Ok, so after a month of of pushing him, my builder has given in and is letting me run some wiring. Only problem is, I will only have 2 days to do it, it will be after the electrical rough in inspection before drywall, I have to fire caulk any holes I make that penetrate floors and he won't allow me to have wires hanging through the drywall (I can only secure behind and note the location to make a hole and connect after we close on the house......
This will pose a few issues for me since I will have to bury the wire and figure it out later.....
System will be an Elk M1, mix of UPB and Z-Wave lighting and thermo, likely IP cams but haven't picked them yet.
House is 2 story over unfinished basement, 3 car garage. Total finished sq ft is 3450.
My thoughts (any better ideas are appreciated)
1. Buy recessed contacts for doors and windows and wire those in while I am running the wire, then use a multi-meter to figure out which is which later (if my marking gets removed). Only concern is they use a junk entry door during drywall and paint then replace with the actual stained door after that. Hope the plunger doesn’t get messed up. Coverage is front door, garage side entry door, garage to house door, first floor slider and basement walkout slider.
2. Since I can’t wire the windows later, I was thinking of using the recessed contacts there as well (only needed at 4 first floor windows and 2 basement windows)
3. Wire in for sub panel boxes on each floor.
a. I was thinking of dropping all the upstairs wires for motion, temp and flood sensors to a future box location in the upstairs laundry room and putting a zone expander card in there. What do I need from the basement to that box? Cat 5 and Power? I won’t have 220v access in that box.
b. No plans for future audio or anything else upstairs, should I pull anything else to that box?
c. Box on the main floor would go in pantry area. I could pull all the first floor wire to that location for motion, but I think it would be easier to go straight down to the basement for door and window contacts on that floor. Maybe best to just pull all to the basement from there.
4. Pull wires for keypad locations at front door, master bedroom and garage entry door, leave wire in wall tacked to stud. 14/ 4 or Cat5 for these?
5. Wire for touchscreen (future) on kitchen wall? What wire? Double Cat 5 and 14/2 for power?
6. Wire for camera locations (Front porch, Garage, rear deck, driveway, family room and bonus room). Was thinking Cat 5 and 14/2 for power? Maybe I should run another 14/4 for Motion sensor for porch cam and garage cam?
The basement will be unfinished for a month after move in as we are using a different builder to finish it off (this builder only offers one stock basement plan), so I can catch the doors and windows down there as well as all of the home theater and basement bar / outside wiring for speakers.
Builder spaces all interior walls on 24” centers, guess I’ll just have to attach the cans (boxes) to one stud only.
Missing anything?
This will pose a few issues for me since I will have to bury the wire and figure it out later.....
System will be an Elk M1, mix of UPB and Z-Wave lighting and thermo, likely IP cams but haven't picked them yet.
House is 2 story over unfinished basement, 3 car garage. Total finished sq ft is 3450.
My thoughts (any better ideas are appreciated)
1. Buy recessed contacts for doors and windows and wire those in while I am running the wire, then use a multi-meter to figure out which is which later (if my marking gets removed). Only concern is they use a junk entry door during drywall and paint then replace with the actual stained door after that. Hope the plunger doesn’t get messed up. Coverage is front door, garage side entry door, garage to house door, first floor slider and basement walkout slider.
2. Since I can’t wire the windows later, I was thinking of using the recessed contacts there as well (only needed at 4 first floor windows and 2 basement windows)
3. Wire in for sub panel boxes on each floor.
a. I was thinking of dropping all the upstairs wires for motion, temp and flood sensors to a future box location in the upstairs laundry room and putting a zone expander card in there. What do I need from the basement to that box? Cat 5 and Power? I won’t have 220v access in that box.
b. No plans for future audio or anything else upstairs, should I pull anything else to that box?
c. Box on the main floor would go in pantry area. I could pull all the first floor wire to that location for motion, but I think it would be easier to go straight down to the basement for door and window contacts on that floor. Maybe best to just pull all to the basement from there.
4. Pull wires for keypad locations at front door, master bedroom and garage entry door, leave wire in wall tacked to stud. 14/ 4 or Cat5 for these?
5. Wire for touchscreen (future) on kitchen wall? What wire? Double Cat 5 and 14/2 for power?
6. Wire for camera locations (Front porch, Garage, rear deck, driveway, family room and bonus room). Was thinking Cat 5 and 14/2 for power? Maybe I should run another 14/4 for Motion sensor for porch cam and garage cam?
The basement will be unfinished for a month after move in as we are using a different builder to finish it off (this builder only offers one stock basement plan), so I can catch the doors and windows down there as well as all of the home theater and basement bar / outside wiring for speakers.
Builder spaces all interior walls on 24” centers, guess I’ll just have to attach the cans (boxes) to one stud only.
Missing anything?
