Firstly, I admit I haven't read the full thread so it may have already been commented on, but one thing I picked up from the floorplan that you might want to reconsider is having any cupboards at all in the kitchen or elsewhere. Soft close drawers are infinitely more useful because you have access to the full space and nothing gets lost at the back.
I assume you mean below waist high, as I can't imagine using a drawer above shoulder height
either way, it's a mix of the two.
Looking at the layout of the "entertainment" room I think it will be too small for a projector and you will be too close to the screen for anymore than a 50" tv.
I was waiting for someone with experience to weigh in on this as I wasn't really sure. It does look like 3.4m might not be far enough away to sit. That said, I would disagree about moving to a 50" TV for the room. We already have a 55" TV in our current house in a smaller room and have no troubles. I couldn't see myself wanting anything smaller in a bigger room.
As others have said pre- install coduits for speakers hdmi, cat6, etc.
Not necessary if we're not doing the projector as the only thing my wireless speakers need is power, and that will be specified.
I do love the idea of having a cellar in the middle of the house. Could even convert that home office with a window from the pantry. However I think I've caught myself dreaming here and will likely source a frame from Australian Wine Cellar Racks, as that's who
@blackcat20 used for their solution and I think they look quite good. The location still needs to be decided, but the room that is billed as the activities room near the 3 bedrooms might work nicely for some shelving.
Not sure if this one was mentioned; bulkheads above kitchen cabinets or even cabinets to the ceiling to avoid horizontal surfaces that are hard to clean... It gets pretty gross up there when fats and oils are able to settle out of the way.
This is standard luckily.
It has definitely been mentioned, but I concur; future proof with a bunch of Cat6 cable runs. Our new build (should be ready in September) has just shy of 1km of Cat6 all running back to my server room. That is also mandatory - a server room... I have spent the last 12 months convincing my wife that it is, anyway...
I'm coming round to the idea of a single cable run from the garage to the home office. But I wouldn't call running 1km of cat6 cable around the house future proofing when wireless technologies seem to be outpacing cable these days. As far as streaming goes, I can safely say I wont notice nor need the difference afforded by a cable.
As for the server... we actually ran one here for a while and even hosted websites on it with a static IP. We invested considerable time into the system from Synology, before it decided to not turn on one day – turns out it's a known issue they refuse to acknowledge. Having been burnt, we moved on. My backups now run to a tiny USB3-connected SSD at a fraction of the time it used to take wirelessly to the server.
There may certainly be a future use case for a server again in my house, but I anticipate buying a far better system that has improved many more times over the current state of technology before I do, and probably wont require 1km of cat6 to function well.
I actually did this in our build with multiple points to TV locations, but not actually using many of them. Good for PoE for security cameras too. Saying that, wasted a whole heap of cash getting foxtel hardwired to 6 different areas back to central location that will likely never get used due to it all going to internet streaming!
Exactly why I am loathe to install hardware I can't see myself using. I don't want it there for a 'what if' scenario, as my goal is to take a different path that is already doing quite well (wireless).
Our beach apartment now has flood sensors fitted and they are hooked up to our wifi system.
I'm sure I have seen flood sensors by other companies. Could be useful in some key areas. So could many other tupes of smart sensors though. It's an exciting space, the smart home.
Smart Stuff
I've dabbled with a few Philips hue globes in our current rental and am trying to consider a balance between smart switches (lifx) / dumb LED fixtures (due to cost), and smart fixtures throughout. Has anyone done something similar?
Our currently property is predominantly Hue, as that was what was available when we started. Some rooms are LIFX as they came on the market later. My mothers house is almost entirely LIFX GU10's (we pulled out the LED down lights and replaced them all with user-replaceable GU10's). When she gets home she just speaks to her phone – we can even use geo-location, but don't – and her lights come on. At night she (and we) will say 'good night' to Siri and the lights go off, except a few night lights to allow easy access to the fridge or the bathroom – nothing worse than needing to get up in the middle of the night, having to turn on a standard bulb and blinding yourself.
Our view is, if you can do it, you should, and we might eventually do so at this build, but as it is not offered as an option when building the LED's will have to be the way to go first.
Would also love to hear about any smart devices you have that you now couldn't live without - be it blinds, wifi connected air con, or anything else.
Many 'smart devices' are built for 'dumb homes'. For instance, where we currently live (and also my mother) are standard reverse-cycle aircon units. They work great, but unless you've bought one recently that's top of the range, it needs a remote that only works when stood in front of it. To counteract this, we use the
Sensibo (one for each unit), that acts as a remote control but is connected to the internet so you can control it from anywhere. It also reveals current temperature and humidity, to help better choose when you need it.
Ultimately, I think the biggest thing to consider when designing 'smart' is to have parts that can all be operated through one system. There are many things we would like to install, but their lack of HomeKit support means we don't. I like having an app on all my devices to control each bit of the puzzle. Having multiple systems that don't interoperate is not fun.
Thanks for starting the thread @samh004
Mainly started it to detail my progress to be honest, like the other two:
TomCat's new digs! &
Housewatch: Drake Edition but inevitably interesting points are raised that I can take back to my build.
I'm not too bothered about pollution from gas cooking in the home. Australian house have pretty good ventilation, you should have a range hood as well and I've never measured much pollution in my house. But each to their own
We feel the same.
Solid core doors (and reinforced door jambs) for all external entrances are a good idea for extra security as they can't be kicked in like hollow core ones can.
Triple lock flyscreen doors for catching the evening breezes without exposing your security
I have a couple of Crimsafe covered windows too so that strategic windows can be left open at night for cross ventilation.
I'll look into this, but we were already planning on getting a crimsafe flyscreen installed.
I use the POE to drive a number of Unifi cameras. They record on site, have remote access, and do not have any form of on going fee.
POE seems to be a good buzzword in this thread. I certainly can see the value for some people. However, I have no issues with battery life, remote access, recording on-site or ongoing fees, so it's certainly not needed in my case. I get that every home is different, especially if you have 4 faraday cages, but careful research eventually lead us to a system that isn't ripping us off with a subscription or transmitting our data to third parties.
