Cables & Pipes

Electricity

Power Sockets

In the head board bit between the bed and bathroom area for bedroom 1 & 2 (radio alarm ….).

For the TV in the fire breast.

Floor sunk sockets:

  • Under the dining table
  • Under the floor where there will be a table in front of the fire breast.

Socket Concentrations:

  • Extra sockets for the home office near where desks might be.
  • In the lounge, either side of the fire breast for the hifi etc. equipment.

External power sockets:

  • North end of the west wall to the lounge (so for the north facing garden).
    • Put the socket on the west face, so in the alley between the house and the neighbour  so that the shower water doesn’t impact the electricity?
    • Can this be sunk / flush (or close to flush) with the wall?
  • North end of the west wall to the study.
    • Not sure where / how to put an external socket for the study courtyard, when there is also the plan for a shower from the overhang of the roof to the study from the NW corner of the study roof?
  • South end of the east wall to the lounge, so for the rear courtyard.

Whole House Shutdown

Have a master switch / system to turn off “all” the lights and any appliances that don’t need to have power at night.

Sockets to Wall / Room Light Switches

For any lamps, have the sockets they use, linked to wall / room light switches.

Bedside control of the lighting. Put a light switch by the bed that controls the main light in the room. So that the light switch as you enter or leave the room AND a switch you can reach from in bed turn the main room light on and off.

On or in the wall between the dining and lounge – charging station.

 

Audio, Visual & Data

Several years ago, CAT 5e was the standard as it supports up to about 350 Mb/sec. CAT 6 is a bit faster and supports gigabit transfer rates.
– CAT 6 will (in the US) let you run your telephone through it.
– Check this is OK in the UK. (US thread about this is here.)

Fibre is faster, but more expensive and debatable benefit over CAT 6.

For everything other than HD video CAT 5 is fine.
– CAT 6 is more expensive and the cables have to be laid more carefully with controls to not have sharp bends in any curves / changes in direction.

Wireless is currently plenty fast enough to handle everyday internet connectivity, but topping out at about 50 Mb/sec, it’s far below actual cabling. Wireless connections are also inherently less secure than hard wired connections.

Telephone

Cat 6 will (in the US) let you run your telephone through it. Check this is OK in the UK. (US thread about this is here.).

If not, telephone sockets around the house. Have think where.

Video / TV

Coaxial (RG6) still wins.

You might need / want more than one to each TV location for the satelite TV connections.

This is a nice article on tips and appliances to push your home electronics and entertainment in an environmental / green direction. The article includes advice on Best Options for Streaming Media .

Need Video / TV cables to the fire breast area & in the study to the NE and NW walls.

Audio

Although the stereo systems can use WiFi and Cat cables to link to each other or a central music and films etc system, there needs to be cables between the stereo and the speakers.

I’m assuming tubes into which speaker cables can be run.

Lounge speaker runs:

  • A pair of speakers either side of the fire breast.
  • A pair of speakers either side of the north facing window.
  • These should both link back to:
    • The left side of the fire breast.
    • The right side of the fire breast (a linking / bridging conduit ?)
  • Outside / external speakers.
    • For the front garden there is a roof overhang, so downward facing speakers in this overhang would make sense.

Study (top floor) speaker runs:

  • From SW corner wall (west wall) to:
    • either side of north facing view
    • either side of a TV section on east wall (north end of east wall)
  • Outside / external speakers.
    • For the home office (top floor) there is a roof overhang, so downward facing speakers in this overhang would make sense.

Bedroom 1 & 2 speaker runs:

  • Bead head wall divider to:
    • ceiling / wall either side of the view to the north.
    • ie have a base speaker under the bed or similar and small Bose speakers on the side walls.

 

Water

OK not really cables, but it is concealed connections:

  • DHW heat recovery from bathrooms, kitchen & plant room appliances & external hot tub(s) and external showers.
    • External showers:
      • Into the overhang to the NW of the loung (so under the master bedroom balcony)
      • Into the overhang to the NW of the study.
    • Hot water feed, so that can top up possible outside hot tubs:
      • Waist high out of the W wall, but on the N face of the study and out from the downstairs lounge.
  • Underfloor heating.
  • Towel radiators in the bathrooms for warm dry towels.
  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Have the option of a mixer pipe to the dishwasher and washing machine.
  • Plastic, not metal, water pipes (don’t absorb the heat)