Complete Rewire 1400 square foot home

[Collins Conover]

We just purchased a 1400 square foot home in Richland, WA. It was built in 1948 and has come across at least 3 generations of wiring jobs. We had an electrician provide a bid to rewire the house. The basic idea is that the current wiring will be abandoned in place. They will bring the house up to current standards which basically requires an entire new system from the service connection on. This should be a good opportunity to add some ham radio flair behind the walls. What would you suggest? About the only add-on so far is several CAT 6 plug-ins. Should I add a convenient ground connection to the shack in the basement?

The house (actually a mirror image):
A rancher with a full basement.

TL;DR – Rewiring the house… special ham radio considerations?

[Chris Thompson]

Hmmm…Separate run to the shack, to a sub panel that can kill power to the entire shack. Locate the panel jut outside or inside the shack entrance. 220v line to the shack, if you think you might EVER put in an HF amp. More outlets than “standard”.

[Scott Toth]

I agree with Chris- the more available capacity, the better. It might be worth having a 30 amp 110V circuit put in that could power all of your equipment in one location rather than having multiple 15 amp circuits since most of your gear is probably on the same desk. Depending on the type of work the electricians are doing and how intrusive it is, it could be helpful to have conduits, chaseways or access panels installed in your shack to give you easier ability to run coax. Finally, depending on where your shack is located relative to your service panel, it would probably be good to have them add ground rods near your shack and bond them to the service ground. That way your RF and service grounds are bonded and you won’t ever have to worry about it again.

[Raleigh D. Stout]

If you are doing any computing in your shack, I would suggest wiring some good RH-45 cable to support your local area network. Avoid the 10/100 gear and use stuff rated for 1000 Mbps or higher. This might be your best opportunity to have it in place for stability of network and internet.

Best

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