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Mattkime - Unfortunately the office is on the second floor, so I guess I'll go with standard cat5 and see how it goes... Also the homerun is not labelled AT ALL just a bunch of CAT5 coming together in a white metal box about the size of an electrical panel with a screw on door (although I guess I could ring it out).
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>>Also the homerun is not labelled AT ALL just a bunch of CAT5 coming together in a white metal box about the size of an electrical panel with a screw on door
So many homebuilders and contractors think they can run cat5 and you look at the results and you know that they've completely clueless. Toward the end of college i had to tell a contractor that they did their job wrong. It was a weird position for a 22 year old kid to be in.
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Most of the drywall I've seen installed in the last 10 years ends up 1/4" - 1/2" above the floor, with the installers figuring that the "gap" will be covered with baseboard. So if you very gently remove your baseboard, there is probably a nice gap under the drywall where you could run the Cat 5, and then gently reattach the baseboard to cover it.
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Heck, if you are pulling off the baseboard, you could use a router and carve out a little slot in the back and run it there... sure, your wife will go for that, won't she?
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do you have to go direct? if the home run jacks are convenient to the intended locales of the computers, just tone the jacks and put a switch (and a UPS) next to your white metal box. btw, convenient could also mean on the other side of the intended wall; as noted easy fix from there... this may be the path of least resistance.
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I've used Wiremold to run ethernet and speaker wires along the baseboard and along walls. Paint it the same color as the walls and it looks good.
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I've run cable TV cable between baseboards and carpet. It's a pain in the @$$ to squeeze it in (you go about 1 foot a minute at BEST), but it gets in fine and works fine after the fact. I don't understand why you can't get Cat5 cable in?
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Have you tried to be really firm with pushing it down below the baseboard? (as in a flathead screwedriver and some force?)
More than likely you are not going to damage the wire doing this. I've done it many times with no ill effects.
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Why not go up? Put an ethernet box near one computer, fish a wire up into the attic, drop down inside the other wall and put a box. If you're not good at locating where to drill from the top, drill a small hole in the ceiling, big enough to put a cut coat hanger through (use the cheap thin ones from the dry cleaner). Use this to locate where to drill through the top plate in the attic. You'll have two small holes to patch