building a new house

[jswarup]

I am not a professional like the rest of the forum. However, I would like to have my av guy install a control 4 system for my home. (upstairs and downstairs). I would like to start with the front door lock, front porch, back porch and the family room, and the home theater, and the thermostat. Then integrate the rest of the house later. My questions are:

1. Do I need to hardwire the house prior to insulation

2. or hardwire only some areas and use the wireless switches/dimmers to later integrate the rest of the house

3. Do I need to use two controllers for the whole house or just the HC-1000. How good is its range.

I would really appreciate someone giving me some basic advice, so I could have a cohesive conversation with the AV guy.

thanks,

swarup

[ILoveC4]

With regards to range, how big is the house? If setup right you won't have any zigbee coverage issues, I don't.

You need more than an HC1000 - it doesn't provide the navigator functionality.

Let the A/V educate you on what you need, then come here for confirmation. That's my advice.

[Rsmolo]

is your "av guy" c4 dealer/installer? you should find one and have him design your system and like Dan said check here later.

[CFUG]

Two points form my end (hey guess what, I'm not a "pro"), one has been mentioned above. The other is why spend on a HC-1000 at this point? A 300 alone will do your project as you described just fine.

Wire now? Of course. You would do better to educate yourself about connectivity than to worry about equipment selection- let your dealer suggest acordingly because he's the "pro", right?

[pharmdsmith]

^you will always be a pro in my book. .

[henniae]

1. Do I need to hardwire the house prior to insulation

Someone once said "You can never be too thin or too rich". You can also never run too much wire at rough-in time. The more wire the better. At least run conduit.

[ILoveC4]

1. Do I need to hardwire the house prior to insulation

Someone once said "You can never be too thin or too rich". You can also never run too much wire at rough-in time. The more wire the better. At least run conduit.

+1

[thinslis]

I am in your same boat jswarup, well I was about a month ago or so. I had a vision... I knew what I wanted... but I didn't know what I needed and if my dealer was giving me good advice or had a good design.

I did the following:

Find at least 2 dealers in your area, 3 at the very most. Talk with them and lay out your objectives. Let them tell you what they think is required to meet your objectives. Get a writen quote from each. Compair them, ask questions here about why one has this or doesn't have that. Then when you are ready go back to them and get the best design and price you can afford. =)

As for wiring, I'm still working that through in my head as well. I would say wire now what you will not be able to reach later. Example: IP camera on front door / Back door / Garage door. If you are finishing your basement with a hard ceiling you may want to spend some extra time planning your main floor wiring... I'm sure your AV installer can help you with this.

My design is to locate all my equipment in the basement which will not be finished initially. I will have 3 runs of conduit from the basement to the attic so that if I want to wire anything in from the second floor I can run the lines through the conduit to the attic and down into the walls of what ever room I need.

I'm no pro and by no means is my plan or thought proccess perfect but take it for what it is and I hope it helps you in some way.