What uncommon but useful internal installations can I add during house renovation?

Hello

For a good year now, I have been slowly renovating the entire first floor with attic, as it is completely raw (no screed or plaster), so I have complete freedom.

Recently I also had a small renovation on the floor below (at my parents' place), so I took advantage of the situation and made some grooves for conduits to the basement (e.g. for the Internet, alarm or central heating temperature sensor). I initially gave up because of the cost.... everyone says it's expensive, but in fact it's not that expensive, and besides you can buy the hoover later, now it's the installation that counts.... and the one for my whole floor + one socket at my parents' house cost me 250zł - self-made, because I did it in one weekend with the help of youtube

And this is where the actual thread begins - a question for you, what else interesting at the installation stage can you do yourself ? I'm asking about both other rare installations that don't cost a fortune but are useful although not essential - such as a central hoover. As well as utter trifles and trivialities which are simply forgotten and then said... that 20m of cable would be enough and would make life so much easier.... such as the cable for illuminating a house number .

The installation of CCTV and SSWiN is as much as possible taken into account because of my profession, although I know that not many would replace it because people are often reminded of it just after painting the walls

Regards and looking forward to suggestions and proposals .

Antennas. If you've got too much, pull twisted-pair (except for net).
A fork knife will one day tempt you into some home "intelligence".

On the one hand you have a good approach to the matter, but on the other hand you would have to provide 1 x lan cable to each room, 1 x cable for the alarm system, 2 x coaxial cable, some fibre optic cable to the length and breadth of the house (because maybe one day you will have a fibre optic internet connection), and additional cables for some controllers, sensors in the walls, in the corridors. And somewhere in the central point, a lan cable on the ceiling (because maybe someday you will have a unifi access point), the same cables to the windows (maybe you will want electrically operated roller blinds). I advise you to think about what you need for your lifestyle and future before plastering and screeding. ....

@Justyniunia that's my plan, with the price of twisted pair 5e they won't be sorry, surely in every room some supply of it will be .

@KRY5PIN Lan and alarm will be for sure, I wonder why 2x coax, and why to each room?
I understand 2x to the living room, and one each to the kitchen, children, bedrooms, I would stop there.

I already have a fibre connection, am I going to distribute this further with light.... I don't see any need for it at the moment, 1Gbit twisted pair will probably be enough for many years. Well unless I'm wrong that's what this thread is for .

The cable from the ceiling is in the plan for the corridor just .

As far as the windows are concerned, it occurred to me to run a control cable (e.g. 6x05) and an electrical cable 2x0.75. Possibly a switch box by the window.

Regards

And how will you want a sat and dvbt decoder separately, or a dat decoder with recorder ?? Unless you use a multiswitch....

If you have a boiler room in the basement, I would also recommend monitoring the boiler room and leading cables to the floor where you live for smoke, temperature or carbon monoxide/gas/fire detectors. In general, a boiler room monitoring and alarm system.

A colleague, for example, has such a "feature" that he has a camera in the boiler room which monitors the boiler control panel. As he has a traditional coal-fired boiler and a three-storey house, he can see the temperature of the boiler, how much the fan is blowing and whether fuel needs to be topped up. He has a TV the size of a 10" tablet on the wall in the kitchen. He doesn't have to run around.

Washing machine water intake valve control and flood sensor.
Ledy sredy. Projector screen coming out of the ceiling.
Video intercom with redirection to mobile phone.
Light in kitchen hood switched off from where the rest of the lights are.
Multiswitch and clever antenna arrangement depending on local conditions.
Monitoring system to allow viewing on TV.
Installation for roller shutters.
Room temperature and humidity sensors.
Installation of an outdoor weather station.
Loudspeaker system in the kitchen.
Loudspeaker installation in the room.
A tunnel in the wall behind the television downstairs to prevent cables from seeing a simple matter of one square ventilation pipe and two 90-degree bends.
Emergency lighting 12V from battery+panel installation.
Window opening sensors. External temperature sensor.
Outdoor twilight sensor.

You can still install an alarm system and monitor the property.

Loose as she lives on a housing estate the monitoring will be embraced by old ladies sitting in windows .

Justyniunia wrote:

Lightly, if he lives on a housing estate the monitoring will be done by old ladies sitting in the windows

.
This is what happened when a retired teacher once had me shoveling snow in front of the bonnet of his seicento in winter, because it was so October that as soon as you had cleared the place you came back from work the next day and there was a belfry in your place. Everyone "blessed" him because he did it not only to me but only I had the courage to teach him the rules of inter-neighbourly coexistence. Then actually "monitoring" recorded who did it.

Fortunately I no longer live in a block of flats now freedom Tom.... 🤸‍♂️ and the monitoring is useful if only to prove that your waste collection team didn't leave the bags and the lady from the company says it's impossible and "maybe the wind blew you away" 🤣 the lady's face is priceless.... "you will pay for the rest with your mastercard".

Are you doing all the switchgear for the floor itself or for a future large one somewhere on the ground floor?

@KRY5PIN I will rather use a multiswitch because eventually there will be a total of about 7 TV receivers
@Bambek well, that's why I made that conduit to the basement to make an alarm installation there and to be able to connect to the furnace and have 'insight' into it from myself

@Tommy82
Washing machine water intake valve control and flood sensor - hm, good thought, I'll definitely plan the wiring for that

Ledy sredy. A screen coming out of the ceiling for the projector. - When I have enough time I will play with this .

Video intercom with mobile phone redirection. - a slight exaggeration for me.

Light in the kitchen hood turned off from where the rest of the lights are. - hmmm, never seen, never heard, but is turning it on from here (by the door) a good idea ? Do you mean a stair light to be here and here ?

Multiswitch and thoughtful arrangement of antennas depending on local conditions. - planned .

Monitoring system to allow viewing on TV. - planned, one HDMI is even already pulled to the ground floor

Room temperature and humidity sensors. - Humidity rather not, but temp I will probably do.


Voice installation in the kitchen. - this is for my wife, she has already mentioned it, but how to implement it I have no idea yet....

Loudspeaker installation in the room. - as above.

Tunnel in the wall behind the TV downwards so that the cables do not see a simple matter of one square ventilation pipe and two 90 degree elbows. - Tried and tested patent, will be sure

Emergency lighting 12V from the battery+panel installation. - What exactly do you have in mind here ? Because I'm guessing not emergency lights in every room

Window opening sensors. - NO, every time I get behind this there are always problems, so at my place I'll probably let it go ;P

External temperature sensor. - Will be

Outdoor twilight sensor. - will also be .

@Bambek - as I wrote in the first post, the monitoring and alarm installation is already planned, I just happen to be professionally involved in this subject .

@Brivido for technical reasons I am doing the floor itself.


Thank you all very much for your replies, sorry I'm only writing back now but I've been a bit short of time and I look forward to further suggestions, those not related to cables also .

Do you have a fireplace or will you be making one? I ask because you could hide the air intake in the spout.

101pawel wrote:

Bambek wrote:

A friend has, for example, such a "feature" that he has a camera in the boiler room with a view of the boiler control panel. As he has a traditional coal-fired boiler and a three-storey house, he can see the temperature of the boiler, how much the fan is blowing and whether the fuel needs to be topped up. He has a TV the size of a 10" tablet on the kitchen wall. He doesn't have to run

This is not a fad, but a relic. New boiler controllers - including coal-fired ones, of course - have an Ethernet module and wifi. A guest does not need to run cables, because the complete data from the controller is available on a tablet or PC if not on a mobile phone.

More than 15 years ago, coal-fired boiler controllers were not so advanced. Today, of course, you can choose from modern boilers and even more advanced controllers.
Everything has its advantages and disadvantages.
However, I think that my colleague's "relic", at least in his case for me, is more functional because:
- I don't have to constantly have my smartphone within reach and walk around with it in my pocket,
- I don't need to be constantly connected to WiFi
- you don't have to run an app on it every time.
I am writing this using my own example of using the smartphone as a remote control for the TV, which is always "wanted" because my wife, while talking on the phone, unknowingly takes it to another room or the children clean it up with the toys. Even though unlocking it every time you change the channel is simply annoying.

- A variant with a TV and a camcorder: you walk up, click and you have the picture.
But whatever you prefer.

As for the boiler, I have the temperature itself pulled out for the display on the upstairs. A cheap Chinese temperature sensor with LED display. It has worked for 4 years without fail and I can see by the temperature when I possibly need to go add.

As far as the implementation is concerned, instead of pulling the cables for the spare, run the technical risers made of PVC along the outer walls, one for the power supply and a separate one for the logic (lan, control, etc.).

I recently faced a similar dilemma to yours. You never know what's going to pop into your head in a year or two. Packing a thousand or more in cables for the wall "right now" is a waste of money - unless you sleep on it.

Still a hidden camcorder above the bed to film a session with a neighbour:D .
The climate is changing and it is getting harder to live without air conditioning. If there is a possibility, plan for a central unit, ducted system and, of course, adequate ductwork for power.
I would consider a recuperator, underfloor heating (also electric in places).
I would pay a great deal of attention to the design of the lighting system and many thoughtful places for local lighting, so as not to shine a single chandelier in the middle of the ceiling like in the communist era. Including, of course, decorative lighting.