[Hi-Def]

I have edited my old post as I want to ask advice on everything I want to do

The house is in Coventry, West Midlands so anyone who is near and could carry out this type of work PM me or any recommendations.

We are currently about to start gutting and extending a house we have just brought and would really like to do some Light automation and sound/video distribution and need advice as I’m a beginner and don't even know where to start. I have listed what i would like and what i have thought about

These are the rooms that I will have:

Ground floor

Sitting Room
Dining Room
Kitchen – with utility room
Hallway

1st Floor

Landing
Main Bathroom
Bedroom 1 with en-suite and walk in wardrobe
Bedroom 2 with en suite
Bedroom 3
Bedroom 4

2nd Floor

Stairs to attic
2 attic rooms but at the moment this will be left as one as we dont really need it to be 2 rooms and need time to think about what will be done

I want to be able to extend it to be able to add in outdoor lights back garden/driveway some time in the future when we get round to sorting them

I want each room to have the wiring for Aerial and 2xSat – I want it so that the sat wires are up in the loft and I can choose which to connect up to the sat dish when and if needed in the future

For me lights is the biggest thing as I want to be able to have moods and zones and be able to control them by remote controls – also sticking a harmony 885 or something like this in each room will mean just one remote which could control the TV, Sat, Lights and more

The Living Room and Kitchen are the my main areas of interest and would like some sort of touch screen as you walk in – where you can press on and off then go into an advanced menu for moods etc. aswell as using a remote???

Controlling the lighting of the whole downstairs and outside from 1 screen would be brilliant for parties etc

Sound I was just thinking Sonos route where I can integrate existing speakers as the ones it uses aren’t that great are they?? I want some sort of ceiling or concealed speakers.

However with the release of vista with all these media centre functions in late 2006 early 2007 I don’t know exactly what to do on the sound and video front maybe do wiring and leave the integration until later on - what kind of wiring would be required or do you recommend?

Also integrating a new alarm system would be wonderful I’ve seen on here how people have set up so they can see where there is motion in the house and set there alarm remotely etc – again maybe setting up a normal wired system with keypad which can then be connected and controlled by a HT/HAPC at a later date – is there one??

I have a thread here to show my 10" touchscreen and how I mounted it. It's a little big for some folks.

For smaller, have you seen touchtronix.com? They've got some great little touchscreens. They need a PC to run against, which is a downside, but very nice concept.

[Hi-Def]

Cool however my first worries is what cables in what quantities should i get run so in the future i can add all the home automation stuff without having to bury more cables

its all a mine field

Hi Def

I can advise you of a really good company in London who do home automation and future proofing, they do it all from multi million pound apartments to houses like mine, a 2 up 2 down!!!!!!!!

I don't know if you would like to talk to these people but they could help you with cabling, installation, future proofing.

Let me know if there is anything I can help with.



MDublin.