Multi-room AV/home automation project

Great thread, I understand most of the house bashing side, but the automation goes straight over my head in the depth your doing it. Cabling for days.
 
Some small updates coming but everything is kind of hanging of getting the plans finalised and discussing issues with planning/building control at the moment.

Front Room Dining Room - Temporary Living Room

In the mean time I have been incredibly busy/stressed with work so figured why not make my life even more hectic and finish the living room!

The floorboards in this room were really bad and because I like to take the most difficult route this happened.

IMG_0003.jpg


All boards removed, added breathable membrane, insulation, DPM and finally boarded over using 22mm T&G chipboard. The difference when walking on it is incredible! It's quieter in the way it doesn't squeak/creak and echo.

All skirting etc fitted and glossed. The bay took hours to fit alone.

IMG_0285.jpg


IMG_0286.jpg


Temporary living room is now done, it's a much less stress free environment now! Which was my main reason for pushing on with this room.

It's finished besides fitting a Loxone value on the radiator and a wired smoke detector.

IMG_0339.jpg


IMG_0341.jpg


IMG_0342.jpg


IMG_0340.jpg


IMG_0344.jpg
 
Last edited:
Good lad. I've been doing refurbs for 15 years, so I feel your pain. It's all looking really good, you should be very proud of what you have achieved.
 
It's been a while since my last update, house is still slowly progressing but due to work commitments and buying a silly car things haven't gone as quickly as I'd have liked.

Anyway lots of updates/photos incoming over next few weeks!

House structure/layout

Here is the layout as it stands.

Screenshot 2020-02-18 at 12.45.19.png



Here is the proposed extension


Screenshot 2020-02-18 at 12.46.24.png


As you can see, things have escalated slightly!
- Lounge (as marked in above drawing) is the 'Dining Room (temporary living room)' in all my previous posts. This will likely be a second living space with sofa/tv.
- Kitchen is moving to the position marked, previously named 'Living Room'
- Dining area will be a combined living space with dining table at the kitchen end and sofa/projector at the other end
- Note the utility room internal wall has moved to make it smaller, can't find the correct drawing for this
- Garage door isn't being made wider anymore due to finding a door which mounts at the rear of the brick opening.
 
Downstairs Bathroom

Wanted to complete the downstairs bathroom before the upstairs so there was at least a working shower in the house. Prior to rip out the shower leaked badly no matter how much silicone I put around the original base.

Everything ripped out, blocked the window up because that will eventually be the garage.

IMG_1625 3.jpeg


The bricked up section on the right was actually where the original sink was recessed into the garage. Wasn't very secure! Also was advised it didn't meet regulations so had it bricked up.

IMG_1624 2.jpg


The finished product :)
Note the shower area is slightly narrower than the rest of the bathroom. This is because the whole room is 833 wide but shower trays are 800 wide. Didn't want to do a wet room here for cost reasons either.

Very happy with how it's turned out, even happier how 'cheap' I have managed to do this. Especially considering all I really did was paint the walls, put the picture and mirror up.

IMG_2101.jpeg


IMG_2102.jpeg
 
Came across this thread yesterday and read the whole thing wtih fascination - great job!

One question though. I'm (very) new to the whole DIY automation thing, and was interested / confused at the part where you went through your process for the lighting control. Would you mind going through the steps and what each one does please?

You had;

Loxone -> Node-Red -> MQTT -> ESP32

I didn't follow exactly what each of these things did though, so would you (or anyone else) mind outlining what function each part does and why the seperate bits are necessary please?

cheers!
 
Came across this thread yesterday and read the whole thing wtih fascination - great job!

One question though. I'm (very) new to the whole DIY automation thing, and was interested / confused at the part where you went through your process for the lighting control. Would you mind going through the steps and what each one does please?

You had;

Loxone -> Node-Red -> MQTT -> ESP32

I didn't follow exactly what each of these things did though, so would you (or anyone else) mind outlining what function each part does and why the seperate bits are necessary please?

cheers!

Thanks!

It depends which route you take. There isn't a correct route, all depends what you want from the home automation.

I'll explain at a higher level to begin with.

Say you kept things simple and went with Philips Hue for everything. You'd use their app for everything (although limited by the standard wall switches in your home), this would let you control everything within a single app.

If you went down the route I've done, Loxone kit. But do it properly and use their RGB controllers (RGBW 24V Dimmer | Loxone Shop). You'd keep everything under one roof (Loxone) and not have to use external software.
- Note that I'm expecting 7 RGB controllers by the time I'm completed. Using Loxone that would cost £514 vs £52 using H801 controllers
- By using H801 it makes selling the property on inclusive of those of those features almost impossible

Alternatives include Control 4, Rako, Samsung Smart things etc the list is endless and grows faster than I can keep up.

----

Next I'll dig into

Loxone -> Node-Red -> MQTT -> ESP32

I didn't follow exactly what each of these things did though, so would you (or anyone else) mind
outlining what function each part does and why the seperate bits are necessary please?

I'm simply doing this for the cost benefit (at the sacrifice of my free time).

Loxone - this is professional home automation kit, it met my price point compared to some of the competition. As mentioned above if you are willing to pay the premium for their kit you can do everything under one roof.

Node-Red - I'll take the description from their website, "Low-code programming for event-driven applications". Some very nice people have created add odd modules for Node-Red to communicate with the Loxone system (and other home automation systems). The possibilities with this software really are endless, the only limitation is time/ability to put together logical steps to achieve an end result.

MQTT - Message broker on your network, to put this into a very simplified real world example. Imagine you subscribe to this thread on AVForums, you receive an email notification when there is something new. That's essentially what MQTT is, publish/subscribe. I have published an update, you subscribed for an update.
Now apply that to home automation. Loxone publishes an update, "turn RGB light on to red". There is a RGB module connected to MQTT listening to this and will turn the RGB light on in red when received.

ESP32 - Very cheap chip which has WiFi built in
For more details on this I would suggest reading A closer look at the H801 LED WiFi Controller

Feel free to ask any other questions and I'll try my best to answer them. Ultimately though I have quite a complex system which isn't typical to most DIY setups!
 
Great - really appreciate all the detail.

So, in essence, you’re adding node-red / MQTT to the system to give you more functionality / control than that which you’d get from just the Loxone system alone?

Two other points though if you don’t mind please;

- is the combination of loxone / node red / MQTT analogous to HomeSeer with some plugins? (albeit with the latter presumably being a bit less sophisticated?)

- you mention that rako wasn’t DIY friendly....would you be able to expand on that? I’ve seen that rako should be supporting IFTTT (but this seems to be a “coming in 2020’ thing so presumably wasn’t a factor for you in 2018?)

Cheers again!
 
Exactly, I have since discovered LoxBerry (LoxBerry (English) - LoxBerry - loxwiki) which might actually be a better solution for extending Loxone.

- is the combination of loxone / node red / MQTT analogous to HomeSeer with some plugins? (albeit with the latter presumably being a bit less sophisticated?)

I'd say so yes, but haven' done another research to back this up 100%.

- you mention that rako wasn’t DIY friendly....would you be able to expand on that? I’ve seen that rako should be supporting IFTTT (but this seems to be a “coming in 2020’ thing so presumably wasn’t a factor for you in 2018?)

Someone in this post followed up my previous comment that was incorrect. I did some light reading and turns out I was wrong! But by this point I was already invested in Loxone so wasn't going to look back.
 
Man Cave

This part will make no logical sense :D
Back in June(ish) time I decided it would be a good idea to build a garden room/man cave at the end of the garden to house a workshop of some sort. Originally I planned to use the garage for this, but as you can see in the plans above, the width of the garage is quite narrow and only just enough room for my silly new car and some shelving!

My dad built something similar at the end of his garden and had all sorts of left overs (enough to fibre glass around 15sqm roof, tile 17sqm, breathable membranes etc) which were all donated to me! Figured this would be a fairly cheap project (as if)

If you look closely, theres some pegs in the ground marking the area where the man cave will live.

1 - IMG_3298 marking.jpeg


After a bit of a discussion with my electrician, decided 6mm 3 core SWA would be sufficient to give me roughly 50A available. Decided to run a MDPE pipe down for cold feed but waste wasn't possible. Will probably go unused!

IMG_8978.jpeg


Roughly marking out digging areas, looking at 5m wide by 4m deep. Note I could go back a lot further but that would involve cutting into the leylandii which provides quite a bit of privacy on the patio area of the house.

IMG_9644.jpeg


Next order more hardcore and ballast than I thought I'd need!

3 - IMG_0642.jpeg


Rented a micro digger and dug everything out to around 150mm death. Compacted 75mm MOT type 1 subbase, note reused some of the existing greenhouse base which might not have been the best choice looking back. Note electric compactors are slow going! Would not recommend!!!

5- IMG_1573.jpeg


Frame built in preparation for concrete, note more sub base was added after this photo was taken to get it level.

6 0 IMG_4438 pre concrete.jpeg


100mm slab. After getting various quotes in in the range of £1500-2k, decided to DIY it. This took me and my brother a full day, cost around £700 inc the cement mixer and beer/pizza purchases. it's far from perfect but I'm pretty impressed with how its turned out.

Base finished at 5m wide by 4m deep.

I ran a second MDPE pipe which has 2x LC fibre leads inside it for network runs to the man cave. This worked out much cheaper than shielded CatX.

7-IMG_7727 fresh base.jpeg


Finished base from the patio area

8-IMG_0916.jpeg


High view, although it looks close to the border it's actually 2m away!

9-IMG_5336 base high view.jpeg


I went through more posts of garden rooms than I can count, some did timber direct on the concrete some put a layer of engineering bricks down before the timber frame. Decided on the latter.

10-IMG_0392.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Man Cave

Framework built out of tanalised timber (40x100ish if I remember correctly).

11- IMG_4534 outer frame.jpeg


Roof frame built with tanalised 47x220 C24, yes it sits inside the trees, yes thats a huge mistake! :facepalm:

12- IMG_6671 roof frame.jpeg


Few photos at this point due to the rush to get it finished.

Roof was fitted with 18mm ODB finished with 600gsm fibreglass roof. By far one of the worst jobs I have had to do!
On the walls they are fitted with 11mm OSB, wrapped in Tyvek house wrap then tanalised batons added for the cladding.

Total height from the ground is 2494mm talk about cutting it fine for regs!

13-IMG_1277.jpeg


On the rear/right side which is never visible I decided on Fortex plastic cladding. Firstly due to the price and secondly as it shouldn't require any maintenance.

14-IMG_1307 rear clad.jpeg


Ordered uPVC windows and doors from Modern UPVC Windows and fitted them with the help of family/friends. Looking back should probably have ordered the doors to open inwards instead of outwards.
15-IMG_1397.jpeg


Trees cut back/garden positioning.

16-IMG_1629.jpeg


After a lot of research, gathering samples and testing different finishes. Decided on red cedar tongue and groove cladding finished with Osmo UV Clear Satin. Figured there needs to be some lighting here too

17-IMG_1697.jpeg


Front over hang and cladding mostly complete here. Also shows the f*** up in regards to cutting into the trees! These will likely never grow back.

18-IMG_1701.jpeg


Cladding finished, added 3x lights down the left side due to having them spare. Waiting on some uPCV trims before finishing the wooden trims.

Planning to have a 1m composite deck out the front of this thing to hide the concrete base and give a nice entry platform.

19-IMG_2108 external clad and light close to finish.jpeg


If you look closely there will be a baby man cave to the left of this fore storing garden tools etc, have a lot of left overs from building this thing!
 
Kitchen

Looking at the plans here: Multi-room AV/home automation project

I'm moving the kitchen to the centre of the house, this has had mixed opinions from everyone who has been round. But for me this makes a lot of sense, the dining table will be directly opposite the large opining the the kitchen. Likely with a internal bifold door to shut off if required.

Step 1, bring the room back to brick! The mess was unbelievable.

IMG_2586.jpeg


IMG_8816.jpeg


Exterior wall, stripped back and sound insulation added between joists.

IMG_2075.jpeg


Let there be light! Note the left window sill will be raised up to the same level as the right.

IMG_2076.jpeg


Because all the drains run down the opposite side of the property new drains needed installing!
This was also the perfect opportunity to run 25mm MDPE pipe to the water feed.

IMG_2078.jpeg


IMG_2081.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Garden

Access to the garden previously was through the garage which wasn't very practical.

Here is what the previous side of the property looked like.

A shed which leaked and a fence which was one breeze away from falling down!

IMG_3147.jpeg


All ripped out!
There's so much wasted space here really.

IMG_1493 2.jpeg


New posts in for a DIY fence and 1.2m wide gate.

IMG_5573.jpeg


While browsing pinterest I came across something where there were small gaps between the timber. Figure'd it was worth a go.

IMG_3093.jpeg


Fence pancel in, gate progress

IMG_0749.jpeg


Finished from the front, far from perfect but it's so sturdy!

IMG_6405.jpeg
 
House Front

Haven't posted this before but this is how the front of the property looked at time of purchase. Although there was a metal gate on the smaller entrance.

4a2c0d34-9824-4dcd-8793-887a96af58b3.jpg


First thing was to get the sparky to replace those awful front lights.

Bunch of 12v downlights installed.

IMG_0545.jpg


Next up was to make some sort of usable driveway. The space in front of the garage is enough for maybe a Ka or equivalent small car.

Wall removed, although still waiting on builder to finish this off for me. Kerb dropped.
I'd love to get the lamp post moved to the boundary between me and my neighbour but it's looking far too expensive at the moment.

IMG_1414.jpeg


View from the garage door.

IMG_3919.jpeg


The real reason I wanted to drop the kerb and have a drive way was to buy a new car. Also probably the reason things have been a little slow recently, I've been slightly silly :laugh:

IMG_1953.jpeg
 
Last post to get this thread up to date on the current state of the building site.

Upstairs Bathroom

Pre rip out the window had been replaced due to leaking.

IMG_2120.jpeg


Toilet window bricked up.

IMG_2121.jpeg


Start of rip out, structural engineer has signed off removing these stud walls. The left wall and wall showing a slight appearance on the right are structural brick walls supporting the roof.

IMG_2123.jpeg


This brick corner was a little surprise! Ultimately altering the design for the bathroom but still workable. It could be taken out but the cost benefit of this isn't worth it.

IMG_2128.jpeg


Stud wall ripped out, now sits at 2.4m wide x 2.9m door to window!

IMG_2129.jpeg


IMG_2132.jpeg


Did a fair amount of prep for the dust for this rip out, clearly not enough! :eek:

IMG_2134.jpeg


Floorboards ripped out as there will be wet UFH installed in here.

So much excess plumbing needs removing, potential live gas pipe running on the right of the photo, dead pipes from the previous system.

IMG_2141.jpeg


The one thing I didn't want to see, rotten floor joists!

IMG_2162.jpeg
 
Really enjoy this thread, about to start a (nother) refurb of my own and it fills me with fond memories and utter horror at the expense and mess ahead...

Very interested in the home automation side of things as well, so keeping a close eye for updates on that.

Ps love the silly car :)
 
Thanks, I can honestly say I'll never do a house again while living in it. If the dust doesn't kill me I'm sure the alcohol/junk food I consume due to the stress of it all will!
 
Thanks, I can honestly say I'll never do a house again while living in it. If the dust doesn't kill me I'm sure the alcohol/junk food I consume due to the stress of it all will!

I moved out for 3 months when doing mine due to the dust / mess / lack of facilities :rotfl:

Looks great though!
 
Little update as builders have finished until the extension works begin.

Bathroom fit out begins on Monday and expecting a kitchen design Tuesday/Wednesday. Expensive few months ahead but going to be well worth it!

Kitchen

Fireplace bricked up and vents installed externally.

New windows fitted, they are smaller than I was expecting. I missed this in the drawings as they indicate a small splash back (10cm) below the window but I was expecting the windowsill to essentially sit on top of the worktop. Oh well, too late now.

Even with bare brick walls the room is considerably brighter, once the extension is built with skylights close to the main opening to the kitchen it should be even brighter!

IMG_2221.jpg


House Front

Had the front wall sorted and started putting some temporary pea gravel down to make it more presentable. Realistically the drive paving will be the last thing I do so wanted something easy/temporary.

Have a Hormann sectional garage door on order too.

IMG_2222.jpg


Random

Managed to get hold of a new toy. Still learning how to use (FLIR One Pro) it but should help identify a few heat issues!

Rear of the house

20200306T193954.JPG
 
Been a while since I’ve posted any updates, browsing through these photos is a real shock to see how much work I use to do on this house, and how little I do these days! Can’t believe how quickly the past 2 years have flown by with covid, seriously thought I’d have this project finished within 3 years of buying it, but here we are almost 5 years in…

Between job stress and some battles with remortgaging to extract money for the extension I’ve kind of been on hold for a year and done almost nothing towards the house! Although kitchen and bathroom are complete for some time now, will post updates in no particular order!

Man Cave

Not going to post progress pictures of the build, simply because I'm not sure anyone cares!

The walls are fitted with 75mm PIR insulation on the walls/roof (cold roof) leaving a 25mm gap for cable runs, vapour layer followed by 12.5mm plasterboard with skim. Then some MDF skirting with eggshell paint to finish.

In winter this room never really gets too cold and in summer it's still nice and cool inside! Pretty impressed with how well the PIR insulation is working.

Lighting is 2x B&Q Colours 600mm square LED panels which I got during some clearance for £20 each. They are dimmable by switching on and off quickly. A feature I find a little weird, but doubt that will never be used.

After purchasing the porcelain tiles for my downstairs bathroom and being pretty happy with them. I managed to snap up even more from Wickes at a very cheap price during a bank holiday event they had + 10% trade discount. So on the floor of this room they go!

During removal of the old kitchen, was being extra carful with the base units and worktop so they could be repurposed. Not perfect by any means but for storage in a workshop they'll do the job!

View from the right front corner

left.jpeg


So during a drunken internet shopping evening, I found myself with a new/unboxed split AC unit TCL 9000 BTU with WIFI Smart capabilities for £200. Only to realise once it was delivered, I had no idea how to install these units and had to pay a further £200 to a f-gas installer to fit it for me!

Pros:
  • offers heat/dehumidifier/ac and fan modes
  • works really well
  • cheap(ish)
  • internal unit is quiet/compact

Cons:
  • external unit is pretty noisy
  • AC isn't really needed given insulation
  • "Smart" but no open API/docs so integrating with the smart home is difficult/time consuming

Other notable things, I've upgraded my main TV which left the Sony 55" (55W829) free, after looking online the second hand values of these were pretty low (saw one go for £60), figured why not waste more money and put it in the man cave! One adjustable wall mount and a Google TV later which was probably £100ish, I've now got a smart TV I'll never use! :D

View from the left back side

right-one.jpeg


External AC unit. Think I need to find some foam for that exposed copper, but not sure how much it matters with AC lines.

IMG_8462.jpg


More updates soon on this including power, storage, Texecom alarm and networking.
 
Last edited:
Congratulations on motoring through the tough times. Build is coming along nicely. I for one am definitely interested in build pictures. Am sure many others are. All the best. Keep posting your progress with new pictures.
 
Just spent an hour or two reading this whole thread. Great progress and really I terwting write ups - keep em coming!
 
Well done on updating after so long, you're making me want to write out a lengthy update to my own thread if I even get a spare afternoon (not friggin' likely!).
 
build pictures. Am sure many others are. All

Just spent an hour or two reading this whole thread. Great progress and really I terwting write ups - keep em coming!

Well done on updating after so long, you're making me want to write out a lengthy update to my own thread if I even get a spare afternoon (not friggin' likely!).
Thanks :)

It certainly does take a bit of time writing the posts up! Quite like looking back at the progress I've made.
 
Front Room Dining Room - Temporary Living Room

Got to say having a home cinema setup has been one of the few things to pull me through the lockdowns! I used around 2300 hours on the projector bulb!

Few minor changes in the front room

Impulse bought a rowing machine during covid times to try battle the covid weight gain. Hasn’t worked, makes a great clothes hanger though.

Upgraded from the previous Sony 55W829 TV to a Sony XR-65A80J as Costco had deal at a “reasonable” price of £1500 back in November 2021. Have been absolutely blown away by this TV, the picture quality is absolutely breathtaking and the sound quality is by far the best I’ve heard from a TV. One friend even said “your sound system is so good”, but it was just the TV!

Still a little annoyed I missed the memo that these TV’s don’t include iPlayer, but luckily have the Nvidia shield as a source which supports all the streaming apps.

IMG_8474.jpeg


The Intel NUC has been retired. I’ve owned a Oculus Quest for a while now, during lockdown I wanted to make the most of this so bought a gaming PC (along with racing sim, more on this at a future date if I keep it!).

Wanted a Media PC case with rack mount possibilities as I think on my final TV cabinet might include this.

Full spec:
  • Silverstone GD08
  • MSI B450 Tomohawk Max
  • Ryzen 5 3600 with Noctua NH-C14S
  • 16GB Corsair Vengeance
  • Corsair RM850i
  • Intel X540 10GbE NIC
  • AMD 5700 XT
  • Samsuing SM951 512GB
It’s been fine for most games I’ve thrown at it, didn’t cost too much considering the GPU was purchased pre shortage and had a few spare parts (PSU, NUC and SSD).

IMG_8475.jpeg



IMG_8476.jpeg


Next up will be removing the overhead speakers and having the plasterer to skim over, for music the sound just doesn’t cut it for me in comparison to something like the HEOS 7 speaker.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom