How to inspect and embed the network during the water and electricity phase of renovation? I watched the scene for three days, handled six items on the spot, and hadn't opened a wall even once in five years since moving in

In

2021, my 89-square-meter apartment was renovated, and on the day of the water and electricity disclosure, I specifically took half a day off. The electrician on duty squatted by the bare wall and asked me, "How high should the network port be installed for you?" I didn't answer directly, but pulled out my phone and pulled out a checklist—the location list I had made myself before renovation, and read it aloud. Later, whole-house smart devices went from zero to dozens, with electric curtains, neutral switches, POE cameras—all upgraded. In five years, I hadn't smashed a single wall or opened a single groove, all thanks to the six things I had spotted on site that day.

first draw clear boundaries: where to install network ports and what types of cables to install are decisions before renovation. whether to install network cables throughout the house I have already written about that article, so I won't repeat myself. This article focuses on one thing—during the days of plumbing and electrical construction, how and what to inspect on site on the day you arrive.

First: Match the location, and reconcile the drawings on the blueprint with the drawing on the wall

went to the scene on the day of the briefing, not to watch the spectacle, but to reunite accounts. My checklist: two ports on the TV wall (one for TV, one for the box, later one for IPTV), two in the study room (one desktop, one NAS), one in each bedroom, one in the hallway ceiling to install an AP, and a backup cable from the weak current box to the TV wall as a backup. After taking out the list, the craftsman used chalk to mark the positions of the dark box on the wall. I read one by the side, and he drew one; after finishing, he checked off one more.

naively found a mistake. He had drawn the mesh opening of the study behind the door, and when the door opened, it just blocked the bottom box. Changing it on the spot is just a matter of moving a few centimeters. After sealing the wall, you realize your desktop's network cable has to be pulled out through the door crack, and you see it awkward every day.

besides location, there is also height. The center of the network port is 30 centimeters above the ground, which is the norm. For the TV wall, I had the technician raise it to near the center line of the TV, and finally the spot blocked by the TV. It's the same as installing hidden cables for surveillance—the wires aren't exposed for cleanliness. Don't casually choose the AP port at the top of the corridor; the center point should avoid the light position and smoke detection, or else when installing equipment later, the two things will clash and neither will be able to move.

second item: measure the continuity of each wire on the spot; before sealing the wall, it's the last cheapest option

wiring is finished and the wall is not sealed yet; this window period must be tested. The only tool is a line tester, which costs a little over ten yuan. Among the four worthwhile tools for checking the internet I put this one first. Plug in the two ends on the main side, and all eight lights light up in order from 1 to 8 for this wire to count. The light only lights up 1236 and not 4578, indicating only four-core pass; gigabit drops directly to 100m. This kind of "half-pass" is even more insidious than a complete disconnection, and you won't notice it unless tested.

my neighbor just didn't learn a lesson. On the day of panel installation, I found the master bedroom cable was completely blocked, with a broken wire in the wall. I didn't know exactly which section, but in the end, I ran a exposed wire through the air conditioner vent and walked a long way around the corner. If he spent ten minutes testing before sealing the wall, how to locate the disconnected wires inside the wall that whole set of trouble would never get his place.

During

test, I did two things along the way. First, stick labels on both ends, and write the marker directly on the network cable sleeve: "Master Bedroom - 1" "Study Room - 2," writing both ends. If you slack off here, in two years your weak current box will be full of noodles, and you have to guess which one is right. Second, leave some margin: reel each point wire 50 cm more inside the base box before cutting; insert the entire unused spare wire into the weak current box without cutting. Back then, my TV wall had an extra spare cable. Five years later, installing a second IPTV line was a lifesaver. Without this backup cable, we'd have to break the wall and re-route the cable.

Third item: Check three aspects of the weak current box on the spot: dimensions, electrical equipment, and heat dissipation

the developer gave us a metal weak current box, nine out of ten were not enough. The optical modem, main router, and fiber fusion box filled up as soon as you plugged in. Later, I wanted to add a POE switch, but it didn't even get seamless. While the wall was still open, I swapped in a larger box with an inner diameter of 40 by 30 mm, which could fit and still leave some room. I replaced it back then, and two years later, when I was organizing the weak current box , both switches fit well. It was the same day I swapped boxes for the switch.

The cabinet should have a separate five-hole socket to avoid overlapping with the lighting circuit, so that if the circuit trips in the future, the entire network won't be paralyzed. Choose doors with ventilation holes, or don't close the door tightly when installing — optical modems overheat and cut off flow in sealed metal boxes, especially common in summer. Another easy thing to leak: the thin fiber conduit at the door—keep it so the technician doesn't block it. If the fiber has problems in the future, the technician will have to re-thread it.

Fourth thing: The potential of smart devices is more valuable than network cables—if you don't keep them, you just don't have them

this is the section I most want to say. If the network cables aren't properly laid out, later you can still rely on WiFi and Mesh to get by, at worst the speed will be reduced; If the potential is not reserved, the equipment cannot be installed directly; later, there is no other way but to use exposed wiring. The four locations of electricity, hydropower, and power must be fixed at the stage:

Zero Line, I'll ramble a bit more." In 2021, I had the electrician add neutral wires to all the switch boxes in the house. For a single wire, the labor cost doesn't exceed several dozen yuan. At the time, the renovation team even teased me: "You're not building some smart luxury home, you're so serious about this." After five years, install smart switch , and the Zero Fire version can be used directly by swapping it out; Neighbors in the same community who don't leave neutral wires either buy the Fire version (low-power lights are dim at night) or break walls to patch the wires. The curtain potential is similar. installing electric curtains the motor runs out of power and the track is useless. The seat socket should be positioned on the side, the of smart toilet seats is generally short, so it's common for you to be unable to reach the rear after installing it. The ideal camera setup is for the POE port to the home monitoring network plan. After calculations, a single cable connects power and data, which is much cleaner than leaving a socket plugged into a power adapter.

Fifth item: Take photos of all the pipelines before sealing the wall

Before

wall sealing, I took photos of the wiring, bottom box, and conduit routing along the wall, saving everything in a phone album. This pile of photos later saved me twice.

was in my second year of moving in, hanging paintings in the living room. Before drilling holes in the wall with the drill, I flipped through my album and saw a conduit standing upright, with the hole moved 20 centimeters to the side, avoiding it. If you call the cable on the cable and it breaks, do you know how late it is? You'll only find out when the internet goes offline next time. Then read this article and you'll understand: the disconnection inside the wall location is a hassle calculated by the hour.

another time was to check where a wire inside the weak current box went, but the label was scratched by subsequent construction. Looking through the photos, I saw that it had come over from that study wall back then—just a minute later. The principle for taking photos is simple: don't pick the shoots, take them all. Phone storage is free, but building a firewall costs money. Close-ups of panels and bottom boxes, panoramic views of each wall, close-ups of wiring harnesses inside weak current boxes—three shots per group, one room without slacking.

Sixth: Redo work on the spot when needed; those who can make do have a clear understanding

after inspecting these six items, there were only three things to clarify with the technician on the spot: the blocked wire, the misaligned port, and the missing neutral wire. These three types of walls are major surgeries after sealing the walls, and only minor tasks on the spot.

some can be made do afterward, as long as you know what to do: if the box is small, you can replace it later (a bit more expensive and troublesome); Some rooms have fewer Ethernet ports, but the wireless is enough; panel module wiring this kind of finishing work is usually done by electricians in the later stages. Don't demand rework for everything; the foreman gets annoyed and makes you sarcastic and does something else.

five years since moving in, from replacing large low-voltage boxes to installing dozens of smart devices, the walls have never been touched. Later, when helping a relative move home, I saw their whole house was scrambling on the smart handover day. the acceptance the equipment was about after installation, but the plumbing and electrical work was about the walls—once the wall was sealed, the inside was set.

the sequence will be arranged again: point alignment, continuity measurement, labeling, testing weak electrical box, voltage fixing, and taking photos for archiving. All the work that could be finished in the afternoon before the wall was sealed off. On the day of the electrical and plumbing inspection, the three hours you spent on site were the highest return on time during the entire renovation.