House refurb, what would you add?
Discussion
So, redoing the old house which is in a sorry state. At the moment, new ring mains going in, new central heating system going in, and then all the usual, led lights, new kitchen etc etc.
I'm just wondering what gadgets are worth doing now, while the place is being done and floorboards are up.
A friend is good with all the Cat6 and TV stuff, so he's coming in, and drawing up a wiring diagram for me, I'll be running 2x coax and 4x cat6 to the master bedroom, living room and upstair office.
Bathrooms aren't being done (apart from fitting leds).
Is there anything else gadget wise that is (relatively simple) and worth doing, and/or a bit of fun, that needs to go in at this point as opposed to much later?
I don't want to be silly, since the house is rarely used at the moment. Usefull stuff that has gone in is CCTV, and a nest thermostat.
I'm just wondering what gadgets are worth doing now, while the place is being done and floorboards are up.
A friend is good with all the Cat6 and TV stuff, so he's coming in, and drawing up a wiring diagram for me, I'll be running 2x coax and 4x cat6 to the master bedroom, living room and upstair office.
Bathrooms aren't being done (apart from fitting leds).
Is there anything else gadget wise that is (relatively simple) and worth doing, and/or a bit of fun, that needs to go in at this point as opposed to much later?
I don't want to be silly, since the house is rarely used at the moment. Usefull stuff that has gone in is CCTV, and a nest thermostat.
33q said:
We had a 'low loss header' installed when we updated our heating. Makes the system more efficient and our house heats up very quickly.
Pressurised tank for hot water......stick it in the loft. I prefer this to a combi. And you can use an immersion heater too.
Add insulation where you can
Well the place is rarely used, so solar would quite literally never pay itself back. Insulation is the big one, its only a single block wall, so I'm getting quotes at the moment for external insulation. (In addition to meeting the insurance company for a subsidence check....)Pressurised tank for hot water......stick it in the loft. I prefer this to a combi. And you can use an immersion heater too.
Add insulation where you can
Literally no idea what a low loss header is, and after googling it I'm still at a bit of a loss, but I'm on an oil boiler. Cocked up the new hot water cylinder and ended up with unpressurised. Not that worried, one shower has a pump, the other is ok off gravity... The immersion heater has been a great shout. The sparky didn't realise that when I said I wanted a spur for an immersion heater that I also meant with all the wiring to go with it. He rocked up with a spur switch and expected to be done in 5 mins. 1 day later, carpets up, furniture moved and a lot of swearing the switch was installed. Great idea, and bloody hot and now don't have to run the boiler every time I want a shower.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Yeah, I have a couple of rolls of cat5e laying around from my cctv install, but the guy I'm getting to do it (family friend) is insisting on cat6. I have to get special angled wall plates because I'll be using low profile back boxes, so that the cat 6 doesn't come out of the ground and do an immediate 90 degree turn. Sparky is putting in a lot more sockets, due to new ring mains. I would suggest increasing you cat5e/6 to 4 to each room instead of 2. (well thats what I've been told to do.) since you're running the wire anyway. That way you'll be able to run your sky through to every room too. -Check out Neet extenders for Cat5/6 to hdmi. You'll need 2 of your data cables for that alone.was8v said:
Don't forget Cat5/6 can be used for stuff beyond networking - like sending HDMI or audio etc.
Thats what I'm using it for, 4 cat6 and 2 co-ax to the rooms where I'll be likely to have a tv. 2 of the Cat6 are going to be used to distribute audio. Hopefully will be powering a simple magic eye through the coax to control sky.PorscheGT4 said:
NAS box, you could have run cctv from it also.
As in one of those storage thingies? I really know zero about them....!Edited by HotJambalaya on Thursday 8th October 00:36
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