snoozee

I DIY all these myself. if you want to find someone, must find a system integrator who can do both trades. else need to get 2 different contractors. I suggest you search online and then short list the possible companies and get them down to do a site survey. cos the network design must be done first so that you can get your electrician to lay the cables unless your system integrator can run the cables for you. check with your main contractor or electrician to see if they have any contacts. usually easier to work with someone whom they already know so easier to coordinate the works.

if your loft is more than 5 sqm, you will need BCA approvals. meaning a PE to design the structure and do the submissions, etc

Build a mezzanine floor depends on whether your current floor to floor height have enough clear or not. The legal clearance for floor to ceiling is 2.4m. So if you do not have at least 5.2m of floor to floor height for any of the storey, you can’t add a mezzanine. since you want to do such extensive work like extensions and mezzanine, better to just tear down and rebuild. At least you won’t have any existing structural limitations to work around.

this would be challenging. not sure if anyone in the market has done a sliding gate with built in electronic pedestrian gate or not. but technically it can be done as long as you have a way to do the cable management. maybe some kind of wiring which is stretchable like telephone cords can be used or a cable reel which releases and collects the cable as the gate is closed/opened. also most electronic pedestrian gates uses an electronic rim lock so the thickness of the rim lock needs to be considered as well.

it's due to the amount of phones (total 7 units) I need as well as having the broadcast functionality that I chose my Panasonic PBX. I can't possibly charge a cordless phone in my lift as well. The number of handsets you need really depends on your own family needs. I have one for each room and lift so the PBX which I got is just nice since it can support up to 8 extensions.

yes there are cooling fans that can be installed on top to extract the hot air. a server rack has standard sized mounting brackets for my networking equipment to mount to. also all my network cables are terminated onto a patch panel and then patch cords are used to connect the network switch to the network points on the patch panel. it just makes things neater and easier to maintain for me. also i have a rack mounted backup battery for my networking equipment, CCTV and video doorbell/intercom system as well. of cos you can do put your equipment anywhere you wish to. just that having 20 to 30 cables to manage is not going to be easy to organise and maintain. ultimately, it's up to individual preference.

My server rack is 600mm wide x 1000mm deep x 2100mm tall. This is a full sized server rack usually used in data centers. 600mm wide is minimum as the normal rack mounted equipments will be around 500mm wide. There are also wider, shorter and less deep ones as well. Some small ones can be mounted on the wall near the ceiling as well

Need to have a normal phone line subscription or plug in the digital phone line also can. But also depends on the model of the PBX system. I’m using a system from Panasonic

PBX stand for Private Branch Exchange. It’s basically a telephone system which allows for many phones to access the main lines to call out. So my main incoming telephone line is plugged to the PBX and all other telephones which are plugged into the PBX can call out. I also use the phones to intercom from one room to another room or I can broadcast to all rooms at one go as my PBX has this functionality. Useful for calling ppl within different floors of the house rather than shouting. In short, it is an office telephone system used in my house.

As long as you can get your wiring to the gate, it’s not an issue

The side gate will need to use an electronic lock which can be linked to a controller inside the house. The controller inside the house would then need to be accessible via the internet in order for you to do this remote unlocking. But you need to consider how you can remotely open your main door as well. So might as well get something with keypads instead so your authorized person can just punch the numbers to unlock

Yup. I have separate side gate. System is bought from AliExpress. Wired system. So far holding on quite well in the weather. My doorbell has aluminum face plate and has IP rating as well.

Depends on where your door arms are installed. The key is plugged into the arm to bypass. See the photo of my bifold door arm

not recommended to be keyless just in case of power failure. i'm using a video doorbell/intercom which can unlock the side gate via my video monitor from inside the house or using key card/fob from outside. but i still have a physical key in case of power failure. even though my system is hooked up to a UPS, battery will eventually run out after a couple of hours.

up to you to design your gate. the "side gate" can be added in the main bifold gate if you want. but do note that this becomes a cut out in the main gate so if you have tall people, need to bend down to go through else risk knocking the head as well as having to step over the bottom frame (risk of tripping). it is highly recommended to either do a separate side gate or integrated one rather than relying on opening the main gate to get in/out. do note that for comfortable movement through the side gate, a width of 800mm is recommended. so take not of this size when you design your bifold gate.

yes, nowadays people use marble gum to fill the gaps and grind down. but if the tiles are not laid to the recommended 3mm to 5mm wide, the possibility of tiles popping doesn't change. also do note that if you use marble gum on 3mm to 5mm wide gaps, it is not going to look good if you have marble patterned tiles due to the veins. it will not be that bad if the marble gum is used on single coloured tiles as the marble gum can be colour matched to the tile. marble is normally laid with a 1mm or lesser gap and marble gum is used to fill the gaps. my concern was the temperature fluctuations for the ground floor of a landed house is much more than a high rise apartment and cause tiles popping when insufficient gap is provided.

they are 20mm thick 654 flamed granite.

need to do soil investigation. check with the previous owners if they have soil investigation report? or ask around neighbours who had rebuilt in recent years? unless you need to do your own soil investigation due to extensions, it is unlikely you will do soil investigation for your house

what is your platform level and water table level? for homogenous tiles. do note that the recommended gap between tiles is 3mm to 5mm. many contractors lay the tiles with minimal gap to look nicer but end up having the tiles popping years down the road. my concern was also on tiles popping which is why i decided to spend a bit more on marble for my first storey. your photo grey tiles look like granite. i have that same colour granite for my driveway. do also note that tiles are not waterproof at the bottom. only the top glazed surface is waterproof. for driveway, heavy duty tiles are recommended to prevent cracking due to the weight of the car. there are 20mm thick porcelain tiles which look like granite. but the price difference for these tiles and granite is just 50 percent cheaper I got actual granite instead. another option for you is to lay granite cobblestones for your driveway

yup. termite treatment, plastic sheets then lean concrete. i think it also helps on the waterproofing to a certain extent. lucky my water table level is 1.3m below my platform level. but my neighbour not so lucky. as my house is higher than his, when it rains very heavily water seeps from my side garden through the ground and party wall. so end up my builder helped him to do up a scupper drain to channel the water instead of having the water flow everywhere

I think one way to mitigate is to use stone sealer for the granite and also apply waterproofing membrane on the concrete before applying screed and laying of tiles/marble/granite. my builder had laid plastic sheets on the soil before pouring lean concrete and then casting the first storey slab. later on, water proofing membrane was applied to the concrete floor slab before laying the screed and marble.

Work out how many lan points you need first for your TV, PC, printers, media boxes, access points, CCTV, etc. you can then decide to have a POE switch for all of these devices or have a separate POE network recorder for your CCTV. Plan for more than 1 port for each room as you need for pc connection and tv as well a network switch will generate some heat so a fully enclosed cabinet isn’t recommended. At least have some vent holes for the cabinet. You need to decide where to terminate all the lan cables as well as this is where the switch will be located. Ideally it should be in the same location as where your fiber termination point is at so your other router and ONT for fiber broadband is also in the same place

Paying more for something which many devices does have or support yet

A dedicated LAN point is always better than going through another device. Connection speed will be reduced for your PC when the Wi-Fi is also being used for the shared access point. just imagine two cars need to go from point A to point B. Having two separate lanes is better and faster than having just one lane as mentioned, since you are doing renovations, just pull as many points as you need now. You can never have enough points

You can specify in your tender. Also go down to site during the renovation to check on what products they are using