I'm working on a estimate for a job coming up, we will be doing the structured wiring and they are requesting smurf tube ran to each location in addition to the cable we are installing. We've run conduit regularly, but never an entire house worth.

So what do you think makes for the best value. Basically size to ease of installation.

We will be installing 1-cat5, 1-cat6,l 1-rg6 and the conduit. I'm thinking 3/4" or 1".

Thoughts?

1 1/4" it is the largest nipple that will fit in the carlon LV orange boxes. nail up the double gang box. one gang for your wire, one gang for future. not to mention it will give you a little more room to work later when you are pulling through conduit. also i would fasten the hell out of it. flexible conduit at long distances is not like solid conduit, it doesnt pull as easy. i would strap as often as possible to keep firm for pulling.

use 1 1/4"....you have to assume you will need to be pulling the ohh so dreaded HDMI at somepoint...

3/4 is almost useless and near impossible to pull an HDMI, i had to do it with a 11foot smurf and about gave up, i have no doubt we will get a callback for poor reliability of the picture at some point because we had to pull with so much force.....LUBE was also used. I couldnt imagine haveing anything longer then 11feet and trying to get a HDMI through.

I would also place a nice 2in ridged conduit from the basement to the attic and to strategic points like closets etc...and have the upper hand over your competitor and offer Fiber to key locations.....the fiber its self is pretty reasonable its the tools and time required to properly terminate them that drives the price up,But that wouldnt be done until it was needed.

ALSO you HAVE to remember when installing conduit to use large sweeps and not sharp bends...

4". Go big or go home.

39, tell that to apple! sorry ass little 3.5" screen

Obviously house layout makes a huge difference but I don't smurf tube an entire house. Solid conduit from demarc to my main panel or rack. I put large boxes in out of the way locations such as mechanical rooms and closets with solid conduit connecting them to my main panel or rack and then smurf tube off those boxes - 1" for standard drops and 1 1/4" minimum to media areas. Conduit to attic is a must as said before.

I take a moment to label in the boxes the destinations of the conduits. It helps, especially in larger projects. Pull strings are a must.

3/4" and HDMI will never happen... 2 cat6's and 2 14/2 speaker wires does work however... Flashbacks... Oh the flashbacks.

1 1/4"!

It's the largest size that comes in 100' rolls and and HDMI cable can go through it. We only carry 1 1/4.

Thanks guys. These will all average from 35'-60'. Our rack is right smack in the middle of the entire house. That said, I won't be putting in any HDMI, anything over 25' gets an active solution in my book. Plus even the 35' run is only from exit point to exit point, so any cable would be at least 45'.

That said, bigger is definitely better. So is it agreed that 1-1/4" isn't much more difficult to install than 3/4"?

Remember to include pull boxes every 180 degrees of turn!

Especially if you don't want to over exceed the recommended pulling force on the cable!

3/4" or 1" isn't even close, especially if there will be any bends in the tubing. If it has many bends, double the diameter. I'd think about running bundle and adding the Cat6.

1-1/4" is the smallest we run in flexible raceway.

1 1/4" is my go to for general future proofing. 

I run a fair amount of 1 1/2" for short runs between source locations and TVs for pulling HDMI after construction.

To me is seems a lot harder to run 1 1/2" than 1 1/4" so it's not something I'll generally run for long distances unless it's required.

1-1/4" it is. This house was originally just planned for phone, data was then added. We came in and convinced them to at least run a single RG6 to each room. They really only have one TV in the family room, one in the in-law room and one in the maid's room. THey don't really watch tv or listen to music, the biggest thing for them is good network. 

They'll probably never use the RG6 or phone. The structure panel is going in the same storage room as the av rack so having all the wiring ran back to there, plus the 1-1/4" conduits will be plenty.

Because we haven't install a lot of conduit, I don't have much for numbers to go off of. I think we avg about $170 for 1xcat5+1xcat with decora trim out.

HOw do you charge for installing conduit?