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I’m about to start building and I listed out all 128 runs of cable – highlights:

• I’m not doing speaker runs. Maybe I’ll regret this, but voice assistants and whole-home audio just isn’t my family’s jam.
• Every place I put an outlet, pull two runs
• Just about every wall has a jack, minimum two per room
• Dual runs for security cameras to at least all four corners of the house; I also have several interior cameras as well
• Smurf tube
• Sensors for windows & doors, even interior doors
• Runs for access points
• Runs for hardwired sensors
• Runs to utilities (water shut off, power monitoring, water heater, even behind the washing machine)
• Runs for water leak detection
• A lot of the locations I’m pull cat to are NOT for ethernet, not at the outset anyway. My philosophy is that maybe someday down the line there would be some novel reason to have an ESP32 at the end of the run for a door sensor – until that time, though, wire is wire and I can just use the ethernet cord for a dumb reed switch loop, no big deal.

And here it is in a visual drops location format

My list:

• cat 6 to every room, preferably 2 per box, 4 per room
• conduit, I like the idea of a corner box and conduit to the attic
• wire contacts for every window and door for alarm. ( Do each contact homerun so they are sperate and can run as separate zones)
• speaker wire from either a wall patch or back to a central location.
• empty conduits to your.uility pads outside to a closet or garage for connectivity. I pulled fiber to minor for a bit of.lightening isolation.
• decide on wap locations and camera before build
• my favorite out outlets outside and in the soffits for Christmas/ holiday lights on their own GFCI breaker and run them to a switch in the garage. On ra 2 I have holiday mode that I turn on and bang Christmas lights are timed.

Couple suggestions

1. Skip the cat5e and use 6 min not enough price saving
2. For your windows just wire assuming motorized shades
3. Consider wiring for or installing a house wide generator during your build, I retrod mine and it wasn’t horrible but if your going to do it anyhow nail it while it’s open.
4. Don’t be afraid of dedicated power circuits. My panel is huge, my office has a separate circuit for one wall, vs the rest of the room vs the lights. All my lights are separate from the outlets in a room and all rooms are on their own. 20 amp outlets in the garage for tools. Anything pops it doesn’t take out half the house.

Power delivery USB C that supports 100w minimum to every room. PoE cable to every room. Switches with energy monitoring.

Smurftube in each corner and center of the ceiling of each room. As well as next to at least one outlet box on each wall.

Cat6E on the roof peaks and edges of the roof for cameras.

Neutral wires in all the light switch boxes.

Don’t forget the garage or attic.

Run conduit. That way it standards change you can run new cabling through it with minimal effort. That’s the most valuable thing you can do.

1. I added a wall outlet & network drop for a portrait mount 32” tv in the kitchen. We have that connected to a DAKBoard and it’s easily the most used/commented on item in the house. It holds Family calendar, weather and the like.

2. Ceiling mount Sonos speakers in the kitchen, dining, master bath and master closet connected to Sonos amps. Rock solid and sound great

3. Lutron switches and shades. It’s been over three years and not one problem

4. Cat 6 to every tv location, exterior camera and AP

Edit: have everything terminate in the basement with at least 12 outlets on its own breaker and have the cable coax or whatever your isp connection is terminate there as well.

Conduits with at least two pull wires all home run to a central, well ventilated and well powered battery backed up closet or equipment room.

If I had it to do over again, I’d get a nice equipment room at the end of those conduits. That’s my biggest gripe now. I have everything a rack that lives in the top of a small closet. No room to work on it if something gets an upgrade, and no room for non racked items. I had to run a line to another part of the house for that, and it’s a hassle.

Get a nice 19" rack system to bolt everything down that’s rack mounted. Double points if it’s on a swivel (so you can work on the back side) or has a swing door. You can get rack mount UPS, but they’re pricier that what you get for a stand alone UPS. I’d also put a mounting wall (usually a peg board) and some shelving in there, too.

Whatever you put in there will be obsolete before you finish hooking it up, so make room for upgrades.

As for what to do now, I like the idea of double ethernet + doable coax to location. Also, I like having built into the wall speakers, so I agree with your idea there, too. If you’re going to do a mesh system, then consider getting another line to terminate in each corner of the house, in the ceiling. You can POE a mesh unit on the ceilings, getting you some really good coverage.

KNX wiring

Run Ethernet to your doorbell

Why CAT5e? Go CAT6. You don’t need CAT6 now, but you may in the future. The cost difference is not that bad.

You also may want outlets on the eaves of the roof for Christmas lights.

While you’ll have speaker wire, might as well run wire for an Dobly Atmos setup. You might now use it, but you may in the future. Make sure to run good quality and proper gauge wire a well. Might as well run the wire for a dual subwoofer setup. Again, you’ll probably won’t use it, but maybe in the future.

Make sure to have an outlet where the CAT5 panel runs into a well. I had to hire an electrician to install one. That said, my house did not come with a panel and did all the work afterwards.

price was not an object

With that condition, I would install 1/2 in. to 2 in. EMT conduits everywhere because no amount of planning is enough so it’s better to have readily available ways to run extra wires and cables. Cat6 is future proof unless you want to host a datacentre out of your home. I would start my cable schematic from the home server room and deck it out instead of whipping something up. The earlier you start planning your homelab (and think about all the different security scenarios), the earlier you can learn from your mistakes.

Oversize any in slab conduits for the future. Same if your feeder comes underground.

3/4 plywood under drywall where tv is going, media box with outlet, 2" Smurf tube from behind TV to couple locations where your AV gear might end up over the years to boxes with brush plates

Conduit or pipe between basement and attic for any future expansion.

Outlets in outside soffits for Christmas lights

Pre wire for smart doorbell

Use CAT6 or even 6A. CAT8 is the latest standard, but it’s probably too expensive?

Also consider running fiber optic between floors as a backhaul since 10G fiber switches are cheaper than cooper ones.

Cameras are fine on 5E, but may as well CAT6.

Run multiple random ceiling drops for APs and other home automation devices / sensors.