I say virtually no budget, but really the budget is around 20-30k. I’m looking to automate lights, locks, blinds, audio, video(?), the whole nine yard. I want to do it all. Here is what I’ve documented that I’m doing so far, but I’d really like suggestions on anything and everything you can think of that I should wire-up while the house is ripped apart. I want to do everything I can think of. Here are the first draft floor plans of the house. The area in the basement labeled “storage” is actually the proposed home theater area.
Conduit or direct Cat 6
- Every tv location (conduit)
- Every speaker location (cat6)
- Every security camera location (cat6)
- Every wifi access point location (cat6)
- All doors for any possible door sensors/doorbells/automated doors (cat6)
- Large Conduit ran from basement to attic (conduit)
- Tops of kitchen cabinets (for smart lights and future automations) (cat6)
- All windows for low voltage power, automation for automated blinds
- Saw a post to run cat 6 and power behind bathroom mirrors for power and future smart mirrors
- Conduit to garage
- Are there any other places I should have conduit or cat 6 ran for future proofing?
- Touchpanel locations
Sensors
- Should I put Aeotec Multisensor 6 sensors throughout the entire home ceilings while I have the chance? Spaced propertly, I could get pretty good accuracy if a room has motion or not.
- Any other types of sensors I should wire up?
- I’d like to have sensors on every external and internal doort to know if they are open or not. What wired sensors should I get for doors and windows? The less noticable they are, the better.
- I plan to have two magnetic driveway sensors so I can see if someone is coming or going on the driveway.
Networking
- I will be going with Unifi. Any networking locations I should run conduit to besides AP locations?
- Any other things to consider for networking?
Whole House Audio
- We would like 18 zones
- What is the best whole-home audio solution that works with Home Assitant? I’d ideally like to have two speakers in every zone. It would be great if this could be used for announcements or something.
- I’d like to be able to control the zones on the fly–walking up to a touch panel, choosing an audio source, and selecting which zones for it to currently be on.
- Would something like the HTD 1240ADS work?
Home Theater
- I will have a dedicated home theater room in the basement that I’d like to wire for sound/automation. Any considerations here?
- I will also have a “casual” home theater setup in the living room on the first floor–any considerations here?
Kitchen Appliances
- Kitchen appliances are all Thermador and they’re all smart/wifi-connected
Other
- Best touchpads I can possibly get for Home Assitant? I was thinking of going with Galaxy Tab A 8’s with tablet mounts by Makes by Mike.
- I’ll be getting this Savvy Mirror by Electric Mirror for our bathroom with 22" built-in touch-screen.
- Sprinkler system for yard?
- I’ll update this post if I think of anything else.