Future

When Bob and Kareen Rowe moved their family into an 80-year-old home in one of Pasadena’s historic districts in October, they had more to worry about than a truckload of furniture.

With four school-age kids, a busy home-based graphic design business and six Macintosh computers, the couple brought with them a need to get the “new” house wired for heavy computer use--quickly.

Fortunately, they planned ahead. “I knew I’d need upgraded wiring and a hub to network the computers, so before the move I talked with people at the local computer stores about how to set it up myself,” Bob Rowe said.

Checking out Ethernet hardware manufacturers’ Web sites was helpful too.

“Several of them have tutorials that explain what wiring to buy and how to install it,” he added.

Within a few days, the server and two workstations that keep Bob Rowe and Associates Design humming along were up and running. The kids were busy cranking out book reports and term papers on the family’s three other computers. And the entire setup was running on an upgraded Ethernet network.

As a home-based business owner, Rowe has to stay on top of technology, especially when it involves rewiring parts of a house built at a time when only about 5,000 Americans owned even basic radio receivers.

“All I had to buy was a couple hundred feet of category-5 cabling and one 10-port hub,” Rowe said. Total cost: Around $300, plus a little extra for networking upgrades for his older computers.

‘Future-proofing’

Though Rowe considers his wiring upgrade just a necessary part of moving, what he did is a prime example of “future-proofing” his home, experts say. The word sounds a bit like sci-fi movie jargon. But it simply means “designing and / or installing a system that will meet the technological needs of today as well as preparing a home for future use,” according to Electronic House magazine.

Future-proofing can include wiring your home to accommodate everything from outfitting a home office to networking several family computers to adding sophisticated entertainment or security systems.

Wire, Hubs, Outlets

Here’s a rundown on what Electronic House editors recommend for upgrading home wiring for communications, entertainment and security purposes. (The terminology isn’t too intimidating. We’ve even included a cheat sheet--see accompanying story--so you can sound like a pro when you talk with installers.

* Communications / Telephone Cabling.

Older copper communications and telephone cabling, known as category-3 twisted-pair wiring, transmits data at speeds up to 10 megabits per second, or Mbps. The newer category-5 cabling moves information at 100 Mbps--10 times as fast. Category-5 cabling enables modems to download information more quickly, greatly improves telephone reception and allows computers in the home to network faster and more reliably.

* Entertainment / Coaxial Cabling.

Older entertainment/coaxial cabling, known as RG-59, transmits between 600 and 900 million bits of information per second. Newer RG-6 coaxial cabling, with its much-larger bandwidth, transmits up to 1.5 billion bits per second. Both cable TV reception and high-definition TV reception are improved with the newer cabling.

To reduce installation time, some manufacturers pre-bundle category-5 and RG-6 cable in one cable “jacket.” With pre-bundled cable, some houses can be wired in just a few hours. These packages usually include multimedia outlets and a service hub.

The service hub is home base for your wiring system. It receives telephone, satellite, cable and Internet signals, and sends those signals throughout the house to the multimedia outlets. The hub is mounted to a wall in an out-of-the-way spot such as a utility room or garage. Avoid mounting your hub in the attic, experts note, to keep from exposing the hub to excessive heat.

“That’s the best way to go,” said Richard Gensley, vice president of HomeTech Solutions, a retail store in Cupertino that sells home automation supplies. “You always want to run your wiring back to a central distribution point.”

If this is done, the hub can receive signals on one cable and use the other cable to send signals to televisions, for example.

“Plan to devote about 4 square feet of wall space for a hub,” advised HomeTech Solutions President Jeff Fisher. Hubs for home use generally come in two sizes, he said. The smaller hub runs about 28 inches high by 14 inches wide and 4 inches deep, allowing it to be mounted between studs and flush with the wall. The larger hub is 24 1/2 inches high, 19 inches wide and 8 inches deep.

About the size of typical electrical outlets, multimedia outlets consolidate any combination of coaxial cable jacks (for linking entertainment equipment), telephone jacks (for phones, fax machines or modems) and binding posts (for speaker connections).

Consider placing multimedia outlets in every room where you might want to use a phone, work on a computer, watch TV or listen to music.

The outlets can be modified to suit your needs. For example, in a home office, you can have outlets with multiple phone jacks for modem, fax and phone connections.

Costs

* Installation in a New Home.

Pre-bundled upgraded wiring systems, with a limited number of functions and outlets, start at around $600 when installed during construction, according to Electronic House.

The average U.S. homeowner can expect to pay between $1,500 and $3,000 for upgraded wiring, according to the magazine.

In Southern California, adding this upgraded wiring and coaxial cable, with a central hub, runs between $800 and $1,500 on an average-size new home, according to John Terando, senior vice president of Calabasas home builder Griffin Industries.

Another way to estimate costs is to figure $150 to $300 per multimedia outlet plus $150 to $500 for a hub, according to Bill Hadley, telecommunications manager for Steiny & Co., an electrical and communications contractor in Los Angeles.

If cost is a factor, owners of new homes can elect to have an installer put empty conduit into the walls, or they can do it themselves, said Melissa Mielke, editor of Electronic House.

“That way, if there’s ever a desire to upgrade your wiring, you’ll have an easy way to install it.” Many homeowners, unsure of what the future holds, choose this option “and then they can easily deal with the new technologies that come along,” she added.

Another advantage of adding the wiring during construction is that the cost often can be rolled into the home mortgage, experts said.

* Installation in an Existing Home.

Because running wire behind walls is labor-intensive, upgrading an existing home will run roughly double the cost of adding upgraded wire during construction, Mielke said.

Assess Your Needs

So what do you need? And do you need it this instant?

At the moment, the idea of adding upgraded wiring is much like the prospect of adding HDTV, Terando said. “It’s a wonderful concept,” and it’s on the brink of becoming popular in Southern California, he said.

Homeowners need to look beyond current needs, Terando said. Upgrading is a good investment, he noted, even if you won’t be using all that high-tech capability right away.

In the future, homeowners will reap the rewards of future-proofing as better technology and lower costs bring more high-tech goodies into the home, experts noted.

And even if you’re not interested in surfing the Web on the fastest surfboard in town, remember: You might want to sell that house someday. “Don’t be myopic,” Terando advised. “In three to five years, home buyers will want these upgrades.”

When looking at your future wiring needs, think about how your lifestyle might be changing, Mielke said. For instance, “if you might someday consider telecommuting, you’ll want to make sure your home has the necessary wire to support an efficient home office.”

And don’t forget the family, noted Bob Bray, national marketing director for the Meyers Group, an Irvine-based real estate information and consulting firm.

“You should always be accommodating the future,” he said. “Most home builders, for example, now assume that the kids’ bedrooms will include a computer.”

Owners of existing homes--even if their kids are still in diapers--should be thinking the same way, he said. Don’t forget smaller changes too. Maybe you’ll want to rearrange your furniture from time to time. If the wiring already is in place, your options for moving televisions, computers and phones are much improved.

During Construction

If you plan to upgrade your wiring during construction, you’ll want to do your homework before you sign off on the construction schedule, advised Gensley. “Some new homes are being offered with wiring packages that have great eye appeal,” he noted. But it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting.

One way to get precisely the wiring package you want is to buy it yourself and have it installed during construction, Gensley said.

“Many customers, when they’re having a new home built, schedule their own time, about four days before the sheet rock goes on, for subcontractors to install the wiring,” he added.

Gensley’s best advice for new-home buyers? Spend the money to do it right. And do it now. “Wiring is cheap,” he said. “Opening your walls later isn’t.”

On Existing Homes

Wiring a new home is pretty straightforward, experts note. But what if, like Bob Rowe, you’re looking to upgrade the wiring in an existing home without breaking the bank?

Though Rowe did his homework and felt confident doing the installation himself, the do-it-yourself route isn’t for everyone. “Running wire can be tricky,” said Mielke, adding that Electronic House usually advises homeowners to hire a professional installer.

There’s also the hassle factor: “Installers know all the tricks to putting wiring in without digging up the walls,” she added.

How do you find a good installer? Electronic House offers a Planning Guide (see sidebar for ordering information) that helps homeowners sort out their options and choose installers.

“We also refer homeowners to the Consumer Electronics Design and Installation Assn.,” Mielke said.

This is an international trade association whose members specialize in designing and installing electronic systems for the home.

Member companies are established, insured businesses. Call (800) 669-5329 or go to https://www.cedia.org for free referrals. Some association members specialize in installing wire and cable.

Don’t Be Stingy

Whether you’re wiring a new or an existing home, certain rules apply, according to the experts:

* Add wire generously.

New category-5 and RG-6 cabling costs just pennies more a foot than lower-grade cabling. Plan to spend between 10 and 20 cents a foot for high-grade wiring. Since wiring is so inexpensive, run it to every spot where you may want a computer, entertainment component or telephone.

* Add a hub.

Professional installers recommend “homerunning” the cabling: running an individual piece of cabling from a central hub to each component.

It’s common to run two category-5 and two RG-6 cables to each reception site. Doing this, as Gensley mentioned, means that the hub receives signals on one cable and uses the other cable to send signals to televisions, computers, etc.

A Good Investment

Finally, adding upgraded wiring can actually save you money in the long run, Mielke said. By having the right wire behind the walls, you can ensure that you won’t have to spend extra money on printers for every computer in the house, for example, because they all can be networked to one printer.

And forget buying separate VCRs and other equipment for televisions in different rooms. With updated wiring, “each room can have access to the home’s digital satellite receiver, VCR or cable box,” Mielke said. For Rowe, the investment has certainly paid off--and brought peace of mind.

“The new wiring is the electronic backbone of the whole house,” he said. “Now I can continue to upgrade my business and my home electronics, knowing I have what I need to make it all work together.”

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Wiring Terminology

Sorting out the high-tech lingo is probably the toughest part of upgrading your wiring. Bone up here before you call the installers.

AWG or American Wire Gauge: The measurement scale for conducting wire, such as phone cord and speaker wire. The lower the number, the thicker the wire.

Category-3, -4, and -5: Quality designators for twisted-pair cable that indicate the basic data-handling capability of the cable. Category-3 cable is designated for data rates of 10 Mbps, category-4 is for 20 Mbps and category-5 is for 100 Mbps.

Coaxial Cable: A cable consisting of two concentric conductors: an inner wire and an outer braided sleeve. It’s capable of passing a wide range of frequencies with very low signal loss and is often referred to as “coax.” It’s used for TV and entertainment systems.

Conduit: A pipe or tubing made of varying materials, primarily metal or plastic, used to carry telephone or electrical wire.

Faceplate: A metal or plastic cover over an outlet plug that protects in-wall wire connections.

Gang Box: An electrical outlet box made by joining two or more boxes together, forming a larger enclosure (e.g., a double-gang box would be large enough to house four electrical outlets).

Homerunning: A wiring method that connects individual electronic components directly to a control panel.

Hub: A device that connects together multiple branches of network wiring. Hubs typically regenerate the signals that originate on one branch for transmission on all other attached branches.

LAN or Local Area Network: A network typically restricted in size to a single home or office for a limited number of connected devices (two to 100). Each type of LAN has different size restrictions.

Powerline: Refers to the electrical wiring of a home or building.

RG-6 Coaxial Cable: A grade of cable commonly used for entertainment systems.

Twisted-Pair (telephone/data cable): A wire line consisting of two separately insulated conductors twisted about each other.

Source: Electronic House Buyer’s Guide.

For More Information

* Consumer Electronics Design and Installation Assn. (trade association for designers and installers), (800) 669-5329 or https://www.cedia.org.

* Home Automation Assn., (202) 712-9050. Member companies include distributors, installers and contractors.

* Electronic House magazine ($19.95 for a one-year subscription; six issues), P.O. Box 5070, Brentwood, TN 37024-9731. Check out their Web site at https://www.electronichouse.com.

* Electronic House Annual Planning Guide. To order, call (800) 375-8015. Cost is $19.95 plus $3 shipping and handling.

* https://www.hometechsolutions.com. Includes home-wiring tutorials.

* https://www.hometoys.com. Includes a directory of installers, informative articles and a shopping mall.