Replacing Nm In Existing Home

I have a 50 foot hdmi cable that is hooked to my TV, run through my wall to my basement then over and upto a closet where the cable is hooked to my surround sound. Unfortunately my basement ceiling is finished in drywall and there is no access to replace the cord. To make a long story short a cable TV provider came to my house to change out a box and broke the prongs on the hdmi cable. My question is, can HDMI ends be spliced or replaced somehow without replacing the whole cable.
      

Hi everyone. I'm new here, so I hope I am not posting this in the wrong place.



Is there a good book or site with instructions and tips for running computer networking cable in the walls in existing construction? I did it in my former house, which was a one story Ranch house with a big crawlspace. It was very easy. But my current house is two stories on a slab. Not only can I not go under the house, but I need to get things to the second floor. I want network ports in at least six rooms, covering both floors and spanning the width of the house. I can put the patch panel in the coat closet in the middle of the house.



I want the end result to look as clean as possible. I'm not ok with cables running outside of the walls. I am expecting to have to cut and patch a lot of drywall, but I'm sure there are right and wrong ways to go about this project. And ways that will result in as little drywall cutting as possible. And what about running perpendicular to joists? Is it ok to drill holes that way? Even if I do, that would require cutting a hole in the ceiling every few feet I think. I hope there's a better way.



What resources should I read?
      

Help!  We decided to raise the ceiling in our kitchen for some new taller cabinets. We have 30" cabinets with a 7' drop ceiling. By taking out the drop ceiling we can go to an 8' ceiling with 36" cabinets.  We just had the ceiling taken out and now I see I got a problem!



This is a 2 story home, the wall in question is a load bearing wall (runs through the center of the house) The main breaker panel is in this wall (the panel opening is in the adjacent family room)



As you can see in the photos I cannot extend the wall up because all of the home wiring is in the way!  I expected I might have to run longer wires but not this. 



Some ideas we've thought about...

notch the double 2x4s (not sure how much I need to notch or allowed to)



build a cove (box) and leave the wires like they are (might be an eyesore in our new kitchen)



put up a large crown moulding along the entire wall (would be the only crown moulding in the house)



extend the ceiling up 6-7" instead of 12" (should leave enough room for wire to stay)



I'm leaning to the notching option if I can find a way to reinforce that section.



Any ideas?



thanks!
      

I will be pulling from the breaker panel new 12/2 romex for a kitchen microwave and a 20 amp circuit, 12/2 for the garage. I might also pull some extra wire for a future add on room and to divide up existing circuits to avoid overloads in the future. I am snaking these cables through existing sheetrock ceilings and walls. Are there any code requirements about snaking through existing walls and ceilings other than drilling holes 2" from the face of a stud or beam?
      

When is it necessary to use insulated staples?  I bought a bunch of plain metal staples for wiring my garage with 12/2 and plan on leaving the walls open.  There will be four 12/2 wire leaving/entering the switch box, can I use regular staples and staple two pair of wires side by side up the stud or do I need something else like stacker staples?
      

Hello, I'm roughing in 5 rooms and it's time to do the cable boxes. I was thinking of using RG 6/U in each room with home runs for every room.

I'm not sure really what to use.



This is rental property, and some tenants use Satelite, some use "Charter"

and all use High Speed Internet.

I'm thinking of also installing Cat 5E or 6 in same box.



I only want to do this once since I can't pull it out once installed.

Not sure about telephone, probably cable, but I might run some 22/4

in same box just in case. Hopefully crosstalk will not be an issue.



Any help or ideas would be appreciated.



Thanks.
      

I'm in the final stages of a rough in.... three questions:



1) Do the feeds to the panel need to be in the panel but not connected or is it ok to just have them pulled over by the panel



2) I've got can lights in a drop ceiling - do I just staple the cable to the joist in the area the light will go and coil up the excess?



3) I have an outlet and a switch that I can't disconnect right now(sump pump and a stairway light) but these will be going on new circuits I pulled. Obviously I can't get the box ready, can I just pull the cable and have it there by the existing box? I thought about putting in a new box, but there really is no space for the outlet and we like where the switch is.



I'd call the inspector and ask his preference but it is a voicemail box that has been full for a week.



Thanks.
      

I recently switched over from AT&T phone/cable/Internet service to Cablevision. 



The problem with both services is the coax cable coming through a hole in the wall from outside and then a phone line from their modem stapled to the floor board and tied into the phone outlet inside.  Then there's my phone lines, the coax cable to the TV... It's a disgusting mess.



I'd like to install a combination phone line and cable outlet in the wall and get rid of as much loose wiring as possible.  The phone line would come through the same area as the cable and I'd wire it on the other end to the main box outside the house.



I have no experience with this so my question is can I take the phone line from the Cablevision modem and simply plug it into the outlet and get all the phones in the house to work or does it have to be hard wired or piggybacked inside the outlet?
      

I am putting a theater area in my basement, but my electrical panels are also in the same room.  To keep the room symmetrical, it would look best to install the new panel two stud bays over and put the sconce in between - then it would match with the sconce on the other side.  I can't put the sconce on the other side further back because of a doorway.  I plan to paint the panels the same color as the walls so they blend a little better.



Anyhow, I attached a picture of the proposed layout.  The sconce sticks about 5 inches out from the wall.  Will the inspector approve such a setup?  I should still be able to access the panels without an issue, but don't want to do something against code, or stupid in some way.



Thanks!
      

I'm having quite the time finding an electrician who will quote this.  Just about all of them say that what I need is to upgrade my main panel but I want to install a new main panel that is a part of the meter base outside and make my current 100A panel a sub.   Maybe you people can tell me why nobody seems to want to do this.  Here are a few shots of the existing meter (note what is apparently a 60A base here)






and a shot of the conduit headed underground.  Like most homes built during this era, the conduit makes a right turn underground to enter through the cinderblock, ending up coming into the back of the main panel.  This conduit encloses a 4 wire feed. edit: no, actually it is only a 3 wire feed which is a problem if I want to convert the original main panel a sub.






Here's the existing panel.  It's a 60's era Square-D split panel with a 30 amp sub panel for the finished basement.  Those are low voltage wires to circuit taps for my home energy monitoring system btw.






The reason I don't want to upgrade this panel are as follows:

We won't be expanding the electrical west of this panel any more.  All planned expansion (240v car charger in Garage, planned 3 season room with grid tie Solar on the roof) will be to the east.


Upgrading the panel will require major surgery to the walls.  Due to the way the original basement is engineered there, the walls have an intricate stud pattern behind the existing panel.  I'd pretty much have to rip out a 4' section and redo it to make the access large enough to handle a 200A panel.


Adding additional circuits to an upgraded panel will require an act of God due to the finished basement construction.  There are no raceways for additional circuits.






Based on this, my thoughts were to create a new 200A main panel outside based on something like the GE model TSM420CSCUP loadcenter.  Here's a shot of this panel:






This particular panel has room for three 2-pole breakers in addition to the 200A mains.  I'd add a 100A 2-pole breaker for the existing panel, with the other two reserved for the garage/solar expansions.



The issue with the contractors who have quoted the job appears to be the conduit going to the existing panel.  I'm not sure what's wrong with it but it is apparently not compliant with current code.  Obviously the bonding needs to change, new grounding electrodes need to be driven, and a water pipe ground needs to be established to the new main panel, but what else is required?



I'd like to throughly research all the code considerations here so I can approach a contractor from a more knowledgable perspective then determine the best way to perform this upgrade.  Due to POCO coordination and the need to cut household power for the duration of the job, I have no desire to DIY this one...



So what exactly is wrong with the conduit running from the existing meter base to the existing load center?  Why is everybody telling me that I can't do essentially what I've described above?  What are the relevant code sections that will apply to this job?  Should I be chatting with my AHJ about local considerations now or should I wait until I have the code requirements down pat (assuming the latter here)?