What to do while walls are still open?

[RAS61]

Cat5 or better wiring back to a central point,

I have ethernet all over my house and use basically none of it.

I did a major house renovation 16 years ago and ran Cat5 bundled cable to every room to be proactive while walls were open - never used any of it! Most things wireless today and becoming more so

Lines for a Split AC/Heat Pump maybe if a possibility and the air handler and outside unit are not a straight shot through the wall?

 

[qdvuu]

You may want to install high voltage wiring or just conduit to a box for potential future electric vehicle charging. You may not be thinking of getting one yourself but if you sell the house in the future this could be a selling point.

 

[MerlinsBeard]

In addition to pictures, I prefer to take a video camera and go on a "tour" of your facility with the walls open.

I also prefer hardline ethernet, because in a crowded neighborhood wireless throughput is not consistent at certain hours during the evening during "prime time". You can use tools like inSSIDer and bounce your channel around, but it's a little bit of a pain. I also have my own NAS for streaming movies and wireless does have bandwidth implications of the maximum quality of your movie rips without introducing jitter during playback (DVD quality rips usually stream fine, but Blu-ray rips can vary, animated usually do ok, but certain film types with a lot of noise do terribly).

It's also very frustrating if you're a gamer and you depend on a certain quality of latency. Maybe there's a way to improve that, but I've never been able to MOBA on Wireless without a certain amount of risk that my network connection will drop at the wrong time during a 20-30 minute game.

Different users have different preferences, so YMMV.

 

[mike93lx]

You may want to install high voltage wiring or just conduit to a box for potential future electric vehicle charging. You may not be thinking of getting one yourself but if you sell the house in the future this could be a selling point.

High voltage is >35kV.

 

[mike93lx]

In addition to pictures, I prefer to take a video camera and go on a "tour" of your facility with the walls open.

I also prefer hardline ethernet, because in a crowded neighborhood wireless throughput is not consistent at certain hours during the evening during "prime time". You can use tools like inSSIDer and bounce your channel around, but it's a little bit of a pain. I also have my own NAS for streaming movies and wireless does have bandwidth implications of the maximum quality of your movie rips without introducing jitter during playback (DVD quality rips usually stream fine, but Blu-ray rips can vary, animated usually do ok, but certain film types with a lot of noise do terribly).

It's also very frustrating if you're a gamer and you depend on a certain quality of latency. Maybe there's a way to improve that, but I've never been able to MOBA on Wireless without a certain amount of risk that my network connection will drop at the wrong time during a 20-30 minute game.

Different users have different preferences, so YMMV.

Someone with those networking needs would already know that theuly want wired.
Outside of those specific cases, wireless is more than enough

 

[qdvuu]

High voltage is >35kV.

Ok, ok, I meant "something a little higher than 120 V, say 240"

 

[londonsteve]

Write/draw treasure map on the wall before sheetrocking then bury something in the garden for the future owner to find.

 

[nadogail]

After your Power and Communications are pre-wired, Plumbing and HVAC are next. Will Dust & Fume Collection be addressed?
Exhaust and Fume collections might be an issue.
Lots of pictures, because my memory is not perfect.

 

[4x4Pete]

You can put everything in the walls....but something will be forgotten or not in existence now. Sometimes it takes a bit to get used to the space and then changes happen. I would take pics and then board 'er up.

 

[bctexas]

Is that a 12A or 13B on your workbench?

Hi '67! Actually, its a 12A housing and a 13B rotor. When I was autocrossing my buddy's race prepped RX-7 we had the race motor rebuilt and the builder gave me those (junk) pieces. I finally figured out what was going on inside those things by spinning the rotor in the housing. Now they are just display - if and when I get a blast cabinet I'll clean them up. The amount of torque that race prepped 13B would put out was really surprising.

 

[mcdye]

Take some pictures. Especially in areas that have plumbing or lots of things that you might want to know location of once they are covered. Even if it is just wiring it still might be handy to know where the runs are later.

boy has this saved my @ss a few times.

We wrote versus' on the walls, headers before covering up.

 

[like2wheel]

Don't forget to run 240 to the most likely spot for the mini split that you do not yet know that you want.

So far thats my one regret.

 

[matt_i]

Can you clarify on the caulking of all cavities? Wouldn’t the siding and sheathing prevent air from infiltrating the cavities?

Mike hit the nail on the head, while I feel like my framing was generally pretty tight, and I purposefully bought timber without a bunch of wane, at the end of the day it is rough framing installed with nails. Imperfect at its best. Wood "moves" with temp and humidity, very slightly but doesn't take a lot. "Hot air" rises is a resilient physical certainty to try to counteract and bottle-up.

 

[haulna]

If you have storage trusses overhead, frame in for a future Versa Lift.

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versaliftsystems.com

 

[1967ChevyRagtop]

Hi '67! Actually, its a 12A housing and a 13B rotor. When I was autocrossing my buddy's race prepped RX-7 we had the race motor rebuilt and the builder gave me those (junk) pieces. I finally figured out what was going on inside those things by spinning the rotor in the housing. Now they are just display - if and when I get a blast cabinet I'll clean them up. The amount of torque that race prepped 13B would put out was really surprising.

In the '70s I worked at a Mazda shop. Rebuilt many 12a and 13b rotaries.Then Mazda started a recall, so we would remove and exchange for a factory rebuild.
We put washers on the carb secondaries and hold em closed until @12k rpm and let em open, frequently picking up a front tire.

Also used to put McDs fries on the secondary.

 

[MerlinsBeard]

About the caulking, what do you use because over time caulk often cracks and gets brittle. At least that's what I've been finding after about 10 years in a new house. I've already replaced all the interior window caulk that's cracked or has gaps, and now the bathrooms seems to be next in line. There is caulk in the trim that's starting to look a bit unsightly too.

If you're not going to reapply caulk because of sheetrock covering wall cavities, how does the air flow problem you're trying to prevent not creep back in after 10+ years? Are you just expecting a gradual decay of insulation performance, or is it materials choice problem?

 

[Natty Bumppo]

What else should be done before insulation and wall covering goes on?

Looks like you got everything covered. This is probably a cheesy answer....but throw some kind of a time capsule in the walls so 100 years from now when your family members (or new owners) are doing repairs they'll discover a pretty cool gift.

I build about 2 or 3 small timber frames a year and I throw something in one of the mortises...usually a coin or a note, etc...that might be discovered some day.

 

[ZRX61]

Leave a note in a mason jar about money buried in the neighbors yard....

 

[65Goat]

^^^^

 

[rayra]

Are termites an issue there? If so, spray the framing with boracare

Also, if in a 'buggy' environment, sling some diatomaceous earth into the bottoms of the stud bays. Chintinous and slimy bugs all hate the stuff. And it's non-toxic.

 

[rayra]

Can you clarify on the caulking of all cavities? Wouldn’t the siding and sheathing prevent air from infiltrating the cavities?

There's always gaps, top and bottom, seams, any wall penetrations of the exterior and interior facings. Foam sealing around everything is worthwhile, especially in areas with weather extremes or if you intend to condition the space.

 

[like2wheel]

Also, if in a 'buggy' environment, sling some diatomaceous earth into the bottoms of the stud bays. Chintinous and slimy bugs all hate the stuff. And it's non-toxic.

****.
Now there is another thing I wish I did.

Great suggestion. That stuff works amazingly well on anything with an exoskeleton.

 

[Denwood]

4K cameras using POE will store images and video that is actually useful…(trying reading a license plate at 1080p with a wide angle lens) So you’ll definitely want to run some CAT5 to potential camera locations.

wifi is fine for most applications..but it simply ***** for high data rate 4K.

 

[mike93lx]

4K cameras using POE will store images and video that is actually useful…(trying reading a license plate at 1080p with a wide angle lens) So you’ll definitely want to run some CAT5 to potential camera locations.

wifi is fine for most applications..but it simply ***** for high data rate 4K.

And yet I stream 4k over wifi regularly...

 

[Denwood]

Yes. Many of us do via Netflix But if you have any more than a few cameras recording a useful data rate 4K stream you will quickly find the limitation. And why worry about running power to your eaves when you can just power them using low voltage POE? A small POE switch on a cheap UPS also runs nicely if power is cut.

I do this stuff professionally, so I have zero patience for WiFi issues when it comes to security. Same thing for access points..I only use POE for anything important.

 

[engineer2]

Speaker wires back to a point where you would put a receiver/amplifier.

Great idea, but wire in walls need to be UL listed. Outdoor low voltage wire is cheap and is UL listed.
Outdoor outlets, outdoor lights, outdoor air fitting.
Agree on extra blocking for shelves and possible wall cabinets.
Ceiling fan?