Smart ideas that make everyday life easier to install in the house

Regarding 3.
3. Presence detectors in all passage areas/bathrooms/kitchen/utility room so that no light switches are needed (we have partly not planned/installed them at all)
How can I retrofit this?

It is not a (built-in) presence detector now, but there are simple lights with motion detectors at the hardware store for little money with low energy consumption (the batteries last forever). Just placed somewhere (e.g. at medium height in the utility room) and the light turns on when you briefly pass through or want to get something. At least it saves the ceiling light for 3 seconds or keeps your hands free.

So what currently makes life in the house easier for me: * an additional central switch with which I can raise or lower all 5 roller shutters in the open living/dining/kitchen area at once. * a large garage that I can reach through the utility room and where the trash bin, etc., can also be reached without getting wet feet. * a large utility room behind the garage where the heating system, tools, workbench, sports equipment, and currently also the garden furniture are stored.

By the way, I also find the path from the bed to the door and back completely without light... with a 40cm passage next to the bed... without hurting myself... Don't worry, we are still planning at least 80cm on each side for the new build...

I also find voice control silly, but 10 years ago no one knew that we would all become smombies. My wife is a particularly extreme example, she can simultaneously chat on Facebook on the tablet and use WhatsApp on the smartphone... :-/ So maybe that is the future.

KNX/smart home is still quite a gimmick at the moment, as far as I know less than 1 percent of all new buildings are equipped with it. An acquaintance/electrician who is very familiar with the technology and did all the electrical work himself in his house... did... absolutely nothing with smart home. Electric shutters just with a normal switch, sockets, lamps, SAT/LAN/telephone etc. all in abundance but no KNX and no other smart home technology.

I think we have slowly drifted away from the original topic, smart ideas for everyday life for little money, a bit. What else comes to mind spontaneously:
- Trash bin with pull-out under the worktop or something like that, i.e. pull out, sweep peelings and stuff down, push in
- Dishwasher elevated (/ oven elevated... No, everyone knows that anyway...)
- You should consider from the start how to use or not use the space under the stairs
- Don't forget to plan the lighting (dining area, diffuse light, stair spots next to the stairs)
- Proper roof overhang -> passive building protection
- Attic: if cold and uninsulated, then mold could form if warm air rises in winter through the attic hatch; in my opinion better to insulate (boarding can happen later) and then also install light, electricity, network, windows and ventilation if it is worth it considering the size... Otherwise opening the first floor up to the attic gives a great spacious feeling
- However, if you keep it open to the top and want to install a roof window, then don’t choose it too small, otherwise it looks like a loophole, because the roof insulation is usually enormous in construction and the roof window is completely outside and not like a wall window roughly in the middle
- If you have a basement or space in the utility room: freezer there for long-term storage, so that no space is wasted in the kitchen freezer which is usually rather small
- Plan the shower large enough

Hi,

I am following your discussion with interest; admittedly, many things I am hearing for the first time here.

We don’t have KNX or home automation, we didn’t even know about it, but what I would now like to retrofit are timers for the roller shutters so that I don’t have to operate them all individually in the mornings and evenings. Does anyone have experience with this and can tell me what I need for it? So far, we have the plain up-down switches from Busch-Jäger from the Reflex SI series. Can I simply replace them with timer switches?

Otherwise, we have relatively few “extras” because we were largely very satisfied with the standard; after all, we previously lived in a dumps without any comfort and already consider our new house a total luxury. What has proven to be very practical, however:

- Storage room under the concrete stairs (was cost-neutral for us compared to the open wooden stairs and really offers a lot of space)
- Large and well-structured utility room, where we also installed clotheslines to easily dry, for example, large bedding
- Wall-mounted soap dispensers and toilet brush holders (otherwise they just get in the way when cleaning)
- A doormat grate that is recessed into the paving in front of the front door and side entrance so you can wipe your shoes before entering the house
- Switch for motion detector or constant light for outdoor lighting
- Central ventilation system

- Central ventilation system

This is one of the best decisions you could have made during the house construction... but to answer your question... there are different approaches to operate the shutters... either individual timers or also central controls...

The simplest solution for you, however, will be to replace the simple switches with simple timers... then they will go up or down on their own daily... unfortunately, simple timers are somewhat rigid, but often the shutter timers also have an astro function, meaning the shutters operate not only by time but also by sunrise/sunset.

Exactly, astro function, I'm currently flirting with that