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Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#91

Post by AlexMuir »

cellucci wrote: post #74

Here's what I did when we built our house about 10 years ago: I ran a bundled cable containing 2 cat5 and 2 coax to each bedroom, the kitchen, my office and the family room. Even with wireless it's nice to be able to put another access point in pretty much any room. I did additional single cat5 runs to various places where I didn't think I'd need all four. Today I'm not sure the coax is still justified, but it has be…

Are these Airports really the cheapest/best way to get music playing? seems like a lot of wasted technology in them if I'm just connecting them to ethernet.

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#92

Post by AlexMuir »

jerrytap wrote: post #40

A couple things I wish I had after visiting some friends. Wire the opposite sides of your rooms on different fuses. Run gas lines to your backyard for access to heaters and grill. The gas from your house is different than what you would use for your grill/outside heating you may need to change the aperture of the openings. Walk around your house and find somewhere you would like your garden. Find a window that looks…

I see the logic of wiring different sides of rooms on different fuses but I think this would probably be against wiring regulations in the UK - and possibly against common sense too.

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#94

Post by bigohms »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #75

If you're able (and if this applies), put a 2"-3" piece of PVC or other conduit from somewhere in your attic to somewhere in your basement, where you can get to it. You never know when you're going to need to fish cable from high to low or vice versa.

second this. especially across rafters. never go above 1.5", always drill center and reinforce with a steel brace clip.

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#95

Post by bilban »

Get one of those fm transmitters, and use old radios in each room for music. Or carry a ghetto blaster or computer speakers and a portable player from room to room.

If I need a tv in another room. I carry one in there.

Not sure how good networking over electric cables is these days, but would seem like an easy alternative to wifi.

Rather than run Ethernet cables through the house, I ran them on the outside of the last place I lived. It was easier, and less messy (at least from the inside).

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#97

Post by chopsueyar »

cellucci wrote: post #74

Here's what I did when we built our house about 10 years ago: I ran a bundled cable containing 2 cat5 and 2 coax to each bedroom, the kitchen, my office and the family room. Even with wireless it's nice to be able to put another access point in pretty much any room. I did additional single cat5 runs to various places where I didn't think I'd need all four. Today I'm not sure the coax is still justified, but it has be…

Do these Aiports do 802.11n at 5.8GHz or only 2.4GHz?

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#98

Post by vtrac »

This thread just cost me $400 since I just ordered everything to do heated floors in my new bathroom I'm installing. For about $9/sqft, I bought Warmwire and a programmable thermostat. The installation looks super simple too.

I live in Austin, so there's only a few months out of the year that this will be useful, but I can only imagine how glorious it will be to walk barefoot on warm tile in the winter. :)

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#99

Post by beagle3 »

When you put ethernet, make sure to use Cat6 or Cat7 - it costs more now, but will serve you far longer. Do that at least to the farthest places in the house (so you can put the wifi access points). Or to every room -- you can use them also as speaker cables, wired phone cables.

Also, I've seen a few places with collapsible walls - one of them had a wall between the livingroom and a bedroom, that was collapsible (so that they become one room), and had a flat screen tv in the middle that could rotate (so it would point either at the bedroom or the livingroom) and would collapse to be on the side wall when the whole thing collapsed.

Re: Ask HN: I'm renovating a house, what clever stuff should I build in?

#100

Post by nobody_nowhere »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #62
chopsueyar wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upvoted. For the uninitiated... http://www.totousa.com/Washlet/WashletC110.aspx

After using one of these I don't even know how other toilet manufacturers stay in business. It's the gift to your private parts that just keeps on giving.

I'm really, really surprised how much I like it. It's like unlocking a secret level that people only know about in Japan.
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