Technology for complicated homes.
Most smart-home advice assumes a 2,000 sq ft house on one floor. We write for the other houses: big floor plans, detached garages and ADUs, thick walls, coax instead of Ethernet, yards and pools and gates. Planning-first — decide the architecture before you buy the gear.
Start with the plan, not the product
- How to Get Wi-Fi in a Detached Garage or ADU
Six methods to get real Wi-Fi in a detached garage or ADU, ranked by what actually works — with distance bands and the honest limits of each.
- Mesh Wi-Fi on Real Floor Plans: Placement, Wall Materials, and Node Math
Where mesh nodes actually go in a large home: ASCII placement diagrams, wall-material derating, and sq-ft-per-node math you can do on a napkin.
- The Large Home Network Shopping List: What to Buy, in What Order
Router, switch, APs, rack, UPS, cable — what to buy in what order for a large home network, with real budget tiers from $400 to $2,500+.
- Water Shutoff Valves Compared: Moen Flo vs Phyn Plus vs Flume 2
Automatic water shutoff for a large home: Moen Flo vs Phyn Plus vs Flume 2 on insurance discounts, false shutoffs, subscriptions, and install.
- Wired Access Points vs Mesh for a 5,000+ sq ft Home
A decision guide for large homes: when wired access points win, when mesh is fine, real cost math for both, and what to do when you can't run Ethernet.
All guides
- Freeze & Water Monitoring for Detached Buildings
- How to Get Wi-Fi in a Detached Garage or ADU
- Mesh Wi-Fi on Real Floor Plans: Placement, Wall Materials, and Node Math
- MoCA Adapters for Wired Backhaul: Turning Coax Into Ethernet
- Outdoor Wi-Fi Planning for Yards, Pools, and Gates
- PoE Camera System Planning for a Large Property: Placement First
- The Large Home Network Shopping List: What to Buy, in What Order
- Water Shutoff Valves Compared: Moen Flo vs Phyn Plus vs Flume 2
- Wired Access Points vs Mesh for a 5,000+ sq ft Home
- Wireless Bridge Comparison: NanoStation vs CPE510 vs Pre-configured Kits