The house of the 'not-too-distant' future

[RogerS]

LOML has given me a challenge and that is to think about how we can make our house as future-proof as possible when we inevitably come to sell it in 10-15 years time. She believes that there will be (especially where we live out in the sticks) a major shift (even more than now) towards purely home entertainment. So everyone in the house might want to be able to be doing their own thing or sharing audio or video etc. Distributed video. Cabling for media servers etc. That sort of thing.

So I need to think about things like structured wiring. I understand CAT-5 but what about coax, HDMI. Does gaming have a particular set of requirements? Has anyone done something like this? Not interested in home automation but maybe ought to make a passing nod at security.

Hiding the cables will be a challenge. Wireless?

 

[jpt]

In 10 -15 years time the odds are that whatever you put in now will be old hat and something new will come along.

I put a system similar to the one you are talking about in an office complex 10 years ago. They ripped it all out and replaced it with the new stuff about 3 years ago.

Not much help but if you want to do it now just be prepared that in a few years time it will be out of date.

john

 

[DaveL]

I wonder if installing conduit with draw strings is the way to go then?
Pull new cables in as required by what ever the current technology is. :-k

 

[RogerS]

In 10 -15 years time the odds are that whatever you put in now will be old hat and something new will come along.
.....

john

That's what I said to LOML!! I'm not convinced that there will be anything b'leeding edge. Sure, there will be technical advances but as to what we'll plug in, I don't think there will be a different TV signal to watch as HD and digital is already hear. Better broadband access sure but that is external to the property. Wireless perhaps but then installing that is easy.

 

[Doctor]

It will all be wireless in 15 years time, without a doubt, you only have to look at modern audio, it can all be wireless now if your prepared to pay for it.

 

[RogerS]

It will all be wireless in 15 years time, without a doubt, you only have to look at modern audio, it can all be wireless now if your prepared to pay for it.

Funny you should say that...just been coming round to the same conclusion.

 

[Ironballs]

I'd go the Dave route and install stuff in such a way that it can be replaced without digging them out of the walls

 

[Night Train]

I wonder if installing conduit with draw strings is the way to go then?
Pull new cables in as required by what ever the current technology is. :-k

That is what I would do.

I used to do that in commercial buildings, when I was an electrician, to 'future proof' them. Large segregated ducting with lots of conduits to useful locations. The ducts could be underfloor or inside false ceilings.

The ducting and conduits would allow for all wiring combinations until everything is wireless.

I would think that to be more saleable you would be better off making the place energy efficient so that it can be 'off grid' in 10-15 years time. Entertainment will probably be beamed in direct from the internet on a future version of WiFi and the only wiring in your house will be the electricity supply.

 

[RogerS]

I'd go the Dave route and install stuff in such a way that it can be replaced without digging them out of the walls

I've wondered about this but struggled to see how it could be aesthetically installed into a domestic environment, how you get round corners and between rooms etc. And how you could retrofit it.

 

[chris_d]

Roger,

Forget distributed audio/video since just look at how the current generation of under 35s consume such material - they watch what they want, when they want to watch it (video on demand). The likes of 4OD, IPlayer etc have revolutionised personalised viewing/listening habits so I very much doubt that a whole family is going to sit in their rooms and watch/listen to the same thing.

The only thing I would do is put fibre optic cabling to every room to guarantee high bandwidth and more secure network comms ie first generation WIFI security can be hacked easily. Also, in 10-15 years time, I'd guess that almost every appliance will be network enabled so IP will become the defacto transmission mechanism for almost any information.

Just my two pence worth,
Chris

 

[wizer]

I agree that ducting is future proofing. Tho for now I'd still put 3 or 4 CAT-6 cables in each room. Yes wireless is popular but it makes more sense to have low freq transmitters around the house than one hi feq transmitter trying to handle the whole house's traffic. Also you can distro audio and video through cat-6 to your rooms and have the whole lot terminated in one place. Planning for the future is too difficult and you'll spend too much money getting it wrong. Plan for now. CAT-6\Ethernet is not going away anytime soon. It's your best bet.

 

[OLD]

I say do nothing the engineers that invent tech. are already producing wireless systems because we do not want to hack our homes about so in 15 years we will be at least wireless

 

[wizer]

I wonder why the vast majority of households still have at least 2 telephone points in their house ? I suspect it's for the same reason I listed above. Wireless\Cordless is not as reliable as people seem to think.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Wireless is NEVER going to be good enough for the Highest Definition audio and video distribution and that is a fact, not just my opinion!

The very simple reason for this is as follows, the better we get at pushing the limits of what will travel down copper (better error handling and correction) and fibre (better multiplexing) the more bandwidth we unleash. As soon as each improvement is ratified the media companies up the level of quality of their broadcasts (or at very least drop the compression ratios applied to the current media) thus filling the available bandwidth again.

Copper and fibre will always have higher bandwidth than wireless, and by many multiples, and because the companies developing the media are generally developing for a corporate customer (who generally have flood wired buildings) the wireless consideration is always going to be secondary.

I run the network team for KPMG in the UK and while we are always looking to improve our wireless provision it is very much secondary to what we can provide over copper and fibre, and there is no roadmap to suggest that this is going to change.

Wireless is fine for many applications around the home but as wizer says, there really is (and won't be for a very long time, if ever) no better option that flood wiring your home with cat6, this will allow gigabit ethernet and probably more in the future.

The problem is getting it around the home...

HTH

 

[wizer]

Well put Mark. You're obviously more qualified to comment than me but I knew the gist of that.

Edit to say that. In the company I work for, our main customer (major media provider) has been stamping their feet about wireless for year and every time we implement a 'solution' they never use it and we end up running in more cabling. Even when thousands of pounds are chucked at it, it's just not as efficient for constant high traffic use. Even if you're sitting next to the transmitter.....DAMHIKT :twisted:

 

[Night Train]

I'd go the Dave route and install stuff in such a way that it can be replaced without digging them out of the walls

I've wondered about this but struggled to see how it could be aesthetically installed into a domestic environment, how you get round corners and between rooms etc. And how you could retrofit it.

The thing to do is to have it installed once and then, hopefully, never again.

House wiring needs to be updated and changed anyway so when your house needs a rewire and you are having the walls chased out and floor boards lifted to install lights, switches and sockets you then also have everything installed in conduits and trucking buried in the new plaster. If swept bends are used instead of elbows then it is easy to pull out old cables and replace with new ones. It would also be worth installing extra unused conduits with draw wires in for use later. Ducting would have access hatches inside cupboards and under the stairs for easier access.

25 years ago I was doing rewires and was advising clients to install more then three sockets in their living rooms and two in their bedrooms. When they queried it I told them that they would need the sockets for the tv, video, hifi and the computer and maybe an Atari and tv in the kids bedrooms. It was a big thing then to even include a tv aerial socket and phone point.

Some believed me and other didn't. We now have tv, DVD, Blueray, sky, surround sound, several pcs and laptops and numerous XBoxes and Playstations in both the living room and the bedrooms.

We used our office as an example with all the services surfaced mounded to show the routes. We had a ring of ducting for power, lighting, heating, phones, data and cctv security. We could tap into any part of the circuit for new additions or changes and completely rewire in only a few hours if something new was needed.

Having said that I didn't bother in my own house as I am still constantly updating the referb spec. after 13 years of living in a building site.

 

[Dibs-h]

.... as I am still constantly updating the referb spec. after 13 years of living in a building site.

Good to see I'm not the only one, mind you - we are currently into year 8.

I should point out this forum to SWMBO - but I suspect that would backfire catastrophically, so probably best just keep quite and take the headache. :?

 

[Night Train]

My excuse is that I bought the house when I was married so it was going to be a big family house.

Then we split up on completion of the purchase so it became two flats (it was four flats when we bought it so we took two flats each).

Then she left so it was to become a batchelor house.

Then I got a girlfriend so it was going to be a family house.

Then I was single so it was going to be flats to let to earn me some money.

Then my folks moved in and it developed a granny flat.

Then I had a girlfriend so it was going to be a house.

The she heard I bought it with my ex wife and didn't want to live here so it was going to be flats again.

Then she said she would live with me and so it was going to be a house.
Then we split up and I put my workshop in it and built myself a bedsit.

Then it was going to be flats as the market was good.

Then the market colapsed and I decided 'Enough!'. I love my house and I want to live in it no matter what people think I should do or what it costs me.
So I have now re roofed the back of it and I am going to have a whole second floor as a bedroom suite with ensuite dressing room and two ensuite bathrooms and maybe a hot tub.
I have a huge kitchen diner with six ring range cooker and utility room for all the white goods and I will have a living room and library and an office and a guest room and still have my wood workshop and a metal workshop and parking for three trailers and my car and space to spare.

 

[TrimTheKing]

My excuse is that I bought the house when I was married so it was going to be a big family house.

Then we split up on completion of the purchase so it became two flats (it was four flats when we bought it so we took two flats each).

Then she left so it was to become a batchelor house.

Then I got a girlfriend so it was going to be a family house.

Then I was single so it was going to be flats to let to earn me some money.

Then my folks moved in and it developed a granny flat.

Then I had a girlfriend so it was going to be a house.

The she heard I bought it with my ex wife and didn't want to live here so it was going to be flats again.

Then she said she would live with me and so it was going to be a house.
Then we split up and I put my workshop in it and built myself a bedsit.

Then it was going to be flats as the market was good.

Then the market colapsed and I decided 'Enough!'. I love my house and I want to live in it no matter what people think I should do or what it costs me.
So I have now re roofed the back of it and I am going to have a whole second floor as a bedroom suite with ensuite dressing room and two ensuite bathrooms and maybe a hot tub.
I have a huge kitchen diner with six ring range cooker and utility room for all the white goods and I will have a living room and library and an office and a guest room and still have my wood workshop and a metal workshop and parking for three trailers and my car and space to spare.

I want to come and see your house!!! :shock:

 

[wizer]

That's basically what I call "Living the Dream" NT