House Rewire

[trolley01]

Hi,

We are currently about to have our house re-wired, a little prematurely as everything has been brought forward by a boiler breaking and a roof being replaced!!

I want to try and cover as many avenues as possible - but also my budget is extremely tight due to aforementioned work. I am looking at doing the following but would like someone to tell me if I have missed something - or something that I haven't thought of.

Sitting Room
2 locations each with 2 x twin WH100 satellite cable, and 2 Cat6 data points.

Lounge
2 locations each with 2 x twin WH100 satellite cable and 2 Cat6 data points

Hall
2 locations each with 2 Cat6 data points

Kitchen
1 location with twin WH100 satellite cable and 2 Cat6 data points

3 Bedrooms
2 locations each with twin WH100 satellite cable and 2 Cat6 data points

Garage
1 location with 2 Cat6 data points

Wireless Access Points
3 locations around the house tbc

All connections are going to be terminated in the loft in a cabinet with satellite patch panel and network patch panel. Here I am going to put in a gigabit network switch, LoftBox with connections to Sky+ dish, Freeview aerial and UHF aerial. Also here will be a small home server for media, print, file server and wireless network controller.

Each termination of the satellite cable will have 1 satellite terminated in a triplexer unit, and the second will be a dedicated satellite return either for Sky+ or any other use. In the Lounge and Sitting Room the second twin may be left for future use.

Each room is going to have separate security cabling for motion detector and door sensors, as well as alarm control panels in suitable locations. All of this will also be cabled back to the loft where it will be terminated in an alarm control box.

I would love to put in a multi-room hi-fi system, but I don't think I would be able to for many, many years to come yet - also means that whole-house automation is probably out of reach too!

Background on Me
I am a Network Manager at a college. Love my computer and love music. I want house-wide wireless (hence 3 access points!) and connectivity anywhere. I will be undertaking all the cabling myself, alongside being a lacky for the electrician.

Any advice much appreciated.

[toscal]

On first glance I would say not enough RJ45 sockets. In my lounge I have 6. One for Wifi Access point, one for XBMC, one for the video from DVB-T (housed in the garage) box and one for the stereo sound from the DVB-T box. Did have another one used for the cable box but no longer use this. So I have 2 spare. Also for the master bedroom I would have at least 2 more sockets.
One question have you allowed for future expansion. This can be done by running more conduit so you can easily add cable in the future.
For whole house audio you can't beat the Sonos system. Mind you the Logitech Squeeze box is starting to become a serious contender now.
Something you might consider is the use of leaky cable for the wifi. This requires one access point with 2 aerials (one for incoming signals and one for outgoing signals), you replace these aerials with the leaky cable. It can solve the problem of wifi blind spots. This could be installed behind the skirting board.

[trolley01]

Thanks toscal.

I had thought about more data points. I will have a look at the plan and try and add some more in.

I will bear in mind the sound systems, but as I said - going to be out the question for a while.

I have used the leaky cable system once before - quite good actually. I have the option of burying AP's in the ceiling with access panels, so going to use that route I think.

Is there any more types of cable that you think I should be adding?

[trolley01]

Ok, situation changed a little since the original post, but we are shortly to be in the swing of things! Walls are currently being removed and roofs replaced, meaning that the electrics and everything else is next. Design is a lot more formalised now, and I am looking at the following:

Sitting Room
2 locations with 2 x twin WH100 satellite cable and 4 x Cat6 data points
1 locations with 2 x Cat6 data points
2 locations with 1 x speaker cable
1 locations with 1 x Cat5 cable for multi-room sound panel
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for PIR

Lounge/Diner
1 locations with 2 x twin WH100 satellite cable and 4 x Cat6 data points
2 locations with 1 x twin WH100 satellite cabine and 2 x Cat6 data points
4 locations with 1 x speaker cable
2 locations with 1 x Cat5e for multi-room sound panel
2 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for PIR

Hall
2 locations each with 2 Cat6 data points
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for Door Sensor
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for Alarm Keypad

Kitchen
1 locations with 1 x twin WH100 satellite cable and 2 x Cat6 data points
4 locations with 1 x speaker cable
1 locations with 1 x Cat5e for multi-room sound panel
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for PIR
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for Door Sensor
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for Alarm Keypad

3 Bedrooms
2 locations with 1 x twin WH100 satellite cable and 2 x Cat6 data points
2 locations with 1 x speaker cable
1 locations with 1 x Cat5e for multi-room sound panel
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for PIR

Garage
1 location with 2 Cat6 data points
2 locations with 1 x speaker cable
1 locations with 1 x Cat5e for multi-room sound panel
2 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for Door Sensor
1 locations with 1 x 4 core alarm cable for Alarm Keypad

Wireless Access Points
2 locations around the house tbc

For future proofing we are putting conduit between the loft (where all wiring terminates) and the ground floor ceilings. All cables will run down the centre of the house in conduit, and then spur off to the various locations before being chased into the walls. More sockets than we can shake a stick at are being installed too!

Is there anything else that people can think of? I will probably end up using Cat6 for the multi-room sound system panels, as I will have it available. I have based the design of that on using something like the Nuvo Grand Concerto.

Any advice welcome!

[toscal]

Just had a look at the Nuvo Grand Concerto its not cheap (4000 dollars for the 6 source 8 zone amp and 6 keypads). But could work out cheaper in larger installs than some other systems.
Still think the Sonos is a better bet, unless you really need to control 6 independent sound sources. The Sonos has on some models an aux audio input.
And the Sonos can be either wired or wireless. Also you can control it via your iPhone or android smartphone. And with 4" or 7" Android tablets now under 100 pounds you could have some nice wall mounted controllers, that could have the potential to do much more than just control your audio. Some tablets even come with network sockets so you don't have to rely on Wifi.
Definitely use cat6 everywhere. This means that should you wish to change something at a later date you don't suddenly realise the cable you require is cat 6 and the cable in the wall is cat5.
I would also be tempted to use the cat6 for the alarm stuff as well.