I am about as green as they come. Just bought first house, REO. What would you do?

[sc2k2]

The previous owners tended to take everything of value. We have almost no lights. The cabling is a mess (took AT&T 11 hours to sort out enough to get 2 phone jacks working... and one is in a bathroom) and we have one cable connection working, in an office.

The good news is we can sort of start from scratch. There is also a small closet in the center of the house (about phone booth size) that has an outlet, a hole in the wall with cables running down it and an old alarm system. It seems perfectly designed for a wire closet. I was thinking patch bays and running cat6 and cable to every room I could and then just patching in the connections I was using.

Long term, I'd like to be able to control lighting, HVAC, music, security, cameras, and just about everything else from a central location.

Did I mention I know nothing about home automation?

A couple of google searches led me here. I don't have a ton of money but I'm willing to work, am friends with a licensed contractor and electrician, and I know Rome wasn't built in a day. I wanted to start this post by saying hello to everyone, and basically ask this question: If you were starting from scratch, are there any things you would recommend doing or start doing to lay the groundwork for an automated home environment? I saw the thread about "if you could do it all over again" regarding the options out there, and I'll do my best to read and learn. But we do want to start getting some lights put in and I'd hate to leave out something basic that we'll have to redo for automation purposes.

Looking forward to learning from you all.

 

[felixrosbergen]

What are you priorities? What functionality do you want first?

You mentioned an existing alarm...are the wires labelled? Look in door and window sills to see if there are recessed sensors. It's possible the previous owners had an alarm and took it with them..or perhaps the house was only pre-wired and the wiring was never used. You have simple Volt / Amp / Ohm meter? ($10 at Radioshack)? Measure the resistance over some of the alarm circuits and see what you get.

In my case because i travel the wife insisted on the alarm being functional ASAP.

Sounds like initially you just need to figure out what you have as far as wiring. Running new wiring in an existing house is a major pain (even if you have attic / basement access) and wireless technologies are getting pretty good. For patch panels you could check out my showcase thread for how i did my patch panel (it's a bit different from how most people do it, but i am very happy with it).

For lighting you could research UPB. It's quite popular, reliable and a system you can step into with low initial investment.

For the house to really become 'automated' (i.e. be able to do/respond to things) you'll need some sort of controller. Many of us use combination alarm/automation panels (HAI or ELK) for this purpose (i.e. if door x opens then turn light Y on) but you can also look into software based controller which would require a PC running 24/7. There are also some in between options.

 

[sc2k2]

My top priorities are putting in locks and putting in lights. Any issues with the Z-Wave door locks? Those were the first ones I found. Though I can understand a bit of nervousness using a code to lock/unlock doors. There is still an alarm box from ADP or one of the major companies, and a few panels, but I doubt many of the wires are still working. I think the house was originally owned by someone who cared a great deal for it, but the owners immediately after him and before us basically half-assed everything they could.

I'm very good with computers so I may want to go with the PC, but would be fine with a control panel if that would do the trick. Are there any real advantages to either option?

I imagine like any industry/market/hobby, much of it comes down to personal preference and how much money you can spend. I saw that UPB won the recent vote so it sounds like a great place to start.

 

[Neurorad]

Welcome to CT. You should consider the Elk M1 or HAI OPII, first off. Provides alarm and basic HA functions including lighting control. Many Elk and HAI discussions here at CT.

 

[drozwood90]

There is also a small closet in the center of the house (about phone booth size) that has an outlet, a hole in the wall with cables running down it and an old alarm system.

based on your other descriptions...is it a Tardis?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardis



--Dan