Home Automation

Power shades are solar now. I didn’t use the wire I ran

I wired the #%^*^# out of my house, a few years before wifi got fast and cheap.

I only use two of the speaker wire runs and one Ethernet run.

I'm doing something similar but price IS an object. I'm not using Cat5e. I'm using Cat6.

Cat6 almost as profligate as power outlets: bedside, at A/V locations, homerun to a low-voltage closet.

HDMI to A/V locations.

In-wall speakers and a central audio system if you're so inclined. That may also call for additional Cat5 (e.g. Russound)

I'd have cable trays all through the attic and walls with access panels over them. Central mechanical room with all the network hardware and a rack. Future proofs in the event that cat5/6 goes obsolete in the future. Shelves for APs in the attic where needed.

One suggestion I haven’t seen is a 30 Amp outlet for the location of your server/media room. Most of the good UPS brands have moved to NEMA L5-30 (120v) or L6-30 (240v) for their higher-end lines. Have your contractor run a single 10/3 Romex to that room and wire it for 120v by essentially just caping the extra conductor in the panel and box so that you can change over to 240, in the future, if needed.

neutral wires to the light switches! (oh, and CAT 6 out of every orifice)

The proce difference between cat6 and cat5e is something like $20 a spool. Just use cat6, it'll afford ypu more flexibility in the future.

Low Voltage Cable Runs:
Skip the Cat 5e. Go with Cat 6. Run at least 2 lines per box. Where you will have a TV or media center run 4-6 lines. To future proof. Place a line to anywhere you may want a camera in the future. Also factor in some ceiling boxes with Cat 6 in centralized locations if you ever go to a system that will use ceiling mounted access points for use with Ubiquity or other access points. Even if you don't terminate the runs make sure they are marked on both ends, so you know which cable is what for future termination.

Run conduit through the walls - now you're prepped for whatever you plan in the future

I coax Av’s 3 cat 6 to each tv drop

Cat6a is reasonably priced. But you can run 10Gb on cat5e if needed in future.

I’d probably run some internal fibre for networking servers etc.

Probably hardwire zigbee into all light switches and see if there is a way to have energy monitoring (normally WiFi) on ALL power sockets!

Build a dedicated "server room" with its own circuit (s).

Wire CAT6 to patch panels, not directly to the switch.

Run conduit if you do cat5e so it can be replaced in 20 years easily.

I'd do 14/2 instead of 18 personally. Don't skimp on the conduit!

These are great responses so I'll answer in a different way.

found I can do a lot with wifi. My biggest limiter in my few houses has all been power. I would put power in stupid places. Inside cabinets to charge things. Inside closets for things like steam wands. Next to toliets for heated seats/bidets. Under eaves of both stories for holiday lights or future jellyfish. Trenched power in the backyard for an amazing experience. On top of the fireplace mantel. Dedicated 20amp circuit for a home rack. In a dedicated kitchen appliance cubby for your blender/kitchenaid. On the wall where a TV will go. In the perfect spot for a robot vacuum.

A couple cat 6 to each tv location, in case you ever want to do video distribution can’t hurt.

Cat6 if not 6a minimum instead of 5e.

There are lots of posts about this same question.

If money was no object I’d just have a company come install it all and leave an extra Smurf.

Seconding most of what's being said.

Cat 5a is not worth the cost savings vs 6a at this point.

6a to ceiling in strategic locations for wireless access points.

Fiber to every room.

I'd run the smurf to the corner of the room most likely to house a TV or computer.

Depending on your tech use, a separate 20 amp circuit to your main server/network hardware location.

Take pictures of all of it before the drywall goes up. Make an album on paper to pass along to future owners.

Don’t prewire, run blue Carlton conduit (aka “Smurf tube”) instead. Then you can pull whatever whenever and can change it as needed.

If you are considering a pool, most automation controller have Ethernet port; so I would plan a run where equipment pad would go. Good time to plan outlets for your landscape transformers on smart switches too.

Doorbell nowadays can be hardwired with POE; so plan for Ethernet wire instead of traditional 2 wire.

Not wire specific but now is also a good time for a central vacuum with tubing that feed back into the wall (chameleon or hide-a-hose).

CAT6 for Internet for everywhere you want a TV or a computer. Have the LAN go to wherever you will have Internet come into the house, then mount a GB Switch to join all the LAN jacks together.

Cat 6 cables instead of Cat 5e. Cat 6 supports 10 GigE. You'll want 10 Gbps for streaming 8K HDR video in the future.

Pull 2x Cat 6 cable "home runs" to every room from your low voltage box. The Ethernet ports give you flexibility for TV streaming or backhaul for mesh Wifi routers.

Attic or roof mounted TV antenna for OTA broadcast TV, with power amp and coax splitter in your low voltage box.

Pull 2x coax cable home runs from low voltage box to every room. 1 for distributing cable or broadcast TV and 1 for distributing CCTV video from security cameras.

Run power and coax or Cat 5e/Cat 6 cables for high-end outdoor video camera surveillance system. (I have cheap Blink battery powered cameras that connect via WiFi. They work, but a "real" surveillance system is what I really want.)

Pre-wire main TV viewing room and/or home theater room for 7.2.4 surround sound. (Left Front, Center, Right Front, Left Rear, Right Rear, Left Surround, Right Surround, 2 sub-woofers and 4 Atmos ceiling speakers.)

Prewire electrical outlets, HDMI cable ports, and Ethernet ports for 3x wall mounted TVs and/or projector in home theater room. (Man cave for football, March Madness, etc.)

Media closet in home theater room with rack for AV gear, termination of HDMI cables, etc, with extra electrical power outlets.

Pre-wire home office with 8x electrical power outlets and 4x Ethernet ports.

Pre-wire garage with 2x Ethernet, 2x coax, and 8x electrical power outlets. Run 220 V power to garage for HVAC (if you want climate controlled garage) and charging station for EV cars. Pre-plan where you will want workbench, music, or TV in the garage.

Pre-wire kitchen for under cabinet lights.

Make sure any chandeliers mounted on cathedral ceilings have a motorized transport so you lower the fixture for dusting or changing light bulbs.

Wire main living areas for whole house audio with ceiling mounted speakers for entertaining or parties. Extend system to the back porch, patio, or deck with outdoor speakers.

Run lights and electrical outlets if you plan to build an outdoor kitchen for grilling, smoking, etc, or want an outdoor beer fridge.

Have an electrical power outlet mounted under every window on the front side of your house. Put these on the same circuit to a "Holiday" light switch. These are for electric candles.

Install low voltage lighting for the outside of your home.

Install permanent flood lights for your front door and/or to illuminate your house for the Holidays.

Install additional permanent outdoor power outlets for Holiday decorations. (Need to think where you might want these near trees, landscaping, soffits, etc.)

Flood lights with motion detection for your driveway and the backside of your home. This is to deter burglars.

Smart light switches for the whole house.

Remote controllable motorized blinds.

Remote controllable ceiling fans.

Smart thermostats.

Remote controllable garage doors.

Video door bell.

Remote controllable front door lock.

Remote water leak sensors under every sink, dishwasher, refrigerator, water heater, HVAC system, sump pump, etc.

Remote controllable main water shut-off valve.

220V circuit on the outside back side of ypur home for any hot tub or spa.

Remote controllable irrigation system.

Solar panels on roof.

Backup battery electrical storage system in basement.

Automatic computer controlled electrical power transfer switch for battery backup.

Power in window sills for electric candles is one o my ideas I have not seen posted.

Smurf tube from basement/telco closet to attic, run more cable/fiber down the road. 2-4 cat6 per room.

Don’t go too crazy with speakers. I’m running 2 speakers in the ceiling in the living room, hooking it to a Sonos amp which will act as surrounds for an Arc soundbar, the future is soundbars sadly.

More outlets than you think you'll need. 25 to 50 percent more.

At least on 4 plug outlet in any room that holds a TV or office.

Large outlet in the garage for welder/RV. Or, even better, a sub panel.

Do at least 16/2 to the speakers.. .cat6 to ceilings for WAPs

Consider running additional cable for the lights to allow for 0-10V dimming. This will provide superior dimming performance. Ra2 Select can support 0-10V dimming.

can you run cat5/low power to exterior for security cameras?

flood/motion lights outside?

EV charging - run 6/3 to a box in your garage - omit the outlet if you like, or put a NEMA 14-50 in there. Then, regardless of what EV you pick it would work. (Although there's a 99% chance NACS will win).

Run wiring for generator / Power wall before drywall goes in.

Is your kitchen propane or induction? need 240v here.

Run 240v/120v to basement for second washer/dryer set. (We put our old ones in basement, and wash dirty/muddy/clothes/dog beds/etc.). Then the other set is on 2nd floor.

you can NEVER have enough outlets in kitchen/office areas. Bedrooms too. Wife ran a space heater and iron, and pop goes the breaker. Run multiple home runs.

120v in wall heaters in bathrooms are P I M P.

In floor heating wiring?

If I was building new. I'd have a minisplit cassette style in every bedroom - set any temp you want! or close off rooms not in use.

home theater rooms - speaker wire runs.

Fancy lighting power runs.

​

man all this adds up fast $$ good luck!

400 amp service for sure! twin 200 amp panels.

Cat6 instead of Cat5. Two in each room, 4 at your media center and in your home office. Double the wall outlets in every room, especially if its a two story house and/or you aren't comfortable running electricity as a DIY.

And outlets up on the wall where you would want to mount a tv.

The smurf tubes they installed in my new home werent worth the money I paid for each tube. Make sure they show you what they are going to put in the wall. My smurf tubes didnt even have low voltage tire covers. Just flat, blank plates.

Prewire for cameras.

An outdoor GFCI at each corner. Switched outlets in the soffit for christmas lights if that is your thing.

Extra outlets in the garage, including at least one dedicated 20 amp circuit for power tools.

Cat7 and LC fiber. If all the runs are under 30m you can use cat8. I wouldn't bother with 5e on a new build.

If doing Unified (or other similar style), think about doing network drops on the ceiling (PoE).

Run a thunderbolt or fiber cable from the utility/server room to your office if you want to rack mount a computer and just run it from the office.

Make sure there are outlets on the side of the house for outdoor lighting if desired (or Christmas lights).

Photograph and map everything too!

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You should talk to Cyberdyne Systems. I hear they have a great T unit.

Most comments are legit. I would do at least 16/2 for the speakers, just in case you wanna push some higher power.

Honestly, for a house, you will be fine with cat5e, gigabit+ all day even passing through interference. I can push 10gb through cat5e at 15 feet. Ethernet cable is, generally, incredible!

Cat5e is a bit cheaper but also easier to pull and handle than LEGIT cat6, don’t even bother with cat6A. Cat8 is mainly data center stuff so it would be plain retarded to run that in a house, same with fiber (unless any of your runs are going to be above 300+ ft). Cat7 doesn’t exist.

I would also pull a network cable for a Wi-Fi in every other bedroom, or even every bedroom, and definitely one or two for the TV. I would say at least two if you’re going to centralize video transmission. That way all you have on the wall is a TV and HDMI gets passed through an ethernet cable (cable length, type, and the technology used here is important) but then the TV can also get network for local smart apps.

If your house is ever going to be used as a workplace or a recording or production studio, then I would definitely look at cat6 or even cat6a. Cat6 can push 10gb about 200 feet or less, cat6a is rated for 10gb all the way through. Still I would do Cat6 for data and cat5e for cameras, intercom, and other low bandwidth controls.

18/2 for the shades is great, 22ga for alarm contacts is also great, 18ga for electronic door locks is great. Consider running control wires to wherever you’re planning on having automation, or at least ethernet wires, those can be fantastic control wires. Wherever you have an ethernet cable, you can pop in a switch and add some sort of ethernet relay for future use. Don’t forget ethernet for the pool!

If the Wi-Fi is properly designed, most of your smart stuff will have no problem functioning anywhere it is.

Just think ahead.

I ran HDMI and CAT for TVs. Don't forget access points.. Cat

The one area that I'm not seeing mentioned is outside. Think about landscape lighting (front and back), sprinkler control, wiring for a driveway sensor, mailbox sensor, gate sensor, etc.

You may also want to think about wiring for the holidays, especially if you ever plan to do a light show and want addressable LEDs, permanent tracks along the eaves, projector(s), power/wiring for a mega tree and other props, etc.

Premise: Whatever wire/fiber/romex you pull today will be obsolete tomorrow. Premise: Price no object (right?) Then: Conduit (spacious conduit) to every wall and space (e.g. attic), all home-run to a utility center in the basement or at least to distribution spaces on each floor, then a large trunk conduit to a central place.

That way, whatever you pull today, you can later pull it out, add more and/or upgrade without having to adapt old cable to new signaling.