Re: [misterhouse-users] Bunch of newbie questions

[Joel D. <jr...@io...>]

Tom-

At the very least, you want to prewire all the rooms so that you can add
equipment later as your budget allows.  In my opinion, you should run wires
everywhere you think you might need them someday, even if you're not gonna
use them for a while.  Extra wire is a whole lot cheaper than trying to run
wires behind drywall later.

I attached an old email from the comp.home.automation newsgroup that
describes one persons experience with prewiring their house.  Hope it
helps some.

Joel
--
Joel Davidson        
Austin, Texas
jr...@io...


On Wed, 26 May 2004, it would appear that Tom Young wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I'm building a new house - at the point of working with the architect on a
> real plan now.  I'm interested in home automation, but don't know much about
> it beyond what I read on the Mr.House site and what some contractors say. 
> >From the latter source, I probably can't afford what I really want, and it's
> not obvious from the former how far along the various features really are.
> 
> In an ideal world, I could tell my house to "lock up" and the doors would
> lock, unocupied rooms' lights would turn off when people leave and on when
> they enter.  Phone calls would be routed to either ring the phones, forward
> the caller to another number, or give/take messages depending on caller ID. 
> There would be a multimedia server(s) that would record radio & TV ala TIVO,
> and also store the content of all my CD's, DVD's, mp3 playlists, etc. so that
> they could be played on demand from various locations in the house.  From most
> locations in the house, would want to be able to control the system by voice,
> and have it answer back the same way - as well as take memos and deliver
> messages when people come home.  For the audio/video, some sort of control
> panel(s) would be ideal, I would think.  I will want a security system also -
> though that will likely be a pro installed setup for insurance purposes.
> 
> So: Of this lot, what can actually be done now?  What kind of cash/man-hours
> would you want to plan for?  And what would you tell an architect or builder
> to put in the house up front, vs. do on your own later?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your advice,
> 
> Tom
>