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Michael Buchtel installed a centralized cabling hub in his home to control cable-tv, internet connections and phone lines.
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In this segment of DIY's Be Your Own Contractor, we see how some of our contractors went "above and beyond" by installing special electrical and home-automation features in their homes.
Smart-Home FeaturesA couple of the do-it-yourself contractors went the extra mile when it came to the wiring of their homes. In this context, "wired" refers to more than just electrical wiring, and involves integration of telecommunication, cable line, home computer-networking, internet access and home-automation features. - Michael Buchtel ran all of his phone, cable-tv and computer-network -- from every room in the house -- into a single control box.
- For his 2000-square-foot home in Butler, PA (figure A), Alan Sain had all of his home's cabling connected to one central network hub (figure B) -- including cabling for phones, cable-tv and networked computers. Each room is already wired with cable outlets that are networked to the hub. To add computer network-connections in another room, Alan simply plugs the computer's modem connection into the wall outlet, then activates that outlet by connecting the appropriate cable to the appropriate network port on the hub (figure C). This instantly switches the outlet from a phone outlet to a computer-network outlet.
- Alan did this installation himself, but found that this project is a complex one. He actually had to attend classes held by the company that sold him the network equipment to learn how to install the hardware and make all of the connections properly.
Al Sain is a semi-retired engineer, and utilized new technologies wherever he could when planning and building his home. Some of those technologies included home-automation and electronic convenience features. For example, the exterior lights on the house are all controlled from a single panel (figure D). However, the switching on or off of the lights can be controlled from anywhere in the house simply plugging in a specialized control transmitter to any outlet in the house. The transmitter interfaces with the control panel via the house's electrical wiring, and is used to turn the lights on or off remotely.Sensors detect potential problems throughout the house -- such as a water leak from a water-heater or other appliance -- and, when triggered, set off an alarm and indicator light to pinpoint the source of the problem.For security, Al also installed a concealed camera at the front door (figure E) that's hooked up to his TV system. To check to see who's ringing the doorbell, Al simply has to tune one of his televisions to a specific channel to get a clear image showing the outside of his front door.A bedside unit (figure F) features a one-touch control that instantly turns off all outside lights, checks to ensure that the garage door is closed, sets the house's thermostat to a pre-set and shuts off a house-humidifier for the night.
Special Lighting and FixturesSome of the contractors went far afield to find just the right lighting and electrical fixtures to blend with the interior design of their homes. - Jody Siegel found beautiful wall-sconce fixtures (figure G) at a shop in Bristol, England for about a quarter of the price she would have paid locally.
- Skip Weahunt conducted extensive research for the selection of his lighting fixtures, and ultimately went to Istanbul, Turkey to purchase the wall-sconce fixtures, hanging fixtures and chandeliers for his home (figures H and I).
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