How to fix problems with rack and patch panel wiring?

Hello all,


My current desire is to replace the stand-alone full-height rack in my garage with a wall mounted one. I'm trying to plan thoroughly to mitigate the risk of down time as my brother needs the network connectivity for work from home.

The guy who wired the house left a debilitatingly short length of cable at the ends as evidence in the attached photos. I think there is enough to redo when I get a new patch panel. My first question is whether anyone has experience with or knows how to extend the cable. What connector or splice would I use to do that to give me extra length? What is the dB loss? I think this might be a simpler solution (if signal quality would still be good) than re-running new lengths of cable throughout the house (40 of them).

I would like to put the wall-mounted rack on the wall shown in the attached photo, just to the right of the existing rack. I plan to remove the dry wall and put a 3/4 inch piece of plywood bolted to the studs for strength. I will probably install a video surveillance DVR and possible other equipment (at the very least two switches, one for home network and one for IP cameras) so I want to ensure robustness. The rack I have in mind is shown in one of the attached photos.

I also need to accommodate phone lines, so I will put some kind of 66 block like the one shown in the photo of the wall-mounted rack. I just need to accommodate to phone lines with the ability to have up to 5 extensions on each line.

I'm just going to do this myself as I'm sick and tired of dealing with flaky contractors who really have not integrity or professionalism and who do a sloppy job. In that regard, what tools?
- Punch down tool with 110 blade
- RJ45 crimper
- RJ11 crimper
- Other?

I'm open to suggestions from all of you who have more experience doing this than I do....

Many thanks in advance,