Energy Efficient Electrical Designs for New Homes

What Constitutes Good Structural Wiring In A Home?

29 April 2015

Kimberly Garrett

If you are planning to build a new home, you may be wondering about how it should be wired to accommodate your data and telephone needs. While most jurisdictions or municipalities require only certified electricians to do this wiring, it is advantageous for you to know what is involved. This information will enable you to have a meaningful discussion with your selected electrical company so that you quickly agree on what materials to procure for the job. This article discusses the main attributes of a well-wired home.

The Control Box Has A Signal Amplifier

Structural wiring refers to a system of wiring that enables you to access data or telephone services from any part of your home. One main indicator of a home that has been wired well is that the control box contains a signal amplifier. This allows the signal that is being sent to each room or part of the house to be as strong as the incoming signal from outside the home. If this amplifier is not present, the signal will be divided among all the lines distributing it to different parts of the house. This will massively reduce the strength of that signal and the result is that you will have poor quality pictures (for your cable TV) or poor sound quality in the phones.

Use Of The "Home Run" Configuration

The best structural wiring makes use of the "home run" configuration. This is when each wire is run from the control box to one outlet. The advantage of this configuration is that each outlet will have a strong signal similar to the incoming signal from the line from the cable or utility company. This is unlike the "daisy chain" configuration in which one wire leads to several outlets. In such a configuration, the signal keeps weakening as it moves from one outlet to the next. The "home-run" configuration uses more materials, but it delivers better results.

Use Of High Quality Cables

There is a huge array of cables on the market and each has its own quality issues and challenges. For instance, there are CAT5 cables that are shielded in order to lock out any electrical field interference. There are also CAT5 cables that are not shielded, so they are susceptible to magnetic field interference. You should ensure that only cables of very high quality (such as shielded CAT5 cables) are used so that the quality of data and telephone signals is not affected.

The best way to ensure that your house is properly wired is to contract a certified electrical company to do your data and telephone wiring for you. You will then notice that the information the technician gives you tallies with what is in this discussion. For more information, contact a company like Austec Electrical.

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