Adding Ceiling Fans and Datacom Cabling
May 19th, 2007 by Alex
I’ve been quiet lately, busy busy preparing the second bedroom in my place for a new roommmate. It was previously an office that had turned into a storage area for extra furniture and clothes. I like working on my place, but it leaves me tired at the end of the day.
I installed 42″ ceiling fans in both bedrooms. There was no existing ceiling box, so I had to cut through the drywall, move the insulation out of the way, and install a heavy bracket from the joists above (which are spaced at 20″, what I thought pretty strange). There was an existing switched outlet in each bedroom that provided the necessary NM-12/3 to splice the new wiring onto an existing circuit (the switched outlet was converted to unswitched in the process). The switch was replaced with a dimmable wall control unit that controls both the light and the fan. I finished all of this last week and already I’m enjoying the overhead light (vs. the torchier lamp from before) and the increased circulation. The fans are pretty basic and blend in nicely.
Lowes’ Harbor Breeze fans are very quiet and so far aren’t wobbling at all, although it might be due to my overkilled installation. The electrical wiring that comes with the fans is a bit thin, I’d guess 16-gauge wire. It isn’t a problem, but it takes a bit more attention when using wire nuts to join them to NM-12/3 or stranded 12-gauge wire. Each fan comes with a few extra screws and wire nuts; smart, considering most people drop/lose at least one during the install process. One of the glass covers for the light fixture was broken in the box, so I called the number on the box (as instructed, as opposed to taking the whole thing back to Lowes) and the guy took my name/address/phone/model and shipped me a new one UPS in 4 days. Not bad at all.
I’m almost finished running network drops into the two bedrooms. This is something that I had avoided for years, since the outer walls are layered with impermeable fireblock. I never used the bedrooms for Internet use in the past, but wireless was flaking out so I decided to go ahead and do it. So I’ve now got plenum-rated CAT-5e run from the basement all the way to the attic, then down into the two bedrooms’ existing low voltage boxes. The old telephone jack cover was removed and replaced with a 2-port Leviton QuickPort plate (note: Leviton isn’t the greatest stuff, but I’ve used it before with no ill effects and it’s easily acquired/returned at Home Depot); there will be one voice-grade jack and one data-grade jack in each box. I opted not to install the fiber optic cable that I was planning on due to a lack of need; I’ve got 0 devices that would utilize it, although the novelty would be cool. I’ve got the one bedroom punched down already, still need to punch down the master bedroom and the jacks in the basement. After a quick pair check and link test, I’ll be done.
Throughout the entire process (both ceiling fan and cabling), I’ve been working in my attic a lot. The attic has blown-in insulation (compared to batt); this means that in addition to reducing the R-value in the paths where I’ve frequented the past couple days, I’ve tracked little bits of fiberglass all over the upstairs bedrooms. I re-deployed as much of the insulation as possible, but I really don’t like the stuff. I know it’s cheaper and less time consuming to apply, but I still prefer the ease of manuevering through batt insulation.
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