Future proofing

[OllyH]

Hi all.

 

I embarking on my first self build next month.  We have a budget set for electrical work, lights and switches of £10k (200m2 flat roof bungalow).

 

I'd like to try and future proof the build so I can install CCTV, network servers, home automation etc at a later date.

 

What should I be asking my electrician to install now.  Just a load of CAT 6/7 cabling into the main rooms (remembering their exact locations) and then terminate into a singe location where the servers will reside?

 

Any help or experiences greatly received.

 

Cheers

 

 

[PeterW]

26 minutes ago, OllyH said:

We have a budget set for electrical work, lights and switches of £10k

 

What do you plan to do with the remaining £5k when you've paid for everything...??? Where in the UK are you...??

 

Cat6 everywhere is a good idea as long as its easily pulled through to terminate in each wall. 2 wires per back box and run it all to a cupboard and leave plenty of slack rolled up

 

 

 

 

[joth]

Ducting. Conduit. Easy to access service voids that you can pull new cables through as and when you need to. 

 

[OllyH]

Cheers for the replies.  I'm in Norfolk (East).  Does £10k sound quite heavy?  Will be LED downlighters in most rooms and a bit of external lighting too which is why I budgeted that figure.

 

I'll suggest CAT 6 throughout and install as suggested.  We have Easi Joists in the ceiling and SIPs build so there will be a service cavity behind the plasterboard.

 

Cheers

[scottishjohn]

11 minutes ago, OllyH said:

Cheers for the replies.  I'm in Norfolk (East).  Does £10k sound quite heavy?  Will be LED downlighters in most rooms and a bit of external lighting too which is why I budgeted that figure.

 

I'll suggest CAT 6 throughout and install as suggested.  We have Easi Joists in the ceiling and SIPs build so there will be a service cavity behind the plasterboard.

 

Cheers

and think about ventilation of this electronics cupboard.

I know how hot my sky box gets

[Alexphd1]

I am always very wary of the term "future proof" I prefer to make upgrading in the future more easy with running in trunking conduit etc but your build being a flat roof bungalow makes this a bit more difficult.

 

I recently visited a selfbuild property being fitted out with KNX and was initially very impressed but the more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion it was creating expensive solutions for problems that don't really exist. 

 

Can you do any DIY, you could always run in some CAT/cctv cable yourself to use at a later date.

[ProDave]

Most "upgrading" you are likely to need will be in relation to tv's and media.  Nobody can predict what the next "thing" will be.

 

I have tried to cover this by making a short section of floorboard at each end of the bedrooms as a trap door that can be lifted.  This should give asccess to feed new cables down the service void to the tv's at one end and down to the AV cupboard at the other end. so I should be able to pull the next thing in cabes through when I need to.

 

Several spare CAT6 cabes may enable you to use some king of converter, e.g 2 cat6 cables can convey an hdmi signal with an adaptor at each end.

[OllyH]

Yes I can run the CAT 6 throughout the rooms and via the ceiling void to save on labour.

 

I'll discuss ideas above with my Sparky before we get started.

 

Cheers