Hello,
I'm living in the 18th century, over here. My house was built in 1791, essentially barn timberframe construction.
We've decided to take a leap forward and get cable TV. We actually have a cable modem, which my former electrician wired for us about five years ago. But the cable run from the basement, up to the attic on the third floor, and then down to an office on the second floor is the only cable wiring we've got. And those ends are not where our TVs are.
If only we could get wireless cable....
My big question is, is there any reason why I shouldn't try to run the new cable myself, as opposed to having an electrician do it? We got rid of our electrician because he was too quickly inclined to damage the house when doing various tasks. Like, we needed a 220 outlet for a new stove, and his impulse was to cut a hole in the 200+ year old wide-plank wood floor, rather than the plaster wall. I had to yell "Stop!" Maybe that makes me a high-maintenance client, but it's a major reason why I prefer to do as much as I can myself.
I asked another electrician, highly recommended, what it would cost to fish the wires, and he said it was impossible to say. It could be him and his buddy working a half day ($500) or even a full day ($1000), if the construction was difficult. This seems nuts to me. Is there something I'm missing? We're not going to spend $1000 to get cable.
To give you a lay of the land:
1. The cable service (which currently has some very basic channels) comes into the basement. It arrives at a splitter with three Outs. At least one of these is not in use. The splitter is in the northwest corner of the basement.
2. The two TVs are embarrassingly enormoustoo big for me to move. So, testing the service in the basement doesn't look like an easy possibility, for me.
3. There is a "chase" going from the basement to the second floor, or maybe even the attic (not sure if this is one continuous channel). It is in the middle of the east side of the house. A river of wires goes up that, emerging in a crawlspace at the center of the attic.
4. The primary TV is two floors above the basement, on the Southeast of the second floor.
5. The secondary TV is in a finished attic guest bedroom, south side of the house.
6. An ethernet connection runs from the attic room with the cable modem to an office on the 2nd floor (Southeast corner) that's across a hallway from the TV room.
My sense is that the second floor bedroom might require some expert fishing expertise that I don't have, but that the attic bedroom would be a relatively simple task. Just fish the wire from there into the crawlspace, down the chase to the basement, and then across the the splitter.
Is there any reason why this shouldn't be that simple?
Alternatively, since there is already a cable for the modem going into the north attic room, should I instead put some sort of splitter on the current outlet there, and then double back to the attic bedroom TV? Or does it need to be a unique line from the basement splitter?
And I assume that I just buy coaxial cable for it. Anything to consider, regarding this or other necessary hardware? Does a 50-foot length sound right (for just one connection)?
I imagine that the worst that could happen is that I can't figure out how to fish the wire down the chase, and then call the electrician to bail me out.
Ideally, we'd have cable in both rooms, eventually. Just the attic bedroom would be a good start. But looking forward to having both wired, please let me know if there's anything I should be considering.
Any advice would be helpful.
--Jonathan
Ron Natalie
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