Wiring room size

felixrosbergen

Senior Member
Gents,

By monday i need to tell my builder what size wiring room i want in the basement.

I plan to have the wiring room at the location where the main electrical panel is.

In total i plan to have 1 full height 19" rack, 2 or 3 42" or 50" cans on the walls, wall mounted 19" termination blocks for CATV and network.

Considering a 19" rack overall dimensions are i guess about 2' wide by 3' deep and you need 3' in front and behind i think the minimum size of the room would be 5' x 10'.

Will this work? Coudl i still fit a small desk in there?

Once the stuff is terminated i don't plan to spend to much time there. Any setup of the Elk and server i plan to do from the couch in the family room with laptop and remote desktop if needed.

Any advice appreciated...
 
I think 5x10 would be really nice. I bet many of us are using smaller spaces and would prefer a larger space. My space is under a set of stairs, so you can imagine how small it is. I can't even put a full height rack in it. But I have the rack and two 50" cans in it with room around the rack to work. It isn't the best, but you make do with what you have.

Even if you don't plan on working in the room, having the extra space will be nice to store all the extra HA stuff you accumulate. Just ask IVB :)

Just make sure you put a 28" or 30" door on it. A 24" door can be really tight to get a rack through - don't ask how I know :rolleyes:
 
I'm so jealous of you people with Basements! They just don't do them in California, so I'm stuck with what fits in the master closet, and what fits in/around the LR TV cabinet...

Oh well... that's a huge room - would be nice if you have the space - Some of the racks I deal with have half-doors in the back, so I only keep about 2' behind them to barely walk around, then more like 4 in front - but that's full depth server racks... HA and 2-post racks are about half that depth I believe, so it depends on what you're keeping in there. Something with the cans in the outside-most wall, and the rack to one side or the other would probably work pretty well and give you room to get around.
 
Gents,

By monday i need to tell my builder what size wiring room i want in the basement.

I plan to have the wiring room at the location where the main electrical panel is.

In total i plan to have 1 full height 19" rack, 2 or 3 42" or 50" cans on the walls, wall mounted 19" termination blocks for CATV and network.

Considering a 19" rack overall dimensions are i guess about 2' wide by 3' deep and you need 3' in front and behind i think the minimum size of the room would be 5' x 10'.

Will this work? Coudl i still fit a small desk in there?

Once the stuff is terminated i don't plan to spend to much time there. Any setup of the Elk and server i plan to do from the couch in the family room with laptop and remote desktop if needed.

Any advice appreciated...

Well, I made my wiring room right under the stairs coming down into the basement. I'd guess it's about 5' x 10' L-shaped.
I don't know what you plan on for lighting. I used Centralite and put the two panels in the wiring room on the wall,
and ran a subpanel from the main panel to the wiring room. that gives me the expansion I needed and kept the panels
central to the house. I *think* that saved me some wire on home runs. As it was, I have 5500' of romex in the house.
Since I made it central, I had 4 wood walls to put stuff on. I have one wall for lighting, one wall for Cat5/phone and one wall for
security and video. I have a full size rack in there and room for a small desk/terminal.
 
We also came from the no-basement part of the US, so we really don't even know what to do with ours. Thus, I annexed about a 12' X 12' area for wiring. Of course, computers are my hobby also and our last house I had to work on those in a closet (literally)....so that is also part of that area now. We're going to put about an 8' long workbench in there for PC tinkering.

Ultimately, though, our room size was pretty much dictated by the architecture...there was just a natural place for all the wiring to go (down the HVAC chase) and a natural place to put walls to separate out the mechanical room and a wiring room.

I take it that you already have plans for what's going in the basement? Otherwise, you could just decide the roomsize later. In my opinion, take the most amount of room you can. I can't stand cramped connections in the back of anything. My 2-post rack is going to be almost in the middle of the room, so I can access all sides easily.

The other thing I'd say is make sure you have room for storage....everyone accumulates stuff.
 
I've had to lay out some small areas at the office for Intermediate Distribution Frames, Telcom Rooms, or whatever the current regeime wishes to call them. I've had the easiest time accessing the rack when I have it positioned against the longer wall, but turned sideways. I can then access the front and back of the frame, and I can still mount stuff like 110-blocks on the wall to both sides of the rack.

Bigger is generally better, but there comes a point where everyone else decides it is an appropriate place to store Christmas decorations, etc.
 
haha..thanks gents..

there are currently no plans for the basement at all. Unfortunately they most logical location for wiring room seems to be where the main electrical panel is. This is however opposite of the HVAC area, so i'll probably end up with 2 'technical' rooms.

I am still considering if i will just leave it open and mount the cans on the wall and put the rack in, but the building said for a few hundrud he will frame out that room which i think is hard to turn down.

It's a walkout basement so it's likely to get finished at some point. Problem is that i think in some place it will only have 7' clear due to ducts and such. I'm considering asking the builder what it woudl cost to make the whole basement 1' deeper so that i can put in a fnished ceiling and still get 8' ceilings in that space. That shoudl make it more valuable space, otherwise no matter how nice you make it, the low ceilings will always make it feel like a basement. No idea how much the extra foot woudl cost....resale wise i think it may be a wise investment though. If i can finish that over time and add another 1000sqf to the that way it becomes around 3700sqf, they has to raise the price oven what i'm paying for it.
 
One of the first and most determined choices we made was for 9' ceilings on the first floor and basement. And you're right...that will translate to about 8' ceilings to cover over everything...either that or 9' in most places, and then bump downs for the ducts. All you're really talking about is more concrete, and a little more excavation time. If you can afford it, I highly suggest it.

Photon, I had the same idea for the rack...next to the wall, but turned so I have unfettered from and back access. And ya, I already know I'll have to zealously safeguard it for unapproved storage. Fortunately we have a storage area above the garage, so I should be able to always direct it that way. We have pegged it as a good place for hiding presents, though. :)
 
One of the first and most determined choices we made was for 9' ceilings on the first floor and basement. And you're right...that will translate to about 8' ceilings to cover over everything...either that or 9' in most places, and then bump downs for the ducts. All you're really talking about is more concrete, and a little more excavation time. If you can afford it, I highly suggest it.

I concur 100%. 9' basement depth is worth anything it will cost, and in this case it's pretty minor.
You'd kick yourself the rest of your life if you don't spend the few hundred to make it 1' deeper...
 
I just finished building my home and I put in 4 50" cans and 2 19" racks in the unfinished portion of our basement. The contractor said he'd frame it out for cheap but I told him I'd just do it myself after I was done with terminations and what not. I'm very glad with this decision because it's made wiring extra stuff into the cans much easier than it would have been if I had the walls framed in around everything.

Also, due to the heat of 6 amps, 5 servers, switches, and other misc. gear i'm going to install a small A/C unit for this room when i'm done. So i'm designing the walls with this in mind and making sure adequate ventilation is included.

I'd say do the framing yourself if it's not too much trouble. You'll inevitably end up running more wires or changing your mind on the design of the room and this way you won't have to do twice the work.

If you'd like I'll take some pics of the somewhat finished product. I've only put up one wall but you'll get the idea of size.
 
You think you really need to ask if we'd like pictures??? :rolleyes:

thought i'd beat him to the punch.... :p

This is the area prior to walls. You can see the mechanical on the left, and on the right is the wire destination. This part of the basement narrows, so it made a kind of natural area to close off.

wiringroom1.jpg


And here is after we raised up the walls. The main reason for the "interior" wall is so that all of the water-related appliances are now closed in the same room as the floor drain and sump pump...so if one of those goes, it should all contained. We also covered all of the interior walls with 3/8" plywood so that no water could accidentally get sprayed onto the electronics, including the power panel which is near the far wall.

wiringroom2.jpg



This is from just inside the "wiring room". That's our DSL modem hanging suspended by the telephone wire. :rolleyes: Where I'm standing we'll put the work table and PC spare parts storage, and then where the modem is hanging will probably be the 19" rack. Around the wall to the left, which you can't see, I'll probably be mounting all my 22/4 wires and terminating them, as well as my Datanab Ai32.

wiringroom3.jpg
 
Gents,

are you guys putting any insulation on the concrete walls? I thought to make it habitable you'd wat to put a 2x4 up against the wall with insulatation between?

I guess maybe not for the wiring room and mechanical room, but i suppose this would be good for the rest of the basement.

I asked the builder today for a quote to make the basement 9' instead of 8'. He didnt think it was necesarry but would do it if i wanted to. So far these guys have been really good about changes. Most of this stuff they seem to pass on at cost. Makes i tink i must have paid way to much for the base house..... :rolleyes:

Anyway..i tihnk a 2800 sqf house (possible 3000sqf if i finish a bonus room over the garage) with a nice big walkout basement soons ncie to me...

WOuld one even want AC in the basement? The air handler is there but i don't think it would have the capacity for the base house, bonus room and a 1000-1300sqf basement. I'm in CT so it generally it doesnt get oo hot here...the basement in my previous place was walkout and always cool... I would probably just end up with electric baseboard heat or something to heat it in the winter i suppose.
 
Gents,

are you guys putting any insulation on the concrete walls? I thought to make it habitable you'd wat to put a 2x4 up against the wall with insulatation between?

I guess maybe not for the wiring room and mechanical room, but i suppose this would be good for the rest of the basement.

I asked the builder today for a quote to make the basement 9' instead of 8'. He didnt think it was necesarry but would do it if i wanted to. So far these guys have been really good about changes. Most of this stuff they seem to pass on at cost. Makes i tink i must have paid way to much for the base house..... :rolleyes:

Anyway..i tihnk a 2800 sqf house (possible 3000sqf if i finish a bonus room over the garage) with a nice big walkout basement soons ncie to me...

WOuld one even want AC in the basement? The air handler is there but i don't think it would have the capacity for the base house, bonus room and a 1000-1300sqf basement. I'm in CT so it generally it doesnt get oo hot here...the basement in my previous place was walkout and always cool... I would probably just end up with electric baseboard heat or something to heat it in the winter i suppose.

If not AC you may at least want a dehumidifier down there.
 
Gents,

are you guys putting any insulation on the concrete walls? I thought to make it habitable you'd wat to put a 2x4 up against the wall with insulatation between?

I guess maybe not for the wiring room and mechanical room, but i suppose this would be good for the rest of the basement.

I asked the builder today for a quote to make the basement 9' instead of 8'. He didnt think it was necesarry but would do it if i wanted to. So far these guys have been really good about changes. Most of this stuff they seem to pass on at cost. Makes i tink i must have paid way to much for the base house..... :rolleyes:

Anyway..i tihnk a 2800 sqf house (possible 3000sqf if i finish a bonus room over the garage) with a nice big walkout basement soons ncie to me...

WOuld one even want AC in the basement? The air handler is there but i don't think it would have the capacity for the base house, bonus room and a 1000-1300sqf basement. I'm in CT so it generally it doesnt get oo hot here...the basement in my previous place was walkout and always cool... I would probably just end up with electric baseboard heat or something to heat it in the winter i suppose.

It probably depends on how much of your basement is underground, how many doors/windows you have down there and other factors. Plus don't forget your servers will heat up that small room in no time. Also, if you finish the rest of the basement you'll probably put insulation on the wall of the wiring room adjacent to the finished room for sound reasons which will also cause that room to get hot.

As you I'm sure know, electronics and heat don't mix well.

My preference, assuming money isn't a huge problem, would be to either put in an A/C unit and have it mostly feed your server room but also the rest of the basement or at the very least put a small portable unit in the server room.

If you decide to do nothing now you could always put in the portable unit later or tap into your main floor HVAC feeds to get some air into the server room.
 
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