Tips for running CAT5e from house to outbuilding

TheCyclingProgrammer

I'm currently in the planning stages of getting a garden office installed.

I already have a local network setup in the house with a patch panel, switch and router in the cupboard under the stars. I'm thinking of running a couple of cables from the house to the office.

The cables will have to run out of the cupboard under the stairs through the side of the house, down the wall where they will be buried in the french drain that runs along the side of the house and then in a trench down the side of the garden to the office location. We're having the garden re-landscaped so we'll be able to do this after the site is cleared and before the office is installed.

I assume I don't need special armoured cable, just external grade CAT5e and run it in some plastic conduit? I already have loads of normal CAT5e but I'm guessing this won't be suitable. Power will be coming via the garage so I don't need to worry about running it next to power.

Also, what is the best way to run the cables from the inside to the outside of the house, down the wall and keep the cables protected, if at all? I already have one CAT5e cable that enters the house there (its running from the master BT socket around the outside of the house to take the fibre connection to the patch panel). For that I just drilled an angled hole and pulled the cable through.

I'm guessing it would be a bad idea (risk of damp) to drill a hole below floor level and run the cables that way (which would be neater internally as they can drop straight down below the floorboards and run under the floor and out of the house and also mean they aren't exposed on the wall outside).

Also, once the cables are run to where they need to be, they need to be kept protected from the elements until the office is installed and they are run into the building and connected up internally.

Any tips or guidance are appreciated. I'll be doing this myself.

Andy_L

Since you've got power already going there, I'd be inclined to give powerline networking a go.

Stevey198321

Duct grade cat5e ran in conduit would do or armoured cat5e

FreeBear

It is very low voltage & current, so no need to go overboard on armouring the stuff. Just bury a length of MDPE pipe in the ground and run the CAT5 cables through it. The blue stuff they use for water will be more than adequate. If you feed a length of rope through the pipe, when the office is finished, you can pull the cables through without any difficulty.

And yes, you could drill a small hole through the wall below floor level - At most, you'd only need 10mm or even 12mm to feed the wires through.

shaun_from_Africa

If it was me, I would actually run in two cables and then seal the two end connectors on one of them and stow them away.

It's sod's law that sometime after doing the job, the cable will get damaged or simply fail because of a manufacturing defect and you will have to start again but at least with another cable there, you could easily switch over.
Even if you never need it, you can get long cables reasonable cheap nowadays.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Yes, I was definitely planning to run a couple, maybe a spare and some string to pull new cable through if necessary.

If I can drill a hole below the DPC level that would work out nicely as I won't have to worry about the exposed cables running up the wall.

Lorian

ideally you want to keep water out of your conduit. If I was doing it I'd pull the cat5e in to one continuous length of copex - not the split sort) and then bury that.

I'd run it up the wall with a suitable cable cover as its easier to stop water ingress, but you can get glands etc as required.

Be aware though friction is an issue if you are pulling several cat5e into a very long length of copex.

patman99

Don't forget that Cat5e cables have a maximum working length of 100m and at that distance, your connection will be running at around 10% of the rated speed.

Also, Cat5e cables (and Cat6) don't like to be pulled through conduit. They can easily become damaged if stretched.

You could go for a fibre otic link between the house and office, but you would need two of these as well as fibre optic cables. These can be pulled through a conduit without breaking, but do not take well to being stood on or run over with an office chair.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Yes, I'm aware of the limitations. I think the run will only be around 25m.

I think fibre optic might be a bit overkill but points taken re: pulling through conduit. We ran our existing cables in conduit indoors to the living room, it was fairly easy until we got to the fourth cable but we got there in the end.

Thinking about it I might want to run a few extra cables as I want to install some CCTV that use PoE. Should I run these in separate conduit?

Lorian

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Yes, I'm aware of the limitations. I think the run will only be around 25m.

I think fibre optic might be a bit overkill but points taken re: pulling through conduit. We ran our existing cables in conduit indoors to the living room, it was fairly easy until we got to the fourth cable but we got there in the end.

Thinking about it I might want to run a few extra cables as I want to install some CCTV that use PoE. Should I run these in separate conduit?

You are fine running as many cat5e in the conduit/copex as you can get in it. If the cameras are going at the Shed-end put a small PoE switch in the shed and power/feed them off that, just using one of the main cat5e cables to connect the switch back to the house.

There is no need at all for fibre on a 25M run underground just a waste of money.

Best off pulling all the cables in at the same time, not one at a time.

Lorian

patman99 wrote: »

Don't forget that Cat5e cables have a maximum working length of 100m and at that distance, your connection will be running at around 10% of the rated speed.

Should be no problem running Gigabit at 100M, all things being equal.