Structured wiring in today's modern custom homes

Modern Day Construction for custom homes Part 9

In today’s modern world of construction things are changing year to year faster than they did decade to decade in any other previous time period. In this multi part series I will traverse through an entire house starting with the foundation and working my way up to the roof and then to the finishing’s. I will explain what has changed in the last twenty years in custom home building.

One thing that you should be able to take away from this is how important it is to not just hire the right general contractor to build your custom home but how important it is to hire one that is up on today’s building methods.

Structured wiring

Twenty years ago a lot of builders had not even heard the term “structured wiring”. Structured wiring is all the wiring that runs the alarms, speakers, internet, phone, cable and any automation.

In today’s residential construction we run almost more structured wiring then we do electrical wiring. Large bundles of wiring are run all over the house. Here are some of the different wiring that we now run and what they are for;

• HDMI cables. These are the latest and greatest audio/video all in one cables. They are run behind the walls from the audio and video components to the TV’s. They are usually shorter runs, like 5 to 10 feet, but we have gone as far as 30 to 40 feet with them if you require the components to be in one room and the TV in another.

• Phone/internet/cable. These lines are now run together everywhere. So anywhere you want to have a TV, or a receiver, these lines are run to them. Also they are run to any where you want a phone jack. Usually every bedroom in the home gets at least one of them. The study, rec room, living room and kitchen also get them. All these lines are run in the walls and the ceilings and run back to a central place usually in the basement or mechanical room.

• Alarm wires. Alarm wires are now run to almost every window and door in the house. There are other wires run to certain rooms where you just want a motion detector. There is a line run to the sump pump so that you will know if the water overwhelms the pump, this is done by placing a sensor above the sump pump high up in the pail, when the water hits a certain height in the pail the sensor triggers an alarm. There is usually at least one panel, sometimes 3 or 4 to disarm or arm the system. The panel has a thermostat built in that will signal the alarm company if the temperature drops too low in the house. There are lines run for cameras on the driveway, front gates, front doors, alley ways and garage doors. There are lines that run to alarms that make noise or talk to you if there is a break in. There are also lines that run up into the smoke detectors and the carbon monoxide detectors that will signal the fire department if there is a serious problem. All these wires run back to a central panel in the basement. A lot of these systems can be monitored and controlled from your cell phone or lab top.

• Speaker wire and controls. Speaker wire is all run in the walls and ceilings with a lot of people opting to install all there speakers in the walls or ceilings. Most rooms in new custom houses get some form of speaker wires installed behind the drywall. You can have sound controls in every room of the house, including the bathroom from a touch pad on the wall, or a wireless remote on the table. Even running speaker wire outside is all controlled from the components in the residence.

• Lighting control wires. You can now have control of your lights from a remote or even your cell phone. All you have to do is install the proper type of switch and any control wires that they may be required to go from the device to the control panel. Lighting then can be controlled from a simply remote control. You can actually turn off all the lights in the house when you are lying in bedroom late at night about to fall asleep.

Looking for part 10 coming soon....

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.