New (old) house + sledgehammer - wiringa

[Vytalis]

So, I should be standing in a new house (built well in the early 1960s) soon and the interior needs gutting completely. So I want to take the chance to hardwire decent quality video, audio and (possibly) smarthome stuff in. Where do I (or would you) start? This is the final house so we'll be in it until the kids leave in 25-30 years, so quality without being insane on price and an eye for upgradeability is the way to go IMHO.

[davepoth]

Look backwards to look forwards. What did networking technology look like in 1985?

I would be inclined to fit it up with a view to being able to run new cables (possibly domestic fibre? I dunno) if needs be.

I reckon the best way would be to fit trunking behind the skirting boards, and fixing them so that they can be easily removed. That way it's all hidden, but you can get to it if you need to upgrade in future.

[ism123]

I moved last year and put in a data cable network.

Cat 6 cable with 2 or 3 points in every room, wired back to a patch panel, a switch, router and wireless. I put all music, films and pics onto a NAS drive and these can be accessed via cable or wifi.

[VEX]

Just come off 4 days of exhibiting at Home Building and Renovating show talk to people about this all day, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday. Bloody Knackered now, just veging infront of the TV responding to emails and surfing.

As an installer and supplier of this sort of stuff, my standard install is 3 data cables and 2 coaxes to every tv point and then a secondary double data point in the opposite corner of the room. All pulled back to a central comms location, where all you incoming services will terminate.

For audio install speaker cable and data cable running from the central point through a keypad location and then on up to each speaker.

This configuration will allow you to hang approximately 90% off solutions out there, which should be enough for you to find something you like.

If you want to, drop some fibre in but leave it 'dark' (not terminated) coiled up in a back box in each room. But to be honest a well designed and installed copper system should serve you very well into the future.

Hope that helps.

V.