Are you building a new home or remodeling?  Wondering what to prewire?  And what about all the new wireless technology? Should you prewire at all, or just go wireless?

I love the analogy Steve Jobs used when asked about PCs, Laptops and Tablets.  He said as good as cars are, we will always need trucks for heavy lifting.

The same is true when you build a home.  There will always be heavy lifting to do in the home.  Prewire your home for those items.

Here are the categories I like to prewire (rough) in new construction and remodels:

 

• Video – TVs, Projectors & Video Distribution

• Surround Sound – Primary & Secondary Surround Sounds

• Home Audio

• Service Providers – Cable, Satellite, & Internet

• Surveillance Cameras

• Home Security

• Network & Wifi

• Shades

• Low Voltage Lighting

• Control

 

A Quick Word About Wireless Technology 

 

I’ve heard some incredible wireless audio demos, I’ve seen wireless video demos, I’ve experienced them, and other incredible advances in wireless tech that wowed me!

 

I’m a fan of emerging wireless tech. It offers phenomenal solutions to both new and existing homes.

 

But given the option, I prefer to prewire the following items.

 

1. Video

• TVs – In addition to the RG6 for cable/satellite, TVs need wire for 3 things: Video (if you’re doing video distribution), network, and control. 

• Projectors – I run flexible conduit to projectors wherever possible. When it’s not possible to run conduit, I run Cat6 and fiber to the projector.  HDMI cables can go bad or become obsolete overtime, and conduit allows you to change HDMI as needed.

• Video Distribution –   What I’ll say here, is that even with all the cord cutting, I still believe you should wire for Video Distribution.

 

A Quick word on FIBER and Conduit - I don’t believe every home needs fiber, but we’re at a point where you should seriously consider Fiber.

 

2. Surround Sound – Primary & Secondary 

Most people consider prewiring surround in their main media room or theater.  You should also consider prewiring for Secondary Sound.

 

The goal here is simply to provide more volume in larger rooms where flatscreen TVs won’t have the speaker power to fill the room.

 

The applications are endless: Master, Covered Deck, Pool, Great Room, etc.  

 

3. Home Audio 

 When I personally wire a home, this is where I will be the most aggressive.

 

When you experience Home Audio, you want more, not less.

 

If you think you might want music in a room, at least prewire for audio: Showers; bathrooms; covered decks; front porch; landscape speakers, etc.

 

If you are going to spend any time at all in a room, consider wiring it for Audio. Some clients prewire hallways and walkways for parties – and never miss a beat.

 

Don’t forget your Landscape Speakers

 

Landscape speakers are designed so that you can hear the volume as loudly as you want, but without disturbing the neighbors.

 

If you’re thinking about landscape speakers, you need to decide how many zones you may want and prewire accordingly.

 

We typically pull wire to a junction box at the side of the home.  Later when the landscaping is finished, we use that as a connection point and run the rest of the wire outside.

 

4. Service Providers: Cable, Satellite, Phone & Internet

Point of Demarcation (also called the Demarc) – This is a location on the exterior of the home where Cable, Phone and Internet Service providers connect their services. I recommend running a minimum of 1 Cat6 and 1 coax to your central AV cabinet from this point, but 2 Cat6 and 2 coax are preferable just in case there is cable damage during construction.

 

5. Surveillance Cameras

Surveillance Cameras should be prewired.  A lot of clients ask about wireless cameras, but with few exceptions wireless cameras still need power.

PoE – Power over Ethnenet – cameras are widely available and make so much sense. If you’re going to run a cable for power anyway, why not run one Cat6 cable that transfers power, audio, and video with high resolutions HD images.

 

6. Home Security

With Home Security we like to prewire the keypads for power.  This keeps the keypad installs clean and void of power adapters.

Beyond the keypads you can reliably cover smaller homes with wireless sensors.  Larger homes struggle with the wireless range, and benefit from hardwired sensors.

Likewise, if you’re using iron or metal doors and windows, those can cause interference with the wireless signals.  

 

7. Network & WiFi

• Hardwired Network – WiFi is great, but you still want to hardwire into the network where you can.  During the Covid pandemic many of us pushed our Wifi networks to the limit. Having mom, dad and the kids all on Zoom at the same time showed us that hardwire really is king and Wifi is just a backup.  Electronics that are semi permanent like a TV, Blu-Ray, Apple TV, Printer, etc are best to hardwire into the Network.

• Wifi Acess Points – I’ve learned that it’s best to leave yourself options for access points.  I usually prewire more locations than I actually believe I need.  This gives me the option to move access points around later, and find the optimal coverage.

 

8. Shades

  Requirements vary a lot vender to vender, but many shades need a wire.

A shade can be too large, or in certain lines if you want a dual roller, and you’ll need a wire. It’s best with shades to choose your shade vender in advance, so you can wire to their specifications.

 

9. Low Voltage Lighting

Outside of the Ultra Luxury homes, you don’t see it deployed in an entire home, but it is becoming increasingly common to see it deployed in select rooms.

Similar to shades, vender requirements and wire schematics vary, so you are best to select your Low Voltage Lighting solutions in advance, so you’re sure you’re wired to that venders specs.

 

10. Control

The first 8 categories we wire in nearly every home.  The items here are more optional, and vary home-to-home.  So I group them in miscellaneous, but it doesn’t make them any less important.

• iPad Mounts – Charging stations for your iPads are very popular.

• Touchscreens – Systems like Control4, Savant and Crestron have tablets that wall mount.  We wire standard for these in common areas, and theaters, but you can wire them anywhere.

• Intercom – Believe it or not intercoms are making a comeback, especially with Video Doorbells, and Touchscreens.

• Voice Control – There are options for all the voice control solutions, Alexa, Josh.ai, Google, that allow you to mount a node to the wall, or ceiling for easy voice control.  If you’re thinking about Voice Control, this may be worth considering for your home.

• Video Doorbells – Have the electrician wire the doorbell the same way it’s always done.  Then add a Cat6, and a 22/4 wire for good measure.  

• Fireplace – If you have a switched fireplace, you can run a 22/4 wire from the fireplace switch to your Smart Home Controller.  This will allow you to control the Fireplace later.

 

So What’s The Next Step?

If you’re thinking about prewiring your own home, or if you just want to understand it better we can help.  Call Blossom Hill TV today and let us help you with your next home prewire project in San Jose Ca and surrounding areas.