New to HA, Designing/Building new home

[Autonut]

So this is the place where all the gurus hang out! I will be reading alot to get informed.

I'll be building a new home in spring of 08 in Minnesota and doing some research to find out what the best bang for the buck is in home automation hopefully with your help!

It's all pretty confusing to me now.

 

[Autonut]

Oh, my home will be a 4000+ sq foot modern loft like home with concrete floors and 14-28ft ceilings with minimal walls. I'll need help in finding the right system for the money and future capability, wiring suggestions for now and future since it is a new build, input on wireless as a solution since the home will have wide open spaces.

Anyone in Minneapolis area who wants to help let me know! It will be on Lake Minnetonka. I'll take you out on the boat when we're done!

 

[electron]

Hi Autonute, welcome to CT!

You will get plenty of help, but I would recommend starting with reading the document linked in my signature, it will answer many questions, and probably give you many ideas.

 

[CollinR]

4 miles of Cat5, just a suggestion.

 

[upstatemike]

Oh, my home will be a 4000+ sq foot modern loft like home with concrete floors and 14-28ft ceilings with minimal walls. I'll need help in finding the right system for the money and future capability, wiring suggestions for now and future since it is a new build, input on wireless as a solution since the home will have wide open spaces.

Anyone in Minneapolis area who wants to help let me know! It will be on Lake Minnetonka. I'll take you out on the boat when we're done!

14-28ft ceilings? That can't be good for the heating bill!

 

[Sacedog]

14-28ft ceilings? That can't be good for the heating bill!

And concrete floors... run LOTS of extra cables, or at a minimum, conduit to everywhere in the house.

 

[DavidL]

Autonute,
Krumpy, one of our developers, is doing exactly the same thing, right in your neighborhood. His boat is on your lake. You should hook up and compare notes. I sent him a link to this thread.

With regards to the ceiling height, mine are very high too. Key to heating is heat distibution and insulation. Make sure your heating contractor puts return vents at the peaks. I have ceiling fans that turn on via the automation system at appropriate times to keep heating and cooling balanced from low to high levels. My house is heated via geothermal system which is highly energy efficient. It is all managed and tracked via the automation system. I use RCS TR40 thermostats and a 1-Wire network to track discrete geo values like incoming / outgoing water temps, pressure differentials, etc. Great for tuning the system for efficiency. I too am on a lake (in Michigan) and use the lake as the geothermal water dump (well water). Very efficient. You can also use a closed loop system using a "Slim Jim" http://www.awebgeo.com/AWEB.asp?file=SlimJim.asp You can put the slim jim in the bottom of the lake for thermal transfer. Probably more reliable than an open loop system as you have a water supply that is closed loop (clean, mineral free, w/ antifreeze). One of our other developers consults on such geo systems and wrote the 1-Wire plugin for Cinemar for tracking these types of systems.


Best of luck with your new diggs!

 

[Autonut]

Thanks for the tips guys. I really appreciate it.

I won't be able to use the lake for a geo loop unfortunately. And Inground geo so far hasn't panned out on the payback. I'll definitely have some good recirculation plans for the high ceilings. For the walls of glass i'll use some good thermally broken low E sealed units with insulating shades for winter nights.

It'd be cool to have automated shade system for summer but i think that'll be a little pricey but will design a solar chimney for good airflow.

As far as wiring I'll plan for a few concrete floor knockouts/passthroughs for any future and maybe some conduit setup.


**One building system I am considering is a light gauge steel framing system. Is there any interference for wired or wireless setups I need to consider?



I am still reading and will have a million questions as I go.

Thanks for all your help!