Lighting suggestions.

[zimmer62]

I've got several questions.

I have a light switch at the top of my basement steps that controls the light at the top of the steps... I have a switch at the bottom of the steps that controls all the basement lights for now.

However I'm redoing all of the basement electrical, I'm adding a home theater, and I want to put several lighting circuits in the basement.

I want all the lighting to be controllable via homeseer, however I also don't want to take away the local control of that light...

Should I just add a togglelinc at the top of the steps to go with the upstairs lights, and put togglelinc at the bottom?

I was thinking more along the line of a keypadLinc in both locations, however I would need multiple dimmers and several appliance switches in the basement...

Any ideas how I could add this for the basement circuit, and still be able to yank these expensive switches out and replace them with normal switches when I sell the house in a few years?

The only think I could think of would be to add togglelinc's for each circuit at the bottom of the stairs with one of the lights on the keypadlinc w/ dimmer. Then put a keypadlinc w/ dimmer at the top of the stairs as well.

Does anyone see anything wrong with my logic?

Thanks.

[Rupp]

zimmer62,
It really depends on if your main focus is on moving and if you want to remove a bunch of switches scattered throughout the basement. If not then I would use one of the multi-control switches and lamp and appliance modules as these would definitely be easier to pull and go.

[zimmer62]

Rupp, thanks for the reply, I don't mind having to change a bunch of switches, however I would assume I would want to leave the new owner with several non automated switches at the bottom of the steps... plus one standard switch at the top.

I don't mind any extra wireing / boxes I need to install now to save me the headache later.

I don't mind removing extra switches, what I want to avoid is a hack job where I've got my lighting plugging into an X10 lamp module tucked away in the ceiling...

Something that if I pull my stuff out, everything would function normally to the next owner.

Thanks.

Joe

[AutomatedOutlet]

zimmer62,

It all depends on how many devices you want to control from each location. Since you're planning on removing the switches when you move, just stay away from transmitter only switches.

Keypadlincs (the ones that carry the load too) would work great in each of those locations.

[sponnath]

Wow, I would not have the desire when moving to go back and try and remove those switches. I think that the added lighting control is a better selling point. I have two 8 button keypadlincs upstairs that control 7 light sets and I think it adds to the house value.
I would even leave Homeseer in there if the next owner covers the cost of what's there so I can rebuild it at the next house.

[zimmer62]

My house is out growing my neighborhood as we speak... if I have 5 $50 light switches in my house, I'll be lucky if I get an extra $10 total for the sale of the house.... but if I take them with me, I'll save $250 for not having to buy them again.

I'm sure the new owner might like the idea of having some of this kind of stuff, but I just don't think that people willing to pay the price for nice stuff will be taking my place when I upgrade to a new home.

[JLehnert]

Unfortunately, the general public and the real estate industry don't know how to handle home automation. Some agents will claim that automation actually lowers the value of a home. The Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) new TechHome division was created to help solve this problem, but they have their work cut out for them. If you want some fun, download the TechHome Rating System brochure, and see how your house stacks up.

[AutomatedOutlet]

You know, this can be a funny point.

I have a customer that spent several thousand dollars automating his house. Did a very nice job using quality components. When he was selling his house, his new prospective buyer really liked the automation and was willing to pay more for the house because of it. They basically agreed to the price and included $3,000 for the automation part of it.

As it turns out, the appriasal company didn't quite agree. They unfortunately wouldn't allow any increase on the appraisal because of the automation. I suggested to my customer to make a side deal with the new buyer but that didn't work out.

So, my customer ended up ripping out all of the switches and taking them with him to his new house.....