Home Automation

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.

If you are a two story house, plan on a wiring space in the basement to run everything too.

Near there have a few conduits run to the attic from the basement. You will need to plug them with firestop but it makes it so easy to add wires to the attic or upstairs.

Typically near the air return is a decent downstairs to upstairs path

If you are not a fan of wireless, two drops to each spot you think you will need it, and then two to the opposite side of the room

CAT6E CMR STP CMR so you're future proofed....

It's really not much more than standard CAT6 and so much better long term...

Photograph and map everything too!

If I had it all over to do again, I'd put multiple outlets for cat6 (shielded) in each room and each outlet would have a minimum of 2-4 jacks.

Cat6, especially shielded, can be used for more than ethernet.

Make sure you do cat 6 to any place you might run a camera outside too

And pipes under your driveway for future wiring

Don't forget

• Outdoor security camera placment.s
• Outdoor power along the roof line on an indoor switch for holiday lights

Cat5 for wireless AP's, RG-6's to the attic for local antena / satelite / fm , conduit to out building for data / ap's.

Also, we always ran 16/2 for the speakers. 18 is a little thin.

Cat5e for motion/presence sensors if you plan any.

Don't overlook running conduit, you can always pull wire as your needs or technology changes. Your area and or building code may restrict the product you can use. PVC is easy to work with. Another product which is cheap and easy is smurf tube, I believe the official name is Electrical non-metalic tubing?? Either may not be good in a area with cold temperatures. I actually never liked it for power wiring. Any pre-wiring can make all the difference in future-proofing you house, it's certain your internet will be fiber, maybe the same for audio and entertainment, and security systems systems. Even pipes run under a driveway AND recorded on your blueprint can make lighting and irrigation less of a project.

Run power by the shower so you can get one of those fancy showers with the wall panel some day.

Not electrical but plumbing - put in an access for a robotic vacuum filling and rinse station either in the kitchen or in a bathroom. Only one vacuum has this so far but my bet is that this will be standard very soon.

A waterbottle filling station - either separate from or at the sink. Make it easy to fill all those water bottles your kids will use at school.

If your kitchen and garage are next to each other, a couple of chutes for recycling - I've always wondered why more homes didn't have something like this. Also under counter recycling bins and garbage bin that slide in and out. Oh and nice spice racks in the cupboards. These two are my fave additions from when we renovated.

A cold storage area - invaluable!

Get Cat7! Also, lots of smaller speakers (ceiling/wall) are much better than a couple big ones. Also, run conduit pipes so you can easily add wires/ things in the future!

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.

This is one of the more succinct summary from 2021. Just update some tech (e.g. Cat 6A vs Cat 6). https://youtu.be/wnac20HPlR0?si=I5Jyq0Xl3jM81RlL

internet cable everyroom

hdmi from pc to tv

• Use RA3 instead
• Up all 18/2 to 16/2
• CAT6A everywhere

Why cat5e? I was under the impression that the cost difference between cat5e and cat6 was negligible nowadays, but maybe someone will comment on that

We built our House and I ran Cat 6 with 2 outlets to a lot of places, but found I needed a lot more in a couple of places.

Where my main PC is needs about six. 1-PC 2-Printer 3-NAS 4-HA/Proxmox 5-Security camera WAN 6-Laptop. Because my security cameras feed directly to the recording box, I have another 4 for the camera feed. If I switch to Blue Iris and a better PC for HA, I can get the camera feed via the network.

For my main TV I need 1-TV, 2-PayTV, 3-Nvidia Shield, 4-video feed to garage (HDMI via Cat6)

Yes I could use wifi for many of those, but ethernet is much faster/stable.

Put in conduit

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).

don't forget about the outside:

• cat6 for cameras, doorbell(s), exterior WAPs, etc
• 16/4 for exterior speakers.

inside run cat6 to anywhere you might put a tv.

consider prewiring for projector / in wall speakers/ subwoofer etc if you have a home theater type area. or even just for living room tv, wire everthing to a nearby closet if you want a simple wire free tv setup

i also ran cat6 to a wall or two in almost every room for potential future use

Occupancy sensors for closets, powder room etc. They’re very affordable if it’s already wired. Step sensor at the top and bottom of the stairs/stair lighting. We also hardwired all of the apple/smart tvs.

Christmas and Halloween decorations require a lot of plug-ins - both indoors out. Spread some plugs throughout the landscaping too. I wish I had more plugs by our windows and at the front door for decorating.

Do a run of conduit or Smurf tube to the roof peak on the gable end.

Internet from 5G providers is becoming more common and and less expensive than the cable companies. You may need to add a yagi antenna to get better connectivity from T-Mobile or other providers. Also run coaxial cable for an OTA antenna. 4K TV from ATSC 3.0 is coming to most cities at some point.

If money was no object, maybe conduit going from every room to a central place so you can easily run whatever you want in the future.

I would not do cat 5. Do something faster. The tech will catch up.

Pull CAT6 to all TV locations, multiple lines for possible future devices. Wire is cheap, it gets more expensive to pull after the drywall is up.

I networked my house back in 2005. If I did it again, I'd double, if not triple the amount of CAT5 in each room, and I thought I did a lot!

If I had my time again, all CATx cable would be armoured and shielded. I'd also route fibre to main rooms and break out with a managed switch in each area. I'd fibre to my main TV/AV area, my office, to my WiFi mesh system, the kitchen and the log cabin. I've jury rigged it for my office and WiFi.

I put power in a lot of places, including high up for equipment, but I didn't install enough. You'll never do enough. Also don't allow the electricians to pull/patch the networking, they don't really get it. I'd especially put power up by the windows so I could put in powered blinds/curtains easily. Power outside too.

I would make sure all light switches had a neutral and all wall sockets and light switches had deep (60mm) boxes. I might go for a star design rather than ring main so I could put automation in the fuse box.

I put coax in throughout, but haven't really used it except for DAB radio, probably wouldn't bother with it putting more CAT5 in instead.

My security cameras and devices are all wireless and battery operated, so they don't count.

All power sockets, everywhere, should also have USB sockets and have in-built home automation, eg z-wave or zigbee. Put the smarts in the sockets/light switch, not in th bulb.

Make sure you main network switch is easily available and make sure you can house other devices like a NAS close to the main switch. I have a 48port main switch with 4 fibre connections and half a dozen managed switches throughout the rest of the house. I have two broadband connections (Virgin and Plusnet) coming into a Draytek router with failover.

Hubitat is my home automation of choice.

Do cat6, sold copper, shielded

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

I would put in piping through which the wires go through. This way it is easy to replace and upgraded wires as needed.

Ethernet at not so visible spots to place wifi access points.

Cat6 to each tv location. Not only for internets but also if you wanted long runs for hdmis

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.

Cat 6 and fiber uplinks

Run Smurf tubing. Basically PVC pipe so you can pull the any new wires in when they get dates

Unless your home is very compact, it would be VERY wise to wire your home speakers with 14/2 twisted pair.

The only thing I would add that isn’t already being said is to have wires ran to the exterior of the house for good outside lighting on the side of the house, garage, and backyard. (My house has almost no exterior lighting and it’s pathetic).

Outlet boxes as close to every window as code allows for Christmas lights, put a smart outlet in each.

GFCI outlets outside under the soffits, and a smart switch (consider breaking into zones if you do incandescent bulbs or otherwise go full-Griswold to keep under the watts the switch is rated for) and hide the switch inside a coat closet.

Whole-home vacuum systems are really nice and would be a nightmare to retrofit.

Just a shit ton of cat6 everywhere. It’s the only cable that matters anymore.

Low voltage LED floor washers in all baseboard wired to photocell to switch on when lights are off, on a UPS.

SurgeEX whole house non-destructable surge protection.

Install 6 to 8, 8-foot, copper-clad grounding rods to reduce grounding circuit impedance to a minimum. It makes electrocution far less possible and it makes audio gear really quiet and happy.

Run two, twenty-amp circuits for each audio and theater rooms for 40 amps, total.

Double the number of outlets above kitchen counters.

Double the number of outlets for bathroom counters.

Run CAT7 2.5-10GB ethernet cable for ALL WIRED CONNECTIONS BY ROOM TVs and media/theater/audio locations. 2.5GB ethernet WILL BE THE STANDARD SPEED. 2.5GB switch prices and 2.5GB ethernet now standard on almost all computers for sale in 2024, MAC and PC.

Nothing. I would surface mount everything.

16/2 for speakers. 2 CAT6 and a coax for each TV location, also a 1 1/4" mini duct. Any outdoor cameras, TV locations, speaker locations. 2 doorbell runs, 1 to transformer for a traditional , 9ne directly to your headend for POE. Waps, data, doors/windows, shades, glass breaks, daisy chained smoke hard lined to the security system.

Ethernet for POE video doorbell, ceiling AP, desk/TV’s in rooms.

For CAT5e make sure it’s copper (not CCA). And that it’s rated 2.5gbps for up to ~128ft(?). Trucable is a solid vendor on specs. But if you have the money do CAT6A or even fiber to really future proof.

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.

Always a pair of Ethernet, never one. Every other wall in most rooms and all walls in some rooms. Can be used for IR and speakers.

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

Hdmi cables to a central server. Network cables to each TV and and additionalone for the room. Speaker wire for living room and out side speakers. Security cam runs.

Are people still running speaker wire from each room to a central location? I figure that would have been replaced by streaming by now. Apple Airplay, Chromecast, Sonos, Roon, etc. all allow synchronized multiroom audio over IP. I've been using Bang and Olufsen's Multiroom since 2015 and can't imagine running speaker wires. (But I would run CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet everywhere for sure!)