I've got a ranch style home that I want to run cable from the basement, through the wall to the attic and distribute through the house. Only running 20 cables, max, through this trunk pipe.
The wall I intend to do this through is a garage wall that is shared with the house. Attached is a picture of this wall, from the Garage side. I've marked where the PVC is intended to go.
My concern is that I believe this wall to be load bearing, and willy-nilly drilling holes makes me nervous. I want to drill two (2x) 1" holes in the center of the top and bottom wall plates where the arrows are shown in the picture.
This same wall is where I will be mounting my TV and installing AV cabling through on the other side (from center, near where the pipes are intended, to the far right above where the RG6 run is currently and pointed out).
Assuming the holes aren't exactly where the roof truss support studs make contact with the top plate, is this a good idea? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated since I want to do this Saturday and am giving myself indigestion over it.
Thank you all in advance!
Best Answer
The vertical load bearing members of a load bearing wall are the studs. The bottom plate is less important than the top, when transferring the load from the roof trusses. If a truss lands between studs then the top plate(s) transfer the roof load to the studs and down to the floor. The bottom plate just ties the studs together and keeps them evenly spaced.
However, if possible, you should choose cells that do not have a roof truss between the studs. This would avoid weakening any load transferring ability of the top plate.
That being said, your inspector will probably want you to fire stop the conduits since these would allow smoke and fire to travel from the basement to the attic practically unimpeded.
Good luck!