Do a full ethernet job because on the back of the mounting health alarm about 5G radiation, all the other recent radiations - 4G and lower, wifi incl IoT, radio-link broadband, are going to come under scrutiny at last. Suddenly everyone will be reverting to hard wiring.

As you've spotted, it's not just a question of enough sockets, it's a question of where to put them. I tried to put at least one on every separate 'piece of wall' (i.e. between doorways and/or corners). I put them 400 mm away from the doorway (light switches are 100 mm from doorways). If I did it again, I might be tempted to put one 400 mm away from either side of every doorway. I also put a dozen double sockets in a special box in the corner of the living room, but maybe half that many would be adequate.

I also installed 2.5 T+G cables to several points that I thought might require high power loads (mainly heaters) and led them back to the consumer unit. I've connected those few where I've actually installed heaters. Having dedicated radial circuits mean they can be controlled more precisely if I ever choose to automate them. There are dedicated circuits for various kitchen appliances and then a couple of ring circuits for upstairs and downstairs (and a couple of similar lighting circuits with careful mismatches to ensure there is still light available if any one circuit trips). There's also an alarm circuit and a solar circuit.

I installed ethernet points everywhere I thought they might be required, with a couple of hubs connecting them all together. I used cat-5e since it's simpler to install than cat-6 and haven't felt the need for any greater speed. I use wired connections wherever possible, but obviously mobile devices use wi-fi. My ISP-supplied router covers the whole house with wi-fi, but I could just plug in another repeater if necessary.

I don't worry about electromagnetic radiation :)

Posted By: fostertomBTW DECT is the strongest source of such radiation by a factor of ten or something - have wired phones.

What's your source for this particular 'fact', Tom? Given that DECT phones operate pretty close to one of the mobile bands but at a quarter of the power.

If you use table lamps or reading lights or mood lamps or what ever consider having 5A sockets for lamps wired back to a wall switch by the door so that as you walk out of the room you can switch off all the lamps at once.

Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryIf you use table lamps or reading lights or mood lamps or what ever consider having 5A sockets for lamps wired back to a wall switch by the door so that as you walk out of the room you can switch off all the lamps at once.

Perhaps a good idea, although you need to anticipate exactly where you might want the auxiliary lights. I think I'd be more inclined to use a wireless switch and wireless relays in the light circuits, though we haven't felt the need for this either.

Posted By: fostertome.g. http://www.tetrawatch.net/media/bfs_dect.pdf

Right:

"The maximum allowed SAR rate is as follows:
0.08 W/kg for the entire body
2.00 W/kg for parts of the body, for example for the head
DECT telephones have a SAR value for the head of less than 0.1 W/kg, a fraction of the recommended guideline of 2.0 W/kg."

"there is no conclusive proof that they cause health damage, as long
as the guidelines are not exceeded. A particular danger from pulsed systems, as it is often
claimed, has not yet been scientifically proven."

And that's for the ten-year old technology, not current day systems. Elsewhere they say the principal biological effect is heating, so if your ears get warm put the phone down for a bit.

Posted By: djhthey say the principal biological effect is heating, so if your ears get warm put the phone down for a bit

The industry has mainstreamed the idea that brain tissue microwave-heating is the sole criterion for biological damage from phone radiation - because it's easy to comply with safety standards for that - almost the only criterion that's regulated.

But heating is just the tip of the iceberg of biological effects observed by numerous non-industry researchers, which are mainly pervasive i.e. aren't 'cured' by moving the phone away from the ear, but poorly understood because deliberately unresearched and/or supressed by big-gun industry. Remember the tobacco industry?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JI7-9_FRYc
See other testimonies to this Senate Committe also esp Dr Sharon Goldberg.

https://pongcase.com/blog/cell-phone-radiation-affect-brains-activity
"The observed brain activity change cannot be explained by only a heating (or thermal) effect as a result of temperature rise from energy absorption. However, no underlying biological mechanism has been identified to explain the effects. We also don’t know what health consequence may be resulted from such repeated stimulations. More research is still needed to understand the mechanism and long-term health effects of cell phone radiation on humans. The current safety standard did not take into account any non-thermal effects, such as evidenced in the above studies. As of today there is no known safe level of exposure to cell phone radiation."

"effects of cell phone radiation on humans" - not just humans - animals and plants too - a component of the extinction crisis.

Radiation screening as good or better than an aftermarket Pong case could be incorporated in mobile phones for pennies - but the manufacturers won't because it would be an admission that the radiation is harmful. Remember the tobacco industry?

Look online at the new uproar of health (and surveillance) alarm over the 5G rollout - orders of magnitude stronger than previous anti-mast anti-wifi agitation. It's all coming out at last.

For the kitchen worktop lighting I have PIR sensors wired in so they come on automatically, and switch off after a fixed delay after inactivity. Really nice not having to switch on the lights when you have dough on your hands (or worse)

Should be doable with every circuit on an RCBO if you look around online you can get them for very reasonable prices and no I'm not even talking about oddly named brands made in China.

The other future looking curiosities I would consider are any physical impact varying time of day tariffs and metering / consumption monitoring will have on how things are setup. There are a lot of neat DIN rail mountable kWh and other meters that would be interesting if your into home automation and tech in general.

Despite all that there is certainly an argument for keeping it simple and controlling costs because standards change and technology is continually evolving especially as the way we produce and consume electricity is being somewhat reinvented.

Sorry to have hijacked the thread with 5G and all that!

Thanks all, some good suggestions here.

I’d also like to wire in some motion sensor night lights for night time loo visits without waking the whole house up. I see I can easily buy inexpensive plug in or battery powered ones I stick to the wall which would be perfect for a retrofit but would feel like a bit of a fail if I’ve just had the whole house rewired.

Does anyone know of any mains powered ones I could point my electrician in the direction of?

Fail is probably a bit strong. I thought a hard wired option would be simpler in the long run and more aesthetic but having spent longer than I’d like looking for them I’ve given up ( I’d have to get a separate PIR sensor and wire that to separate lights). The dedicated PIR sensors don't switch off in day light like the cheap plug in ones do either so it looks like I’d better plan on a few more sockets.

Posted By: HoveTomI’d also like to wire in some motion sensor night lights for night time loo visits without waking the whole house up.

Does anyone know of any mains powered ones I could point my electrician in the direction of?

These people may be able to adapt their staircase kit for your purpose: https://www.stellarlighting.co.uk/stair-lighting" > (seem to be made by http://www.stairled.eu/intelligent-stairs-illumination.html" >) Cool, but probably OTT and not cheap. May be looking for something similar myself soon...

One question in my mind is whether any power or wiring at all is needed at switch locations. If one committed to the idea of using the Qinetic system throughout (or an equivalent) then all switches are unpowered. The only wiring that is needed is power to everywhere there might be a desire for a luminaire, so that a receiver and luminaire(s) can be fitted.

I haven't had any problems so far with my wireless switches, so this is starting to look like an attractive possibility to me were I contemplating a new build or a refurb. I expect the material and labour savings of not fitting switches and associated wiring would pay for the receivers and wireless switches.

Posted By: borpinI would not want to rely on batteries

The switches don't have batteries.