HawthorneVillager.com

Hi everyone,

I've heard from a person or two who have dealt with frame walkthroughs that they got to run some low voltage speaker wife during framing.

I was curious about running wire before the dry wall goes up but wondering when the best time to do this? Should I wait till my frame walkthrough from Mattamy to ask them if I can run wire, or sneak into the house while their building and do it?

I'm looking to wire up my living room for 5.1, and possibly running a network cable from a bedroom to the living room.

Has anyone run their own cables before? Is there certain things I can and can not do?

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Tshirtgang.com

Safest thing to do is to ask during your frame walk. That's usually a day or two before they start drywalling so if you do get permission, you'll only have a couple of days to do it.

You can try doing it without asking and take the risk. Generally they'll leave it alone but if there is any issues or questions that may impact the electrical inspection, it'll get ripped out.

I suggest asking the builder nicely during framewalk. Thats what i did, had about a week to get in and install all of my wiring. Make sure the wires are run cleanly, clamped down and you should be fine. I even installed boxea at the ends and Mattamy was kind enough to instal blank plates over them!

Paulo did our speaker prewire and install afterwards. He made sure all of the wires were neatly tucked away and did not interfere with the drywall install. He recorded the exact location of all of the wires so that the install was a breeze afterwards. If you are looking to have it done professionally I would highly recommend Paulo.

You can find him on the Villager ... viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17457

I would recommend getting permission, whether formally (ask nicely) or informally (ask nicely with alcohol in hand). Otherwise, I've heard stories of the wires being cut by the builder. Of course if they cut them, you won't realize until you go to connect your component.

DO NOT ASK THE BUILDER or during framewalk. They'll say no. Dont listen to anyone here, if they tell you otherwise, it wont change the fact that mattamy will shoot you down. do it at night. wear dark clothing or security will spot you. this is my advice. let us know who's advice you followed and how it worked out for you. follow mine if you want to win lol

No.

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Tshirtgang.com

lol ok ask the builder. report back.

I'll say it again. I asked the builder, and was told to do it nicely and all will be well. I guess it depends on your mood/tone when you ask, and the mood/personality of your specific builder. After 2 homes from Mattamy, both builders allowed me to run wiring. I ran about 50 cables in this house, and 8 in the last house.

when was the last home built? They told me they used to allow but not since the electrical inspector help up approval on a house that did it. my house closed in 2011.

My home closed just 4 months ago. It was built in 2012.

lucky. they told me no. Never asking again. Just gonna go in next time without asking. Clearly the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing there and they dont have a clear policy.

Not really at all. The policy is clear. My builder just chose to overrule the policy. I was told it's against policy and that he doesn't care wha. I do.

which builder?

Mattamy