In reply to a post by j112:

I am thinking of having CAT 6A wiring installed as the home has FTTP available (ONT under the stairs).

I would ideally like to have Ethernet connections available in the following locations:

1) 2x Study (This is where I will have 2x Laptops, 2x Desktop PC's)
2) 1x Loft
3) 1x Lounge (optional)
I am planning to get so quotes soon but if the cupboard under the stairs is just too difficult to get the cables to, I may have to pick another option which could be the study or loft?

I'd really appreciate if you have any ideas or have had any experience in retro-fitting a house with network cabling.

In my current house I decided to have the central point of the network to be the first floor near a window, all the cables leave from this point and go outside the house to the rooms. This worked well BUT the landing area does look a bit messy! With the new house there is really no space to put anything in the landing area...

I had our house retrofitted with cat5e before we moved in back in 2010, I decided against cat6 due to cost and the extra hassle of working with the stiffer cable. Fortunately, there was only carpet and not floor tiles to deal with and my electrician ran all the cables (a pair for each faceplate) and installed all the back boxes for the RJ45 points. I did all the punching down of the cables into a patch panel and into the faceplates myself and can attest that it's pretty tricky, even after practising. If I were to do it again, I'd invest in tool-less RJ45 modules for both faceplates and the patch panel.

A few things I learned though:
- it's worth leaving plenty of cable sticking out of the backbox and then coiling as much as you can behind the faceplate, alternatively, if you can push the excess cable back into the wall or floor then all the better. That way, if you need to replace a faulty module years after installation, you can pull out some of the excess cable to allow for that.
- have a pair of RJ45 sockets beside each TV aerial point, or maybe two pair per aerial point if you have a lot of AV gear.
- whoever is installing and wiring up the cabling will need room to be able to do the job properly, so if your understairs cupboard is particularly small or cramped then I wouldn't recommend it. Perhaps consider having you network "node" in your study or in the loft?
- you'll need more network points than you think, I have 4 -> 2 x 2 gang faceplates in my home office/study - I wish I had 6 but a network switch has made up for that.

I've posted a few items in this forum including photos if you'd care to search