Most smart home devices are battery-powered and wireless hence would work without any kind of wiring. As much as being battery-powered and wireless is an advantage, wiring systems always provide the best reliability. When a smart home technician is upgrading an already built house, they will use wireless technology and only turn to wiring when it is unavoidable. They all do a good job but the young Kenyan homeowners are keen on what they want. I have met a couple of young homeowners who intend to make their homes smart quite early in the building stage. In that case, they have an opportunity to optimize the design of the house for home automation. Some home automation systems like KNX are purely wired and have specific requirements for wiring. Here are some of the ways a home design can be optimized for smart home technology. Some of the systems that need intensive early allowances include the smart power distribution and the smart audio distribution.
Control room
Not very common but we are seeing a few home architecture designs including a control room. This is a very important part of home automation, especially for homeowners keen on multiroom audio and video distribution. The position of the room is important. First, the room might generate some noise from the cooling system of the AV rack. Secondly, the room might generate heat and it also carries a potential risk of starting a fire. Once you let you let your architecture know this they will do the rest. Some of the systems the control room should host include amplifiers that might be used in audio distribution or main media room like the home theater. The room will also be used for the camera NVR, AVR receiver, power controllers, security panel, Smart home server, and many other devices like the zigbee hub.
Multi-room Audio/Video
I have seen many designs including network/Internet pre-wiring plans (though I have not seen them being implemented), but not the audio and video pre-wiring. Smart Homes would rather use a mesh wifi for wireless wifi distribution that has even more control. We have wireless home audio distribution as you can see from our page in home audio distribution.
A client should determine before construction how they want their audio and video to be distributed from the control room or TV stand (not recommended but still practical). That plan can be included in planning and have pre-wiring or pipes done from the point of AV receiver to specific locations of other rooms. This will make the work of multi-room audio/visual distribution very easy and neat.
Audio distribution is rare, what every house must have is the living room audio system and television. Though most houses have some wires for the TV there is total disregard for the living room audio which actually needs pre-wiring pipes. Many house holds have very good audio systems that can create quality audio if they were well prewired.
Home Cinema/theater
Though few homeowners have included dedicated home cinema/theater rooms in their homes - most restrained by budget and lacking the necessity opt to omit them. Home cinema can be used as an additional entertainment room, bar area, and gaming but let's save that for another article. You do not have to have a whole dedicated room for a home cinema to enjoy a high-quality cinema experience in your home. The design of the living room can leave a whole clean wall that will allow switching your living room to a home cinema and family room whenever necessary. The design has to be right to maintain its style, but easily switchable and create space for cinema equipment. For that case, pre-wiring or pipes are necessary to that point from a control room so that your living room remains neat.
Security Surveillance
Many homeowners know very well they will need a CCTV system but ignore it until the house is ready. It is recommended that you engage a professional CCTV installer to point out the positions of the cameras so that they are piped into the control room. A home is more secure and neat without exposed cable running from cameras into the house. Let the wires disappear into walls and appear in the right places! This is possible with early planning.
Surround System
It is sad that most people have the budget to buy very good audio systems but limit their experience with poor installation. If you love quality sound, you need a professional audio installation technician. You certainly also need good pre-wiring or pipes in the house to deliver a good surround system to the room. In wall, speakers are not common because of our concrete walls but with a good technician, speakers can be perfectly engraved into walls and your gypsum ceiling for a wonderful Dolby atmos experience. However, for this to happen, it has to start from the building stage.
Smart Home screens
Smart home screens are dashboards to control our homes. They can wireless communicate with smart devices but need a power cable and sometimes audio/video cables. For this, you have to contact a smart home specialist to determine the points of these screens for pre-wiring and pipes.
You can learn more from our website, Tommie’s. Before building and furnishing the house, determine what kind of integrations you might need in the future. While wireless is modern and attractive, wiring home automation systems provide the best reliability you need. Let the design of your home support your future home integrations.