|
Honestly in my house I plan on running 5 drops. 2 for my office, 2 for the main entertainment center and maybe one to upstairs for a secondary wireless AP. Anything else can be done with wifi or a small switch if I really need the extra ports. Cat 6 or 7 for the eventual hope that 10Gbe will be common in consumer equipment one day (lol).
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 15:49 |
|
|
# ? May 28, 2024 12:31 |
|
CAT6 should do 10GB to 55m which is plenty for a house. CAT6A is certified to do 10GB to the full 100m and isn't much more expensive. Some CAT6A can be a pain to work with if it has foil lining around each pair. Monoprice's isn't bad. CAT7 isn't a standard and uses weird connectors. Don't buy CAT7. I just did my house and after going big with the purchase -- 2 spools to save time, 25 pack of keystones, etc -- I ran out of imagination after 8 drops.
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 16:19 |
|
I just installed a network rack in my basement and put in a 48 port patch panel because it was only a couple bucks more than the 24 and more is better right?? I bought all the equipment almost a year ago, and now that I'm finally installing it and planning things I'll probably end up with 10 drops, maybe 12 if I put in a ton of effort to run cable outside for a couple cameras. Whoops.
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 16:49 |
|
devmd01 posted:Then again don’t listen to me I tend to overbuild everything that I do. You have 6 drops in your laundry room?
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 16:59 |
|
Enos Cabell posted:You have 6 drops in your laundry room?
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 17:01 |
|
IDF on the second floor in the laundry room for when I run cameras. There is only one path between the attic and the basement so I figured my efforts were better spent only pulling it once. For now I just use the Ethernet to patch the second floor AP down to the basement, I need to buy new network hardware to support 10G for the fiber trunk.
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 18:38 |
|
Hah, that's awesome. I want to run some poe cameras at some point, but
|
# ? Jan 17, 2021 18:47 |
|
So, a neighbor just had their car stolen right out of their driveway and I was wondering if this is the place to ask about home security cameras and the like. Does anyone have any preferred models or brands that they like? I want one to cover my driveway and one to cover my front porch for deliveries. I don't want a full home security system, just cameras that preferably aren't connected directly to google or amazon (that poo poo weirds me out).
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 02:11 |
|
Cpt_Obvious posted:So, a neighbor just had their car stolen right out of their driveway and I was wondering if this is the place to ask about home security cameras and the like. Does anyone have any preferred models or brands that they like? I want one to cover my driveway and one to cover my front porch for deliveries. I don't want a full home security system, just cameras that preferably aren't connected directly to google or amazon (that poo poo weirds me out). A doorbell cam would be an easy and cheap solution that might provide you with some peace of mind. Of Amazon and Google, Amazon auto opts you in to share your camera with the police, which skeeves me out, even though you can theoretically opt out. Google’s cam is nice because it texts you a pic of the motion detected. Other doorbell cams are likely available, been awhile since I’ve looked. Those are the two main players. If you’re IT proficient enough to run a few cables and follow some basic menu based setup, you might look into a Network Video Recorder (NVR) system with Power Over Ethernet (PoE) IP Cameras. These are the basic systems you see at businesses, etc. Basically the power and data run over low voltage, easy to run ethernet cables, and feed back to a central DVR appliance. Most modern systems offer a mobile app to review footage and cloud backup, etc. You can even get Point To Zoom (PTZ) cameras that swivel and zoom in a dome. I really like my Lorex system, and they’re pretty cheap (Flir subsidiary). You can get a cheap basic 1080p system with nvr appliance and 4 outdoor cameras and cables for 250$. IP cameras are pretty standard and you can mix and match most cameras to most recording systems. You’re not stuck with one or the other if you don’t like something about your system. If you have an old desktop you can even install stuff like Blue Iris or open source software and use that as a NVR appliance, and just buy a few cheap IP cameras. There’s also software for NAS systems, like Surveillance Station for Synology. These all locally record to the appliance and you can set up various types of remote viewing and even cloud backup. If you don’t want to go through all that hassle you can get various battery camera systems. Amazon has a new one called Blink that looks alright. Basically they detect motion, turn on, record, and send you an alert. Not as good or thorough as an NVR solution, but may be perfectly adequate for what you need.
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 04:06 |
|
Cpt_Obvious posted:So, a neighbor just had their car stolen right out of their driveway and I was wondering if this is the place to ask about home security cameras and the like. Does anyone have any preferred models or brands that they like? I want one to cover my driveway and one to cover my front porch for deliveries. I don't want a full home security system, just cameras that preferably aren't connected directly to google or amazon (that poo poo weirds me out). OSU_Matthew's advice is good, and there's also a Home Automation and Security thread if you want to see what some other folks have done or get more advice.
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 06:25 |
|
We have a couple Wyze cameras since they don't make me get a hub or pay a subscription and they also don't appear to be practically run by the local police department like Ring cams.
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 09:57 |
|
I love my Arlos but you sharing your the cloud. If you understand and can work with IP cameras I’m selling 2 in SA Mart for pretty cheap.
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 13:56 |
|
mutata posted:We have a couple Wyze cameras since they don't make me get a hub or pay a subscription and they also don't appear to be practically run by the local police department like Ring cams. Wyze is another good option I know some friends of mine use. I haven’t looked into them much and was wondering about their free storage claims, because something needs to be monetized past the initial purchase to subsidize that. But my guess is that their 12 days cloud storage is a loss leader for their premium plan, which is entirely valid. If you’re curious on what kind of data IoT companies collect, there’s a good list from a 2019 breach. Seeing “bone density” data being collected from my camera provider is vaguely unsettling lol. Caveats being that data is obviously for other IoT health devices, and the mistake that led to that breach could’ve happened to anyone, and Wyze’s response was fast and good. Just more of a reference to address nebulous fears of what kind data is actually collected by managed products. Also, shodan is really fun to poke at if you wanna go control other peoples’ poorly secured internet facing cameras
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 15:20 |
|
Hey, just wanted to thank everyone for the awesome help. The NVR style system seems like what I'm looking for. I have some electrical training, so I know how to run wires ok. Looking at brands and prices is my next step. Also, I'll take these questions to the security thread if they are more appropriate there.
|
# ? Jan 18, 2021 17:55 |
|
devmd01 posted:Seconding the sentiment of don’t go way overkill with drops. Sure, if you’re gonna pull one pull two in a lot of cases but yeah you don’t need to saturate every room/wall with ports. I went overboard in my first house and ran a quad drop behind my desk...never ended up using more than two. Yeah, I don't feel like there's a need to really for 4 per room...honestly, MAYBE 4 behind the TV, since the main impetus that started this was constantly getting kicked out of matches on my PS4 because Sony can't make a wifi driver to save their life*, and I will likely also get a PS5 at some point, and my current steaming box is wifi only but I my upgrade to something better than can take an wired connection...but beyond that even 2 a room is overkill, except maybe the office. So 4 in living room, 2 on office, and I guess I'm doing 2 in the other two bedrooms anyway but only because the faceplates I got are all 2 keystone jack style, and if I don't wire both up, I'll constantly be forgetting which is is/isn't wired. *I have 150 Mbps symmetrical dedicated fiber...on wifi, pretty much every other device gets like 80-120 Mbps down, and 70-90 Mbps up, pretty decent, all things considered. I don't expect to get the full bandwidth on wifi, especially since I think I did my tests while my GF was streaming something. The PS4 gets MAYBE 60 Mbps down, and...7 Mbps up. At best. It seems to average close to 5, and the other day it decided to drop to sub 1 Mbps for an hour. DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Jan 19, 2021 |
# ? Jan 19, 2021 18:45 |
|
The other thing to remember is that you can always put a switch under your TV. You only have 1 display so it's highly unlikely that more than one thing is demanding bandwidth at a time. Even if you have a server under there it's likely that the bandwidth is asymmetrical, with what is being displayed on the TV going in and the server going out. So 2 for redundancy but 4 is probably going nuts.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 18:53 |
|
I'm nowhere near Texas and this has me hyperventilating Home I've owned for 15 years recently forced to join HOA, demands I make retroactive changes. https://old.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/l0jehh/home_ive_owned_for_15_years_recently_forced_to/ quote:This is in Texas.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 22:49 |
|
I cannot loving believe a place like Texas, let alone the US, would allow not only mandatory HOAs (which most countries don't allow) but also allow them to force existing properties to adhere to their insane rules.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 22:57 |
|
Fallom posted:I'm nowhere near Texas and this has me hyperventilating In the post someone points out they had the option to opt-out and chose not to by not getting a lawyer the moment someone threatened their home.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 22:58 |
|
According to the thread they have one year after the formation of the HOA to opt out, so if they hire an attorney today they'd still be able to get out of it. Still, that sounds like a nightmare situation, HOAs are a blight on property values unless you're boomers selling to other boomers.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 23:01 |
|
Help, I tried not doing anything the whole time and now I can't do anything. Reddit, please laugh at me. If someone tried establishing an HOA in my neighborhood I would go on a crusade to not only stop them but to ruin their lives enough that they moved. Death to HOAs.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 23:01 |
|
OSU_Matthew posted:A doorbell cam would be an easy and cheap solution that might provide you with some peace of mind. Of Amazon and Google, Amazon auto opts you in to share your camera with the police, which skeeves me out, even though you can theoretically opt out. Google’s cam is nice because it texts you a pic of the motion detected. Other doorbell cams are likely available, been awhile since I’ve looked. Those are the two main players. I have a few Blink cameras and they are decent but they have some issues. They aren’t good at detecting straight on motion and while you can set schedules for the cameras to be active it is an all or nothing thing unless you buy multiple bases. You can turn cameras on/off individually manually but not on a schedule which is dumb. The straight on motion thing drives me nuts though because somehow they will catch DoorDash drivers pulling into the driveway but not walking on the porch.
|
# ? Jan 19, 2021 23:41 |
|
Starting to look at home builders and being a semi sensible adult decided to research the ones in the area I am looking to build in. It very much left me with a feeling that they all suck (page after page of BBB complaints about how the house was poorly built and no support), of course this is the Internet and no one will every leave a positive review unless they are coerced or paid to. Is this one of those have a lawyer and document everything just in case things? It won't be likely that I will be able to come inspect the work while it is being done as it would be a cross country move which would make the whole thing a bit harder. There are existing homes in the same area available but I was looking at new construction as there are certain things that the wife and I need in place to help with her condition and my expectation is having a new house with those taken into account in the design will be easier than retro fitting an existing house. If anyone has experience with a new build and can either confirm they are all used car salesmen but with contractors or if I just need to go in with my eyes open and it will be fine I would appreciate some info.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 15:14 |
|
BigPaddy posted:Starting to look at home builders and being a semi sensible adult decided to research the ones in the area I am looking to build in. It very much left me with a feeling that they all suck (page after page of BBB complaints about how the house was poorly built and no support), of course this is the Internet and no one will every leave a positive review unless they are coerced or paid to. Is this one of those have a lawyer and document everything just in case things? It won't be likely that I will be able to come inspect the work while it is being done as it would be a cross country move which would make the whole thing a bit harder. There are existing homes in the same area available but I was looking at new construction as there are certain things that the wife and I need in place to help with her condition and my expectation is having a new house with those taken into account in the design will be easier than retro fitting an existing house. A lawyer can help you with the transaction, but if you're already considering how you are likely to sue the person building your house, you should probably rethink your strategy. If you want to build remotely and are concerned about the quality and professionalism of the general contractor, you should hire what is known as an "owners representative". They should be local, and will do the inspections, etc. for you. Here is an example of an owners rep - this particular group goes beyond that and also can consult during design development. They need to be local though, so unless you're moving to Vermont they can't help you. https://www.buildhelm.com/ Broadly, there are three types of new home builders: big developers (veridian, etc.), small developers (usually a general contractor who has graduated to their own subdivisions), and custom builders. The big builders are probably not a good fit if you want specialized customization to support your wife - their customizations are usually "add a bay window" or "crown molding". They are also probably what you are looking at reviews for. A small developer building a single subdivision will likely be your best bet, as it will avoid needing to be involved with land acquisition and permitting. A custom builder (or design-build firm) is a good choice as well, but hard to make work if you don't live in the area or already have land/a tear down since they aren't really set up to help with that part of the process. A design-build firm can point you towards a realtor, but unlike the small developer they don't just have lots sitting around to sell you. I work in design-build. You're feeling the first few inches of the elephant tail here. If you are seeing BBB complaints, you're already looking at the wrong contractors and your experience is not going to improve until you start over.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 15:49 |
|
SpartanIvy posted:Help, I tried not doing anything the whole time and now I can't do anything. Reddit, please laugh at me.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 16:29 |
|
Tezer posted:Broadly, there are three types of new home builders: big developers (veridian, etc.), small developers (usually a general contractor who has graduated to their own subdivisions), and custom builders. The big builders are probably not a good fit if you want specialized customization to support your wife - their customizations are usually "add a bay window" or "crown molding". They are also probably what you are looking at reviews for. So much this. This is absolutely the right advice. I will also tell you that custom builders and a poo poo ton of money are the only way you're going to get a truly nice house built today. Building costs more than buying something that's already there, both in overall money terms and in what you need in cash to keep the build moving along. I can't stress this enough to people considering having their first home built: unless this is a barely customizable development house you better have some serious amount of cash on hand. Yes yes, of course you can get that construction loan and convert it to a mortgage later but what you don't know is how that works. You get the money in tranches, not one novelty-sized check. You get the first tranche and do say, site work and foundation. Ready for the next tranche, right? Wrong. Now all the inspections need to be done, even the ones that could be done later. All of them. Plus an inspector from the bank. Then they gently caress around for a few more days before they release the next tranche. Meanwhile your GC/builder and his subs aren't getting any work from you because you can't afford to buy more materials or pay them so guess what they do? That's right, they gently caress right on off to another job. And now your next trance just hit your checking account and you call and call and too bad - they're on another job. When they're done with that one they'll be right back. Repeat this process for the 5-ish tranches most banks demand and it just took 18 to 20 months to build your house. The only way you get around this is having 20-ish percent of the total cost of your build in cash. And that's after you've already bought the land and are servicing that note. You're also probably paying another mortgage or rent while this is all happening. If nothing else, building is a really good test of a marriage. So are you sure you want to build? Or do you just want to choose a development spec house that you can get them or someone else to lightly customize?
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 16:57 |
|
Or buy an existing one and put $100k-200k of renovation into it to widen doorways, add a ramp, make an accessible shower/tub, etc? You might even be able to figure out a way to make it less taxed or have insurance chip in a few dollars. I don't know what your wife needs but I assume mobility and bathing and a lower counter.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 17:22 |
|
Motronic posted:The only way you get around this is having 20-ish percent of the total cost of your build in cash. And that's after you've already bought the land and are servicing that note. You're also probably paying another mortgage or rent while this is all happening. This is my only experience. I don't do a ton of financed builds, maybe one a year, and we always require 20% minimum down from the client and then the client provides proof of that payment to the bank to meet the bank loan's equity requirement. That downpayment then funds all work between disbursements. I wouldn't even take a job where I had to be out 20% of a project's value between disbursements. Risk is too high. I'm sure there are loans out there that put the risk on the builder, and I'm sure there are builders who take on that risk, and I'm sure that there are projects that just stall out between disbursements. I'm just saying that builders with any other source of work will ignore those projects, which makes you wonder about the builders who take them.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 17:50 |
|
Tezer posted:This is my only experience. I don't do a ton of financed builds, maybe one a year, and we always require 20% minimum down from the client and then the client provides proof of that payment to the bank to meet the bank loan's equity requirement. That downpayment then funds all work between disbursements. Is there a good resource you point people to explaining everything to expect through the process of a custom build? This and Motronic's bit have been great to read as we're planning to do a custom build in a few years after we finish renovating and sell the house we're in now.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 18:02 |
|
Thanks Tezer and Motronic. You pretty much hit on the things going on in my mind. A lot of expense and hassle and no guarantee that the outcome will be any better than buying an existing home. Won't go into details about my wife's condition but ramps and sit in tubs are needed. There are some credits for these things so I will see how it goes. Thanks again.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 18:04 |
|
BigPaddy posted:Thanks Tezer and Motronic. You pretty much hit on the things going on in my mind. A lot of expense and hassle and no guarantee that the outcome will be any better than buying an existing home. Won't go into details about my wife's condition but ramps and sit in tubs are needed. There are some credits for these things so I will see how it goes. Thanks again. If you are looking at pre-designed sub-divisions you might get lucky and find one that is designed around "aging in place" which covers a lot of accessibility ground. However, they're rare and there's no guarantee that they didn't just slap a full bathroom on the first floor and widen some doorways to 36 inches and called it good - so you'll really need to be aware of the exact accommodation details needed. If you look at existing homes, looks for ranch style homes (guaranteeing that single floor living is possible even before renovations), or look for homes where you can add an accessible addition reasonably easily. Some of the key factors for additions are lot size and set backs (can you build an addition), existing building massing and roof style (you want your addition to snap on to one side of the home with minimal disruption - if you need to reframe the whole roof because it's a cape style home you're in trouble), and accessing the addition once you're done since it will probably be where you spend most of your time. Tear downs are also an option if you're in a distressed area, but that will make financing difficult. Keep in mind that removing a home safety from a lot could run you $30-50k depending on any existing conditions that need to be mitigated during the removal process. Some people try to save the foundation, this doesn't work out very often. Blowjob Overtime posted:Is there a good resource you point people to explaining everything to expect through the process of a custom build? This and Motronic's bit have been great to read as we're planning to do a custom build in a few years after we finish renovating and sell the house we're in now. The conundrum is that custom building is such a local concern. You need to meet the right people, understand the local permitting process, and understand your local bank's financing requirements. To get a bit of the 'vibe' and an understanding of the process you can try reading "House" by Tracy Kidder that covers the process of building a specific home (like, you can't generalize a lot of it's contents). There is also "Last Harvest" by Witold Rybczynski that covers the development of a sub division.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 18:22 |
|
BigPaddy posted:Thanks Tezer and Motronic. You pretty much hit on the things going on in my mind. A lot of expense and hassle and no guarantee that the outcome will be any better than buying an existing home. Won't go into details about my wife's condition but ramps and sit in tubs are needed. There are some credits for these things so I will see how it goes. Thanks again. Assuming it's things like that and perhaps wider doorways I think you could shop with an eye towards those thing, perhaps have a contractor you intend to work with check out likely candidates for the ease/ability to modify and be in pretty good shape. Certainly a lot less hassle than building. And, maybe this isn't a concern to you, but a house specifically designed and built for accessibility is going to be difficult to market and sell. If this is your forever home that's not an issue, but if it's not it will likely create complexity. That's definitely the case around here unless it's built in one of the retirement communities.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 18:28 |
|
Tezer posted:"House" by Tracy Kidder that covers the process of building a specific home (like, you can't generalize a lot of it's contents). Echoing this book recommendation. An interesting (true) story that covers the (often adversarial) interplay between the future owner, architect, and contractors. It made me nostalgic for a time when houses were still built by craftsmen and not slapped together by unskilled day workers loosely overseen by a PM from a Fortune 500 homebuilder.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 18:35 |
|
BigPaddy posted:Thanks Tezer and Motronic. You pretty much hit on the things going on in my mind. A lot of expense and hassle and no guarantee that the outcome will be any better than buying an existing home. Won't go into details about my wife's condition but ramps and sit in tubs are needed. There are some credits for these things so I will see how it goes. Thanks again. Yup not interested in your wife's condition. I would talk to a realtor and contractor about it, the key phrase is probably "aging in place". Plenty of people try to make it so grandma/grandpa can be self sufficient around the house, and a lot of elements of that are similar here. My in-laws did this when they renovated their house years ago, all the doorways they touched are now wide enough for a chair, bench and grab bars in the shower, no ridge to get in/out, enough space to turn a chair all the way around and get on the toilet, etc.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 18:38 |
|
Fallom posted:I'm nowhere near Texas and this has me hyperventilating Anyone who actually votes for a HOA really should be forced to be homeless for the rest of their lives.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 19:11 |
|
Tezer posted:The conundrum is that custom building is such a local concern. You need to meet the right people, understand the local permitting process, and understand your local bank's financing requirements. To get a bit of the 'vibe' and an understanding of the process you can try reading "House" by Tracy Kidder that covers the process of building a specific home (like, you can't generalize a lot of it's contents). There is also "Last Harvest" by Witold Rybczynski that covers the development of a sub division. B-Nasty posted:Echoing this book recommendation. An interesting (true) story that covers the (often adversarial) interplay between the future owner, architect, and contractors. It made me nostalgic for a time when houses were still built by craftsmen and not slapped together by unskilled day workers loosely overseen by a PM from a Fortune 500 homebuilder. I'll pick it up for sure. Is something that uses a lot of figures and images, or am I good just picking it up on Kindle? Could see something about construction using a fair amount of visual aides, but maybe not if it's narrative.
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 19:32 |
|
Since there are a few folks who seem to be knowledgeable on the subject and we're talking about renovations... I'm in the very early stages of planning a renovation / small addition to my house (updating a more or less original early 80's home and probably adding an office and guest room). We bought it relatively recently, well under budget and are financially comfortable. I'm starting to learn about various options for financing (or not) some or most of the construction costs. We're fortunate to have enough liquid assets to cover most if not all of what we're budgeting, but I'd like to look into lending options for a few reasons (rates are low, I know constructions costs can be really unpredictable and would probably prefer some cushion). Over the past year real estate in my area has gone a little nuts (relatively speaking), so while we haven't owned that long we probably have 30-40% equity right now. I'd of course like to balance that with leveraging the assets I have on hand to make sure things go smoothly (e.g. avoiding the lovely construction loan scenarios described above). Are there particular recommendations for options to start researching? Pitfalls to avoid? The construction loan detail was very helpful. Some searching last evening turned up this, which, taken at face value, would seem like an attractive option (not having checked rates, fees, etc), but I also expect that there are some catches I haven't uncovered yet; anyone know anything about them? https://www.renofi.com
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 19:36 |
|
Blowjob Overtime posted:I'll pick it up for sure. Is something that uses a lot of figures and images, or am I good just picking it up on Kindle? Could see something about construction using a fair amount of visual aides, but maybe not if it's narrative. I just flipped through it - maybe 25 diagrams and they're almost all details (not page spanning plans or anything). It's a buck plus shipping on Alibris. It will probably be fine on kindle. https://www.alibris.com/House-Tracy-Kidder/book/2998594
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 21:51 |
|
Steve French posted:Are there particular recommendations for options to start researching? Pitfalls to avoid? The construction loan detail was very helpful. You live in your house, your builder will live near your house, so try and find a lender who works in your area. Just call around and ask if they do residential construction loans for additions and see what they say. Construction is expensive and it's a process - you'll have people onsite for months, so it's a good idea to have someone local to call if something goes sideways in month two. The last thing you want is some unaccountable generic email address that you're frantically emailing trying to get a loan disbursed. That Renofi site is all about promises about getting the most money and paying the least, but what really matters is "will I be left with a hole in my house when everyone stops answering the phone".
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 21:55 |
|
|
# ? May 28, 2024 12:31 |
|
Tezer posted:You live in your house, your builder will live near your house, so try and find a lender who works in your area. Just call around and ask if they do residential construction loans for additions and see what they say. Makes quite a bit of sense, thanks for the insight. In your experience, are the aforementioned concerns re: construction loans still applicable and a big obstacle if I did have enough cash on hand to make sure that the builders are getting paid, with the inspection requirements and all of that? Or is it primarily a big stumbling block when that money is absolutely needed at every step of the way?
|
# ? Jan 20, 2021 22:14 |