
Ask HN: Anyone built their own house recently? - chrisBob
Have any HNers built their own homes in the past few years? I am in the early planning phase now and I was wondering if there are any essential tech features to include in a new build.<p>Do people still run phone lines? Should I run CAT6e cable to every room? I don&#x27;t work from home, but I will have a small home office for side projects.
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jeffmould
I have not, but had a friend recently who did. He works pretty much entirely
from home doing graphic design and video animations. He does not have a home
phone, but did run phone and CAT6e to all rooms. He debated on running the
phone, but in the end decided to just in case he decides to sell down the
road. Little things like that could be a costly add-on for a potential
purchaser.

He also had an "IT closet" built in the house. It houses all the phone,
networking, and a media server. It has dedicated circuits, a metal door,
concrete walls, and a separate small AC unit built in for cooling. While he
doesn't intend for it to withstand any disaster, he did want some added time
or at least a little more reassurance. Overall the house is about 4500 square
feet, and each room has drops for cable, phone, and multiple ethernet drops.
He also has WiFi throughout the house, but for streaming content having the
wired connection provides the best quality. Finally for his home office he
dropped a fiber connection from the closet. He does have a backup system in
the closet and also backs up that remotely, but in general the fiber was
probably an overkill for just one room in my opinion.

He has a bunch of other "features" throughout the house for controlling
environment, lighting, security, temperature, etc from both inside and outside
the house. In the end I don't think it was much more expensive to do since
they were starting from scratch. I am sure it probably would have cost a ton
more to do post-construction. And I think with the direction the smart home
movement is going it probably added to the value of the home in some way.

~~~
chrisBob
Phone lines for resale makes sense if I end up having to sell in the next few
years.

~~~
jeffmould
Yeah, he had never really thought about it (and I wouldn't have thought about
it) and wasn't planning on installing them at all, but a couple realtors he
talked to said it probably wouldn't be a good idea to omit them completely.
Even if he didn't put them in every room, at least have them in key rooms
(i.e. kitchen, general living area, and master bedroom). One realtor told him
that installing them wouldn't increase value, but not having them could
decrease value depending on the buyer.

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davismwfl
We are in process on this ourselves. I asked this recently on reddit too and
got a lot of unique answers.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/3pzmrc/wha...](https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/3pzmrc/what_technologyfeatures_for_a_new_house_build/)

I have so far identified the following:

\- Central distribution room (have this in my current house and it rocks).

\- Cat6 (shielded) I am running this for both phone and data, yes costs a
little more but should help future proof the house a little.

\- IP Cameras (inside and out), mostly hidden inside to record key doors for
security purposes, nothing creepy.

\- Television cabling, central distribution room with IR repeaters and no
DVR's etc in individual rooms.

\- Stereo in every room & outside

\- Towel warmer in the bathrooms (nice to have)

\- Larger Conduit drops 2-3" in places for running new cables. So far I have
laid out separate ones for signal and voltage to make things stay separate.

\- WiFi of course, with likely a automation hub supporting all the key
standards.

\- Security system wiring.

\- Temperature sensors across the house to allow me to adjust the A/C (won't
happen immediately).

\- Water sensors, flood detection etc

\- Soundproofing specific rooms/walls, my office, utility room, kids rooms,
garage walls, insulating all walls etc.

\- Solid core doors everywhere

As things have been progressing I have been documenting (and imaging) all the
runs for plumbing, electrical etc. I am being anal about where things are at
and being able to find them in the future. The electricians will hate me in
the end, but I am requiring lines to be labeled in the attic space every time
there is a change in direction and at all entry/exit points. I am also
requiring they run all electric in a specific pattern, not just thrown about
the attic. The A/C guys already found out I am a real ass about that type of
stuff. But in the end it is you who has to live with it and fix things or pay
for them to be fixed and if you can cut out the hunting it saves tons of labor
costs later.

So far my estimate on extra costs will be around $10-15k above normal, with a
lot of that going for the extra soundproofing materials and labor. I am
running all signal cables, cameras and extra conduit so that is helping on
costs. I also did some of this in my existing house after it was all put
together so I have some benefits of learning from past mistakes.

~~~
chrisBob
Thank you for the suggestions and the link. I especially like the ideas for
soundproofing and interior insulation. I also like the idea of running
conduit, at least in key locations. I plan to have a basement with the living
areas on the main floor, and just 2 bedrooms or so upstairs. One or two
conduit runs from the basement to the attic should make it relatively easy to
get a wire anywhere in the house.

I also wouldn't have thought of the cooling issue for the computer closet, so
I will make sure that if I plan to enclose it I consider the airflow.

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ljsocal
Add thermal/noise insulation now = $-efficient-comfort/quiet for the life of
the structure.

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lighthawk
I used to regret not putting cat5 in, but now that it would have been
considered old, and I'm pretty sure messing with conduits to replace those
cables would have been a pain and I would use wifi anyway, I think the main
things are:

1\. Plan on a spot for wifi and cable modem.

2\. Assume that single wire to your cable modem will need to be replaced, so
don't make it too hard to get to, but I'm not sure if I'd bother with a
conduit. It's possible that even the main net connection will be wireless one
day, but for now it's cable, satellite, DSL, or Google Fiber, typically.

3\. Large conduit for what they call "low voltage wiring" (HDMI, etc.) to
where you always want your T.V. _may_ be a good idea, but wireless video being
normal is not far off.

4\. Wireless power is not happening anytime soon, so be sure that you have
outlets everywhere you'd need them, including in the ceiling if you think
you'll need a bridge or repeater. Note that repeaters kind of suck, so
hopefully you can just get by with one or more wifi routers instead. If you
can't then that is the one (or so) cat6e cables you'd need to run, because POE
isn't a great fallback.

The non-networking stuff to think about:

* Putting holes in a countertop for wires if you want to hide outlets. Only recommend that for places where the outlet is easily accessible, otherwise the wire going into the outlet would get in the way of storage space or cause fires.

* Insulation! Get the best you can, imo. Most builders skimp, but you'll regret it. Insulate all doors, etc. to storage space. Might not want to fill electrical boxes with foam unless you really need it, since that can be a mess.

* Get a nice garage door opener and consider insulating garage door.

* Go ahead and get a recommended gutter helmet for your gutters and put in nice siding and roofing.

* Be careful with ceiling fans. If the blades have a weak point in the connection with the blade like a centimeter of brass or similar, that will shear eventually.

* Don't skimp on ventilation, HVAC/furnace.

* Go ahead and put decent windows in if you can afford it. Otherwise they'll get stuck and you'll not use them.

* Plan on cheap carpet rolling up and needing to be retightened, or buy good stuff.

* Go ahead and put in decent countertops and tile backsplash in kitchen. You will eventually if you don't do it now. Put in undercabinet lighting and dimmers for those and most other lighting in kitchen and common areas.

* Plan a "mud area" in some area of the home and place for kids or you to put stuff and hang it as you come in.

* Even if you like natural wood, consider getting the hardier stuff for decks, etc. or stain and treat. Same with hardwoods- use more gloss than you might want.

* Dark hardwoods and counters hide dirt. With dark you get more cockroaches, with light you get more work.

Plenty of other things, but those are just the main ones.

