Wiring for data in houses

[Mike Kallies]

Hello everyone,

This is only loosely related to Linux, but it is certainly related to 
home networking in Ontario.

I'm looking for some of the "offical" information about how to wire data 
wiring in houses legally.  I know, every guide says use plenum-rated 
wire, and I know there are tricks to prevent interference etc.  But what 
I really want is just the authoritative information about what the 
requirements are in Ontario.  Is it really that simple?  I'd hate to 
wire it up only to have somebody need to rip it out in the future as a 
fire hazard.

I was thinking of cat3 phonewire, 2 sets of cat6 data (material costs 
are less than the work to install it), and some cable tv coax and 
speaker wire.  I was also thinking of some interesting data jack 
locations for outside network-enabled cameras, wireless access points 
and wiring closets.  Rumour has it that people are also wiring in fibre 
these days, even if it is unused.  Unused cat6 pairs could also be used 
for home automation, or who knows what else.

Wireless is not going to be a perfect replacement for this stuff for a 
long time, today it is slow and suffers from privacy issues.  Tomorrow 
it will be faster, but whether or not it will cater to impractical geeks 
remains to be seen.  Besides, it's fun to hack around with this stuff.

Another reason I want to do this however is because it is an old 
house...  I'm going to be doing some electrical & plumbing upgrades, and 
afterwards, I'm going to be using some blow-in insulation for energy 
efficiency and soundproofing... which will make future wire 
installations an order of magnitude more difficult.

The thought also crossed my mind to use armoured cable and carefully 
placed pull-locations, so that some nut in the future can wire up their 
post apocolyptic EMP resistant pneumatic computer networks, or whatever 
other oddities appear.

Most of the work will be done next year.  Currently, I'm researching so 
that I can plan things out reasonably well.  I'll probably be doing a 
couple small runs in the next month or two, if they fit a master-plan, 
all the better.

-Mike

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