Building a new house any reccomendations on what to add.

[tt300zrcr]

Been a longtime user but the last house we been in i had to pull wire everywhere in texas heat the attic is not fun place to be in.

i am thinking of staying with homeseer as i been using it for so long since the hs2 days.

I am thinking of adding 1RG6-3cat6-1 fiber to each bedroom this is 4 bedroom house. Each soffit areas will 2 pulls at each corner of the house for security

I am thinking of adding 16 camera system i am familiar been using reolink 4k with great success in this current house with the hs4 plugin rstp camera feeds.

Now my dilemma is the lighting,security, and control.

My issue is lighting either use wifi with some integration or go back to z-wave which i am so familiar with i have mixture of Leviton and homeseer switches currently that work great in the current house.

Security i have no clue as not sure what to do here either be hardwire each contact or go wireless. Since its new build i have multitude of choices just not sure what's new and easy to integrate with

For irrigations i familiar with rachio and that is what i currently use anything better to look at?

For whole house audio should i just get some alexa echo these days? i had nuvo in this house but rarely used it i fixed full integration and wrote all my scripts but never really took off.

Also thinking of roller shades and run some type of control wire to each window location.

what other things am i missing that i need to plan for that people want and need. I like to future proof it at least for the next 10 years this probably our last house.

[mulu]

I could write a book about it (actually the documentation about my decisions, setup, etc is some 200 pages with many screenshots). Anyways, if you start from scratch (or have all walls open) then my biggest recommendation is to hardwire everything you can. It's more reliable and more importantly no batteries to change. The battery on low-power devices can last for a long time (years) but they can't act as repeaters and depending on your situation require polling. So every window and door to the outside should be hardwired (for side gates I use wireless). I would also recommend wiring each door inside the house, not for security but for automation.

I only pulled 1 unshielded Belden CAT6a to the corners of the house but I needed to add a second camera in 3 corners. There are devices that let you use one CAT6 cable for two cameras but it's a bit of a hassle. So I would pull two cables as you plan to do. Btw, for 'regular' Ethernet cabling within the house I used shielded cable. I had a ground wire pulled to the central location where I can terminate the Ethernet cables to via a busbar.

I probably would do z-wave for lights again. They are considerably more expensive then WiFi. HS supports z-wave natively so there is better support. For wifi you depend on plugins (as far as I know) and if the author of the plugin decides to move to another system or just loses interest then you might be out of luck. Someone else will probably jump in but for something as important as lighting I just don't want to take my chances.

For integration I use OpenSprinkler. It has a pretty good plugin. But frankly, I don't do much through HS. It mostly just runs standalone.

For whole house audio I started to build HS3/4Touch screens. However, I never really finished it. I just don't see that people open HS3/4 Touch or walk to a wall-mounted tablet to control music. Everyone in our household just wants to use spotify. So I have an 8 zone (16 channel) amp with a bunch of Chromecast devices. Then you just go to Spotify and cast the music to whichever zone you want. The two AVRs I have also have Chromecast built in. For announcements I use the Alexa devices of which we have one in each room of the house.

For windows I pulled an Ethernet cable and a 4 conductor cable. But I ended up using z-wave shades so all the Ethernet cables are unused. I do use two of the 4 conductors on the other cable for powering the shades.

Also make sure you install motion sensors at strategic places, not just for intrusion but also for detecting motion inside the house so you can automate things.

One thing I didn't do and really should have is pulling a wire to the front and back of the house to install a light sensor. It really would help with deciding when to lower shades and awnings. Right now I am doing it based on expected maximum temperature and time of the year. If that triggers using the shades/awnings I control them based on time.

[jgreenberg01]

I could write a book about it (actually the documentation about my decisions, setup, etc is some 200 pages with many screenshots).

That's impressive. My book is only 100 pages 🙂

For whole house audio I started to build HS3/4Touch screens. However, I never really finished it. I just don't see that people open HS3/4 Touch or walk to a wall-mounted tablet to control music. Everyone in our household just wants to use spotify. So I have an 8 zone (16 channel) amp with a bunch of Chromecast devices. Then you just go to Spotify and cast the music to whichever zone you want. The two AVRs I have also have Chromecast built in. For announcements I use the Alexa devices of which we have one in each room of the house.

I use Sonos speakers and have control over them via HSTouch.

mulu is right though: specifically for music, the tablets only seem to get used to control individual speak volumes... if ever. Everyone simply says "Alexa, tell Pandora to play Billy Joel (or whatever they're into) in Family Room (or wherever)".

It's just so much easier as compared to getting up and walking to a tablet... the way a Neanderthal would have do it 😁

[Bigstevep]

Don't forget the outside of the house for security etc. Decide where you would possibly put security cameras for example and have power there or run ethernet cables that you can run POE to them. I'd make sure that you have a good central location (control room, for example) that everything terminates at. Also consider running coaxial to every room. You might not need it for cable, etc but if it's there you could use it for moca/ethernet. If you would ever move the next owner might want it as well.

[TC1]

Also consider running coaxial to every room. You might not need it for cable, etc but if it's there you could use it for moca/ethernet. If you would ever move the next owner might want it as well.

Debatable... when my house was being renovated, I ran coaxial to every room, put in a quality distribution amplifier, etc. To this day, I only use it for one room. I'd recommend just running an additional CAT6 line to every room, there are so many converters on the market that can transmit multiple signal formats over network cables, such as HDMI, IR, audio, etc. And you'll get batter ethernet bandwidth than MOCA.

[Bigstevep]

Well my house was already wired when I bought it and I had coaxial in every room, nothing else. Moca has come a long way now. I have a 1GB internet connection and I have newer Moca convertors that will provide 1GB. I typically get about 900MB and I distribute my OTA antenna with it and get all my local channels everywhere I have a Moca. I do agree that I would rather have Cat6 everywhere.

[Mark S.]

Despite the trend toward wireless everything, I am still a firm believer that hardwired devices are more reliable and much more trouble-free. So for security, you want 18/2 or 18/4 run from your anticipated alarm panel to every exterior door frame, as well as to window frames (I daisy chained windows by room) - obviously run them to a place you can access them when it comes time to install. Motions sensors require 22/4. Regarding other devices and automation, you can never have enough network cabling (Cat6e is typical these days) run to any and every wall where you expect you may have TVs, music, sensors, whatever. I ran 2 Cat 5 to every room when I built my house. That was not enough, so several years ago I ran more Cat 5e runs to most of the same rooms. And just a few years ago, I ran even more Cat 6. I have well over 100 wired network devices in my house and growing (that includes devices on switches).

The best thing I did when I built my house is to install plastic conduits in the walls (and underground to out buildings) for future runs of wires. Again, you will thank yourself later because you will use these. I don't know how many floors you have, but mine is a Colonial, so I can reach most of the first floor walls from the basement, but I installed a few large diameter conduit runs from the basement straight up to the attic to pull wires up from the basement and then come down into the second floor walls. I also ran large conduits to the garage, barn, shed, deck, and even landscape islands. I have used them all, and wish I had more.

When in doubt, run wires. 18/2 is good for 12 V powered devices (e.g., security camera power), I would run 18/4 for shades, 22/4 is good for most security system devices, and Cat 6e is used for ethernet security cameras, automation devices, TVs, computers, wifi access points, and almost anything. I have countless runs of coax, but don't use any of it any more because TV is now streaming through network cables. I never bothered with fiber optic because Cat 6 does pretty much everything I need.

Also, take a video or at least photos of all your walls before sheetrock (multiple angles) so you can see every stud, conduit and wire location. I have used my video many times to locate where I left a wire or where studs or other obstructions are. This will be very helpful for work in the future.

[Wade]

Also, take a video or at least photos of all your walls before sheetrock (multiple angles) so you can see every stud, conduit and wire location. I have used my video many times to locate where I left a wire or where studs or other obstructions are. This will be very helpful for work in the future.

Very very good advice, IMO.

[kenm]

Basement to Attic cable chase way, stopping off at each floor. Preferably near the middle of the house, like in a closet.

When taking pictures, include a yard stick or tape measure in the pictures as a reference.

[mulu]

<snip>
Also, take a video or at least photos of all your walls before sheetrock (multiple angles) so you can see every stud, conduit and wire location. I have used my video many times to locate where I left a wire or where studs or other obstructions are. This will be very helpful for work in the future.

As for the pictures, also take a picture that includes reference points like a corner, etc. The you can count the studs. From there include detailed images with a tape measure. Same goes for videos, start with a wide view ideally with a window or door in it so the preview image makes it clear where you are. Then start slowly(!) going into the details. All of this is also really important if you have a bunch of 'loose' cables behind walls to accommodate future TVs, etc.

Also especially with speaker cables don't run them parallel and close to AC cables or you might end up with a hum.

[wpiman]

I'd recommend running cat 6 to every place you might want a touch screen. Even if it is wireless like an iPad, you can power the thing with PoE.

I installed an OTA antenna at the peak in my attic. I have a HD Homerun tuner powered by PoE up there so I can watch TV anywhere in the house.

Run cat 6 to places you might want Wifi APs, or other wireless bridges (Z-Net, JowiHue brdige). Ideally in the center of the home.

And don't forget about regular outlets. Put up high where you might want a TV.

Depending on the size of you property- think about where you might want outside APs.

[tt300zrcr]

All good suggestions i think overall the consensus is more cat 6 than ever lol

[tt300zrcr]

I could write a book about it (actually the documentation about my decisions, setup, etc is some 200 pages with many screenshots). Anyways, if you start from scratch (or have all walls open) then my biggest recommendation is to hardwire everything you can. It's more reliable and more importantly no batteries to change. The battery on low-power devices can last for a long time (years) but they can't act as repeaters and depending on your situation require polling. So every window and door to the outside should be hardwired (for side gates I use wireless). I would also recommend wiring each door inside the house, not for security but for automation.

I only pulled 1 unshielded Belden CAT6a to the corners of the house but I needed to add a second camera in 3 corners. There are devices that let you use one CAT6 cable for two cameras but it's a bit of a hassle. So I would pull two cables as you plan to do. Btw, for 'regular' Ethernet cabling within the house I used shielded cable. I had a ground wire pulled to the central location where I can terminate the Ethernet cables to via a busbar.

I probably would do z-wave for lights again. They are considerably more expensive then WiFi. HS supports z-wave natively so there is better support. For wifi you depend on plugins (as far as I know) and if the author of the plugin decides to move to another system or just loses interest then you might be out of luck. Someone else will probably jump in but for something as important as lighting I just don't want to take my chances.

For integration I use OpenSprinkler. It has a pretty good plugin. But frankly, I don't do much through HS. It mostly just runs standalone.

For whole house audio I started to build HS3/4Touch screens. However, I never really finished it. I just don't see that people open HS3/4 Touch or walk to a wall-mounted tablet to control music. Everyone in our household just wants to use spotify. So I have an 8 zone (16 channel) amp with a bunch of Chromecast devices. Then you just go to Spotify and cast the music to whichever zone you want. The two AVRs I have also have Chromecast built in. For announcements I use the Alexa devices of which we have one in each room of the house.

For windows I pulled an Ethernet cable and a 4 conductor cable. But I ended up using z-wave shades so all the Ethernet cables are unused. I do use two of the 4 conductors on the other cable for powering the shades.

Also make sure you install motion sensors at strategic places, not just for intrusion but also for detecting motion inside the house so you can automate things.

One thing I didn't do and really should have is pulling a wire to the front and back of the house to install a light sensor. It really would help with deciding when to lower shades and awnings. Right now I am doing it based on expected maximum temperature and time of the year. If that triggers using the shades/awnings I control them based on time.

Mulu where did you source your z-wave roller shade module from I saw some here doenst seem to be more than any regular roller shade with control

Products – SmartWings (smartwingshome.com)

[Bigstevep]

I probably would do z-wave for lights again. They are considerably more expensive then WiFi. HS supports z-wave natively so there is better support. For wifi you depend on plugins (as far as I know) and if the author of the plugin decides to move to another system or just loses interest then you might be out of luck. Someone else will probably jump in but for something as important as lighting I just don't want to take my chances.

For whole house audio I started to build HS3/4Touch screens. However, I never really finished it. I just don't see that people open HS3/4 Touch or walk to a wall-mounted tablet to control music. Everyone in our household just wants to use spotify. So I have an 8 zone (16 channel) amp with a bunch of Chromecast devices. Then you just go to Spotify and cast the music to whichever zone you want. The two AVRs I have also have Chromecast built in. For announcements I use the Alexa devices of which we have one in each room of the house.

I agree that Zwave switches are the best for lights.

I agree. I think Touch Screens look really cool BUT no one at my house and other houses where I have done installs wants to walking around touching screens when they can just voice command Google (or Alexa) to do it. I have one Touch Screen and my house but I never have to wipe the screen off as it has no fingerprints on it!

[TC1]

I agree that Zwave switches are the best for lights.

I agree. I think Touch Screens look really cool BUT no one at my house and other houses where I have done installs wants to walking around touching screens when they can just voice command Google (or Alexa) to do it. I have one Touch Screen and my house but I never have to wipe the screen off as it has no fingerprints on it!

IMO, the best use of tablets is for information-at-a-glance. When approaching/walking by the screen it comes on and you can see things like currently playing, temps, perimeter sensors, weather, etc.

Also, late at night sometimes you don't want to use voice commands.