New electrical wants?

[sakura]

We’ll be getting our house completely rewired to upgrade the panel and remove knob and tube. I saw someone mentioned in the other thread about lights that turn on when a closet door is opened. That got me thinking about what kind of improvements to make with the new electrical. We have a single story 1950’s MCM house with a walkout basement.
EV charging? Outdoor outlets?- how many& where? Smart home stuff? Can lighting? Extra outlets somewhere? What kind of things would be on your ‘wants’ or nice-to-have list?

[Deleted]

We have an outlet on our mantle which is super handy during the holidays. We also added an outlet at the bottom of the stairs, also for Christmas lights.

We have two outlets out front - one near the garage and one near the front door, both almost exclusively used for Christmas lights. Another outdoor plug on the back patio.

We ran electric out to our shed.

If you have any large tools, like a workshop in the garage, I’d recommend adding a sub panel.

[ellipses84]

USB/power combo outlets, especially in locations like above a countertop, under an island, near a side table or night stand. Even our electric toothbrushes charge via USB now. You have the advantage of being in the house and knowing what is annoying, like I wish I had another exterior outlet so I didn’t have to run such a long extension cord. I would always like an outlet in a hall closet, pantry or just inside the garage door to be able to plug in things that need to charge, like wireless vacuums, Dustbusters or power tools. A lot of those come with wall mounts but there’s never a logical place to plug in and mount them. LED lights with lighting controls, override switches and dimming capacities make a lot of difference in the atmosphere of your home.

[pumpkin]

I’d love outlets near my front door, garage, and back patio for Christmas lights out front and clear lights out back for the summer.

I’d also love extra outlets in my garage because there are 2 in the whole thing and that not nearly enough. Oh, also extra lighting in the garage.

[laterz]

if you don't already have under cabinet lighting and think you might want it in the future - have them hardwire an outlet in the cabinet somewhere.

definitely outlets in closets, and extra ones in the garage and patio.

[Roc A Bee]

I definitely wish we had at least one outlet in our closet.

[simpsongal]

We’re adding a higher amp outlet in our garage for charging an electric car.

[dr.girlfriend]

With our addition we included
- hardwired bedside reading lamps — love them
- USB plugs in bedside outlets. Ended up being moot because our end tables have electric/ USB plugs in them but would have been handy otherwise
- We have an instant hot water faucet in our kitchen that I love. Not sure it needed its own electrical but I would guess so
- Plugs in the built-in bookshelves - handy for our WiFi hubs
- Plug under eaves for Christmas lights wired to same switch as our porch light.

[dragon's breath]

You've had answers that cover most of what I'd do, but I'll add one near the toilet, so you can hook up a bidet seat if you want. I had to have my bathroom redone after some water damage (needed it anyway, the bathroom was old and fugly), so I had him add an outlet for a bidet seat and got one from Costco. I've had it a year and no regrets.

[aprilsails]

This is a total splurge item but I live in a cold climate and we have a heated towel rack in our bathroom. It is divine. Maybe something to look into.

Otherwise most of my suggestions have been covered. If you go with the plug for Christmas lights in the eaves put the switch as a timer. You can do the same for your outdoor lights as well.

[InBetweenDays]

You've gotten great suggestions. Only thing I would add is if you have any furniture placement where you'd want a floor plug. In our living room we have a sectional that floats in the middle of the room rather than sitting against a wall. We put a floor plug under it so we could plug in lamps without stretching the cords across the floor. So glad we did.

[sakura]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It makes me realize that the extra outlets I was thinking of aren’t outlandish and I want more now We currently have only 2 outlets in each of the kids rooms and no outlets in the basement bathroom so anything beyond that is a major improvement!

S/O kids rooms, I was thinking one on each wall, will we wish we had more when they’re teens and have more tech?

[sakura]

Nov 15, 2020 4:16:49 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

This is a total splurge item but I live in a cold climate and we have a heated towel rack in our bathroom. It is divine. Maybe something to look into.

Otherwise most of my suggestions have been covered. If you go with the plug for Christmas lights in the eaves put the switch as a timer. You can do the same for your outdoor lights as well.

Can you explain the switch as a timer? I think an eaves outlet would be great for xmas lights. And the previous owners bypassed the porch light switch for a dusk-dawn light that I’d really like to changed.

[Roc A Bee]

Nov 15, 2020 12:00:40 GMT -5 sakura said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. It makes me realize that the extra outlets I was thinking of aren’t outlandish and I want more now We currently have only 2 outlets in each of the kids rooms and no outlets in the basement bathroom so anything beyond that is a major improvement!

S/O kids rooms, I was thinking one on each wall, will we wish we had more when they’re teens and have more tech?

On the wall with the bed, I’d put two - spaced out so the bed would go in between them. Our room has 2 on each wall, but it is pretty large. A smaller wall may only need one.

[sakura]

Nov 15, 2020 0:14:58 GMT -5 dragon's breath said:

You've had answers that cover most of what I'd do, but I'll add one near the toilet, so you can hook up a bidet seat if you want. I had to have my bathroom redone after some water damage (needed it anyway, the bathroom was old and fugly), so I had him add an outlet for a bidet seat and got one from Costco. I've had it a year and no regrets.

Great suggestion, we have an add-on bidet that I’d love to upgrade one day. I have a weirdly personal question about the Costco bidet...when our bidet is turned on, you can hear the water spray throughout the house. Is the Costco one noisy?

[aprilsails]

Nov 15, 2020 12:05:37 GMT -5 sakura said:

Nov 15, 2020 4:16:49 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

This is a total splurge item but I live in a cold climate and we have a heated towel rack in our bathroom. It is divine. Maybe something to look into.

Otherwise most of my suggestions have been covered. If you go with the plug for Christmas lights in the eaves put the switch as a timer. You can do the same for your outdoor lights as well.

Can you explain the switch as a timer? I think an eaves outlet would be great for xmas lights. And the previous owners bypassed the porch light switch for a dusk-dawn light that I’d really like to changed.

www.leviton.com/en/products/vpt24-1pz
That’s really the only useful product on the market. It can turn on the lights based on the calendar for dusk and then off at a preprogrammed time, or you can set it to randomize a bit within a window so it looks like someone is home and turned on the lights themselves. It’s a bit of a splurge but it’s nice to not think about it ever once it’s programmed.

[InBetweenDays]

Nov 15, 2020 12:00:40 GMT -5 sakura said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. It makes me realize that the extra outlets I was thinking of aren’t outlandish and I want more now We currently have only 2 outlets in each of the kids rooms and no outlets in the basement bathroom so anything beyond that is a major improvement!

S/O kids rooms, I was thinking one on each wall, will we wish we had more when they’re teens and have more tech?

If you're redoing all the electrical I'm guessing you'll have to bring it up to code? If so I think code requires an outlet every 12' in bedrooms and living rooms. Kitchens above the counters I think it's every 4'. 

[dragon's breath]

Nov 15, 2020 12:16:54 GMT -5 sakura said:

Nov 15, 2020 0:14:58 GMT -5 dragon's breath said:

You've had answers that cover most of what I'd do, but I'll add one near the toilet, so you can hook up a bidet seat if you want. I had to have my bathroom redone after some water damage (needed it anyway, the bathroom was old and fugly), so I had him add an outlet for a bidet seat and got one from Costco. I've had it a year and no regrets.

Great suggestion, we have an add-on bidet that I’d love to upgrade one day. I have a weirdly personal question about the Costco bidet...when our bidet is turned on, you can hear the water spray throughout the house. Is the Costco one noisy?

There are only two of us in the house, and no clue how often my son runs it, so it's hard to answer with 100% certainty, but I don't hear the spray.  However, in my house, we only hear water running through the pipes if it's something big (bath/shower, dishwasher, clothes washer, outdoor water), and usually not the water where it's being used unless you're in that room or nearby.

[sakura]

Nov 15, 2020 13:29:19 GMT -5 dragon's breath said:

Nov 15, 2020 12:16:54 GMT -5 sakura said:

Great suggestion, we have an add-on bidet that I’d love to upgrade one day. I have a weirdly personal question about the Costco bidet...when our bidet is turned on, you can hear the water spray throughout the house. Is the Costco one noisy?

There are only two of us in the house, and no clue how often my son runs it, so it's hard to answer with 100% certainty, but I don't hear the spray.  However, in my house, we only hear water running through the pipes if it's something big (bath/shower, dishwasher, clothes washer, outdoor water), and usually not the water where it's being used unless you're in that room or nearby.

Thanks, that sounds better than what we have. I think it’s something to do with the water pressure and diameter of the bidet hose, as nothing else in the house is that noisy.

[sakura]

Nov 15, 2020 13:16:15 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Nov 15, 2020 12:00:40 GMT -5 sakura said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. It makes me realize that the extra outlets I was thinking of aren’t outlandish and I want more now We currently have only 2 outlets in each of the kids rooms and no outlets in the basement bathroom so anything beyond that is a major improvement!

S/O kids rooms, I was thinking one on each wall, will we wish we had more when they’re teens and have more tech?

If you're redoing all the electrical I'm guessing you'll have to bring it up to code? If so I think code requires an outlet every 12' in bedrooms and living rooms. Kitchens above the counters I think it's every 4'. 

Yes, we’ll bring it up to code. The bedrooms are both smaller than 12x12 so we may want to go beyond min. The kitchen and main bath was remodeled 30ish years ago so that should be closer to code than the rest of the house

[libbygrl109]

The one cool thing the previous owner did was have an outlet for the front yard that was controlled by an indoor switch. Super helpful for outdoor holiday decorations (lights, blow-ups my son has talked us into, etc.)

I wish we had put an outlet under our front bay window when we replaced the floor to ceiling window with a bay. Would have been nice to have an outlet just for our tree.

[SusanBAnthony]

We have a MCM rambler as well.

It has an attic fan but no accessible switch. I'd like it to be hooked up to a thermostat so it turns on and vents the attic when the attic temp gets hotter than some temp.

We have one outdoor outlet and it isn't grounded which makes Xmas lights very difficult. I would change that for sure.

My main electric pet peeves is stuff like I want all the basement lights on a master switch so I can turn the off from upstairs when the kids inevitably leave one light on.