Wall Plate Design and Installation Issues

When you plan your cabling system installation, you must be aware of a few wall plate installation issues to make the most efficient installation. The majority of these installation issues come from compliance with the ANSI/TIA-570-B (for residential) and ANSI/TIA-568-C.1 (for commercial installations) telecommunications standards. You'll have to make certain choices about how best to conform to these standards based on the type of installation you are doing. These choices will dictate the different steps you'll need to take during the installation of the different kinds of wall plates.

Warning

The National Electrical Code dictates how various types of wiring (including power and telecommunications wiring) must be installed, but be aware that NEC compliance varies from state to state. The NEC code requirements described should be verified against your local code requirements before you do any structured cable system design or installation.

The main design and installation issues you must deal with for wall plates are as follows:

• Manufacturer system
• Wall plate location
• Wall plate mounting system
• Fixed-design or modular plate

In this section, you will learn what each of these installation issues is and how each will affect your cabling system installation.

Manufacturer System

There is no "universal" wall plate. Hundreds of different wall plates are available, each with its design merits and drawbacks. It would be next to impossible to detail every type of manufacturer and wall plate, a few examples of the most popular types. The most important thing to remember about using a particular manufacturer's wall plate system in your structured-cabling system is that it is a system. Each component in a wall plate system is designed to work with the other components and, generally speaking, can't be used with components from other systems. A wall plate system consists of a wall plate and its associated jacks. When designing your cabling system, therefore, you must choose the manufacturer and wall plate system that best suits your present and future needs. It is best to stay with one common wall plate system design for all of the workstation's outlets.