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Ask Slashdot: Shortcuts To a High Tech House
First time accepted submitter phaedrus9779 writes "I'm a recently married man about to take on the next big adventure: home ownership! I came across a great house in a great community but I need a little bit extra: a high tech house. The problem: money, I'm on a budget. I'd love to have home theaters, super high tech weather stations and iPads seamlessly installed in all the walls — but this just isn't possible. So my question to the Slashdot community is: how can I build a high tech house that will be the envy of my friends, provide lots of useful gadgets, and not break the bank? Also, as always, the cooler the better!"
... grow out of thinking that stuff is important when you get married?
Two items I can recommend that cost a bit upfront but do indeed save money down the road:
- Nest Thermostat ( http://www.nest.com/ )
- Tankless water heater
A good tankless water heater will cost a few K (with installation, etc...) so perhaps just start with the Nest. There is currently a waiting list for them, but I was able to get mine about 3 months after waiting. It looks cool, and if used properly, will continually save you money over the life of the house.
yourself.
Pay off at least part of the house before you add frivolous crap to it to impress your friends. I have always been more envious of people with a paid-off (or at least non-defaulted) mortgage than I have of those who have 5-year-old technology pointlessly glued to the walls. You get to choose which of those you have in 2017.
If, as you say, money is a problem and you're on a budget, you should obviously drop any wild plans. Look for quality instead of tech, because you're going to be stuck with the two money sinks for a long time.
Save the tech wishes for when money isn't a problem anymore.
If you have to rip apart walls - or even just skim them before you paint or paper - take the time to run in plenty of cabling. You can get audio and video baluns for running over CAT5 these days fairly cheaply, although the hifi purists will throw their hands up in horror.
CAT6 is cheap enough, might as well start ahead of the curve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8UV2BtndW8
re-use equipment you can get for free. if you're just displaying weather or some shit like that on the kitchen wall, who gives a fuck if it's a re-purposed htc pocketpc phone doing it?
however, envy of your friends? dunno about that. you probably wouldn't get that with even walls laden with ipads because they make no sense. how the fuck do you install a home theater in the wall? a home theater screen yeah sure, but the theater needs some place to sit in too.
hdtv's are cheap, decent soundsystems are cheap. old wifi enabled pda's/phones are cheap. imagination isn't.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Make sure the electrical installation is up to spec.
Install as many cable ducts as you can afford before moving in any furniture.
Designate a closet as server room; many of the ducts should connect to it.
This will make any later installations much more painless.
The projector screen is a DIY job. For the audio a sub $500 setup is sufficient (don't listen to the audiophiles). Home theater furniture can be picked up second hand.
Yep, for 2500 you can have a pretty kick ass setup.
The whole point of high tech is to make something look easy that is hard for most people to understand . Else why do it? That almost always brings with it a high price unless you're MacGyver. I think the OP is barking mad if s/he thinks it can be done on the cheap.
Normally I ascribe all life to intelligent design, but in your case I'll make an exception.
Other than budget, you'll have the wife problem. Mine made me physically remove (not just shut off) my voice controlled doors...
C'mon. Do you think /. can read your mind? ...need to have some kind of idea about...
What's the budget?
Does high-tech mean "off the grid"?
Does high-tech world's glitziest kitchen? Bathroom? Lighting?
and on and on...
1.) Install USB wall outlets at key locations. This is the cheapest way to impress.
2.) Get a home automation system with android/iPhone support. (Typically X10 related hardware.) This is the most obvious (show-off) way to impress.
3.) Hide your equipment. Nothing is sexier than a large TV complimented by a recessed media cabinet that is out of view. Don't let the people see a single wire. This is the subtlest, yet most impactful, way to impress.
Buy an entry-level Stratocaster (about $150) and a tiny amp (about a 18 inches cubed) and learn to play a few things from youtube.
Then get 'faced and crank the volume to 11 at 3 a.m. That'll get your neighbor's attention real quick.
Think of things that you will get anyways for your house. Then see if you can get more functionality out of it. I had to get an alarm system so I looked around for a system that will also allow you to do Home automation. There are many systems out there that will allow you to do home automation with Zwave - no wiring required. Now I have an alarm system that will also adjust the thermostats when I leave the house and turn on lights when I come home or turn them off when I go to bed. For me this is already fairly close to a "High Tech Home".
If you are not interested in an Alarm system. You can get a low cost start with systems like MiCasa Verde in home automation because you do not need wiring for it.
Mac Mini Media Center http://osxdaily.com/2010/03/22/how-to-setup-a-mac-mini-as-a-media-center-server-and-remote-torrents-box/ Now this can be cheap or expensive depending on the Mac Mini that you buy but I see Mac Mini's all day long on Ebay for a couple hundred bucks.
Industrial might be cheap -- paint all the walls white, have exposed cabling everywhere, but neatly ordered and stapled to the wall, have exposed cable-run trays suspended from the ceiling. If the wife likes industrial style it could be cheap enough.
Get a job on Wall Street and steal money from old retirees. You'll have enough for your dream house in no time.
"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens." - Schiller
To me, high tech would be: a house that incorporates all modern technologies reducing your environmental footprint. Best of all, you wouldn't need to replace it every 3 years. So, you'd
* Use rain water to flush the toilet and for your washing machine (as bonus: you'll use less washing powder, too, as the water will be low on calcium)
* Have solar panels on the roof to provide most of your electricity
* Have solar collectors on the roof to provide most of your hot water
* Your house would be excellent insulated
* You'd use heat exchangers to supply yourself on a fair amount of fresh air, yet still not wasting heat
Any gadget you'd use in house would be primarly selected on low electricity usage. So yes, you posses and use a TV, computer, however, they use little electricity. You have a car which you choose not to drive most of the time because you prefer a bike.
If you do it smart, none of the above will cost you a cent but actually only save you money. Which means that you can shorten your working carreer by at least a 10 to 15 years, to retire early and have 100% of your time available for the things you really want to do. Because, you do not want to work simply to pay for the loans you made to impress your friends.
Find some little voice coil speakers: Yard sales, computer store dungeons, your kids toys, etc...
Get some wire: Same as above, also rail stations, baseball fields, transformer substations, etc..
Run a pair of wires into every room. On one end all the wires meet and are spliced to the tip/ring of your phone jack. On the other end, solder the tip to a speaker. To dial, tap the other wire to the speaker using Loop Disconnect Dialing
Then hold that wire on there. Fun fact, the speaker is also your microphone!
How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
Get a bunch of X-10 crap on ebay and setup motion-detect lights all over inside and out.
Get a X-10 usb transmitter and make all the lights go wonky. Then add voice recognition using Perlbox.
I actually did this once:
"Computer Illuminate" (turns on lights)
"Computer Climate Control" (turns on fan)
How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
I don't think that you understand American culture very well. This isn't about the house or the gadgets or the technology. This is about the American male having a higher debt load than his friends and relatives. That's what really matters in America. The bigger your debt, the more American you are.
When an American says he "owns" a house, the house is secondary. It's the $400,000, 60-year mortgage that's important. His neighbor maybe only has a $350,000, 40-year mortgage on his house, so his neighbor is clearly the inferior being.
Then there are the American's car loans. Many American couples own three or four SUVs or trucks, because that way they can possess more vehicle loans, each for a greater amount. You don't want to be the only American on the block with one or two cars! That'll clearly show that you're scum.
Credit card debt is also a very important indicator of how American somebody is. If you've only got one credit card, you're probably just trash. You're worse than trash if you haven't been paying at least some interest on the balance for a few years. Real Americans will have maxed out at least four or five credit cards, while working hard on maxing out the sixth, seventh and eighth that they possess. Buying the overhyped Apple useless-gadget-of-the-hour is a great way to achieve this goal.
I hope you have a better understanding of American culture now, and the utmost importance of debt. No American household is complete without owing huge amounts of money to some faceless corporation, especially when there's no hope that they could ever repay it during their lifetimes.
This is obviously a fake story. It's April 1st, guys!
For a most awesome lair! THIS HOUSE is available for sale! It even comes with its own runway!
Whew! This water sure is cold!
Slippery slope. You will always be upgrading to stay ahead of the cool curve to keep impressing your friends.
Change friends who don't care how cool or uncool you are. Or find friends that are easily impressed.
. . . then you can just go live there if a catastrophic event destroys your original house. You'll be all set, right down to the stuff in your fridge from the night before. You can even switch living between the two houses, if you like.
The difficult part of this solution, is convincing your wife that the other woman in the other house, is just a copy of her . . . and not another woman in your life.
Every Slashdot technical solution must include rsync. And SSH tunnels.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Check out the Insteon products from SmartHome. You can control lights, thermostat, sprinklers, etc. from a PC, tablet, or smartphone. It's a cheaper alternative to the traditional home automation needing control wires, and it works well.
This would actually be the ideal situation to use a minicomputer such as Raspberry Pi (http://www.raspberrypi.org/). If you want to get really cool, you could use E-Ink displays. Then, one Raspberry could run as many displays as you want because it would not have to update the displays constantly. Save energy too. I would load it up with a little Linux kernel and some programming in order that they could all be controlled over the network (even remotely!).
Just paint it on the walls. Need to switch apps? Repaint it.
It is the Apple way. Just make sure to notify Apple if you intend selling your house. They need to pay for expensive wines remember.
Buy used equipment. 1 or 2 generation-old stuff is dirt cheap. Craigslist is your friend, there. Yard sales. Look for going-out-of-business sales (see recent stories on Best Buy closing stores). Buy refurbs.
Lots of people will tell you to put in wires in the walls. Wireless APs are so good now that this is just a waste of money in nearly every case. Buy good wireless APs (see "buy refurbs" above). This is one exception to the previous-generation rule of thumb above (I've just put in Netgear WNDR3700, bought from advice given in responses to someone else's Ask Slashdot question, and couldn't be happier ... highly flexible, plenty of signal, fast assocation, dual band, and all of the interference problems from neighbors, etc., have disappeared).
Big wide-screen LCD / plasma TVs are great, but a ceiling-mounted projector does nearly as well, can create a much bigger image, and often can be had for much less. Used stereo components (assuming you want such) are available on eBay by the dozen. Same for gaming consoles, etc. See Craigslist, too. Buying tech on Black Friday or Cyber Monday can save a ton. Since you don't have money, then you'll have to spend something else: namely, time.
In short, you'll need to compromise, either on buying the latest-greatest, or on buying new, or on the exact technology. You won't end up being the envy of your tech friends, but you'll have fun.
Finally, a word of advice: if the tech stuff is going to be appreciated more by you than your spouse, then make sure you're finding ways to improve the home that will be appreciated more by your spouse than by you. Domestic harmony is more important than any gadget.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
I guess it depends on what your friends like, and why you want to impress them. I enjoy tinkering, and have been gradually adding bits and pieces, but nothing designed to impress anyone other than me.
Playing on the Wii — four player Mario Kart, in particular — with the image projected across the lounge, is something which people seem to enjoy, though; pretty cheap (a bog standard, non-HD projector cost me about £220 about five years ago), and great fun. Just find some games which are easy enough to pick up and play, and get everyone involved, and you're off... I wouldn't put that together just to impress others, though, but it is quite good fun all the same.
The bought-broken-on-eBay-but-fixed-with-a-screwdriver Roomba is quite cool, but doesn't get as much use as I'd like, as my girlfriend is not a great fan of it. It doesn't save me much time either, to be honest, as, when I run it, I tend to stand marveling at it...
Personally, the things I find the coolest are music streamed into which ever room I want, controllable via my phone (AirTunes... nothing fancy here), and being able to select any movie and have it streamed through the projector (Apple TV and iTunes on server currently, although previously via a PS3 and a share on the server). Again, neither is fancy, but they both work a treat.
The remotely-controlled lighting was relatively inexpensive, but my setup is not free of bugs yet — I'm using HomeEasy switches, and a small RF dongle (TellStick) plugged in the back of a Linux machine, and, whilst it means I can easily control the lighting from a web browser, and easily automate when I'm away from home, I have not yet managed to get one transmission controlling just one light. Switching off the lounge lighting via the console / interface switches off the light in the kitchen and so on. A real nuisance, and one which I need to spend more time trying to resolve.
(Cameras around the house were the only things that raised objections, although agreeing on placement solved that problem.)
Yup, you'll appreciate having room for growth built into the system. Unobtrusive raceways (many can be worked right into the molding either above or at ground level) allows you to upgrade or update your wiring and cable options. Make sure you're not overloading circuits while you're at it. Even some more recent builds are shockingly undersupplied for power needs. Getting a licensed electrician whenever you mess with your wiring is only smart, too. Your house is a big investment. Do it right!
If your guests bring their own tech, make sure you have robust internet access that's easy for them to use. One room in our house remained a frustrating slow spot so we ran a wired connection to the router for that desktop PC. Otherwise, we can offer good Wifi. I keep cards with guest access info so new visitors can add themselves to the network.
ancarett, historian and zombie gamer
You should grow up. There are much more important things that the stuff you're thinking about.
I know you think that stuff is important, but your wife and kids will appreciate it if you grow as a person.
Put at least two fully patched ethernet outlets in any room. Create an infrastructure star with a centralized "server room".
Make sure to have enough power outlets in each room. Check wire quality and fuses.
For sensors you want to look into 1-wire technology. This is the cheapest way to measure temperature or count usage of e.g. water, natural gas and power.
Think a lot about energy and consumption like heating support with solar thermal water heating or insulating the whole house.
Also check tubes and water outlets.
Consider the need of security elements like sensors and cameras. Power over ethernet might come handy.
Look into combined house automation technologies like Konnex/EIB or EnOcean or z-wave. But be aware, this stuff gets expensive.
Welcome to a never ending playground.
I suggest you start implementing stuff that saves you money, like optimizing your energy consumption and monitoring that.
If you DIY you can probably accomplish a lot for under $10k and the pros would probably charge you 10x that for similar functionality. The following categories should represent the major considerations:
Infrastructure - How are you going to connect everything?
- WiFi Everywhere
- Server box for storage & to run some home automation software & scripts (small embedded linux or more powerful)
- Main equipment location & as much distributed wiring as you can do cheaply & easily yourself
Entertainment - From where will your source content & how will you present it?
- LCD/Plasma Monitors
- Multiroom audio
- Rokus or other cheap streaming boxes?
- Whole House DVR systems from cable/satellite? (Dish Hopper/Joey, etc...)
- HDHomeRun or other DVR capture cards?
- A/V matrix switches & distribution? (monoprice)
- Programmable remotes (ipads, cheap android tablets, logitech harmony, etc...)
Comfort & Convenience
- Lighting (X10, Z-Wave, Insteon, UPB, etc..)
- HVAC (thermostats)
- In-house communications (intercoms, pbx)
- Misc automation (window shading, garage doors, locks, etc...)
- Weather/Environmental sensors (oregon scientific, lacrosse)
- Programmable remotes (ipads, cheap android tablets, logitech harmony, etc...)
Security
- Alarm system (2gig, honeywell, etc..)
- Cameras & DVR
The wow factor usually comes from complex actions resulting from simple inputs (scripting) so plan ahead for how everything is going to work together & communicate (sticking to fewer protocols will be easier, though maybe not always cheaper). Have a controller/server you can program yourself and don't get locked in to a proprietary system.
IMHO, a bunch of ipads plastered into the walls really aren't that useful or impressive so skip that.
about to take on the next big adventure: home ownership
Bad time to buy. Run like hell.
1) Multi-generational low interest rates mean they'll inevitably increase. Increasing rates = declining home prices. My parents bought the equivalent of a mcmansion for only $80K (not 8M, not 800K) during the peak of the 70s-80s stagflation when I was a kid, 20% interest rates and all. Needless to say the price exploded as rates dropped to normal. You'll be experiencing the reverse effect as rates increase... home price implodes. If you're planning to live there for the entire mortgage, then you'll merely get a legendarily bad deal, but if you have to move you'll probably be underwater, welcome to foreclosure and bankruptcy.
2) The % of the population employed has been steadily and permanently dropping. The odds of your being able to make a mortgage payment, every month, for 25 years, is about the same as the odds of having the same job at the same company for 25 years. On a "tech board" like this we know all about ageism... after 40 no one is ever going to hire you to do tech, so you either need to contract or greet at walmart or retrain into ... something.
3) For at least 40 years the median inflation adjusted income has been dropping. That means the median person's housing budget has been dropping. That means that aside from govt intervention, etc, the price of median real estate must drop. Essentially you're buying an asset whos value is guaranteed to drop over time.
4) Kids are much cheaper than houses, the payments are generally much more flexible and predictable, and the "contract" theoretically ends at 18 instead of 25 or 30 years. You skipped a step on the plan. Ease into a commitment toward debt slavery. Actually you probably skipped two steps... start with a pet, like a housecat, see if she's all bonkers maternal instinct on the cat, then if its all good squirt out some kids, then do the landed estate thing.
5) Everyone who gets married thinks their relationship is "special" and "forever" but half of them end up divorced anyway. The odds are actually better than you'll be divorced than you'll be married forever. A house just complicates things, a "high tech" house complicates further.
Arguments for:
1) A commissioned salesperson thinks today is a great time to buy. For a good laugh ask your barber how often to get a haircut.
2) People used to make lots of money buying and selling real estate. Well, they made a lot of money selling horse carriages, and working on industrial assembly lines, and being travel agents. Would not advise entering real estate in 2012 anymore than I'd advise becoming a travel agent.
So here's the deal. In the long run the price of the house is going to drop. I don't think a fancy thermostat and/or sound system is going to offset that. At some point when you own the house you'll be unemployed and minimizing your expenses (electrical bill, credit card bill, monthly subscriptions) is the key to survival. In the future, even during good times, you'll have less money, either lower bottom line income, inflation, etc. Needless to say, when I bought my house, I was not paying $5/gallon for gas... The majority outcome in the medium term is you'll be trying to figure out what to do with the house at a divorce proceeding.
Theoretical plan based on the above: Only invest in fixed non-removable stuff that save you money every month. Fancy insulation, triple pane windows, high efficiency appliances. Do not put something "unmovable" into the house, because you'll be removing it a heck of a lot sooner than you think, so forget whole house audio etc. Plug in X10/Insteon stuff, OK. Wired in X10/Insteon, not OK. Ethernet patch cable thru hole in floor OK, permanent house wiring that'll just get ripped out by the next owner, not OK. Never install or purchase anything with a monthly subscription or increased monthly cost because you'll probably not be able to afford it in the f
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
You and the OP should get together and play video games sometime. Sounds like your both about the same age. Lol
Get a receiver with Audyssey MultiEQ calibration and calibrate your room. This is the most impressive thing you can do to improve sound in your room short of installing sound absorbing panels anywhere. They're also not that expensive these days. I got a low-end Dennon that had it and the Okyno ones are also quite good.
Make sure whatever you do, it's wife-friendly (unless your wife is an uber-geek).
If your wife is typical, when she wants to watch TV she wants to press "ON" on a remote, then select the channel that's running Glee. She doesn't want to boot a Linux box, mount a fileshare and browse a bunch of torrents. Similarly, if the house is cold she wants to bump up the thermostat, not telnet into the furnace from a PC that doesn't have a case that lives in the garage.
Given Moore's Law and the "Innovator's Dilemma", commoditization, industry liquidation, and the trend of "half the price and smaller" every 18-24 months (even faster for genomics technology), more technology is reaching the price point you need at a faster pace than ever.
Consider just one option: -iPod/iPhone Light Switches: Though you may not be able to put iPads in every room, I just checked eBay and first, second, and third generation iPods and iPhones are selling for $50-$100. With a little programming, a lot of potential becomes possible. Your light switches could control not only your lights but your sound system as well. Every light switch could show the time, the weather for the day, your favorite stocks, and the latest post from your FaceBook Wall or Tweet. The latest iOS Framework supports face tracking which is trivial to implement. Add that to some of the facial image recognition libraries and a well placed iPhone camera in your foyer could cue your favorite music the moment you arrive home. Add photos of your friends to the system and now whenever a guest looks at a light switch, the system could recognize their face and show their favorite stocks or posts from their FB wall.
A single technology pervasively applied could create a compelling impression yet at a budget price.
Just don't be surprised if you find your guests at parties clustered around your light switches playing Angry Birds.
Check out CocoonTech.com, a site dedicated to home automation, home security, and all the other fun stuff, DIY style (but plenty of professionals hang out there as well). That said, I hope you aren't doing it for your friends, you need to enjoy the home yourself ;)
There is also the Wiring Your New House guide in case you have access to the walls and want to future proof your home.
and updateable. Nothing looks worse than a tired high-tech house. How soon the latest 1,200 baud modems become scrap, same with flat screens etc. Once I have built it in, how soon before I must rip it out and update because a high tech troll dissed my dated designcraft...
I would think that 2 inch plastic pipe hidden in the walls would allow you to remove and wire up with better fiber etc. It will also allow seamless mousehole-to-mousehole traffic, so get a cat or three - they never go out of date!!!
You'll get plenty of suggestions as to what will ostensibly save money down the road. Carefully analyze it FOR YOUR SITUATION. Sometimes, the comparison in the literature is today's whiz-bang gadget against "the average widget" in the entire US. Look at your energy and resource costs and environmental conditions in your area (Im in SoCal is different than coastal Maine or Minnesota) Examples from a house built in 1997-1998
Cases in point:
Tankless hot water. - Right now, natural gas is *cheap* and it is likely to stay that way for at least 10 years. If you have (or are going to have) children, you consume a lot of hot water, all at one time (yes, 2 teenage daughters, etc.). Tankless is great for one person at a time showers, not so hot for laundry+2 showers+ dishwasher, unless you radically scale up. And conventional tanked hot water heaters these days (with insulating blanket and modern ignitors) don't burn that much gas "keeping the tank hot". (and you could always put a timer on the burner to shut down during the middle of the day). Ditto, solar panels. Today, gas is so cheap that the payback period for solar panels is decades And the maintenance for the panel system is bigger. If I had to make hot water with oil or coal or (god forbid) electricity... it would be different.
Electrical power - in my house, in the winter, the two big loads are: refrigerator, lighting. But lighting is only when people are home in the evening. I had all sorts of plans for automatic timers, etc. But a bit of measurement (Kill-A-Watt on the refrigerator, TV, etc.) showed that lighting was less than 20% of the total load, and fancy switching might reduce that to 15%. Summer, the big load is AC. But that's mostly determined by factors beyond my control (e.g. the outside temperature). A higher SEER AC might help, but running the statistics showed, not really, for our area.
Appliances - Front load washing machine is *a lot* better than top load in both water and electrical consumption. But, how long is the payback period on a $1000 purchase? Refrigerator.. same sort of thing. If your refrigerator was bought in the last 10 years, the new ones aren't *that* much more efficient. If you're using an avocado colored beast you got from your parents 30 years ago... yeah, a new refrigerator might not be a bad idea. But again, you're talking $1000
Insulation - i wanted to aircondition my garage to make it comfortable in the summer to work out there. So I immediately assumed I'd need to go on a insulation frenzy. But a big of calculation showed that running the airconditioner the few hours longer to make up for the poor insulation would cost something like $20-50/year (it's just not that big a space 20x20 ft, and the number of days/hours when the outside air temp is above 80 isn't all that many). Am I willing to invest several thousand dollars worth of time to go through the process of insulating.. nope.
Moral of the story.. don't take the "conventional wisdom" as the analysis. Your situation, and your power rates and climate, will be different.
Seriously...now that you're married, possibly have a family later, etc, start thinking about cool gadgets that are more than cool. Gadgets that will save you money, help monitor your home, etc. Practical gadgets. The very first thing I would add would be a NEST Thermostat. It is so unbelievably cool looking, will mesmerize your friends, and will keep you comfortable year round while saving piles of money on heating and cooling bills. Plus it's always cool to be able to track and make changes to stuff like this from your web browser or phone from anywhere. It's a real conversation piece. Read about it and watch the videos here: http://www.nest.com/
of miscellaneous technical gear, then host an IETF conference at your house.
arduinos, msps, and even the raspberry pi now that it's sort of here ... ... cheap ways to replace thermostats, home security systems, and sprinkler systems with something that you can fine tune and save some $$
All this discussion about tankless water heaters is interesting, but you will get FAR more bang for your buck by dumping more insulation in the attic, replacing drafty windows, weather stripping doors etc. None of this is going to wow your friends until you start comparing utilitiy bills. I added a layer of R-19 unfaced batts to my attic in late 1999. Payback in lower gas and electric bills was less than 6 months, and it has been free money since then.
For cool stuff on not too much money, I suggest setting up some X-10 controllers and using your computer to run them. It's not hard to do and costs only a few hundred dollars for the basics. You can set up porch lights to run on a sudown-sunup schedule. Set internal night lights to turn on at bedtime. Set your coffee pot to turn on a half-hour before you have breakfast.
A weather station is also cool but will set you back $400 or $500. Connect it to a computer and publish it on the Internet.
It is possible to get a thermostat in every room, then set up a control system so that conditioned air goes only to rooms that need it. The vents are controlled by inflatable bags so they can let air go only where it is needed. No clue how much it would cost, probably quite a bit.
Today was a bad day to ask that question and expect useful answers!
What's next? Kids? And you still think you are free to do what you want? You bought into society's little mold. Have fun playing a role while you wither inside.
Sorry kid, but Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick any two.
You dont have the software skills and Electronics engineering skills to build it yourself, so the Cheap option is out.
You need to BUY Crestron or AMX for the real stuff that impresses friends. anything else will get them unimpressed when your X10 does not work, or your cobbled together setup fail yet again.
I know people that can set up up, Less than $28,000 for whole house audio, all lights controlled, and 4" color touchscreens everywhere + ipad control. Add another $20,000 for whole house HDMI distribution using Crestron DM (the only 16X16 HDMI matrix mixer that actually works with HDCP) and you can watch anything in any room. with only a TV in the room and all the cruddy gear in a rack in the utility room.
If you want a real high tech home, you gotta have money or be an electronics engineer and have really exceptional coding skills in embedded systems.
And no, none of the wireless systems work 100%. You will also need to run wires everywhere inside the walls. That's the easy part.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
After many years in a house and many more years in the industry, here are a few things I've discovered through experience and many professionals: Do not pay extra on your mortgage. While you will feel better watching your balance drop, your bank will not care. Miss a payment and watch all those extra dollars and equity disappear. Better: place the money in a savings account. When the balances equal, pay off the house. In the meantime, you will have the money in the bank in case of job loss, medical emergency, or home improvement. Being able to pay the mortgage in a crisis is more important than the balance. Do not by nifty gadgets. They will never pay for themselves. Solar roof fans? 35 years to break even. Expected life is 10 years. They are only there for your enjoyment and look at them as such. Appliances: your most efficient appliance is the one you already have. Don't replace it until it breaks. Then by the most efficient one you can. Spend your money on the most efficient things you can afford. Do not get behind on maintenance. You will find yourself quickly paying more to fix your house than it is worth. Buy a programmable thermostat. This will pay for itself in a couple of months. Ensure your house is weather sealed. This and the thermostat can easily cut your heating and cooling in half. Don't over do it though. You'll find yourself spending lots to make the house livable again with air exchangers/circulators etc. Unless you spend top dollar, an instant hot water heater is a disappointing luxury. By things that make you happy. You will be in the house a long time, but don't do it with money savings in mind. You'll get more satisfaction out of a kick-ass stereo/home theatre than some lights you can turn on remotely. Light timers are way cheaper and do the same thing at a fraction of the cost. Oh, and get you a good lawn mower, step ladder, 10-in-1 screwdriver, hammer, and inexpensive cordless drill.
setup your own DVR from which you can easily extract any video you've recorded( ie share clips with friends/family when something interesting is seen ). The next is Zoneminder which is a home video security system which you can use to know when the mail has been delivered, when the dog ate, when the dog ate your couch, etc. Zoneminder can use video feeds from IP cameras, web/usb cams, or with a capture card CCTV cameras.
Throw in a few X10 modules for a little fun with lighting control.
All that is pretty cheap to do with extra computer boxes around and for just a few hundred bucks for some cameras and wiring.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
The other thing is that, with time, good quality stuff is getting relatively more expensive. The relative price of hardwoods, real stone and so on is constantly rising. Therefore, buying good furniture as soon as you can afford it costs much less in the long run.
The best things for a high tech house are excellent insulation, properly designed ventilation, solar PV panels where appropriate, low maintenance walls and flooring. And learn to do some of it yourself where labor costs are high.
Incidentally, I paid off my mortgage 18 years ago. Each subsequent move, we have paid the difference in cash. Until you have done it, you cannot imagine how worth while it will seem once you have saved to pay off the mortgage; the simple fact that you are no longer desperate to keep your job in a recession is worth more than all the toys combined.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I can tell you with considerably confidence that insulating our walls and greatly improving the attic insulation reduced heating loss by around 40%. We have also done the other stuff (high efficiency German water heater, pipe insulation, high efficiency oven and heating stove) and installed solar PV. The result is that our net energy consumption excluding vehicles costs around $600 a year, a saving of roughly $2000, for a total investment of around $20000. A ten year payback may not sound that good, but the investment has a lifecycle of roughly 25 years and energy costs are only going up.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Arduino, lots and lots of Arduinos. They're cheap and can be used for lots of stuff.
It doesn't take many trick ideas before your friends will be impressed--by doing simple hacks with low-dollar components, you can make some pretty sweet stuff.
Here are some cheap examples:
- cheap university computers + networking + older decent-quality surround sound components + a good NAS + a good Internet connection + cheap webcams = security system that can be broadcast onto the projector or any of the monitors around the house.
- how about a locking drawer for the remote control? Install a few magnetic switches installed under a chess board, and magnets in a few pieces. Only in the pieces are in the right spot can the drawer be opened.
- install a car alarm to an electronic lock on the door so when you walk away from the house and hit your fob, the car alarm near the door chirps and the porch lights flash. An old car alarm = cheap. Electronic lock = can't be much. All the rest is software-controlled.
In general, software can be your friend for innovation. It would be totally awesome, for example, to be able to hit a button on a remote control if you are in the middle of a game in order to stop the microwave. Your nearby friend pees his pants. It doesn't take much to be able to press a few buttons on a keyboard in the kitchen and make the lights turn on and annoying music play loudly in order to sleepyhead kids out of bed. Um... that may be way down the line though.
Also, smartphone or old Blackberry = remote control.
As a final note, pursuing something that will be the envy of others is a failing effort, as nothing will cause wonder forever. I would suggest keeping "amusing myself" or trying to keep young at heart as equally valid goals of the same endeavor.
No better time than the present to start saving money for your divorce.
-@|
Because of what I learned watching and helping my grandfather with projects like this, I became an engineer. I enjoy building things, from models to houses. I plan to build my own once I manage to find some suitable land.
Kids today are so distracted by over 9000 activities around them, that it's no small wonder why most are diagnosed with ADD. Picking a task and sticking with it until it's finished is a valuable skill itself. I loved building that house, and knowing while I lived in it, that I was responsible for making it a reality. I knew that behind walls in my house were framed-in doors, just in case we ever decided that we needed a door there later. Planning ahead was how my grandfather rolled. As a 5-year-old, I had intimate knowledge of the construction of that residence, and I LOVED IT!
I won't deny my kids the same experience of knowing that you brought something into existence with hard work and willpower OTHER than an unwanted welfare child.
You're not paranoid if they really ARE out to get you...
I too have a Tankless; in my case Rinnai for 6 years.
My biggest negative is that my (large) family likes it too much, resulting in long showers and high water bills.
This happens because the output temperature is thermostatically controlled (it blends in cold water) so my hot water is always 120 degrees, no more, no less. My shower stays exactly where I set it, the entire time. Since it never runs out of hot water, the "but my sister used all the hot water" fights are non-existant.
Oh, another "odd" benefit is that I can turn its temperature down to 104 when I refill my hot tub, resulting in it being ready for use the moment it is full.
If mine were to die today, I would put another one in its place. I can not imagine going back to a tank heater with a permanent pilot light and that would not let me take a shower after my kids get out.
Keep in mind that they need to be installed on an outside wall because the exhaust pipe is expensive and they need a nearby electric outlet.
All your useless toys with be obsolete in a year, and your wife's going to love having to thumb through an iPad and fire up an app to flush the toilet. Invest your money on things that actually improve your home's value and efficiency.
No you don't need a high tech house. American marketing companies have brainwashed you into wanting a high tech house.
What you NEED to do as a newly married man with a new mortgage is to stay out of debt and start building up savings for the expenses you will face over your lifetime. And hopefully you will be locking in the current low interest rates with a 15 year fixed rate mortgage.
Shortcut to a high tech house: Upgrade the Non-AC Wiring to Cat3, Cat5, and Coax; expand to every room; and create a hub-and-spoke network. (but not during the summer).
Time Required: Three weekends.
Parts Required: wire, connectors, wall plates, ethernet router and switch, phone splitter, AV switch, RJ-45 tool, coax tool, BORROWED fiber optic toolkit, cable snake, sheetrock saw, masking tape, screwdriver, bandaids...
Cost: Depends upon chosen state-of-the-art wire and routers and switches: From $500 to well over $1,000.
Benefits: Almost all future phone, internet, media, access, and wiring problems go away. Resale value enhancement: "Newly and completely wired for phone, ethernet, and entertainment."
How's your houses's non-AC wiring?
Most home telephone wire is crap. It's the cheapest the contractor could find.
Most house telephone wiring designs are loop. The logic is that the loop won't be cut on two sides of a room. Bad logic.
Few, if any, contractors consider that noise could enter at one part of the loop and contaminate the whole thing. Bad not considering.
In most houses, there is neither ethernet nor fiber nor coax wiring.
Fix it!
The Wires and Wiring
I re-wired the whole house in a hub-and-spoke design for Cat-3, Cat-5, and coax. I wasn't going to do hub-and-spoke until I snagged a phone wire that was carelessly run across the joists. I fell; it snapped.
Basically, I piggy-backed the electric outlets. When there wasn't an outlet, I added. I cheated on one wall where the electrical outlets of two rooms were back-to-back: I ran one Cat-3/Cat-5/coax instead of two.
Note: I pulled an extra 18" through the opening into the room, then stuffed it back inside – just in case.
I ran the wires inside the wall. DO NOT run them outside in conduit.
I attached cushioned hose clamps to the attic ribs and spine (roof beam), and, ran the wires through the clamps like a coverless wiring harness. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/KMC-Clamp-2UTF7
The Hub and the Plates
The hub has a state-of-the-art wifi router and switch, a simple phone splitter, and an AV router/switch. Unfortunately, the hub is in the garage because that's where the phone and cable companies attached the phone and cable.
I used five-gang mixed wall plates (2-AC, one Cat-3, one Cat-5, one coax). You might get your spouse involved: you could ask her to paint the wall plates. (Test place them, first, then clearly mark them with which room and wall and "UP". Trust me.)
Time and Costs
Most houses have seven wire-worthy rooms. So, it's about a three-weekend, one-person-but-much-easier-with-two-people project.
Note: Fiber optic was prohibitively expensive when I did my project. I considered it, but after the pre-existing loop fiasco, I did components instead. It's much cheaper, now. Several companies sell a mixed wire that has phone, ethernet, and coax all-in-one. http://deepsurplus.com/Network-Structured-Wiring/Multimedia-Cable-Composite-Ethernet-Coaxial-Fiber-Optic-Cable
Maintenance
Remember the problem with the loop? In the hub and spoke, if a wire goes bad, you can cut it in the attic, tie the replacement wire to it, and pull it through to the room below, then attach the other end to the hub. Simple and almost easy.
Summary
Once the house is wired – correctly and state-of-the-art – almost all other additions are trivial.
If I were to do it, again, I would consider running USB wiring, too. Everything else would be the same. Well, I wouldn't not cheat on that one back-to-back.
You need the flexibility to swap in new stuff easily, else it would look like a dinosaur.
I've been playing with some interesting components recently. The kind that doesn't do things on its own, but you can use it to control things. There are three really interesting developments:
1. The Raspberry Pi, an extremely cheap ($35), extremely small linux PC that can change personality and function by just swapping an SD card. Use it to put brains in your devices. Not available yet, but Real Soon Now... (http://www.raspberrypi.org)
2. The OpenPicus FlyPort. A tiny card that contains a stand-alone webserver with wifi interface that can control and monitor relays, analog sensors etc etc. I have one controlling and monitor my garage door. Programmable in C. (http://www.openpicus.com)
3. The TinkerForge Bricks. A USB connected set of stackable bricks that can control and monitor many things and create wireless and wired connections. Connect it to a Windows/Mac/Windows PC and control it with Python, Java or C. (http://www.tinkerforge.com)
I'm a software guy and controlling hardware has mostly been beyond my grasp, but these open hardware products (I own 2 & 3) have basically given me a new playing field. Warmly recommended and worth doing some advertising for (no relation except as a satisfied customer).
Psh that is so several years ago. I just live in the cloud.
Choose a few key items, placed carefully.
Then learn trompe l'oeil.
sdb
I just bought a new house in Phoenix Arizona, and the biggest improvements I've made are:
1. Insulating the metal garage door. I bought some 1 1/2 inch thick styrofoam board from Home Depot, cut it to fit the inside of the door, popped them in place, and sprayed expanding foam into the cracks. Now I'm not losing all the air conditioning to the outside. This means my electric bill is smaller, which means I have more money for other stuff!
2. If you live in an area with poor quality water, install a water softener and Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit to purify the water. Here in Arizona, the water is very hard (lots of calcium), and has a nasty taste. The water softener means that there's not as much soap scum in the showers and less scale buildup on the water fixtures and tubs and showers. This means less time spent scrubbing (yay!). The RO unit takes the nasty tapwater, and filters it. The filtered water is stored in a 3 gallon tank, and is dispensed at the kitchen sink and the front door of the fridge. The refrigerator ice cubes no longer have that awful flavor, and instead are pure and tasteless.
For me, these two improvements have been the biggest bang for the buck, because they directly affect other parts of my life. Your choices may be different, but think about what sorts of changes will make your life more pleasant for a long time to come. An iPad on the wall will look 'quaint' in 8 years, but a fresh glass of icewater will still taste sweet. I did the 120 inch screen and 1080p projector in the Man Cave, but it's not as big an improvement in my life as having clean water.
I'm an individual! Just like everyone else!
You're going to need the following:
A network (wifi or wired)
A file server/streaming server
Somewhere to store this stuff
a decent tv with streaming support or a set top box like an apple tv, etc.
a laptop or desktop computer
I tried to go all wireless and it was a disaster. Two people can't do something at the same time of any importance. I have a business class cable package and could not stream netflix + have wife on WoW or game myself at the same time.
I bought a very nice rack mount cisco switch on ebay for $30. It's only 10/100 but it's also got 48 ports, QoS, VLAN, etc. I also bought a cheap $130 rack on amazon (2 post) and put it in the basement. Got a file server, cable router, switch and some other goodies down there out of the way. Plus it really impresses some folks that I have a "server rack" in the basement. Newegg has cheap 1u-4u cases for sub $100. I put some old pcs in those and added drives. They make great servers. I also found a low cost 1u rack mount UPS for it on newegg.
In the family room, i have a wii and an apple tv. Between the two, I can surf, stream netflix, watch iTunes content and listen to music. Wifi is used for this as well as our phones and tablets.
Best advice is to avoid a lot of gadgets until you get some energy efficient items around the house. That means CFLS, replace appliances with energy efficient items as they die etc. This helps you pay for all those gadgets (and the electric bill) later. I've found my server setup costs me a lot of money a month, but because our gas bill is so low and our appliances are so efficient i break even.
never ask /. ers for advice.
a couple hundred posts and they're all OT , at least as far as I could stand to read...
What you want is the equivalent of a riced up honda. Sorry, I Hate those. Good luck wasting money to fill emotional holes left by parents that were never there for you.
Read books, gather knowledge, and become an interesting conversationalist. Nobody likes smart-assed geeks with unnecessary gadgets, apart from other smart-assed geeks with unnecessary gadgets.
hi! i was recently in your situation, a couple years ago anyways, i bought a house with my wife, and wanted to do the same thing.
the way my house is set up the room we use as the office was right behind the living room,. so i drilled a hole in the wall, connected the tv to my computer, connected some speakers that went through the headphone port in the computer. and then added a wireless keyboard and mouse in the living room (hidden away when not in use) but by just typiny win-p + the left arrow, (win7) it brings the PC up on the tv, then i have all of my pc in the living room, and with the speakers, using a remote app on a smart phone lets you play music in the living room without having to use the keyboard or even bring up the tv. i am rambling and not concise.
basically
really cheap
be sure to hide the wires, wives hate wires
seems high tech, super easy solution
Or perhaps you've only ever experienced cheap tank style heaters. I've lived in a house with a tank style water heater from the time the heater was 5 years old through the time the heater passed 35 years of age. In all that time it never leaked.
By the time it was 35 years old you could only get an 8 minute shower and had to wait 15 minutes before the next one, but that's an entirely different problem
The area I would go for is lighting, upgrade to LED lights they are more expensive but they last for ages and have a very small power bill. I have heard of lighting a whole house with 250 Watts, which is a ridiculously small amount of power, my laptop uses more power than that.
Aside from that if you don't already have a media server at home then get a Sheeva plugin computer, or 2, and a hefty hard drive to act as you media server and anything else you can think of. It only costs a hundred bucks, make sure you read about the power supply issues. I eventually used an external power supply for mine. Again the main reason for this is that size of the power draw, I doubt my Sheeva uses more than 10 Watts at any time other than booting it serves files, does a bit of home web hosting for me and I use Mediatomb to stream my videos to the PS3 ( also works with XBox boxes I am led to believe).
My only issue is that I cannot get files from my server to my iPad, which still burns me up about Apple and the iPad (GRRRRRRRRR!).
I'd get a good MythTV setup going and add on from there. Add a projector($500?) for 9foot flat-screen movie experience. You can get a wicked receiver for $150 these days and about 8 surround speakers with a woofer for another $150 giving you THX quality if you carefully shop and set it up properly. Myth also is a full-blown gaming console, home automation controller, weather station, DVR, PVR, etc. Connect a wifi to it and now you can stream audio and video to the whole house.
Follow the links, Luke: ;-)
Need for a LIRC-like 'transceiver of all trades'
And yes, (RF/IP-extended if need be) IR-controlled LED strip(e)s integrate nicely with this, especially since the most common controller has been supported by LIRC for a while: http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/i24/
There's also a thread with the building blocks (albeit documented in German) to link it up to a weather service for automated action based e.g. on their rain radar.
Re:X10 makes cool stuff for automation
BTW, contrary to the Future House movie linked near the top of the page, this LCARS thing is real (looks like many Dutch and German developers are at this, probably because more likely to buy just one house, and for a lifetime).
The projector+blinds approach, much underestimated
However, beware, "Neighborhood Watch" works both ways: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuiIobbZjHM (English subtitles, anyone?)
On a budget: remember whatever you do now gadget-wise will be old in 5 years time. But other investments can help for any future plans: enough cabling (CAT6 or CAT7) to rooms so you can wire whatever in those rooms in the future. Not just network and computers, but also phones or temperature/motion sensors. And enough outlets.
The Virtual Bookcase: book reviews
I'm European, so have no idea what all this chatter about "tankless hot water" is - we've had combi boilers over here for years. We also don't have a lot of aircon over here, possibly because we have brick walls instead of cardboard.
But anyway... tech I have at home you might want to consider:
- Cat 5e throughout (although if I was doing it again, I might go Cat 6)
- Univeral remote control on the main TV/DVD/XBMC combo
- Wireless Laundrino
- Squeezeboxes + controller (which the wife likes quite a bit)
- Rainwater filled toilet (actually, that's not finished yet - I'm plucking up the courage to do the mains backup plumbing)
- Lots and lots of insulation on everything (most hot pipes over most of their length, piles of insulation in the loft, draught exclusions, etc etc.)
It's not a "tech" house in the traditional sense, but it's got lots of stuff that does something useful and isn't going to go out of date next year. It also wins a few "green" points (which save us measurable amounts of money), which impresses the neighbours/friends far more than the tech-they-can't-understand-or-use ever would.
Get a mortgage with an offset account. So long as your mortgage rate is higher than the current interest rate (eg, always for Aus) then put all your spare cash into the offset account.
Get a credit card. Pay it off monthly (NEVER let it go over) from the offset account.
It's like putting money into your mortgage.. but being able to access the cash at any time when you need it.
Stop around for your mortgage + offset account.. lots of places want to charge $50 for the privilege. Out of interest, mine came with the mortgage deal.
Special note: It's easy to get your first mortgage. Don't feel locked in. Wait out the first year or two, then charge mortgage as needed or as the market changes.
Buy tech for what you need today. Nothing lasts forever. Tech moves on. CAT5 will serve for a while yet. Wire the places in the house which make sense. Cable with redundancy if you can. Always add 50cm + at each end of the cable. Read up on Cisco / CCNA networking - a good read of the exam and course info is very useful for background information.
CAT5 is less than $1 a meter! Cheap!
You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
"but I need a little bit extra: a high tech house. The problem: money"
The problem is actually stupidity! Recently married? You should be boning every chance you get! Of course you got married so now the 50/50 rule is in effect and every carnal activity now has a price.
It's an earnest discussion forum of owners and experts where noobs can post questions about differ components and recommendations. I built my home theater off of advice from there about 5 years ago and ended up with a nice setup.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
If the house is not already built and you're thinking about putting wires everywhere, think again. Cat5 (or 6) is cheap enough to go ahead and run and will probably serve for quite a few years, but anything you install will become obsolete quicker than you think. I tried that, and wish I'd just run cheap conduit from the attic or crawlspace to every wall so I could easily pull whatever cabling I wanted later, and replace it easily even later. A pair of wires for an alarm system to each window/door makes some sense, as does specialty low-voltage wiring (I would run 12V to each street-facing window for the Christmas-candle-in-the-window). Your house's design will matter a lot. For example, I have open truss-style joists beteen floors that make pulling cable reasonable. I have a crawlspace, but it doesn't help me because it's so tight and working around insulation is a PITA. I have an attic, but the center-only subfloor and loose insulation makes working above the non-floored parts a bit hazardous. Again, if new, insist on an electric panel with surplus capacity and especially space for (not just 2 or 3) more breakers. Think about where you're going to run cabling underground to outbuildings, lights, mailbox sensors, cameras, driveway sensors, etc. Programmable thermostats are cheap and very nice to have. Networked thermostats are widely available, but don't add any value for some of us. Someone else mentioned the water heater location. DO try to minimize the distance between a tank or tankless heater and the shower you expect to use the most. Thermostatically and clock controlled hot water circulators work pretty well, but they use additional energy by moving hot water through the pipes where it cools faster. Speaking of water, I only know of two types of good plumbing: copper (not "see-through") and PEX. Avoid the rest if possible, particularly if replacing it will involve tearing into walls/floors/ceilings. I recommend, as did others, concentrating on quality materials and workmanship. Close gaps where bats can enter (3/8"), Avoid situations where crawlspaces become damp or worse, shifting foundations that crack walls, siding and trim that ages poorly or needs constant maintenance (paint), designs where termites find easy entry or finding and preventing/eliminating them is difficult, untreated wood exposed to wet conditions (door frames, garage door framing, window frames... Check into keypad door locks (Schlage, etc). Whether network-connected or not, they're nice to have for a number of reasons. You can program entry combinations temporarily for friends while you're out of town or allow easy access to visitors arriving before you get home from work. Speaking of security... you want at least deadbolts and good window locks all around. Think of the house as not a "build it and you're done" but a lifelong project. You'll want a place to work (garage space aside from cars, workshop, shed, etc). You'll want yard space for any outbuildings or other projects you might later build. You'll want a home owners' association and rules that you can work with. Some are so restrictive and obnoxious that you can't do anything, but lax or nonexistent might mean that your independent trucker neighbor's semi cab is parked in the front yard just a few feet from your house. Having a large backyard might be frustrating if you can't get vehicles to it. Look for access paths and clearances. Find out how tall of a privacy fence are you allowed to build and how far forward it can come (even with the front of the house?). Will you be allowed to install or replace worn out shingles with a reflective variety to cut heat gain? other thoughts... is the site suitable for solar, wind, or microhydro power? If new construction, seriously consider a ground-source heat pump. Operating costs are much lower, useful life is probably longer (and only some parts then need be replaced), there need be no visible external apparatus, and noise from the outdoor unit is eliminated. It's much cheaper to install at most sites during construction than later and t
HDHomeRun.
Check out www.linuxmce.org for how to do this exact thing. I use Z-Wave lighting controllers (not cheap but not too expensive either) combined with computers hooked up to my TVs and an Android app on my tablet allow me to control my home theater, lights, stream movies, music, and everything else that one might possibly think of wanting. One nice thing is that you can put together all these pieces one at a time so it isn't a $50k hit up front to automate everything. If you invest a few hundred in lighting controls then you can do all your lights in all your main areas. Add in some motion detectors and have fully automatic lights. Add a cheap computer for a media station and on and on...
My name fits again.
You're doing it wrong.
Your home is a place for you to live, eat, sleep and relax in. You want to be able to keep doing all those things, especially #2 and #4, you are going to want to live within your budget.
An excellent way to avoid doing that is to dream up ridiculous goals that make no damn sense and then waste your money on them.
Technology is not and never should be confused for an end in yourself. It exists to help you reach other goals more effectively and efficiently. You don't start out by thinking 'how can I throw some miscellaneous kind of Cool Technology into this house thing I just bought'. You start out by thinking 'what do I need to do to keep myself and my family sheltered, fed, and healthy?' Then you do that, and once you've covered it, if you have any money left, ask yourself how you can most efficiently keep yourself and your family relaxed and entertained, and if the answer to that involves technology, well, fine, some kind of technology it is. Perhaps something incredible like a radio or a television. If you don't have the money to afford whatever shiny whizz-bang thing caught your eye, don't fucking buy it, and definitely don't buy some kind of pointless cheap imitation of it. Just leave it the hell alone already.
My house burned down in 2009. Lost all computers.even my employers laptop. All data gone. been online since 95. digital camera since 98, mp3 conversions since 97. (Previously had 1 linux home server serving 3 TB data. WinXP workstation dual 24 inch monitors, linux desktops and xp laptop.) Already drank the apple kool aid, with iphones, so after starting over got imac to replace workstation and server, laptop for other systems. Built a home bar in new house and This is now the office. connected mac mini with 4 TB data to 32 inch tv with elgato HD connected to the mini, I can stream tv to any ios via wifi or 3/4G. Stream video library to android or ios devices via wifi or 3/4G. 2 networks private and guest networks so all guests can plug in when they are here. very little wires and low maintenance. I got a speaker bar for the tv with a wireless subwoofer in the family room. It sounds great. low maintenance. When you get a new house there is so much to do. Keep it low maintenance.
The electricity around here becomes twice as expensive weekdays starting at 07:00. If I went tankless, I could showere before 7 and always use cheap electricity. With tank, the whole tank reheats every day, mostly after 7, using the most expensive electricity of the day.