Dave's Smart Home Design Recommendations

Introduction

As an old engineer/gadget guy who has gone a bit overboard in my retirement implementing smart home technology, I get questions at times about what I recommend. This post is my current thinking on smart home technology implementation and I’ll try to post updated versions as the world keeps changing. Of course it's a bit techie but my main point is, if you are building or remodeling, you should consider at least some of this and you need some level of understanding to make sure your contractor is designing/recommending appropriate pre-wiring and equipment location planning so that your home is ready for technology when you are. You are welcome to point your contractor to this post and ask them to give you feedback and recommendations.

There are a multitude of options available today for smart home technology. You can naturally google around to see what is recommended but unfortunately most of the links, websites, books, and videos were created in past years, more than 2 yrs ago, and frankly are already out of date. I don’t pretend to know the absolute best of today’s smart home technology. I have implemented a lot in my house and try to keep up with new announcements. I don’t discuss or compare all the options here or discuss why I chose them, but I’m happy to do that personally anytime. This document references what I have personal experience with and would install in a new home today if I were building one. I welcome your comments, thoughts, experience, and ideas if this is something you are interested in.

I recognize that this document is not detailed enough to simply take it and implement. It assumes you are working with knowledgeable suppliers and contractors or have done a lot of additional research into the details on your own. I’m happy to answer any questions or provide more detail on any specific topic. I can also provide specific make/model recommendation any of the components you are interested in. Just ask.

You will also find single companies, such as Control4, and dealers who want to own your entire smart home experience. They want to provide all the components and equipment and service. While it may seem attractive to just get it all from a single source with a single dealer/support company, I believe you will regret it long term. In fact, I’ve watched friends struggle with this approach for many years. Today, a best-of-breed, integrated system is easily attainable and provides your best bet for long term selective upgrade-ability to get the new features you want without having to replace the entire system.

My priority is on keeping everything as simple as possible for the end user, my wife, to use. Most people in the household won’t have much patience with techie stuff that is hard to understand and sort of works, sometimes. I recommend staying with major, proven, brands that have the best chance of being maintainable and upgrade-able as the technology continues to evolve, and those brands that appear to support a very large base of hardware and software integrations. Also, I believe people should always be able to do the basics in the traditional way, ie, flip on a light switch, and only add smart home technology as additional ways of controlling and monitoring, not the only way.

Smart Home Infrastructure considerations

While much smart home technology today uses wireless communications to reduce the wiring required, most of it still requires power which means either AC wiring, low voltage DC wiring, or battery operation. It’s generally best to avoid battery operated devices where possible since they require maintenance/replacements forever. So planning for the location of those power outlets and the mounting locations for the equipment is worthwhile. When building a new home you have the option to provide for the required equipment cabinets/mounting/cabling in the plans and specifications and not have lots of wires and visible components sitting around the house.

Once the cabling and equipment location provisions are in place the following recommendations can be implemented either at the time of the house construction or any time afterward. Some equipment choices such as electronic door locks, will naturally be less expensive to do on the front end rather than to buy manual components up front and then have to replace them with the smart components later.

Internet and WiFi infrastructure

Smart home technology today depends on a really good wifi network which normally means fiber or other high bandwidth service with multiple wifi access points. The best choice is to connect them via a mesh network which is typically relying on wireless connectivity, but you have more flexibility in a new house by connecting them via ethernet. I have had google mesh wifi for a few years and am happy but there may be better systems out there now.

Home Network Security

Although any home network we use should be as secure as possible to prevent bad guys doing bad things to us or their using our equipment to do bad things to others, adding smart home technology to your home network adds even more exposure to the risks of being hacked. So, it’s a good time to ensure you are taking appropriate steps. This government cyber security website is a good overview of steps you should be taking. 

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST15-002

Here are a few suggestions.

• Engage a reputable/qualified tech person to come to your home to do a security audit of your computers and network and make the changes required, using the checklist in the above website as a guide, in addition to any other changes they recommend. You can let them clean up other nagging tech issues in your house while they are there, and maybe improve your wifi coverage while they’re at it.
  
• Change your password habits. We know they aren’t as secure as they need to be. Especially use different passwords for each site to prevent the possibility of one being hacked allowing access to other important accounts, like your bank. One simple way to do this is called salting. After you have a strong password you can remember, add the first 3-4 letters of the website name to the front or back of the password. So if your remembered password is #A33rr$$ then the login for gmail might be gma#A33rr$$. Password manager apps are also very helpful to automatically log in using the different passwords. Here’s a comparison site. https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/300318/the-best-password-managers.
  
• Counsel everyone in the household to be very vigilant for phishing attacks where you get an email that appears to be from someone or company you know that persuades you to click on a link. These can be very cleverly disguised and persuasive. The safest approach is not to click on any email links before you have replied to the sender and verified that the email was from them, and that they meant to send it (not sent from their mail account by malware).

Data closet

You will want to consider where the data closet is. It will be where the main feed comes in for internet/phone/CATV and which might contain.

• Router
• Ethernet switch
• Phone/landline connection
• Primary wifi mesh server
• CATV controller
• Security Server
• Video Cameras server
• Samsung Smarthings hub
• DVR/server for TV recording (Tivo)
• Sound system equipment
• Battery backup/surge protection unit for all the above
• Cellular phone server to support security outbound monitoring calls and inbound access to the equipment in this room when the internet is down.

Emergency Backup Power

When building the house is the time to think about possible backup power.

Even if you choose not to install a generator now you can do some things that will make the installation of one later very simple.

• Have the electrical contractor provide a detailed circuit breaker map showing exactly which outlets and lights are on which breakers, and in what order.
• Consider which circuits would be covered by emergency power for wiring to the transfer switch. Don’t forget that you will want the ability to keep your devices charged and your Internet and phones up as well as limited lighting, hot water, fridge, kitchen outlets, heating in at least the bedrooms, etc.
• Install an emergency power transfer switch at the panel along with a feed to the logical outside installation location for a future generator.
• If your home has natural gas, consider running a gas line to the potential generator location at the time of construction. Natural gas will be your logical type of generator should you ever decide to add one.

Wiring and futureproofing

It’s a given that you, or someone, will want to make changes later that will require a wire, either power or communications, somewhere in the house that isn’t there when you need it.  Wireless technologies have helped with a lot of this but some areas still need wiring. The biggest possible needs in the home are for:

• 120v AC  power
• Low votage, typically USB 5v, power
• Ethernet
• Audio/Video like HDMI

Lots of modern homes have open plans, vaulted ceilings, etc which can make it hard to do add-ons later.

The good news is, that with smart home technology, you can more easily than ever control added devices remotely without special wiring, however, you usually still need power to the device and some things, like cameras, need good bandwidth and will benefit from hard wiring vs wifi. I suggest a CAT6 cable to each potential camera location while the house is under construction to avoid that challenge later. Some locations, such as house corners, may need 2 cameras to provide the needed coverage so running 2 Cat6 to each corner is probably worthwhile while pulling the wire.

In deciding how best to plan ahead and futureproof for these possible needs, the main consideration is how hard would it be to get to this location from a common utility area like crawl space or attic, or maybe out in the yard, in the future. If it’s hard to impossible, then you will want to install as large a conduit as practical, maybe 2in, from that location to the nearest common utility area (stubbed into the attic or crawl space area) while your walls are still open and unfinished and your lawn isn’t in place yet. You can use that conduit for the initial construction wiring needs and it will still be large enough to add in new or special wiring later.

Some locations are obvious candidates for this provisioning. For example,

• The primary data closet should have extra conduit capacity from the nearest utility area, such as crawl space, and another one run to the attic so that you could route cables from the attic to the crawlspace if necessary.
• The box behind each wall mounted TV should have conduit run from there to the closet/shelf/cabinet where the equipment used with the TV is located, and each of those equipment locations should have conduit run from there to a common utility space.
• If you have a central user panel location where you have your main security panel or other centralized control, perhaps on a kitchen wall, then a conduit from there to the utility common area is appropriate.
• A conduit from the crawl space to a box at each outside door, probably where you are going to mount a camera and/or doorbell, will allow future installations and changes at these popular locations.
• A conduit run from your crawl space to the front of the property, typically where the driveway intersects the road, and/or where your entry sidewalk intersects the driveway, can provide a simple AC outlet out there, useful for any electrical tools you might be plugging in and also support future additions such as motion sensors, cameras, lights, etc.
• A conduit laid underneath your driveway, and capped off at each end, can be very helpful if you ever need to get power or communications from one side of the drive to the other—pretty hard to do after the drive is poured.
• Extra conduit from your main electrical panel to a common area will always pay dividends later.
• Patios and decks on/near the ground are very difficult to get power or communication wiring to after construction. There will be some obvious locations on the patio where you can expect seating, tables, firepits, grills, speakers, TVs, cameras, etc. Running conduit to those locations, and in some cases just going ahead and putting in power outlets now, will pay big dividends. Of course, pre-planning a natural gas feed for the firepit and grill is a no-brainer (that a surprising number of brains miss).
• Mounting a large electrical box on the wall where your utility meters/supply lines come to the house with a conduit to the utility pole will insure underground service is easy to get to the house, this can be laid when the underground service to the house is installed. Then a conduit from that box into the crawl space and on to the data closet will allow future utility installers to install cleanly into protected space rather that leaving the mass of wires you typically see at those locations.

It’s important that all these provisions be documented for future reference on your house plans so that people in the future trying to do something can be aware that these are available.

User experience and remote control

You will want the ability to control as much as possible of the home technology via both voice and smartphone.

I recommend installing an Alexa device in each room. You can use the third gen Echo Dot for most locations but you may want the Echo Show in a couple of key locations where you spend the most time such as kitchen and master bedroom.

In a new home you can just pre-wire and recess-install them in every room, the way an intercom might have been installed in the past. This alone will provide:

• Ease of issuing Alexa voice commands anywhere.
• Ability to control much of the smart home technology with a voice command in any room.
• Music for any room via the Alexa speaker or other connected sound system
• Room to room intercom using the drop-in function
• Means to place speakerphone calls from any room. 

·     All smart home components should be Alexa compatible so they are controllable both with the voice, Alexa Echo, and the iphone/android Alexa app. Below are some examples.

Door Locks

• Alexa compatible electronic door locks on all outside doors.
• Lock should also be operable by key or keypad from the outside.
• Schlage is recommended due to range of types and finishes available.
• For the smart home hub to handle locks and other non-wifi components, I suggest Samsung Smarthings.

Garage

Naturally you will want garage door openers with smart home integration—open/close remotely. You also will want the ability to know when the door(s) are open or closed, which is sometimes built into the opener functionality and otherwise may require a separate smart sensor which can detect and report to your hub.

You probably will also want an alexa and/or a video camera in the garage at some point so thinking about where they would mount and get power is a good idea.

HVAC Control

I have and like Nest Thermostats. Combined with Alexa we can from any location in the house just say, “Alexa, set bedroom temperature to 65 degrees.” Or other appropriate temperature commands. I believe we also save energy particularly through their Eco/away functions as well as just easier scheduling of the various units and rooms in the house.

Lighting

This is a significant decision at the time of house construction.

Your interior designer will have lots of input on the location, type, and look of fixtures.

However, few today are familiar with all the latest design choices offered with smart bulbs and controls. Phillips Hue offers a wide range of products that enable more control of the lighting in a room than has ever been possible. This is an area that is probably worth your while to get online and become familiar with what people are doing. I suspect you will want to experiment with the color/mood options possible today.

For construction purposes the main question is what specific light fixtures are controlled by what hard-wired switches. An easy option is to use remote controllable switches in place of the conventional switches you use. I typically use GE dimmer switches for light control, which communicate with the Smarthings hub and work with Alexa too. If you decide later you want to control each fixture in a room individually, you can replace the standard LEDs with smart bulbs and just leave the main room switch on all the time. Also, be aware, that once you have a single, remote-controllable, switch on a light circuit, you really don't need to hard-wire additional switches in a lot of other locations. You can either use a battery operated remote button that is literally stuck on the wall anywhere to control the lights from there, or, since you have Alexa in every room, when you walk in you can just say, "Alexa, turn on the den lights."

I suggest outdoor lights all the way around the house and drive. Typically done with lights at the house corners and potentially a pole at the driveway. The home security sergeant with metro police we consulted recommended these be kept on from dusk to dawn. LED lights there will not use much power.

Electrical Outlets

Standard circuit wiring for plugs is fine. You might want to install outlets with built in USB charger outlets in locations where you might want to plug in a USB powered device. If you decide you want a controllable lamp/appliance somewhere, you can just get a controllable plug adapter that plugs into a standard outlet. However, as mentioned above, you will want to pre-determine possible locations for smart home technology components and be sure you have power pre-wired there.

Security

There are lots of good security options out there. I suggest contracting with a local company to do design, installation, monitoring, and maintenance. You will want them to quote their smart home compatible systems that will allow both smartphone and alexa operation.

Of course you will have smoke detectors but I suggest locating Carbon monoxide and natural gas detectors as well (can be a single unit) which connect to security system.

Cameras

Again, these can always be added later but since they need power it is good to decide where they would be mounted and get wiring pre-run to those locations. A CAT6 from the data closet is usually good for any video camera needs I have about 12 cameras around the outside of my house, at my street pull in parking, driveway, at each door, in my garage, under my house, watching my sump pumps, my back ditch/culverts, etc. All those have been very handy as I’ve been in South Africa watching the recent flooding going on in Nashville and at my house.

I use Nest cameras at the doors and am very happy with them. They are very controllable regarding what types of things they see and notify on.

Landscape lighting and irrigation

Again, most of these systems today offer smart home integration options. You will just want to make sure your supplier/installer proposes those versions. One easy question to ask is can I control it with Alexa and what commands does it understand? They all offer scheduling control but I would also ask about integrated moisture sensors that will tell the system when watering is needed, along with even integration to weather forecasts.

Water and plumbing

I suggest plumbing for and installing a whole house water cutoff valve. You can get a remote controllable one which can be installed at the main feed entering the house and has remote, smartphone, control capability. This is a big advantage when you leave town so that you can easily cut off all the water and not have to worry about any pipe burst/leak issues. There are also smart water leak detectors which can tell you when water is running in the house when it shouldn’t be. You can also locate leak detectors near the typical locations such as water heaters, refrigerators, etc.

Lots of advances today on water heaters. On-demand seems to make the most sense and certainly is a greener way to go. Solar rarely pays off in Nashville.

Sump pumps

Many homes require sump pumps to handle water either routinely or in emergency situations. If you have them they should naturally be on the emergency generator panel and you will want to monitor that they are working. You can do that by adding sensors that report when the pumps are running, and alert you if the float is up but the pump isn't running, and/or add a video camera that can record the rise and fall of the water as the pump operates, or doesn't.

TVs

This can be pretty challenging today with so many options, especially since each TV manufacturer is including smart technology in the TV, cable TV suppliers put the technology in their boxes, and third party suppliers are providing lots of options as well. The one thing you can be sure of is whatever you install you will want to make changes to it in the future. We’ve all lived with multiple remotes for a long time now. Also, you will probably have multiple screens in different rooms and over time some of them will end up being different models which operate differently.

I personally believe the best approach is not to rely on the TV for anything other than video display and rely on external equipment to provide the video feeds.

My choice is to use Tivo for all video feed to my TVs. That with a single remote covers:

• Support for multiple TVs around the house
• Cable TV guide and display
• DVR functionality to record and display any recorded show on any TV.
• Internet services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO now, etc.
• A standard PC input to allow full PC screen support with remote wireless keyboards and mouse.

While this does have an up-front cost and a monthly cost, it saves the cost of cable TV equipment such as DVRs. The main thing is I can change out or add TVs any time without having to educate anyone on how to use them, the user experience is always TIVO. I have used TIVO for many years and that separates me from any single TV service provider. If you get their equipment you are naturally locked into them. I actually cut the cable years ago and have an Over the Air Tivo box that just receives my TV via a simple digital antenna at no cost. However, you will be challenged to get a lot of the sports you may want without cable. 

For the TVs in the various rooms, I suggest pre-planning a small data closet location for each of those. You invariably have DVR/Switches/HiFi/computers which you need to mount and maintain. Rather than having to locate that type equipment in the room with the TV, I suggest locating it in a closet close by and running 1-1/2 in conduit from there to the wall where the TV will mount. That will allow running multiple HDMI and other cables to the TV and Sonos sound bar if desired and still have easy access to maintain, control, swap out, the equipment connected to the TV. Of course you will also want AC outlets on the wall behind each TV location.

One other recommendation at time of house construction is to run a Cat6 cable and an HDMI (could also be Cat6 with appropriate adapters) from the primary house data closet to each TV equipment closet location.

Sound system

In the past getting quality sound to each room and giving options as to what sound source is playing in what room required expensive systems and hard wired speakers in each room. While that is still an option today, I believe it is passe’.

Once you have Alexa in every room you have several sound options. You can either just use the Alexa echo sound itself in the room or you can enhance the sound with simple Bluetooth/connected speakers mounted in the wall and connected to the Alexa in the room. Or you can add Sonos in the room integrated with Alexa. I believe the best for cost, function, ease of use, and value, is Alexa with Bluetooth speakers in the rooms, and Amazon music. This allows each room to play whatever the person in that room wishes, or you can set up zones with Alexa to play common music in one or all zones. However, if you want to play sound from a wide variety of sources and give each user control from their smartphone, Sonos is your best bet.

I do recommend Sonos sound bar and surround sound for your main TV sound system.

Device charging

We all now own lots of portable, wearable devices that all require charging frequently. Invariably we have a maze of wires and adapters in various places, often not where we need it.

Building a new house is an ideal time to recognize that reality and plan for where you will have chargers. Pre-wired, recessed, multiple, USB outlets which are the universal power source for any charger, should obviously be located anywhere you expect to be charging phones, watches, etc. In some cases these can be incorporated or unobtrusively attached to furniture, but that will naturally require AC power wiring there as well. There are some nice, short, multi-connector charging cables available and having one of those in place where you need it would be pretty cool. Also, nice wireless charging adapters are available now and should be first choice to make it easy just to lie the phone down and let it be charging. The charging jack on a phone is often the first thing to fail so if you can use it as little as possible you increase the life.

Home Art opportunities in a Smart Home

I suggest you also consider the possibility of using TV screens for art display in a few strategic locations. You can include them in the wall finishes so they look very attractive and even provide for hiding them from view if desired. On those screens you can display a single work of art or you can have rotating images you like. You would drive those screens from small computers in the data closet and be able to control the display of what is on what screens from an app on your smart phone. You would then have the ability to also display your own personal photographs, family, etc. and easily change it for different guest gatherings. Of course the screens could also be used as additional TVs if desired but the main purpose would be as electronic art display.

Remote control curtains/blinds/shades

Most of these systems use wireless remote but some may require power to the motor. A Cat6 cable to one corner of each window that you might want controllable blinds will cover most needs, although without knowing exactly what motorized system is being used it is difficult to know for sure.

Robot Vacuums

Roomba robot vacuums are still the best in that category. They were the first and keep evolving with new technology and performance. I would suggest pre-deciding where they would have their home. They can find their own charging station when they are finished or low on battery. It would be good if that location was conveniently out of sight but accessible and usable by the robot.

You might find you need more than one to avoid having to pick them up and place them in the rooms you want to do at any given time. They also have smart app capability.

Weather station

While the Nest thermostat will report temperature and humidity in the room it’s located, you may wish to include temperature/humidity sensors it other rooms so you can better tell how the system is working.

It’s also nice to have an outside weather station to tell you exactly how much rain you got at your house, or what the winds are there, etc. I use Acurite and have a lot of various networked sensors from them, but there are lots of new weather/monitoring systems out there, you should explore if you have an interest.

Conclusion

Again, the main consideration is that whatever you install will likely have newer, better versions introduced later. In reality many of those upgrades/new devices will not really be of significant value, but some will. You want a system you can add to or selectively replace without having to replace the entire system. Therefore, an integrated, best-of-breed approach that is designed with ease of use for the folks in the home gives you the best long term experience.