Wiring a house for an alarm

B1977

My house was never wired for an alarm.I am now hoping to get an alarm.Would it be cheaper to get it wired by an electrician first and then call the alarm company to fit it.?I dont want wireless,can anyone tell me what are the components of a house alarm,ie what would need to be fitted inside the house.thanks

KoolKid

If you are getting an electrical rewire then it would be cheaper to get an electrician to include the alarm wiring. Otherwise your alarm company can do the whole lot & advise on the best way to wire.
Why are you against wireless? Depending on your house layout it may be better value.
Components wise you will need
cable to all downstairs windows & doors
cable to all accessible upstairs windows (other upstairs windows optional)
Cable to at least 1 PiR (hall or landing)
Cable to internal siren (Hall or landing, but not adjacent to control panel)
Cable to external bell
Cable to keypad hall (other areas if required)
Cable to panic buttons are required
Cable to phone line if you require monitoring or text alerts
Mains cable from fuse board to main control panel

derek_g34

Are you carrying out other work in the house at the moment i.e. an electrical rewire. If not, depending on the construction of your house i.e. wooden floors, it can sometimes be difficult to conceal the cables for an intruder alarm system.

Why do you not want a wireless system? They are the neatest systems to install, especially in a house where you dont want to disrupt the decor.

A typical intruder alarm system will include inertia detectors and/or magnetic reed contacts on all perimeter windows and doors, especially on the ground floor and easily accessible first floor windows. Also motion detectors, these can be located in all rooms if you wish or limited to places like hallways and landings where they will create "trap" protection.
You may also want to wire for panic buttons, usually adjacent to entry/exit doors and beside your bed. Other thing you will need to wire for are keypads, again adjacent to entry/exit doors and maybe one in your bedroom. Very handy if you have forgotten to turn the alarm on at night or if the alarm goes off during the night. Lastly, an internal siren (on the landing somewhere) an external siren (somewhere at the front which is inaccessible) and done forget a phoneline if you intend to have the system monitored.

All of these devices should we wired back to somewhere out of the way, like a utility room. If you decide to go wireless, the only things you will need to wire back to the panel are the the sounders, keypads and phoneline.

derek_g34

You bet me to it Koolkid:D

KoolKid

NPs extra good advice is better than bad. LOL