Towards a Future-Proof House
As Karen busies herself planning the kitchen, bathroom layout and colour-schemes for the new house I am busy thinking of how I can ensure it's adequately networked. When we first move in we are going to try and get all the major disruptive work out of the way as soon as possible. One of my jobs is to remove a chimney-breast from between the loft, third bedroom and the downstairs "study". At this point I plan on running a duct between the top and bottom of the house. With some forethought it should be large enough to carry all the cables I should ever need to create the perfect home network.
But what is the "perfect" home network? I don't really know! At the very least I would expect LAN and Internet access in every room and, as much as is possible, the garden. Obviously I am going to need a combination of the cables and some well arranged Wireless Access Points (WAPs). But what else? What about providing TV, radio, hi-fi and telephony in all rooms? Can it all be done on the LAN? Needless to say I have a lot to learn and work out. Hopefully it's something most of you are interested in to as it will probably be a topic of discussion here for the next few months.
To a certain degree I am still uncertain of some of the most basic of things. Cat5 or Cat6? Shielded? Twisted or solid-core? There's so much to think about. Thankfully there's the one-man knowledge-base Kevin Boone. His site, "K-Zone", is a huge mine of information on everything from English land law to martial art myths to how to sand wooden floors. He also has the best guide to home networking that I've find so far - maybe because it's no nonsense and written in British. It certainly answered a lot of questions for me. Most other guides I've found have assumed a certain level of knowledge. This one doesn't. Thanks Kevin!
Anyway, I've got an article to proof read and publish. More on networks later. If you guys have any input or advice I would love to hear it...
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...and Kevin Boone also did a great article on the BMW C1-200 {Link} so I just had to buy one. In our new house extension we got the electricians to cable it with cat5e - but of course you have to decide up front where the "computer room" is going to be. Its difficult to change that later, so the cabling plan has to be right before you begin.
You might find that the Chimney breast already has a duct for radiator pipes etc. built in. I did, when networking my old place, and it made it incredibly easy to run the wiring through.
By the sound of it, you're contemplating some kind of media centre streaming to devices in each room hanging off it, rather than seperately wiring radios, tv, network etc? That'll be cool. Sounds like you could do an article on your experiences with the different devices and suchlike.
Seems like we have all been thinking about houses recently. Yesterday, we purchased our first house and will be closing in July.
As for how to get a network in the house, I lucked out. The previous owner was a Network Administrator, there is Cat-5's wired to every room with the switch in the basement. Not that this is the cleanest/best approach, but I have to say that I am pleased that there is a setup for me the day I move in.
When I built my house a couple of years ago, I had the builder run a PVC pipe from the basement to the attic, so I could run wires as needed.
It paid for itself shortly after we moved in and the dish installer wanted to charge $200 US to run the wires, and also was going to run the upstrairs wiring up the outside. I said no thanks, just get me coaxial to the basement and I'll take it from there. A couple of hours crawling in the attic and I was all set.
I had planned on running CAT-5 throughout the house, but I have a single Airport Extreme base station in the office downstairs, and I don't have any problem getting a signal in the master bedroom upstairs, which is at the extreme opposite end of the house from the base station. (and its a pretty good sized home, although it has a pretty open floor plan)
Maybe when I am ready to run fiber throughout the house I will utilize my PVC tunnel again.
Written in British?
You have a problem with those of us who write in American?
lol...
Thanks guys. I'll keep you up-to-date as it moves on.
Bob. What I probably should have said is that I found it more useful as it was written by a Briton. The trouble with reading something like a network guide written in America is that you're never sure if same thing applies. Voltage ratings, average costs, reliable dealers and such stuff.
All depends what you mean by "hi-fi", Jake. If all you want is a Tannoy (that's Empire-speak for "public address system" for you Yanks in the audience) for your MP3s, it's all very easy. Getting good gets expensive. Doesn't have to be outrageous, but it's not particularly cheap, either. Part of the problem is the fans and whatnot. You can get quiet-ish machines fairly cheap, but they're only quiet-ISH -- you'll still want to slot them away in a cupboard somewhere. Decent sound will mean keeping the analogue signal lines fairly short, so you'll need something like the SoundBlaster Extigy (or better) to hook between the computer and the hi-fi bits. (As an aside, an external sound card also gets away from some digital noise in your signal that you probably wouldn't notice outright, but which can set one on edge for no apparent reason after any length of time. Subliminal fingernails on a subconscious blackboard, if you will.) The biggest benefit is getting your "music server" well out of earshot. All that spinning of hard drives and so forth may be terribly techie, but it isn't quite what your dinner guests would want for afters.
Have you seen the Microsoft solution to this:
{Link}
It won't get around the need Stan points out - but it does make a cracking TV/DVD/Music/Satelittle control device all in one.
The trouble is just where to put the darn box, and the fact you can't buy it as a standalone os.
The new flat I'm in came pre-wired for all of this stuff thankfully, but I do know what I'd do differently in the future! How about this for a checklist..
Wire up CAT5 UTP to everywhere you can - really, EVERYWHERE
Wire up RG56 (co-ax) to alot of points too. This could then be RF, digital audio, composite audio or even SDI (very, very expensive video)
Wite up STP to anywhere you may have a monitor. Not many people know this, but STP can carry VGA signals. There are details on www.avsforum.com
Wire up good quality speaker cable (or trunking) to all the rooms, not just for stero bit 5.1, 6.1 or even 7.1 sound.
Everything here wires back to a cupboard where eventually all the home cinema/server kit will reside. Eventually.... ;-) Believe me, I've spent way too much time working all this out for the next place I live in!
I'm not a salesman, honest. Have a look at these guys kit:
{Link}
Might be some pointers for wireless streaming...
Jon
Jake - I bought something called IHC Net, a Danish product (their english website):
{Link}
Basically it's some special Cat5 cables and a special patching station in the middle.
In all rooms of my house I have at least two RJ-45 outlets. I can patch each outlet to deliver one of the following:
LAN, Telephone, TV/Radio.
If you go for something like this, make sure that all rooms have more that two RJ-45 outlets.
Hi Jake
Point of reference if you didn't already know. If you remove a chimney breast from a downstairs room you may be in breach of building regulations if you don't use a RSJ to support the remaining part of the chimney breasts on the upper floors. Maybe not a problem now but may well be if you decide to sell in the future.
Cheers
JT
Thanks Jonathon. Won't be trying anything crazy like that though ;o) Going to coming all the way down, from loft to the ground-floor.
Jake
For hard wiring I would definitely use CAT6 cable, even if you only use CAT5 terminations as it is harder to replace cables than wall plates.
In fixed runs use solid core cable, and multistrand for patch leads.
And run some spares to each floor or part of the house as despite, your best planning you always find you need a extra point, when you have finished.
Regards David