Wednesday 7 February 2007

House Technology

Today was a big day. Nothing to do with the project.


I finalised the mortgage to build a new house. I have been working towards this for 3 years now. So the excitmenting moments have generally come and gone.


Over the last year I have been thinking about the technology that I will put in the house.


So many options:


CAT 5/CAT 6, wireless, telephone, Video, audio, control, heating....... the list of options is long.


One of the first decision that was made was the kind of heating to be used. This has lots of options again. We opted for a Ground Sourced Heat pump. This takes heat from a large area of ground and transfers it to a smaller area of the house. This means that for maximum efficiency we will go for underfloor heating.


Next is the important things.........music. Having looked and researched I have 2 options:


- Sonos wireless system


- Cambridge Audio CAT 5 System.


I am planning to put in a CAT 5 system anyway for the telephone and (of course) the pc's. So at the moment cambridge audio in in front.


So, should I also put Sky (Council Telly is very bad here) through the CAT 5 as well? At the moment the answer is no. By the time I buy the kit from Sky and then add in the encoders and decoders at each end of the CAT 5 cable the price goes through the roof.


I plan to run the satellite cable throughout the house and place freesat boxes in the bedrooms. The main room will have the the full sky package playing through a projector.


To cap it all I am planning to use Recycled plastic roof tiles. Made from car tyres, plasic and limestone. To these in use have a look at The Centre of Alternative Technology Web site


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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the picture the view from your new house (well, the plot for now)?

Looks like somewhere above Kilnaughton Bay, looking over to Port Ellen. Great view!

I'm jealous.

islayian said...

It is indeed Armin.
And you got it spot on. Over Port Ellen to Laphroiag, Lagavulin and Ardbeg

Anonymous said...

Hi Ian,

I was interested to read your blog. Arthur Woodrow is building a house for us at Kilnaughton Bay at the moment - second house on the road past the cemetery - so it looks as though we will be neighbours. Your house will be much more high tech than ours though - although we may well come knocking at your door when we can't get our pc to work!!

Hope to meet you in the not too distant future and best of luck with the project!

Maggie Woodman

islayian said...

Hi Maggie
I will be in the 'cheap seats' at the top but it will good to meet you
Ian

Anonymous said...

Hi Ian,

I'm sure the 'top' seats are the best ones to be in - the view is spectacular and global warming will definitely get us before it gets you!!

Best wishes,

Maggie

Heat Pumps said...

So two years on how has the build development gone. You mentioned you were installiing ground source heat pumps, has it been a success so far?

solar panels for homes in uk said...

I was wondering with the saving you get from this work, how long you expect it to take to pay for itself?

Also i was wondering do these renewable systems add real value to a house or not?

Air to Air Heat Pump Installers said...

I'm also curious about the success of the ground source heat pumps that were installed. Did you consider air source pumps at all before having the ground source ones placed?