• About Us
    • — About Digitized House
    • — Editorial Guidelines
  • Policies
    • — Ad Policy
    • — Privacy Policy
    • — Cookie Policy (US)
Friday, May 9, 2025
  • Login
Digitized House Reviews
  • Alexa
  • Apple HomeKit
  • Google Home
  • SmartThings
  • Smart Components
    • Security Cameras
    • Security Systems
    • Smart Displays
    • Smart Door Locks
    • Smart Lighting
    • Smart Plugs
    • Smart Product Round-ups
    • Smart Shades
    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Thermostats
    • Smart Water
    • Smoke + CO Detectors
    • Solar Photovoltaics
  • About + Policy
    • About Us
    • Copyright Notice
    • Privacy Policy
    • Advertising, Affiliate Link, and Sponsorship Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Alexa
  • Apple HomeKit
  • Google Home
  • SmartThings
  • Smart Components
    • Security Cameras
    • Security Systems
    • Smart Displays
    • Smart Door Locks
    • Smart Lighting
    • Smart Plugs
    • Smart Product Round-ups
    • Smart Shades
    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Thermostats
    • Smart Water
    • Smoke + CO Detectors
    • Solar Photovoltaics
  • About + Policy
    • About Us
    • Copyright Notice
    • Privacy Policy
    • Advertising, Affiliate Link, and Sponsorship Policy
No Result
View All Result
Digitized House Reviews
No Result
View All Result
Home Smart Homes

Future-Proofing Your Smart Home with Structured Wiring

Tom Kolnowski by Tom Kolnowski
31 August 2018
in Smart Homes
Reading Time: 8 mins read
One of the best ways of future-proofing your smart home is with a media enclosure. Image: Digitized House Media.

One of the best ways of future-proofing your new smart home is with a structured wiring approach and a wiring enclosure. Image: Digitized House Media.

Table of contents
  1. Structured Wiring Enclosure, Where Art Thou?
  2. A Better Solution for the Connected Home
  3. Rising Above the Panel with a Hack
  4. On the Wall and out of the Way

A central structured wiring enclosure has become standard fare in many new homes, as production and custom home builders are often including technology wiring packages in their base home feature lists, or offering them as upgrades. These in-wall panels are congregation and access portals for various types of so-called structured or home-run wiring, and are typically fitted between wall studs during construction. And largely due to the relatively low cost of installing these panels and associated wiring runs—particularly if there is a desire to install smart-home technology in the future—we recommend you opt for as much of this low-tech, future-proofing tech as your construction budget can afford.

Although most new smart home technology will include a wireless networking option, there will continue to be certain devices that will require hardwired connections. For example, internet routers typically call for a wired Ethernet connection to the broadband provider’s equipment.

For maximum convenience, these Leviton 47605 enclosures from are fitted with the company's hinged metal doors. Image: Digitized House Media.
For maximum convenience, these metal 28-in. Leviton 47605-28N Structured Media® ((1. Structured Media is a Leviton trademark.)) Enclosures are fitted with the company’s 47605-28D hinged metal doors. Image: Digitized House Media.

And then there is the ever-present issue of wireless network security: WiFi signals can be subject to compromise by hackers, whereas Ethernet-connected devices are generally safer. Additionally, the advent of 4K video—manifested as Ultra HD (UHD) on new flat-screen televisions—and the forthcoming 8K video technology standard, beckon for wired Ethernet connections lest they over-saturate your Wi-Fi network. After all, you want to conserve some bandwidth for your mobile devices, right?

Structured Wiring Enclosure, Where Art Thou?

Do you already have a structured wiring enclosure in your home or apartment/flat? If so, it is probably installed in the back of a closet, and enclosed with a cover that is locked down with screws. Most starter technology wiring packages will include a single 14-in. by 14-in. panel, and the enclosure may be crammed with coils of wiring, various types of ports and connectors, and possibly a small Ethernet hub or switch. The wiring itself may consist of CAT5, CAT6, or even CAT7 networking cable, coaxial CATV cable, low-voltage security wiring, and more.

The Leviton 49605 structured media enclosure, populated with a common networking components. Image: Leviton.
The Leviton 49605-30W Transparent Structured Media® ((1. Structured Media is a Leviton trademark.)) Enclosure is manufactured from ABS polymer and allows Wi-Fi signals to more easily pass through. Image: Leviton.

In the event one plans to install a cable modem, a high-end internet router, or expand to a larger Gigabit Ethernet switch, a question then arises: Where does the new device reside? More than likely, there is minimal room inside the structured wiring panel, and moreover, many electronic devices generate significant heat that can make installation in an enclosure problematic—and may even void the manufacturer’s warranty.

For example, in the case of a cable modem, you may have the option to locate it in your entertainment console, as long as there are Ethernet and coaxial ports pre-wired to that location. And that scenario also dictates your internet router be installed in the same location, as it needs to connect to an Ethernet port on the back of the cable modem. In an ideal connected world, a homeowner would have the flexibility to place networked components where they desire, rather than where wall jacks and wiring dictate.

A Better Solution for the Connected Home

Multiple structured media panels and a simple networking component rack system can offer maximum flexibility for future-proofing. Image: Digitized House Media.
Multiple structured wiring panels and a simple networking component rack system built from Elfa or similar shelving can offer maximum flexibility for future-proofing. Image: Digitized House Media.

Here at Digitized House, we advocate installing more than one structured wiring panel if possible, and ideally consolidating as many of the core network devices into a centralized location, such as a mechanical or utility room. For our testing lab environment, which is admittedly architected to enable us to easily and flexibly deploy and test the latest smart-home and energy-efficiency technology, we planned from the ground up to include a dedicated and air-conditioned 7-foot by 8-foot mechanical room.

In this mechanical room—to enable maximum flexibility and future-proofing—we began by installing a pair of 14-in. by 28-in. Structured Media® ((1. Structured Media is a Leviton trademark.)) Enclosures from Leviton, and equipped them with the Leviton premium hinged doors. These white metal doors can be fitted with flush-mounted locks if desired, and are also available in a vented version—which may facilitate installation of electronic devices inside the enclosures due to the passive air flow through their built-in vents. Each enclosure was also pre-wired with electrical power, and we installed blue Leviton duplex receptacles with integral surge protectors in the bottom of each enclosure.

Three additional Leviton enclosures were installed in the home, including a 14-in. by 14-in. panel in the great room behind the flat-panel television mount, another 14-in. by 14-in. panel in the craft/utility room to house our eGauge energy monitoring system, and a 14-in. by 28-in. panel in the detached garage to house the powerline networking components needed for the Enphase Energy Enlighten remote console we use to manage our roof-mounted solar photovoltaic system.

Again to enable maximum future flexibility, we interconnected the structured wiring enclosures and major rooms with so-called futuretubes. For this purpose, we used 2-inch flexible raceway tubing from Carlon, which was purchased in rolls and threaded between the wall studs and above the joists in the sealed attic space. This blue, hard-shell thermoplastic tubing has the capacity to easily carry a dozen or more CAT6 to CAT7 cables, and we can use a standard fish tape process to route additional cables as needed from panel to panel, or from panel to room jack.

Rising Above the Panel with a Hack

When we were ready to install our high-end router—selected from the ASUS RT series line of multi-band routers and equipped with a trio of directionally-adjustable antennas—it was clear this device was not a candidate for installation inside a structured wiring panel. So, we elected to look skyward and took advantage of wall space above the panel.

Our hack for a beyond-the-structured-media-panel networking equipment rack is crafted from closet shelving system components, and enables tidy cabling, maximum air flow, and full adjustability. Image: Digitized House Media.
Our hack for a networking equipment rack is crafted from closet shelving system components, and enables tidy cabling, maximum air flow, and full adjustability. Image: Digitized House Media.

Our solution included a racking hack of sorts engineered by using conventional shelving products in unconventional ways. Inspired by information technology network component racks, which are infinitely adjustable and flexible, we sourced our hack components from The Container Store using their Elfa shelving components. We began by installing an Elfa Easy Hang Top Track on the wall above the structured media panel, located about a foot below the ceiling. Then we attached a pair of Elfa Easy Hang Standards to the track, and dropped a pair of 4-in deep by 18-in wide Elfa Utility Shelf/Trays into the slots on the standards. Voila! An instantly adjustable, slim-profile component rack, perfectly sized to hold a router, smart-home hub, or cable modem.

Once the racking hack was in place, we installed a portal in the wall above the media panel to enable us to cleanly and easily thread hidden cables and wiring from the media panels to the racking area. For the portal itself, we found the Cooper Wiring Devices 2-Gang White Standard Single Receptacle Plastic Wall Plate to be a perfect fit.

As we have more networked devices than the average smart home, we installed a 16-port Gigabit Ethernet switch on the wall above the portal. This switch, the Netgear GS116, is also smart enough to power down any ports not actively in use—a nice watt-conserving touch in this zero net energy home.

Then, with the ASUS router in place on the shelf, we interconnected the Ethernet patch panels in our two media enclosures with the Gigabit switch and router via short, carefully arranged CAT6 patch cables. We wrapped up the installation by placing our Wink smart-home hub on the shelf as well.

On the Wall and out of the Way

The end result of this hack is an exceedingly clean yet eminently flexible solution to our ongoing requirement to easily install or swap out networking and smart-home devices, while at the same time ensuring they are getting the ventilation they demand. The slim, wall-hugging profile of this racking setup—which is located near the door of the mechanical room—means it never becomes an obstacle to room entry.

We hope this article inspires you to build upon the already rich benefits of standard structured wiring enclosures and wiring in your own home. Doing so will more effectively prepare you for the onslaught of internetworked smart-home technology and energy conservation devices that are sure to come.

Tags: connected homeconnected livinghome automationLegrandLevitonnetworksstructured wiring
Previous Post

5 Apple Watch Apps for Smart Home Mastery

Next Post

Smart Ceiling Fan Options for a Modern Home

Tom Kolnowski

Tom Kolnowski

Tom Kolnowski is the Chief Content Officer & Founder of Digitized House Media, LLC, the publisher of Digitized House | Guide to the Connected Home. When he isn’t writing about smart home technology, sustainability, and high-performance architecture, you’ll find him exploring faraway destinations with his family.

Next Post
Haiku L fan. Image: Haiku Home.

Smart Ceiling Fan Options for a Modern Home

Kids are immersed in smart tech, and its up to parents to help them safely navigate through it. Image: Patricia Prudente on Unsplash.

9 Parenting Tips to Help Kids Use Smart Tech Safely

Now more than ever, your smartphone and your voice can make you master of your domicile. Image: iStock.

6 Tips for the Road Ahead—to Your Smart Home

Amazon Disclosure

To help defray the cost of publishing, Digitized House is a participant in the Amazon Associate program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made from ads, buttons, or text links to Amazon placed on our website. These links may appear within editorial content, headers, footers, and sidebars. Purchasing from one of these Amazon Associate links does not increase the amount you pay, but does help keep us publishing the content you need to stay informed.

About Digitized House

We are the Guide to the Connected Home and help global consumers make their 
Connected Homes smarter, healthier, and safer through streams of original content. You can see our story here.

Like what you see on this website? You can also read us on our Apple News App Channel.

Recent Content

© 2015-2022 Digitized House Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Connect Your Home
    • Deals
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Security Cameras
    • Security Systems
    • Smart Displays
    • Smart Door Locks
    • Smart Lighting
    • Smart Plugs
    • Smart Product Round-ups
    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Thermostats
    • Smart Water
    • Smoke + CO Detectors
    • Solar Photovoltaics
    • Smart Shades
  • Ecosystems
    • Amazon Alexa
    • Apple HomeKit
    • Google Home
    • Open Systems
  • Design Your Home
    • Architecture
    • Healthy Home
    • Home Design
    • How-To
    • Green Building
    • Real Estate
    • Sustainable Home
  • About Us + Policies
    • About Us
    • Advertising, Affiliate Link, and Sponsorship Policy
    • Privacy Policy

© 2015-2022 Digitized House Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.