New House build - Help needed

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#2479581 9-May-2020 02:41

I know how you feel about the garage becoming a storage room, not to mention a clothes drying room! Might have to look at a dryer one day, but a walk-in wardrobe doesn't seem to compensate for lack of other storage spaces.

We got a 4-way aircon in our new place, single outdoor unit with an indoor unit in the living room and each bedroom. Really glad we did that. Not sure how to convince the financial controller to let me use it more!

Time to find a new industry!

Dingbatt

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#2479590 9-May-2020 06:33

webwat:

We got a 4-way aircon in our new place, single outdoor unit with an indoor unit in the living room and each bedroom. Really glad we did that. Not sure how to convince the financial controller to let me use it more!

When we first put our ducted system in my wife would be apologetic when I got home saying “It was so hot/cold today, I had to put the aircon/heating on”. My standard response was “It’s a bloody expensive ornament if we don’t actually use it.”

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Dingbatt

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#2479591 9-May-2020 06:36

33coupe: Thanks for the replies all, love reading every single one.

.........

I've just signed the agreement, will be going ahead with the plan.

Will need lots more help. And stuff lol
Thanks

Good on you. Hope the build goes well and you will soon get to enjoy your new home.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

33coupe

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#2481409 11-May-2020 17:41

Haha thanks for that. I'm also pretty cautious with using heating, grew up in England, so just put another jumper on... Lol.

I know with the next stage I won't be able to take my time, spending countless hours on Google etc so would like to try and get people's opinions on the lighting/electrical plans please.

I forgot to add, I may ask for wiring above the hallway entry (garage door) for additional heatpump at a later date.

All suggestions greatly appreciated, thank you. All are just ideas /question marks as I'm a total noob

Edit, whoops forgot to add ring video doorbell and place cameras. Feel free to add them on lol (I'm thinking 3 outside and 1 inside). Thank you

Paul1977

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#2481537 11-May-2020 22:34

Haven't had a good look at the powerpoints, as it looks like you've already made a lot of your own notes on that.

But as for the lighting, it looks like not enough to me. I think the 3 bedrooms each with only a single downlight is not enough. And only 2 in the lounge/media room doesn't seem enough either to me. And I'd probably go long LED battens in the garage.

I'm not expert, just remember what our sparky recommended, and what we are having. But since we aren't in there yet I can't say whether we made the right decisions.

Have you dealt directly with the sparky yet, or is this just the initial plan that GJ have given you?

blackjack17

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#2481617 12-May-2020 05:58

Is that enough lighting in the garage? One over the cars and one over the door. Our single garage had three.

With a single light you are going to get lots of shadows if you are working with tools.

Also a data point in the garage? If you do any work on computers it can be useful.

Bedrooms don't seem to have enough light switches or power points.

PowerPoints needed next to distribution point in garage

Make sure you get timers in your heated towel rails. Can save quite a bit of money.

On another note if you are going for big black light features make sure the inside of it is not black. We have these and the house is in perpetual mood lighting. They look stylish but not really practical

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Jase2985

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#2481635 12-May-2020 07:36

a single light in the bedrooms will be find as long as its a decent wattage LED, ie 10-14 watts have t he right beam angle, and the right lumens.

Garage needs more lights, i would have 4x downlights as a minimum or go to batten lights

i would also have 2 power points on each wall in the garage and have at least 1 other wall in the bedrooms with power points

shk292

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#2481640 12-May-2020 08:06

Everyone's commenting on the garage so I'll chip in too. No power provided for a door opener - you'll need an outlet on the ceiling for this, and wiring to the switch by the door.

Totally support the comments about lights in there - point sources like downlights are hopeless for working. I just fitted a 4000lm LED batten light in my garage and it has transformed it - I'd go with two of those from the start.

sen8or

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#2481651 12-May-2020 08:33

Best thing you can do with an electrical plan, is have a mental walk through of each room and think "how am I going to use this room" -

For example, in the master bedroom, 2 ceiling lights may be sufficient if you have 2 up/down lights next to the bed (or lamps on a bedside table or pendants), but if you don't want to put in additional lighting, I'd go for 4. I'd also have 2 or 3 way switching, so that you can turn the light off with switches next to the bed.

In our ensuite, I put in LED strip under the vanity switched to a sensor. That way, in the middle of the night when you need to pee, as you walk into the ensuite a dim light is activated at night so you can see what you are doing without a glaringly bright light.

1 light each for the bedrooms is measly, better to have x2 slightly lower wattage lights than 1 bright one, much easier on the eye. I wouldn't bother with 2 way switching in the other bedrooms.

If you are going to have external lights outside, get them set up with 2 or 3 way switching so you can turn them off / on from any of the switches inside (e.g. the one you have in the master turns them all on/off).

I'd lose a switch in the entrance way. You have 1 activating 1 light and 1 activating 2, I'd just have all 3 on or off, they are close enough together for it not to really matter.

Lounge room you could have another 2 lights, we have 4 in the same size lounge and its not too bright for tv watching. We didn't put dimmers in but I'm still on the fence about that.

You have to go a long way in the living area to turn on/off each of the different lights. Think about putting in 2 way switching circuits on some of those so that you can more easily turn them on/off without having to wander down the end of the room each time. Seems like a small thing but it will get under your skin each time you have to do it.

Not sure where you are located, but if its anywhere that has cold winters, then a single heat pump in the living area really isn't going to cut it. We are in Christchurch, have x2 8kw ducted heat pumps, at a minimum, you'd want either a second heatpump in the bedroom hallway area (although this often just heats the hallway and not really the bedrooms), panel heaters in the bedrooms (possibly night store type ones) or about a 12kw ducted system. The ducted system will likely set you back about $8-10k over and above the allowance for a standard heatpump but its worth the investment.

Sockets look a bit lite in the garage and kitchen

Is the kitchen island bench going to have power? we have double sockets at each end and they get used heaps, despite my wife saying "why do we need power there?" (just be wary that if you do, make sure the cabinet maker knows where you want to put power to allow clearance in the cabinetry).

Sockets in the bedrooms, think about how these will be used, is there going to be a desk, if so where, this is where you want a socket and data.

Enjoy the new build and expect $hit to happen, just keep up communication with the builder / project manager along the way and if you see something that doesn't look right, raise it straight away. Its not a fk up until its expensive to fix!

Sen

blackjack17

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#2481653 12-May-2020 08:42

sen8or:

Is the kitchen island bench going to have power? we have double sockets at each end and they get used heaps, despite my wife saying "why do we need power there?" (just be wary that if you do, make sure the cabinet maker knows where you want to put power to allow clearance in the cabinetry).

Second this, very useful. Not only for cooking but for charging laptop and phones

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33coupe

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#2481907 12-May-2020 13:53

Thanks for the replies, really great info. Yep just initial plan from sparky, but will probably have to decide pretty quick/on the spot.

More garage lights sounds good, am aiming to get ping pong table at some point.

I was keen on wall lights in the master, not sure if we can tho because of the cavity sliders. (Could move bed back to original position, will have to think).
keen on switches by the bed, that would be good.

And sensor light in ensuite that would be so good. I prefer to pee in dark than have retinas burnt out haha.

Was also thinking couple of sensors in the hallway so that when someone asked they can navigate to toilet without turning on hallway lights.

I think a dimmer is needed in separate lounge as don't think can get wall lights in there.

I was thinking about power on the island mostly for an led strip around it. Might be difficult tho because we're only having drawers. Not sure how that works. Or are the plugs on the outside of Island?

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blackjack17

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#2481916 12-May-2020 13:59

33coupe: Thanks for the replies, really great info. Yep just initial plan from sparky, but will probably have to decide pretty quick/on the spot.

More garage lights sounds good, am aiming to get ping pong table at some point.

I was keen on wall lights in the master, not sure if we can tho because of the cavity sliders. (Could move bed back to original position, will have to think).
keen on switches by the bed, that would be good.

And sensor light in ensuite that would be so good. I prefer to pee in dark than have retinas burnt out haha.

Was also thinking couple of sensors in the hallway so that when someone asked they can navigate to toilet without turning on hallway lights.

I think a dimmer is needed in separate lounge as don't think can get wall lights in there.

I was thinking about power on the island mostly for an led strip around it. Might be difficult tho because we're only having drawers. Not sure how that works. Or are the plugs on the outside of Island?

We had ours retrofitted and the wire went up on the back of the drawers and a small box on the underside of the seating side.

It made a huge difference to the functionality of the kitchen. Kids could help cook with appliances. When working on the island laptop could be charging.

As far as the slider we had a heated towel rail attached to the side of ours. We put in a piece of ply against the slider so we had something solid to screw into

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sen8or

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#2481929 12-May-2020 14:22

You can surface mount a socket on the island but if doing it this way, make sure it isn't on the end but underneath the front where there is overhang (surface mounted sockets stick out a long way). You can also flush mount sockets on the end(s), but this just requires a bit of discussion with the cabinetry maker to allow room between the end for the electrical wires to be correctly insulated (usually a dishwasher or draw).

Our sparky initially surface mounted on the end, wife near had a heart attack at how far out they stuck. A quick chat with a more experienced sparky and it was sorted with flush mount sockets and a protective cover for the wires in the dishwasher cavity. Was tight, but doable. The draw end was a non issue, heaps of space with the draw runners.

blackjack17

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#2481934 12-May-2020 14:33

You can also get ones that popout of the bench top but have never seen one in person so don't know how they really look

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=215551

edit added link

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Froglotion

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#2482302 13-May-2020 00:47

*I have a plug on island bench, behind a flap. It's used once every three months. I wouldn't bother with plugs on the end of the island, looks uuuuuuugly, my parents have it, totally detracts from the look. If you plan to be using a laptop on the island then that's a different story. No current kitchen plan so can't say much more really.

*For lighting etc, talk to sparky when you have a physical walk through when it's framed up. Should be a standard part of their service. At which time you can get their advice.

*gas cylinders will clash with the fibre coming into the build, as it's most likely going to be in the exact same spot. Does not comply.

*If you think you'll want a second heatpump, talk to the heatpump people and get them to install a drain into the wall at framing stage. Otherwise you'll need to have a condensate pump which is BAD. They'll know the deal, just tell them you want to allow for another unit. As for running power for it, I wouldn't worry, they can run that when they install the heatpump. They'll already be having to run the main pipes, so adding a wire at the same time is nothing.

EDIT: they may need to run a drain in the slab depending on location, so don't wait till it's framed up, speak with heatpump people / project manager about getting that put in. Sometimes the plumber actually runs the pipe when they do with waste pipes. They did on my place.

*doubt you'll be able to have any power or lighting where the cavity sliders are, there just isn't the space for it.

*put a small basin in the toilet, could get more space for it by putting bathroom door into hall wall, which means toilet door can be pushed towards hall for more space. Our basin in toilet isn't huge, but not having somewhere to wash your hands straight away is just dirty.

*lighting in the bedrooms is probably "ok" for their sizes. +1 to more lighting in garage, i'd chuck a couple of batten lights in there.

*bonus points for sensor in garage to turn on the lights, much better than relying on garage door opener light at night.

*door bell

*meter and distribution can be in the same unit, this will come down to what the sparky is used to. I have one inbuilt box for both, much tidier.

*networking recess box in garage? Which will include phone, TV and networking. Works ok when on a budget. Speak to sparky about what they plan to do

*Don't put the gas hot water there, put it on the back of the wardrobe of the two bedrooms that back on to each other. It's more central, and you won't hear it in master that way.

*could potentially swap gas cylinder location with heatpump, to remove the issue with fibre. Fibre can't be close to cylinders, same with heatpump. But heatpump can be next to fibre as far as i'm aware.

*what is the heating in the bedrooms?

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