I work as a an electrician/teledata installer and can offer a few tips. Consider a central location to route all your cables in the entire house and use a residental media hub like the one Leviton sells it allows you to add various components based on your needs . Buy having all your cables and components in one location it allows for a convenient place to do all your switching, cross-connects and networking in one place, plus the ability to adjust for future technologies. You could add multiplexers for security, convert a future fiber optic internet connection into an Ethernet swich that coverts signal for distribution devices as needed and many others options. Cat 5e/6 cables offer a lot of flexibility, baluns are the peices that can be soldered or terminated on the ends of an cat5e/6 cable allowing it to adapt to hdmi and a wide array of other connection types. Other users who offered the advice on raceways are correct smerf tube is a good way to go be sure to get a pull string or something similar (I use 16 awg thhn electrical wire) installed before closing the walls. Best of luck. Here's link to leviton home media cabinets. Here is a link that might be useful: Inside Leviton Structured Media Enclosures

Am grateful for all the comments on cost of ice-melt cable, especially the electrical cost. My neighbor had gutter *tape* put in her gutters over 15 years ago. This was cable embedded in some silver solar material (sort of like NASA heat blankets, I think). This wide tape lays in the bottom of her gutters. Her son said it makes cleaning debris out much easier than with plain cable. I can't find any heat tape for sale now. Since it does seem that it would make cleaning easier (something I need to do a LOT), I wonder why they don't produce them anymore? I did look up the Bylin system mentioned above, and there is also this: http://www.thermaltechusa.com/residential.php These kinds of systems are, of course, a LOT more expensive to install. I don't know how they compare on cost of the electricity. My split level was built in the early 70s. I am constantly cleaning out the gutters in warm weather and having ice bergs hanging off the roof in winter. It is a constant worry. About 5 years ago I had more insulation put in both my attics (split level home) but I still have problems over the center of the lower level roof. This is over the center of the house, incl the kitchen so I guess that's why warmth is melting the snow. This past winter I also had a major ice build up on one of the upper level gutters. It was phenomenal! Do I need to put even more insulation up or what? I am sure any analysis by any company selling ice dam prevention systems or insulation will insist their product is the solution. How do I know what to buy for my house? Thanks for any feedback!

Hi James, sorry missed your comment. Still good after almost 2 years. I didn't really "turn the corner". My cable runs are all separate (each run starts with a stop and ends with an eye bolt). My corners are 2 posts welded to a large bottom plate. I'll post a pic when i get a chance. If I did it again: supported top rail (wood is now wavy, but only noticeable when eyeing down the rail), lighter duty eye bolts, and I need a support tube at the top of my corner posts (as is, I only tensionned my cables to a few pounds, to get them tighter I need to add a tube between the posts).

I wish I could post a picture, because you are not visualizing what I have here. The back of the box is flat/plumb. The siding (lap siding, Z profile) is not. There is NO J-box inside the wall. There is a hole in the siding/wall (1/12" round) through which the wires pass, and a corresponding hole in the back of the 6x6 box. Because of the siding profile, this leaves a gap of 3/4" between the back of the box and the hole in the wall. If I do not use the short piece of conduit on the back of the box, any water that runs down the side of the house will run directly into the gaping round hole in the wall and fill the stud cavity, not to mention the hole in the box. The wires would be completely exposed for 3/4" as they pass out of the hole in the wall and into the hole in the box. So...I definately need the conduit, or SOMETHING to bridge that small gap. The conduit just seemed the easiest thing, didn't know it would change all the rules. So are you saying that if NM exits a wall and enters a PVC j-box through a hole it does not need clamping, but if it enters through a 2" piece of conduit it does? If it needs clamping even if it enters through a hole, how do you properly accomplish this since the PVC J box does not have any accomodation for clamps? I have seen no cable clamps whatsoever that are designed to be used with PVC conduit or PVC J-boxes.