There (of course) are a couple of different types of systems on the market. You
should know which type you want to go with prior to pre-wiring your new house.
One type are two-wire (addressable) systems which only use 2 wires for power,
signal, etc. and are read by their addresses on the circuit. These systems
install in that somewhat of a daisy chain so you can run a wire to one device,
from there to another, etc etc. Also there are standard devices which are
addressed by which terminal they are installed to in the panel. Personally, I
prefer this type of system as if one device fails, atleast the rest of your
property will be covered. So depending on the type of system that interests you
most, I would go with 22/2 wire for the addressable and 22/4 or 22/6 wire for
the standard or more common system type. Then again, there is always wireless
(no one tell paul I said that). As far as what and where you will need as far as
devices, I would have to see the place to make this decision. To start, I would
place door contacts on all entryways and a smoke/carbon monoxide detector in the
utility and garage areas. Instead of wiring all of your windows with contacts,
place a motion detector in each room where a lot of windows will be installed
aimed towards the windows. Roughly, I think a 500ft box of 22ga. wire runs about
$2-300 depending on where you get it.
AA

"John Smith" wrote in message
om...
| I am building a new house, and as an almost afterthought, I want to install
| prewiring for an alarm system. I am thinking of just prewiring the system for
| now, and purchase the system/subscription later. The drywall is not up, so
| this should be reasonably easy to do.
|
| System wise, I don't want to commit to a particular system/vendor yet, and I
| want flexibility of choosing from different provider later. I assume that all
| the wires are compatible amongst the many different systems (ie, the three
| wires for power, ground, and signal, same gauge requirements, etc)? If not,
| what should I look for?
|
| What can I expect to pay for this? How do I spot a good installer? What
| questions do I ask? How many sensors should I install (I am thinking all the
| doors, all the windows, fire, water, smoke, low O2 (is there such thing), what
| else am I missing?)?
|
| Thanks.