5 Things To Consider Before Wiring Up Your Smart Home

A few key fundamentals for would-be smart home first-timers.

ReadWriteHomeis an ongoing series exploring the implications of living in connected homes.

If you don't already live in a smart home, odds are good that you will before long.

When that day comes, your connected residence will be like a member of the familyor, more likely, a butler. Just like Carson on Downton Abbey, your home will know when youre home or away. It will respond to your commands, or kick into high gear at your mere presence. And it will manage your lights, locks, interior climate and more, just the way you want them, with little to no prompting from you.

According to Gartner, the number of connected devices installed will increase 30-foldby 2020, from 900 million in 2009 to 26 billion units by 2020. It's an eye-catching figure, made more so by the fact that it doesn't include our favorite connected gadgetssmartphones, tablets and computers. More than anything, this speaks to the momentum of the Internet of Things (IoT) and one of its primary sub-categories: the connected home.

With IoT, connected machines and devices talk to each other, allowing for heightened levels of control, monitoring and automation. This extends to environments both public (think city infrastructure, utilities and transportation) and private (like your house and the appliances in it). Its an exciting thought. But it can also be confusing and nervewrackingparticularly for folks delving into this topic for the first time.

So we've laid out some of the major considerations for the connected home below, to give you a leg up on this emerging trend before it lands on everyone's doorstep.

The terms connected home and smart home are basically new labels for an old concept. Home automation, control and security systems have been around for decades. What separates them from todays products is, among other things, price. In the past, only the wealthy could really afford to trick out their domiciles.

While there are still plenty of expensive systems available from architects and contractorsfor prices ranging froma few thousand dollars to millionsthey're no longer the only options.Advances in wireless technology and mobile devices, as well as falling component prices, have lead to more convenient and affordable connected products.Practically all of them offer smartphone control and,even better for renters, many dont require permanent fixtures or rewiring.

This intersection of innovation and economics has led to an explosion of new smart products. (Amazon's online store even carved out adedicated home automation section, as haveHome Depotandother retailers.) Recent estimates from Juniper Research predict the smart home market will double over the next few years, from $33 billion in 2013 to $71 billion by 2018.

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5 Things To Consider Before Wiring Up Your Smart Home