Wiring strategy for new home

No, this sounds reasonable. I would suggest throwing Ethernet cable in while you're doing this -- have a cable-chase between stories, pull string through narrow passages, etc. Wireless and mesh are great for many things, but there's a lot of versatility in being able to drop a PoE device somewhere.

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You should always wire things in the traditional manner. Someday you or your heirs will sell the house and you don't want things to be dependent on "smart" devices (or hubs, etc.) that the buyer may not want. Can you imagine buying a house filled with x10 switches? Someday the stuff we're using now will probably be just as antiquated.

Switches should always control the load. If you decide to use smart bulbs you can always connect the load conductor to the line conductor and reverse the change if you go back to dumb bulbs.

Likewise for multi-way switches, wire them as they would normally be wired. You can always reconfigure or cap off unneeded wires if you use some non-standard configuration in the future.

Nobody knows what the future holds, but I think it is a safe bet that any smart switches we're going to see in our lifetimes will work with traditional wiring.

One thing you should do however, is to use the deepest possible boxes that will fit inside your wall. Smart devices generally are deeper than dumb switches and dimmers. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to stuff a smart device into an existing box that was barely deep enough to hold a dumb switch.

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As already mentioned, i would put Ethernet in every room. I would also wire every door and window with proper magnetic switches for a proper alarm system.

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You might consider where you would put outdoor security cameras. Ethernet cable will be much faster than WiFi for higher res cameras. And you may not want to climb a ladder in the winter to change batteries.

If I were to run ethernet cable to a location I could never access again, I would run at least 2 separate cables.

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The wiring sounds fine.

Be sure to plan for ceiling fans by running the extra wire, and/or using a 2-gang box instead of a single especially in places like bedrooms. You might even want a 3-gang box in bedrooms if you want a switched outlet along with a ceiling light and fan.

I would also use extra deep electrical boxes, smart switches are very large and box fill becomes an issue if you put these big switches in and have a couple circuits also entering a box. There is even a box with a "hidden compartment" if you are getting close to box fill limits. It will be something like a 2-gang box, with only 1 usable (exposed) space, the other portion of the box extends under the drywall.

I would suggest you make sure they run outlets in your closets (especially the pantry). This way you can easily later add LED strips around the inside perimeter of the door.

Also have wiring for undercabinet lighting in your kitchen, as well as overcabinet lighting. I did this with our kitchen remodel and the result was fabulous. Electricians seem to light to run low-voltage wiring undercabinet and put the LED strip controller elsewhere; that's what they did for 2 of my 3 cabinet tops and bottoms. I wish I'd just had them add outlets at the top of all the cabinets.

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Conduit?

I just went through the process last year. A few things I wish I would have done or I'm glad I did:

  1. A few conduits from the basement to the attic. One for mains voltage, one for ethernet and one for misc wiring for sensors, etc. That would allow you to fairly easily make any changes to any rooms you want in the future
  2. Run wire for sensors to all exterior doors and windows. Even if you don't want those sensors now, you may someday
  3. Add more layers to your lights. In our living room we have pot lights, a chandelier, wall sconces and switch controlled outlets for lamps. The kitchen has pot lights, pendants, under cabinet lighting and a light above the sink. It's nice to add different ambiance at different times of the day/year
  4. Prewire for undercabinet/over cabinet lighting. I also have some floating shelves and some shelves in the pantry I wish I would have run some wire to for LED strips
  5. Run ethernet for cameras/wireless APs
  6. I wish I would have run some wire to strategic locations to hardwire things like motion sensors. If I had more conduit that would be easier to add after the fact (especially in interior walls--exterior walls are much hard to add wire to later)
  7. Run three-conductor wire to more places than you think. I have some outlets in my soffits for Christmas lights. When I wired the house, I never considered the possibility that I would want one outlet to be on all the time. Now I wish I had done that. Same thing with over cabinet lighting. I have an outlet above my cabinets to control some LED strips. Sometimes now I wish one of the outlets was on all the time. I ran three-wire conductors in the main bedroom and living room to allow for ceiling fans in the future
  8. Put in more outlets than you think you need. I am pretty happy with the inside of my house, but regret not adding more outside
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My house had an unused PVC conduit that had a cover on the basement end, but not the attic end. About 20 years ago I went to run a some cat5e through it and opened the basement cap. At some point, a mouse had gone down the conduit, but apparently couldn't make it back up. Opening the cap let go concentrated essence of mouse. It was rather unpleasant, to put it mildly.

Make sure to cap the attic end of any conduit.

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Yikes. I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks for the heads up!

2 in every room and 2 in the ceiling!

Be sure you have enough power in the garage. My house has a daisy chained #14 as the only outlet in the garage. I cannot run my small air compressor on this line.

And Consider if you will ever want a generator.

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And given the future (which is now for some of us), consider running a 50A circuit out to your garage for the future installation of an EVSE for charging electric cars. Just have it terminated with a NEMA 14-50R.

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Between cars and power tools, I would consider putting a small sub-panel in the garage. You definitely want some form of cut-off on the feed to the car. The sub-panel would also allow you to easily hardwire to the charging station.

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I've been charging in my garage for over 5 years and I've never needed a cut-off on the feed to the cars, whether for convenience or for code.

This would be high on my priority list if I was building again...I would love to have power to as many motion, leak, window, and door sensors as I could. So tired of doing battery replacements, and retro-fitting is difficult.

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I did this recently. Electrician upgraded the main service panel to 200A and ran a 100A sub-panel to my detached garage. I don’t need it yet, but digging a trench in the back patio is gonna be a lot harder in the future now that it’s covered in stone tiles :grin:.

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Consider adding a space for a wiring closet and make it big enough to hold punch down blocks and computer racks.

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Great suggestions. With these existing receptacles you can change them out to a smart receptacle where one outlet is controlled by a Zigbee or Zwave relay. Then the other outlet is always on.

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Don't forget AV wiring, especially if you are planning on putting amps and other boxes away from the TVs. If you are going to be putting TVs and amps/boxes in different locations run 3-4 CAT 6 (maybe 1-2 HDMI OK for shorter runs) and 1-2 fiber via conduit.

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