Private houses · Alloway, Ayr

Alloway, Ayr: whole-home wiring, Control4 and a managed network for a five-bedroom new build

A family in a modern five-bedroom house at the south end of Ayr asked Lairds for a wired infrastructure that would serve them for years and add value when the house is sold. We flood-wired the property while they lived in it, and built the video, audio, security and network on top, with Control4 holding it together.

Rooms

Five bedrooms, garage converted to a cinema room

The building

The house is a modern five-bedroom property in Alloway, at the south end of Ayr, on an estate where several homes may be for sale at any one time. The owners wanted a solid, reliable, wired infrastructure that would make technology simple to add during their time in the house and make the property stand out when the time came to sell. A garage was being converted into a cinema room, and the family wanted independent audio and entertainment zones inside and out.

They were living in the house while the building work went on, so the installation had to be clean and the disruption short.

What we designed

From the initial consultancy and design, the plan was to flood-wire the house with quality cable and feed a number of Samsung screens from a 4K video matrix, with control of the sources: three Sky boxes and a media server. Each screen location has its own audio zone and its own room control, and blinds, heating and lighting are controlled through the automation system.

The first problem was the route from the loft to the equipment rack without damaging the house. Our survey proved a drop from the loft to the ground floor, and the rack went into dead space in an alcove by the front door, after our joiner moved a small radiator and built a platform and boxing that still gives access for service, and keeps three small children’s fingers out. The screens are Samsung Smart TVs of various sizes, supplied with warranties, on brackets from flat tilt mounts to full cantilevers, and there is a waterproof screen at the hot tub.

Video distribution runs on WyreStorm HDBaseT. Our own media centre serves video, audio and images to every zone. Surround sound locations use Sonance loudspeakers on Yamaha AV receivers, with Sonance outdoor speakers in the garden. The core of the system is the network: we advised against off-the-shelf hardware and installed a managed network with smart switches, intrusion detection, remote monitoring, and VPN and firewall hardware, and integrated it with the IP cameras, the alarm and the door access so that all of them are available through the control system.

Control4 was chosen for simplicity, for robustness, and for our ability to maintain and upgrade the system and give remote assistance. See our smart home and home network services.

In the house

What went in

• Whole-home structured wiring, loft to ground floor
• 4K video matrix with WyreStorm HDBaseT distribution
• Samsung Smart TVs, including a waterproof screen at the hot tub
• Three Sky boxes and a media server as sources
• Sonance loudspeakers on Yamaha AV receivers; Sonance outdoor speakers
• Managed network: smart switches, intrusion detection, remote monitoring, VPN and firewall
• IP cameras, alarm and door access on the control system
• Control4 automation with blinds, heating and lighting

Greystones, Kilmacolm

A listed Arts and Crafts house, wired for two owners

Building or extending a house?

The wiring is the part you cannot add later without opening the walls. Talk to us before the plasterboard goes on.