[Kushan]

Thanks for all of the advice, guys. I realise it is not an easy job and it might be difficult to do, but I'd like to give it a go (insofar as doing some research to find out just what's involved before I commit).

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Look into decent powerline adaptors and in each room network switches.

This saves on drilling holes.

I bought a powerline adaptor kit, as my router is upstairs.

Behind the TV downtair is the other powerline, this connects to a 5 & 8 port switch.

Thanks, but powerlines are a non-starter for me as they're just not fast or reliable enough for what I'm planning to do. I have needs beyond just better wifi around the house.

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

The real problem in the walls is that although they are hollow there are usually cross members ( noggins ) at intervals between the vertical studs. You can use a stud finder to locate them but you then need to get the cables round them by making a hole in the wall at the noggin location and notching the noggin for the cable before re-filling the hole. There will also be a "wall plate" (timber) top and bottom running the entire width of the wall.

Depending upon the construction there may also be insulation beteen the studs as well.

You'll also need an electricians fish tape to pull the wires through.

When I wired up my place I ran the cables in the floor space and then put flush pattress boxes just above the skirting boards. That way the only cable in the wall was behind the skirting boards which are not plastered but nailed to small stand off timber laths. Then there was only a couple of inches actually in the plaster of the wall. Easy to chisel out and re-fill.

I actually had a route from the ground floor to the first inside some plaster boarded pillars that were where a dividing wall had been removed. I deliberately didn't put cross timbers inside these for the very purpose of pulling wires and pipes through.

If you have a cupboard under the stairs this may be the route you can use. I've home run all the CAT5s to a patchboard here that sits next to the router.

I did all this before I got my current router ( Buffalo air station ) that has a very good WiFi signal throughout the house and into the garden. Streams Go TV in HD very nicely.

I appreciate it's going to be a ball ache to do for sure, but I appreciate the advice given here. Part of the problem is that I just didn't know what terms to be looking for when researching this (like "noggin").

I don't mind having to cut through some plasterboard to channel through studs and noggins. I know it's tedious and annoying, but if there's a need, there's a need.

There's a soil pipe from the upstairs bathroom going down to the kitchen (And next to the living room, albeit at the opposite side of the Virgin equipment). It's actually quite a large cavity I think, but I guess I just need to find where it exits into the attic to start off with. That will at least get me from the attic to the ground floor. Then I just need to figure out if there's a better way to get from one end of the ground floor to another, but I have an ethernet cable going from one end of the living room to the other already.

I'm partly looking to wire the speaker cables I have as well, but they would have to go across the ceiling (concrete floor) and that's a whole other issue. I have spotlights and I believe these are on "tracks". Is there an easy way to tell the direction those tracks go in, or am I basically going to have to cut a hole in the ceiling to find out?