| Warning: Remember that electricity is very dangerous | | | | skills depending on your existing system (single zone, |
| and will kill you in a heartbeat. Electricity can also start | | | | multi zone, boiler, heat pump etc...) the ideal will be to |
| fires very easily, and fires can also kill you. The best | | | | contact a local heating contractor to work with you |
| way to get your home wired is by a certified | | | | setting up the hardware side. Security is not that |
| professional who knows your local codes. | | | | difficult to implement but programming and selecting |
| The first step is to layout what you want to | | | | the correct hardware is important - your local police |
| accomplish by describing accurately the need by order | | | | won't like visiting your home for false alarms. |
| of importance. | | | | A not so good example of importance order would be: |
| Each home has different needs and these needs are | | | | - Audio distribution |
| evolving. A family may need baby monitoring, this need | | | | - Video distribution |
| will go away when kids grow up and could be | | | | - Networking |
| replaced by swimming pool or spa monitoring and | | | | - Security |
| control and may come back few years later with | | | | This sequence is a bit reversed, I would recommend |
| grand kids. | | | | starting with networking so you can plan on distributing |
| The main Home Automation sections are: | | | | audio and video through the network saving you effort |
| - Lighting control | | | | and money. If you plan having a nice audio/video |
| - Heating and Cooling management | | | | center I would recommend implementing security just |
| - Security and alarm control | | | | after networking. It will give you insights of home |
| - Video surveillance | | | | automation technology and protect your audio/video |
| - Audio distribution | | | | investment. |
| - Video distribution | | | | As we have to work on a plan, I created the following |
| - Swimming pool and Spa management | | | | Home automation project for a 4 bedroom house, 2 |
| - Sprinklers management | | | | bathrooms, family room, dining room, living room, play |
| A good example of importance order would be: | | | | room, utility room, 2 car garage, deck, 6 zones sprinkler |
| - Lighting | | | | system, Spa and vegetable garden. We would start |
| - Heating and Cooling | | | | with: |
| - Security | | | | - Wiring and Networking |
| This sequence is easy to start with and will help you | | | | - Lighting |
| learning the different steps setting up your installation. | | | | - Heating and cooling |
| Lighting is easy to implement and I always recommend | | | | - Security |
| starting your Home automation project there. The | | | | - Monitoring (play room, spa, yard... |
| second step Heating and Cooling will require few more | | | | |