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We have an old barn and we're renovating it and turning it into a recreation area/guest house/workshops. The original floor is concrete, with two trenches in it. (The trenches are now under the new concrete floor, with trap doors at each end, so cables can be run through them.) There are stud walls, so I can run cables in the walls. The interior is 52' by 22'. The 2nd floor is 52' by 16', centered over the 1st floor.

The hub for all my networking connections is not too far from the center of the 1st floor. Originally, I was hoping to run all my CAT6 (and coax RG11) from a patch panel, down into the floor, and to the wall boxes. (Or up to the ceiling and to the 2nd floor wall boxes.) My original plans are not possible now because of various changes during construction.

The 2nd floor is within trusses that provide me several feet of "dead space" upstairs and between the living area and the side of the gambrel roof. For many wallboxes, it'll be easier to run my CAT6 up one interior wall, along and under the 2nd floor, to the dead space in the trusses, then along the side and back down to the wall boxes. In some cases, this could add 20-25' to a cable run. Even if I did this, the maximum run of any CAT6 cable would be 60' or less.

For the distances I'm dealing with, will an extra 20-30' have any notable effect on the signals going through the CAT6 cables? (I'm not worried about having to buy more cable, so we can drop that as a factor.)

Tango
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Category 6 Ethernet cable has a maximum length of 55 meters (180 feet). Cat 6a cable has a maximum length of 100 meters (328 feet). As long as you stay below those maximum lengths between endpoints, per cable segment, you will have no issues. Endpoints would be between a computer, router, switch, etc. You can increase maximum lengths by cascading endpoints. For example, from your home router to 100m Cat 6a to a switch in your barn, then a 100m to your PC.

Cat 6 Wikipedia article for more information

Keltari
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Why not use a fibre switch at either end and run fibre between, distances are not an issue then and you also are future-proofing etc. Granted may cost a bit more but will be better in the long run and perform much better.

Either way, use external rated cable and you'll get the best cost/performance ratio, plus fewer points of failure. if its practical run a spare cable run as a quick backup also in case of damage as these things happen and label both ends clearly for the day it happens and you forget, or someone else does.

Marc Hone
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