Smart House Spec. Sheet 1.0

Spec. Sheet Smart House 1.0

Note: This spec sheet is, and will always be, a work in progress. New specifications will be added and old ones may be removed.

I will be using the term smart house, this is a whole concept and includes, in whole or in part, terms like intelligent houses, passive houses, ECO houses etc. In short the concept is based on that the house should be as environmentally friendly as possible, as energy efficient as possible and prepared for the future in a clever way. This includes network accessibility, zone controls for audio and video etc. as well as possibilities for central storage and media streaming. It should also be possible to control power management, indoor climat etc.

Smart houses are generally associated with compact living, though this is not wrong in any way, my belief is that a house can be big and still be smart. Personally I like spacious houses and therefor I will not include compact living in this project.  I might borrow some ideas though; one good idea should not necessarily exclude another.

Some of the technology and/or techniques I want to make use of exists already some do not, to my knowledge, or are relatively rare. This spec is therefore more of a guideline or a whish list. Not just a list of demands.

This specification also includes my personal thoughts on each subject specified.

1 Area.

As stated earlier compact living is not my cup of tea. I think that 150 square meters (about 1650 square ft.) is a minimum for an active family consisting of two adults and two children. I personally would prefer a lot more though. I have a lot of interests and can make use of a lot of space. Work areas, workshop, carpentry, office, music room etc. Since this house is not only intended for me and my children, but for events, guests, demos etc. there must be sufficient space for guests staying overnight, cooking capabilities for larger parties and so on. About 10 rooms, kitchen and garage/workshop would suffice for starters. An area of between 350 and 550 square meters (between 3900 and 6100 square ft.) should be enough.

2 Construction, foundation.

Concrete plate of latest standard with a sand coffin, which acts as a thermos and thus decreases the houses response to thermal differences. Floor heating system shall be integrated in the foundation and have the ability to be controlled separately for each room.

3 Construction, walls.

Celblocks with a thin plaster exterior. 500millimeters in outer and load bearing walls as well as where sound isolation is of higher importance. Inner walls built from 100millimeters thick celblocks.

These walls have excellent isolation index, thermal as well as sound. The also store heat which they give away during the night. This results in a more even indoor climate when, for instance, days are warm and nights are cold.

4 Construction, floor structure.

Floor structure between first and second floor should be cellblock except for the “floating” room which should probably have a floor structure made of timber.

5 Construction, roof.

 Self-supporting roof truss out of plywood. 500millimeters of isolation. Steel binder.  Roof exterior out of self-supporting solar panels which should supply heated water as well as electricity.

6 Heating/HVAC and energy.

A lot of my concept is about long-term cooperation, not competition. For instance: manufacturers of heating systems should not compete. I believe they should complement one another. I’m not sure this is even possible with today’s systems but it could look something like this: a geothermal  or earth heating system could be the main system, supported by a pellets burner when it gets really cold. Solar panels could produce warm water and electricity when it’s sunny during summer. Last but not least, the indoor air should be changed at least 2 times per day to achieve a nice, healthy indoor climate and it would be shames just letting all the energy in already heated air go to waste. Therefor we should also have a HVAC system which brings cool when hot and warmth when cold. Household appliances that must be on, e.g. cooler, fridge and server etc., should be placed in a way that admits having use for the heat produced. A centrally placed shaft connected to the HVAC could handle this. All rooms, as far as possible, should be able to control their climate independently and by automation. For instance lowering the temperature in a room seldom used. All electrical outlets should be relay controlled and thus having the ability to cut the power completely and avoid gadgets in standby mode. All lighting sources should be built in LED to lower power consumption. You should always have the ability to get easily understandable info about the houses and its individual components power consumption

7 Network/Communication.

All rooms in the house should have a minimum of two times two network connections. All network connections of Cat6, Cat7 or HD-BaseT standard. Wireless network access points of draft n standard. All rooms should have access to audio and video recording. Centrally placed master switch with PoE. Smaller secondary switches where needed. Central router/firewall with Gb LAN. See also point 10.

8 Control.

Preferably remote control of house as well as audio and video features should be managed with Android bases devices since Android is an open platform. Preferably you should be able to access the house, webcams, remote control functions etc. with Android smartphones/tablets, Windows PC:s, Windows Mobile devices and Apple devices. Alarm and surveillance should be integrated in the home control as much as possible.

9 Audio and video.

At least four zones of surround sound: master bedroom, living room, garage/workshop and the kids “media room”. These four zones should also have in wall stereo speakers. All other rooms/zones should have in wall stereo speakers with the possibility to upgrade at a later point. All sound should be able to play as one in “house mode”. HDMI 1.4 (3D) matrix switch for distribution of audio and video to/from selected zones. All screens, projectors and sources of full HD and 3D capable standard.

10 Computers.

Computers should, if possible, be placed centrally and controlled over the network. Workstations, laptops and tablets for every task from CAD to internet browsing and home control. See also separate computer spec.

11 Car/Motorcycle.

This is one where I’m not sure. I have a couple of ideas but I’m not done yet… How could the car and/or the motorcycle be integrated in this concept? Automatic sync. Of media? Automatic control of who’s coming and going? Automatic alarm on/off? Please submit your ideas!

12 Surveillance.

The whole house should be camera monitored. Cameras with motion and sound detectors and night vision. All cameras should be accessible through remote control as well as internet etc. Cameras should be integrated with the security system. All cameras should have PoE. All cameras should record to a separate mirrored NAS HDD.

13 Floors.

Which is the smartest, most comfortable and environmentally friendly floor? Wood or laminate etc.???

Please note that English is not my mother tongue, I hope I didn’t make any major errors and that you understood my idea.

Next up is specs for car, motorcycle and computers as well as an overview of my concepts possibilities.