Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 13, 2018 3:54 pm Hi all, I am about to build a new house and have got to the stage of designing electrical plan. I just wonder if anyone here could share your experience, tips or advice on this, and would you mind sharing your electrical plan here (if you still have it)? I reckon most display homes use LOTS of lights in a small area and I don't know if I should copy them or just 1 LED downlight per bedroom is fine? Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 2Feb 13, 2018 4:11 pm I generally go for a single oyster light at each of the builders standard points and avoid the downlights altogether. A big thing for me is the lack of power points as most builders provision is pathetic. There are several posts about what you might need at Electrical Planning The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 4Feb 13, 2018 11:37 pm bashworth I generally go for a single oyster light at each of the builders standard points and avoid the downlights altogether. A big thing for me is the lack of power points as most builders provision is pathetic. There are several posts about what you might need at Electrical Planning I can understand using a single oyster light for a bedroom, but would you still use it for the main living area? How many will be enough? I don't know if it would look nice though. Thanks for the website btw, it's very informative! Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 6Feb 14, 2018 6:51 am H2018 It's a project home with a small builder with lots of customised changes As I understand it you are limited with the types of lights you can use in a project home, although if you are using a small builder your situation might be more flexible. Because we are building an architect designed home, our lighting and electrical plans might be irrelevant to you. There are many more light styles than you might think, so you should research widely to see what might be suitable. You might be able to do better than standard batten and downlights for not much more money, with a superior outcome. There are three basic type of illumination in lighting design (ambient, task and accent), so consider all of those. With respect to electrical, all I can suggest is that you list your major (and some minor) appliances, and ensure that you cover those - and don’t forget the reach of your vacuum cleaner. Also, determine the position of standing and table lamps, including beside and match those with power points. Lastly consider establishing a charging location where you might want to dock all of those personal devices (phones, tablets, smart watches, etc) when you are home, and consider networking, automation, media and computer stuff (modem/router, printer, NAS, blu-ray/streaming-box, etc). Oh, and never install a single power point - always doubles. Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 7Feb 14, 2018 11:55 am H2018 bashworth I generally go for a single oyster light at each of the builders standard points and avoid the downlights altogether. A big thing for me is the lack of power points as most builders provision is pathetic. There are several posts about what you might need at Electrical Planning I can understand using a single oyster light for a bedroom, but would you still use it for the main living area? How many will be enough? I don't know if it would look nice though. Thanks for the website btw, it's very informative! For us we have the oyster which we just use very occasionally for general illumination. Normally we light the room with a table lamp next to where my wife normally sits and a standard lamp behind my shoulder. We find this more than adequate to give comfortable reading,and watching the TV. Unlike fixed downlights we can easily adjust the area illuminated if we move the furniture around the room The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 8Feb 14, 2018 12:07 pm From my recent personal experience, my advice would be: * Make sure you think about cat6 data cabling. I have at least 1 ethernet port going to all bedrooms and 2 in living room, home theatre, study and leisure rooms. People might say you don't need this with wifi today, but lan connections are better than wifi and it future proofs your home more. Plus some of those ethernet ports can be used for wifi access points (i have 1 in the ceiling on the top and bottom floor). Also originate all cat6 cables in a common location where you can install a router and nbn modem. I installed an nbn cabinet, recessed into the internal garage wall where all cat6 cables originate from. Remember also that phone and lan cables are the same, so you can change a phone line to be an lan port and visa versa later on if you want. * Think about pre wiring for ceiling or wall mounted speakers (in home theatre, alfresco, lounge etc), alarm system, security cameras and intercom. I initially didn't think I wanted an alarm, intercom or security cameras but managed to get the pre wiring for those done at the last minute, because it gives me the option at least of installing those things later if i want to. Without the pre-wiring, doing those things later would be much harder and more expensive. I had a few rounds doing my electrical design. The first round I was probably being a bit stingy and focusing more on spending as little as possible. I later realized I would regret it if I didn't install the things that I really wanted, so kept adding more things to the plan. I'm happy with the final result but could have saved myself a few hundred in post contract variations had I done it all right on the first go. Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 9Feb 14, 2018 12:31 pm H2018 Hi all, I am about to build a new house and have got to the stage of designing electrical plan. I just wonder if anyone here could share your experience, tips or advice on this, and would you mind sharing your electrical plan here (if you still have it)? I reckon most display homes use LOTS of lights in a small area and I don't know if I should copy them or just 1 LED downlight per bedroom is fine? Single level home or double? A single level home offers much more flexibility to put in cabling even after completion. Do a walk-thru for every room and around the house - identify if the required switches are accessible. You may want a 2 way switch to follow your natural walk path inside the house and avoid a detour in order to switch on/off. Cat 6 Lan points are highly recommended. Think about placement of festive lighting requirements - Xmas tree, lanterns. Outdoor power points are must at every corner. Consider positioning of cordless items that will require charging while in storage - vacuum cleaner, electric car, wheel chair. Re: Any tips on how to design your electrical plan? 10Feb 14, 2018 12:37 pm H2018 Hi all, I am about to build a new house and have got to the stage of designing electrical plan. I just wonder if anyone here could share your experience, tips or advice on this, and would you mind sharing your electrical plan here (if you still have it)? I reckon most display homes use LOTS of lights in a small area and I don't know if I should copy them or just 1 LED downlight per bedroom is fine? Also give a thought to the height/position of the wall fittings..to avoid a situation as seen in attached picture. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. We definitely wish to settle and get these people out of our life. They are trying to charge us interest on late… 7 9354 Just be careful with building stability during construction, that is when the structure may be weakened, refer to your engineering drawings for stability methodology. 1 6196 |