I am building a new house and I am trying to prewire as much as possible. If price was not an object what would you pre-wire?
Currently, I have my house being set up for Lutron RA2 lights
Putting 18/2 for speakers in each rooms
One cat5e by each room for a tablet/intercom
Cat5e for cameras
22/2 for Door/window contacts by all exterior doors and windows
smurftube by every room (where the intercom is for future growth).
18/2 by windows where I may want power shades.
What else am I missing?
Thank you
Conduits with at least two pull wires all home run to a central, well ventilated and well powered battery backed up closet or equipment room.
If I had it to do over again, I’d get a nice equipment room at the end of those conduits. That’s my biggest gripe now. I have everything a rack that lives in the top of a small closet. No room to work on it if something gets an upgrade, and no room for non racked items. I had to run a line to another part of the house for that, and it’s a hassle.
Get a nice 19" rack system to bolt everything down that’s rack mounted. Double points if it’s on a swivel (so you can work on the back side) or has a swing door. You can get rack mount UPS, but they’re pricier that what you get for a stand alone UPS. I’d also put a mounting wall (usually a peg board) and some shelving in there, too.
Whatever you put in there will be obsolete before you finish hooking it up, so make room for upgrades.
As for what to do now, I like the idea of double ethernet + doable coax to location. Also, I like having built into the wall speakers, so I agree with your idea there, too. If you’re going to do a mesh system, then consider getting another line to terminate in each corner of the house, in the ceiling. You can POE a mesh unit on the ceilings, getting you some really good coverage.