Video Surveillance In the Works

Well, my security side couldn't help but come into play.  I just picked up an 8 channel, 4 camera Swann video surveillance system from Costco...and ended up ordering 4 additional cameras.  I have some cabinet painting to tackle this weekend but hoping to pull away to get a couple of camera's mounted on the perimeter of the house.

Here's what I got:

http://www.costco.com/Swann-8-Channel-D1-Real-Time-Security-System-with-500GB-Hard-Drive-and-4-High-Resolution-Cameras.product.100028117.html

Here's the console of the final install - I have this sitting in my office so I can see if from my desk:

Here's another shot once everything kicks into night-vision mode

I installed 2 cameras at the upper corner of the garage door to give me complete coverage of the front of the house and the driveway

 Here's a close up of the upper left camera

Also put one over the front door so we could see who's approaching without going to or opening the door

We've got 2 in the backyard so we get full coverage.  I still need to do some cable management and paint the cable so it matches the stucco.  Also need to fill the whole up top so no critters crawl through.  Not pictured are cameras on the side of the house.

Probably the hardest part of the project was running the cables. Here's a picture of the cable going through the garage. I bought a cable management staple gun from Home Depot which really came in handy.  Also had to order up some 100ft cables from Amazon for some of the longer runs.

Here are the cables running in the attic.  I did my best to keep everything need and well managed (as you can see, insulation upgrade / replacement is on the list.  Some of it's missing and just need to be redone)

Here's the one spot I couldn't really make any cleaner.  I just zip-tied the extra video wire and then hung them on a hook.   The cable runs down the wall into the office.  I have the camera dvr in a cabinet under the desk in my office.  

All in all - it was a fun project.  I'm working on setting up the cameras so we can view them remotely.  Paige likes the ability to fire up the cameras at night if she hears a noise.  Gives comfort in having full situational awareness around the perimeter of the house.  The funny part about all of this is that we live in a really nice neighborhood... making most of this unnecessary... but it was a fun project.  I recommend it.  It was definitely a hit at our housewarming party!

My First Post: Our First House

Brief History:  Jenny and I closed on this beauty on the last day of November as the weather was getting cold and the holiday season was in full swing.  On top of that, we were both finishing our semesters (Jenny is getting her MBA and I am finishing my Masters of Architecture)...  Fools!

The Details:  We had been casually looking for a house for about a  year and a half.  We loved our little downtown apartment so we weren't in a hurry.  We were spoiled living so close to the action so a major stipulation was that we needed to be able to walk to town.  This house was on the market for several months before we looked at it.  The only reason we gave it a shot was out of hopes of converting it two a two family (we'll see how that goes).  With a little luck and a lot of hard bargaining, we managed to negotiate this prize piece into our range.  We are in a great neighborhood about 3 blocks from the corner of downtown!  Map Link

As it stands, we have two bedrooms over the living room and dining room in the front and a third over the kitchen off the back wing.  There are two full baths and one half bath.  There are 5 fireplaces and a beehive oven, none of which are working... yet.  The house was build circa 1800 and is post and beam construction with pretty much no insulation.  As my brother will be quick to tell you, we have our work cutout for us.  Check for updates as we bring this classic Portsmouth colonial back to life Evan and Jenny style!

  

Welcome to our construction blog!  The idea is to share and showcase some of the projects we've been working on at our places.  This is old news to Ryan Mullen, but the new house construction is exciting for us new homeowners and we're excited to dive right in.  Post away!  I'll get some of the things Paige and I have been working on over the past couple of months.  Can't wait to see the projects!!

-Ernie