Re-wiring a house is a time consuming (and therefore muy expensive) task. If you go down that path, you should seriously consider adding some extra capacity and giving yourself some leg room for the future. The International Engineering Consortium says it better than me:

typical costs for building operation and alterations over a 40-year life cycle far exceed the initial construction costs. Proper systems-integration planning to optimize the construction process can reduce these ongoing life cycle costs.

The best way to do this? Structured wiring (also called at times “smart wiring” by some, especially realtors…).

The electricians will run combination cable (2x cat5e + 2x RG6) from the garage to each room. I plan on using one cat5e for the phone (up to 4 lines), one cat5e for data (up to Gigabit Ethernet) and the two coax for video distribution (in and out). Note that the cat5e could also be used for audio distribution or security systems, so this bundle gives you quite some flexibility. Wiring the complete house (about 10 terminations) requires a 500-ft spool - that’s around $350 in this configuration.

I will be taking care of the distribution panel, terminations and faceplates (a time-consuming but not so complex process) and will be posting the details later on.

In addition, I’ve asked the crew to drop in a few extra audio cables in the living room, going from one side of the room to the other - this is for the future 5:1 surround sound home theather!

If you would like to read more about structured cabling, Leviton has a great “Wiring Strategies Installation Guide” available for download.