Farmboy
Registered Users
Posts:157
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| 04/25/2008 10:08 AM |
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Bedroom wing will be separated from the living area by a 6" ICF wall. Also master closet will have concrete walls/ceiling. What effect will the concrete have on wireless internet and cell phone signals? What can we do to make sure good reception? Dave |
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Chris Johnson
Registered Users
Posts:341
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| 04/25/2008 9:27 PM |
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| I have had no difficulty with either...that being said, I did have to increase my wireless internet to maximum strength which resolved everything creating no further difficulties |
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Chris Johnson - Pro ICF
Napa, CA
Come for the wine, Stay for the ICF work |
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Farmboy
Registered Users
Posts:157
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| 04/25/2008 11:55 PM |
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| Thanks Chris. I guess cell phones work inside most buildings. Maybe I'll go to Panera's and test the internet signal inside and outside. |
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budden
Registered Users
Posts:16
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| 04/26/2008 3:29 PM |
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As noted, concrete is fairly transparent to WiFi signals. The determinant is grounded rebar in the wall, not the concrete itself.
Cheap insurance: have ability to run a wired ethernet cable into your bedroom wing from your router. So you have option to add a second WiFi access point. APs are cheap and easy to configure into bridged trees.
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Farmboy
Registered Users
Posts:157
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| 04/26/2008 11:30 PM |
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Budden. "The determinant is grounded rebar in the wall, not the concrete itself."
Curious how grounding rebar improves or allows WiFi signals. I recall hearing about rooms shielded with a grounded copper mesh or grid pattern would prevent signals from passing through the wall.
How to ground the rebar? Ground rod under interior slab floor or out through exterior?
How many ground pts? One enough or at each end of house?
I probably will run Cat5 cable to stationary computer locations and follow your advice for additional APs in other areas. Thx
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dmaceld
Registered Users
Posts:494
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| 04/27/2008 1:17 AM |
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Posted By Farmboy on 04/26/2008 11:30 PM
How to ground the rebar? Ground rod under interior slab floor or out through exterior?
How many ground pts? One enough or at each end of house?
No need. The rebar in the footing and/or slab is well grounded by its contact with the concrete, providing the concrete is in direct contact with earth. The NEC requires that the first choice for grounding the electrical service be a minimum of 20' of rebar in the footing.
If you're using Fast Foot though, the footing and hence the rebar probably isn't going to be all that well grounded. Then you would need to connect the rebar to an additional ground rod. I would think one would be enough to provide the grounding mentioned above that interferes with radio signals.
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Building house - what a way to spend retirement! |
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Farmboy
Registered Users
Posts:157
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| 04/27/2008 2:09 AM |
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| Dmaceld The plan is to use Fast Foot for our spread footings. Someone might ask How 'bout driving a few longer pieces of vertical rebar through the Fast Foot material and tie them to the horizontal rebar in the footings? I think a regular ground rod should be used to ensure good connectivity and withstand corrosion. Thanks for the info. Say how is your house coming along? Dave |
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budden
Registered Users
Posts:16
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| 04/27/2008 10:17 AM |
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Classified settings (SCIF, Secure Compartmented Intel Facility) sometimes have what's called TEMPEST screening. Which is indeed deliberately constructing the space so that it's RF opaque ... keep the classified bits from leaking out. This requires a lot more density than the average rebar schedule. The physics term is 'Faraday cage'. One place I encountered such in normal business was in ships -- a closed compartment (no ports), with the watertight doors closed ... steel shiip floating in saltwater ... pretty good ground. Usually your radio didn't work very well in such environments. I remember seeing ads once upon a time for 'TEMPEST wallpaper' which had enough metal in the wallpaper formulation that, when properly grounded, would get you into the necessary numbers. ... before anyone goes overboard, we have lots of cases of compromise for human reasons and no cases of compromise for TEMPEST reasons.
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dmaceld
Registered Users
Posts:494
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| 04/27/2008 10:57 AM |
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Posted By Farmboy on 04/27/2008 2:09 AM
Dmaceld Say how is your house coming along? Dave
Slow but steady. The work crew consists primarily of me and one very capable helper. Concrete and excavation were contracted out.
We just completed laying the subfloor and will start stacking wall block tomorrow. So far we have excavation, footing, dimple membrane on the below ground portion, french drain outside, french drain for drain and vent on the inside of the footing, footing insulated, 3/4" foam over the entire crawl space with 2" concrete slab on top of it, sheetrock on the crawl space walls, pony walls, joists, subfloor, garage slab placed, concrete thresholds in all the doorways, good bit of drain plumbing installed in the crawl space, city sewer connection in, water supply connected, and majority of back fill in.
Whew, there's a lot of work from first shovel of dirt to the floor getting in place! Been working my butt off for 2 months now. Haven't done much anything else except eat and sleep! Have lot's of pics but am still working on finding time to get some posted at ownerbuilderbook.com.
Thanks for asking.
Mac
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Building house - what a way to spend retirement! |
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Farmboy
Registered Users
Posts:157
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| 04/27/2008 11:29 AM |
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| Mac, We'll be starting our house in a couple month so it's enlightening to hear someone's recent experience. I think ownerbuilderbook.com is a pretty good resource. Look fwd to seeing your project there. Dave |
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ICFHomeOwner
Registered Users
Posts:2
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| 08/04/2008 12:36 AM |
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| How is your project? I've been in my ICF home for about 18 months and have a small WiFi network setup. The signal does not pass well through the walls, but it may depend upon how much steel and medal are in the concrete. My roof is also an ICF and it has a great deal of steel inside the concrete. Outside the house I have 4 bars on my cell phone. Inside the house, I have 1 bar and the reception is spotty and unreliable. |
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Farmboy
Registered Users
Posts:157
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| 08/05/2008 12:10 AM |
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Haven't started yet. Other project I need to finish first.
Thanks for the feedback on your WiFi and cell phone. Not planning a concrete roof so I hope we don't have reduced signal you have. Dave |
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