About three years ago, I finished renovating and moved into my first apartment of my own. I have a relatively modest “kopeck piece” of up to 65 squares of the total area in a new building – there is a parking space for a car and a storage room in the basement, but they will not take part in the story. Initially, there were bare walls – they drew the project together with the designer, so all the nuances had to be thought out. It worked out well, but there were some mistakes. Within the framework of this material, I will tell you about those related to technology – I will not talk about laminate instead of tiles in the kitchen, although there were also many such mistakes.
Didn’t foresee smart heating
Have to install an expensive wireless system
I have individual heating in my apartment with a gas boiler. The device itself received a trailer to the area from the developer and to this day I already understood that it was necessary to take something more expensive, but economical. However, another thing is much more important – room temperature control. In the standard, the boiler is able to determine only the heating of water, which it drives through the system, but knows nothing about air. As a result, you have to constantly change the power of the device manually. Gas consumption is also higher. During the renovation phase, good wired room temperature sensors with a controller for the boiler could be provided. Now we have to look at more expensive and less functional wireless.
Didn’t wire Ethernet to TVs
Wi-Fi at 5 GHz does not always cope
I consider myself to be adherents of wireless technologies and I consider laying wires at the repair stage not the best idea. However, the previous point of this material already proves even to myself that there must inevitably be exceptions to such beliefs. One of them is good old Ethernet. I made sure that even high-speed Wi-Fi at 5 GHz is not always enough for the reliable operation of streaming services on TVs in 4K resolution – at least the same Netflix. Every now and then there are “blunts”, which are associated, to a greater extent, with interference inside the apartment itself. The problem, including the location of the router. But this dependency could be eliminated by laying Ethernet.
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Didn’t think about the location of the router
It is hidden behind the sliding doors of the wardrobe
I would never have thought that sliding doors could affect the quality of the Wi-Fi signal. However, if they are completely mirrored, then such a state of affairs is quite possible. I have repeatedly confirmed this with my own experience. For example, during TeamSpeak communication, you can control packet loss. If you close the doors to the cabinet in which the router is installed, the percentage of those lost increases noticeably – up to approximately 15-25%. It doesn’t matter for normal internet use, but streaming of any plan can be problematic – even at 5 GHz. Now, putting out another Internet cable somewhere = spoil a relatively recent renovation.
Didn’t understand the security system
If in an amicable way, now it needs to be redone
Now I understand perfectly well that there are obvious leaders in the modern security systems market. With them, sensors and everything else can be controlled using a smartphone, and the entire ecosystem of gadgets, which works wirelessly, is seriously developing, offering more and more new and interesting solutions. However, three years ago he himself did not hear anything about security systems, so he relied on a state agency that cooperates with the police. Now I do not have any remote control, and I only learn about triggering when not at home from the guys who have already come to the call. For all this, he also threw wires throughout the apartment. In the end, I’m still going to switch to something more modern, which could be delivered right away.
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Didn’t separate the heating in the bathroom
It only works together with the entire overall system.
The main thing in the implementation of heating in the bathroom is a heated towel rail. Warm floors for the winter may or may not be – it’s a matter of taste. But without a coil, nowhere. I have it powered by a boiler, which, accordingly, turns on only in winter. As a result, in summer, the pipes in the bathroom are cold, and after the shower, towels have to be taken out on a folding dryer on the balcony. It cost me nothing to install an electric heated towel rail, but didn’t even think about it during the renovation. Now we are suffering. Recently I was told that a special heating element can be installed in an existing coil. But it needs to be powered somehow. Pulling a carrier in a minimal bathroom is surreal. However, I have not yet found another way out. Can you tell me?
Didn’t foresee sockets under the sink
It turns out that they are very much needed here.
Three years ago I would have laughed if I had been told that sockets were needed under the sink. Now I have a different opinion. Firstly, they are useful for connecting water purification systems – the same reverse osmosis can be with an electric pump that will need to be powered. Secondly, sockets will be needed for waste disposers, which I have been looking at more and more recently. Thirdly, you can install a compact external dishwasher under the sink, which, by the way, he himself, stupidly, did not foresee in his kitchen. Of course, it is easiest to throw the carrier into this not the most open place for views, but it would be much more pleasant to think about it even at the stage of repair.
Didn’t bring some outlets to the shield
Now they only have to be smart
I have one socket in the corner near each window. They are needed here in order to decorate the apartment with garlands-curtains on the eve of the New Year. We love this holiday very much, so we are proud of ourselves that we have provided such a thing (and more than one) in our apartment. Nevertheless, I did not think that the notorious garlands would have to somehow be turned off at night. Now for this you have to climb into a chair and pull the plugs out of the sockets. But it was possible to simply display separate toggle switches for these specific outlets on the dashboard – I have similar ones for air conditioners, but I completely forgot about the garlands. The only way out is to finally get smart sockets on the eve of the next holidays. But for three years now, hands have not reached this point.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.