Quick Update

This update is past due as I alluded to last night.  I didn't take pictures before I began working today so the in between progress was not documented.

Before I begin with the progress I will address two questions I have been getting asked.

1. "Where did I learn how to do all of this stuff?"
Well, I grew up working construction as a summer job.  I was a "laborer" which means I did what ever I was told on any given day.  I had some great bosses/uncles that gave me the flexibility to learn an array of skills.  Most of what I have done to our house is outside anything I ever did on the job site, but by looking at "how to" video/articles on the net, some creativity, and a lot of patience I pushed through any struggles.  I suggest you watch a lot of DIY/HGTV, then when you see something you want to do, research it endlessly, ask pros that do it questions and then attempt it.  Most things can be fixed if you make small mistakes, just don't try something permanent like stamped concrete until you're comfortable to do so. 

2.  How do I have the time to do all of this?

Up until a week ago everything was done only on the weekends.  That meant that we really had no social life.  We would drive down 4.5 hours, work until we passed out, wake up, work until we passed out, wake up, work until we had to drive 4.5 hours home.  Now we have the luxury of living here.  I am also in transition between duty stations right now, which allows me to take extended leave.  In about a week you will see that progress is only made at night or on the weekends. 


Ok onto the good stuff.

So yesterday it rained here all day, so I thought it would be a good day to do some inside work.

The inside work I set about doing was running CAT 5e Network cable throughout our house.  This is mainly because 1.  I want to have a home security camera system 2. I need Ethernet cable to the back of our TV for our Direct TV On demand.
This is a much easier proposition than it turns out to be.  Our home is two stories tall, the attic spaces are not continuous, and there are other obstacles I will detail. 

To begin I attempted to find a place to pass the cable from out attic(third floor) to our office on the first floor. 

This is the view from the top of the attic stairs.  Our attic extends about twenty feet around the corner to the right.  If you have never crawled around in an attic on a humid Texas day, it's not fun. 

Before I move on some essential tools are a snake, and "fish poles", the fish poles actually glow in the dark which comes in handy.

So after getting the snake stuck for roughly an hour, in a hole that I drilled far to small I was able to pass from the attic to the second floor. 

 If you know how to pass from the attic to the first floor without opening the walls please tell me!  However, I don't think it is possible.  The first(well second after getting the snake stuck) real issue was trying to pass from the second floor to the first floor.  The problem was that there was both a horizontal 2"x4" on the floor of the second floor, and the ceiling of the first floor.  There was also a gap of about 5-6" between the two plates.  This meant I had to drill down from the second floor at an angle, then up from the first floor at an angle and then try to pass the snake though two holes that did not line up.  I was not successful until my assistant came home and helped me hook it with the "Fish pole"

This is the wall in the first floor office.  The top hole was to allow me to drill through the ceiling plate.  The middle hole was because the building crew installed a horizontal "fire block" basically it is a horizontal 2"x4" that is meant to segment the open space to make it harder for fires to propagate.  The bottom blue box is the final location of the Ethernet box.  The office is the location of the router so this is the start of the network.

So that was a success!!

However, that was only one side. The other end will be a network switch that will split the the Ethernet cables and also power the IP cameras I intend to use. 

I took a break, but then began working on the other side.  I started the same process. but immediately ran into issues. 

The first picture is the first floor, the second is the second floor.  If you compare the distance between the stairs and the wall you will see that they don't line up.  Another route had to be found(after I had already put holes in the wall.)

This is the walk in closet in the guest bedroom.  Notice the bump out in the back left corner.  After some attic crawling and opening up spots the builder had closed off I found that this area passed from the crawl space above the garage all the way to the third floor attic.  This was convenient because the room I was routing to was attached to the garage. 

This picture was taken after I had routed the CAT5e cable through that crawl space.  You can see how the insulation is all mashed down because I had been laying on it.  I am thankful that this insulation does not itch like the rock wool I pulled out of a 1950s home. 

After finding this pass through area i also put Coaxial cable, and an additional CAT 5 cable for future expansion. 

All that was left was to patch the holes i created.  These will get to coats of patch, with sanding after each, and then textured to match the walls. 

I then moved onto installing the screen track system on our porch.  This system is called "screen tight" and can be purchased at most lowes. 

These are a couple of scrap pieces of the track left over after cuts.  They have pre-cut holes for using screws to attach but apparently I had cut that portion off of these pieces. 

Here you can see one side completed with the track installed.  Also you can see the doggy door and the stairs for our pup.  the stairs will get finished with lattice to give a more finished appearance. 

Pup is a quick learner. 

Can't wait for this thing to be done, I'm going to smoke a big cigar when it is.