[jlstyle]

$20k for the scope you described is doable but very tight.
Bathroom will cost about $10k alone if plumbing is not ready.
And other materials are cheap but it's all about labor.
For rule of thumb, multiply material cost by 3 for the labor to start.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by M_Six

There's a huge building at the UofI called the Beckman Institute. It was purpose built for research. Despite that, they failed to put ethernet conduit in the building and had to retrofit cable trays everywhere. Talk about poor planning. If I ever get to build my own house, it'll be fully wired with a dedicated IT closet complete with a server rack.

So as not to thread crap, what are these? (And that is one impressive basement, btw.)

Thanks for the compliment.

I agree with planning for Ethernet or structured wiring with a structured wiring cabinet. Builders are now putting in structured wiring cabinets and providing options for twisted pair category cabling and RG6 coax. In addition to having wiring pulled to a central location or closet in your house, I would also have a conduit put in which spans floors. I had my builder put a conduit which runs from the basement all the way up to the attic.

Here's some older pics of my "server" room:




As far as the two big transformers in the pic you copied, they're balanced power transformers. Normal house power has a hot and a neutral with the voltage being 120V. The balanced power transformers split the 120V input into two 60V feeds out of phase with each other and feeds them down both the hot and the neutral. When the power feed hits the power supply of a normal device the sum of the two feeds equates to 120V. Doing this helps prevent any noise to hit any attached electrical device. This is what happens when someone uses balanced input connections versus single ended RCA cables to connect components together.

You can find out more here:

http://www.equitech.com/

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Eat.Sleep.Race

^^^ above pics of basement are amazing!!! But before you all go into much detail about the sound system and home theatre I'm not too interested in it, as i don't spend much time watching tv or movies, I am typically working, tinkering with cars, bikes or atv's too much lol

Mainly trying to see what is cost for basic finish, with the most being a high end full bathroom if budget allows. It will be used for pool table, and just a hangout with more space to move around than the middle floor living area, since the upper 2 levels are around 3000sqft i don't need a whole lot out of the basement.

Thanks. I don't know the exact cost of just the basement finish but with all the electrical, upgraded recessed lights (I got Lightolier), engineered hardwood, solid core doors, new gas fireplace, and the new walk out basement door, I would guess I was in it for about $40k or so. It's hard for me to pinpoint the exact cost as I also had an addition put on the house at the same time.

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

Originally Posted by jlstyle

$20k for the scope you described is doable but very tight.
Bathroom will cost about $10k alone if plumbing is not ready.
And other materials are cheap but it's all about labor.
For rule of thumb, multiply material cost by 3 for the labor to start.

Plumbing for bathroom is already there, just have to hook up the toilet/sink/shower to it, don't know how much work that will be, but its above the concrete with pipes capped.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Eat.Sleep.Race

Plumbing for bathroom is already there, just have to hook up the toilet/sink/shower to it, don't know how much work that will be, but its above the concrete with pipes capped.

That's good. But depending on the configuration and items you put in your bathroom, you still might end up having to move the pipes a little. It won't cost as much as having new runs put in but it's a good idea to keep that in mind. Also, something many people don't think of with basement bathrooms is the exhaust vent. My builder didn't put one in when I spec'd out my home. Just the plumbing rough ins. I had the piping for the exhaust vent put in later.

[P1]

Originally Posted by M_Six

There's a huge building at the UofI called the Beckman Institute. It was purpose built for research. Despite that, they failed to put ethernet conduit in the building and had to retrofit cable trays everywhere. Talk about poor planning. If I ever get to build my own house, it'll be fully wired with a dedicated IT closet complete with a server rack.

So as not to thread crap, what are these? (And that is one impressive basement, btw.)

My parents have a full IT closet at their house, with a partially populated 42U rack. Pretty cool.

[jlstyle]

Originally Posted by Eat.Sleep.Race

Plumbing for bathroom is already there, just have to hook up the toilet/sink/shower to it, don't know how much work that will be, but its above the concrete with pipes capped.

In this case, unless you are making an ultimate man cave, $20k should run you a long way.

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Thanks for the compliment.

I agree with planning for Ethernet or structured wiring with a structured wiring cabinet. Builders are now putting in structured wiring cabinets and providing options for twisted pair category cabling and RG6 coax. In addition to having wiring pulled to a central location or closet in your house, I would also have a conduit put in which spans floors. I had my builder put a conduit which runs from the basement all the way up to the attic.

Here's some older pics of my "server" room:

I would love to wire my place up with Cat5e and terminate it in a server closet with a patch panel and rack. My question is, what exactly are you doing in a home environment with that much networking, storage, and processing power? I'm guessing you work in IT and picked up the switches/routers, blade server, and NAS/SAN for cheap or free to build one hell of a home lab? I can't imagine what your electrical bill would be with all of that equipment running.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

I would love to wire my place up with Cat5e and terminate it in a server closet with a patch panel and rack. My question is, what exactly are you doing in a home environment with that much networking, storage, and processing power? I'm guessing you work in IT and picked up the switches/routers, blade server, and NAS/SAN for cheap or free to build one hell of a home lab? I can't imagine what your electrical bill would be with all of that equipment running.

Eat.Sleep.Race, sorry for the thread jack.

I'll answer Jason's questions but I any further questions outside of the thread topic...hit me up on PM.

As far as Cat5e, I wouldn't bother. At the time I wired my house up, Cat5e was the premium main cable to use with Cat6 just coming out. I would wire with Cat6a but at a minimum Cat6. Cat6a will give you the ability to run 10GbaseT up to 100 meters. Cat6 will allow you to run 10GbaseT up to about 55 meters. This is about as good a future proof cable plant you can put in over running 9 micron single mode fiber.

With regards to my equipment, yes I'm in IT. I use the equipment for both lab purposes and to run my home network. My electric bill isn't too bad for running many of the equipment 24/7. I average around $160-190 a month without running the A/C. The power company provides pretty cheap power but sucks at reliability. Just recently had a 20kW backup generator installed. Too bad I don't a more ISP/bigger pipe options over the local cable company. I could seriously become my own hosting service.