ᐅ Electrical Planning – How Many Outlets Are Enough?

Hi, we had our electrical consultation on Friday to discuss where everything should be installed.

Attached is a plan showing how we planned it with the electrician. Almost all our wishes were included; there were hardly any suggestions for improvement.

In the pictures, the power outlets are marked in orange.

For internet/telephone, we only have 2 lines. He wanted to charge 108€ per outlet for more lines, so we are now doing it ourselves, meaning there will be an internet connection in every room.

Living room: 4-2-4 power outlets plus TV, and 2 plus another 2 outlets.

Hallway: 1 outlet at the front and at the back, plus a telephone connection.

Utility room: besides the appliances themselves, for washing machine and dryer there are 2 individual outlets.

Guest WC: 1 outlet.

Home office: 3 power outlets plus telephone and TV, and 2 times 1 outlet.

Upstairs:

Children’s rooms: 3 outlets plus TV and 2 times 2 outlets.

Dressing room: 2 individual outlets in the middle at the top (for Ikea Pax light). Also, the light switch for the bedroom is in the dressing room... is that a good setup? (Red dot-arrow)

Bedroom: 3 outlets plus TV, and next to the bed, 3 outlets on each side (would it be better to have these lower or slightly higher so they are above the bedside table? Since baby monitors, phones, etc. are plugged in daily.)

Storage room: 2 individual outlets.

Bathroom: 2 outlets on the left side of the vanity wall. Additionally, a ceiling light in front of the shower. Are there any suggestions for improvement here? Should one outlet be left there with a spotlight that shines into the shower, or use that one outlet to install LED spots in the ceiling?

Hallway at the back: 1 outlet.

So, now the pictures follow, which hopefully are clear.

I would appreciate your feedback and suggestions for improvements.

Skip the telephone sockets; no one really needs them... just install 2x CAT7 RJ-45 sockets in every room and 4x RJ-45 sockets behind the TV and in the home office, all terminating at the main distribution frame (MDF) so you can connect everything as you like and also run phones through the same system.

I still need to add power outlets in the kitchen and dining room... the upper floor (second floor) plan is not visible.

Consider planning speaker sockets in the living room and satellite connections throughout.

Don’t forget the staircase lighting...

Hi, thanks first of all.
I’m not very skilled with networking.

Why leave out the telephone completely? We need to be reachable by phone.
The RJ45 you mentioned looks like a regular network cable, should I just lay it loose in a room?
Not coming from the wall through a socket?
And why 2 of these in every room and 4 behind the TV, or 4 in the office? The PC only needs one connection.

According to the kitchen plan, there are sockets in the kitchen; here there are 6 available for general use.

In the dining room we have (n)one, meaning the 2 on the wall directly facing the living room.
It’s an open dining-living room.

Speaker sockets?
I will install the speaker cables myself.

We have satellite TV in the living room, office, both kids’ rooms, and the bedroom.

There is also stairway lighting; the light is mounted on the ceiling upstairs, so it can also shine down. There is 1 switch downstairs and 2 switches upstairs for this light.

P.S.: The image for the upper floor works for me.

305er schrieb:
Why completely remove the phone? We need to be reachable by phone after all.

Please read my post carefully... It says you can use the CAT7 cables you install perfectly for the phones as well. For every single one of them.

305er schrieb:
The RJ45 you mentioned looks like a normal network cable, should I just leave it loose in a room?

Of course not loose, but with a double socket each or two sockets at the TVs and in the study.

305er schrieb:
The PC only needs one connection.

Yes, but you won’t have a network printer, or network external drive, or other devices??? And if the cables aren’t installed beforehand, retrofitting is mostly impossible.

305er schrieb:
Speaker sockets? I’ll lay the speaker cables myself.

I thought your questions were not only about what the electrician does but generally what’s missing. Since you also wrote that you will install the network yourselves.

305er schrieb:
There is stair lighting as well, so the light hangs from the ceiling upstairs and can shine downwards. We have one switch downstairs and two switches upstairs for that light.

I meant the step lighting, not the usual ceiling light...

What mycraft is also getting at with the speakers: In a new build, you can easily install the cables inside the walls. Of course, you can still add them later, but then only on the surface.

You do need to think a bit about how you want it. I have placed all of them centrally and can control them from there at the server with any device.

Is there also an outdoor power outlet? A doorbell? It could be useful to install a thick underground cable to the garden and/or to the garage/carport/parking space. Some people also plan for a three-phase power outlet (for concrete mixers, garden tools, etc.).

Telephone sockets are really no longer necessary if you install network cables/network sockets. You can transmit telephone signals through these cables as well. Simply run the telephone line from the main telephone connection to the place where all the network cables converge (please also search the forum for "network ..." since this topic has been discussed several times here, for example how to manage it with a Fritzbox and so on).