Linked by David Adams on Wed 21st Jan 2004 22:52 UTC
If all goes well, this summer I'll be building a new house. I've owned a few houses before, some of them built in the 1920s and 30s, and full of all the charm and quirks of an old house, and a couple that were pretty new, with the lack of craftsmanship and imagination that's typical in most new construction in the USA today. But this time I'm building a custom home, just to my specifications, so I can have whatever features I want, limited only by my imagination (and budget). I'd like to integrate some home automation features into the house, and include wiring for future expansion. 
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As a structural engineer, I can't stress to you the importance of the structural integrity of your home. Most homes in the U.S. (and most of the world due to the general adoption of the International Building Code - formerly the UBC) are engineered for certain conditions using certain materials with known dimensions and characteristics. Many of you point out that it's good to run more wires than you currently need, and from a networking point of view, more is certainly better. However, just a 1" diameter hole cut laterally in a 2x4 framing member (be that column, joist, ledger, rimpet, etc.) lowers the effective cross sectional area by about 26% and the moment of intertia (the dimension that resists moment-buckling) is lowered by about 15%. This may not seem like much but many, many framing members must be compromised for the amount of wires many of you are talking about. A PVC conduit does very little to reinforce the member under compression, and does absolutely nothing in tension or bending, however the hole required for the PVC conduit (or just wires with no conduit) are very detrimental. Couple this weakening of the structural skeleton with the added dead load of the wires and you're in for trouble. I'm not saying your house will fall down, but come a heavy storm with heavy winds (lateral loads), heavy snow, or an earthquake, and your house is statistically about 22% weaker than it would've been had you left the framing untouched, which means that next El Nino may topple only your home while leaving the rest of the neighborhood upright.
To the fellow who recommended asking the contractor to put plywood in the ceiling for a makeshift floor - this is a very bad idea! First off the plywood represents a HUGE load that the roof diaphragm wasn't designed to carry (ie - that's gonna fail with the right conditions). Second, this is a violation of many IBC codes.
Please go through a licensed structural engineer with an idea of how much cable you want to run so that changes and reinforcements can be made to your existing frame. It may seem cheap to give the contractor money to make your own modifications during construction, however in most places this is very illegal. Contractors mostly want money and are very negligent of the safety of the occupants of the home, and of construction laws in general. If a smart building inspector or code enforcement officer notices all of the jacks and doublechecks your plans and sees that they weren't approved, then you'll be forced to rip them all out and pay hefty fines.
Many of you "say no to wireless" because of security issues. I'm saying be wary of the SAFETY issues with putting holes in your frame. Many of you say spend extra money up front for good hardware and extra wire. I'm saying spend money up front to have your wiring checked for structural integrity and avoid paying fines, seeing your house collapse, or worse, seeing a loved one injured or hurt. I know I'm coming off as a bleeding heart and danger seems far away, but failures happen more than you think. Don't trust contractors, electricians, etc. to know or to even care if the modifications to your house are safe.
Do things right from the networking point of view, but also from the structural point of view. Have fun but please don't go ripping too many holes in your walls.