Wiring existing home with finished attic & basement

[picta]

This thread again proves the point that there is no single best solution that fits all circumstances. Lighting technologies will perform differently in different set-ups, so what works great for one person, may completely fail in the other person's house. Wireless technologies are the easiest to consider, due to their relative abundance and low price, but they are the most vulnerable to the specifics of the house construction materials. Z-wave is a particularly bad choice for the metal heavy buildings. Power-line based technologies are dependent on the quality of the existing wiring, and are less likely to be suitable for very old dwellings. But if the house is a new construction, and if you can actually oversee the electrician's work, plus install the coupler/repeater from the start, the UPB will be a very good solution, however not as good as a fully hard-wired system since it is sharing the signal transmission with the power. Both power-line and z-wave are bad choices for an apartment or a multi-family housing, but zigbee technology can work quite well there. So, it all depends on the application.