Houston Security Alarm  Pre-Wiring

Houston Security alarm pre-wiring is another service that Texstar Alarm Systems offers. Many alarm companies are not interested in pre-wiring your home. They only want to come in and do the monitoring after another company has taken the time to do all the construction work.

Here at Texstar Alarm Systems we encourage our customers who are building a home to have their home pre-wired for security. It is much easier to wire a home when it is in the construction phase than it is once the home is built. Pre-wiring your home for security will enable you to have more coverage for less money than if you were to install the same exact system once the home is built.

What is Standard on an Alarm Pre-wire?

When a home is under construction, it is standard to pre-wire all accessible openings. But what does that entail? On a one story home, it would include contacting all doors and windows that open. But on a two story home, it would only include all openings downstairs, and any openings upstairs that have a landing underneath a window where someone could theoretically climb up. If a window is on the 2nd story, and has no ledge underneath it, it is not standard to pre-wire that opening.

It is also standard to pre-wire for 3 keypad locations (garage entry, front entry, and master bedroom) and 1 motion location in the main living area. Necessary phone and power lines should also be ran as part of a standard package.

What Should You Look Out for When Having Your Home Pre-wired?

Just like any other service that you will hire when building your home, you need to make sure that your alarm pre-wire company doesn't take shortcuts.

• For beginners, make sure that they are a licensed company in the State of Texas. Many installers will try to do side jobs using the wire and contacts from the company that they work for full time. These people are not insured, and if something happens to them, you could have a problem.

• Here at Texstar Alarm Systems, we run 1 individual wire to each window. Many companies will string 7 or 8 windows together on 1 wire run in order to save money on wire. Many times during construction, a wire may get cut. If the wires are individually run to each window, then you only have 1 window to fix if a wire got cut. But if there happen to be 7 or 8 windows on 1 run like in our example, then every window after the point in which the wire was cut will not work. In this case you may have 2 windows working, and 6 that are not. If you are getting a cheap price for an alarm pre-wire, it is very likely that this is one tactic that alarm company will use to save money.

• Another shortcut to watch out for is the use of dummy contacts. Homes that are pre-wired with dummy contacts as opposed to real contacts, will usually have a greater installation cost due to the increased labor of digging out the dummy contacts and the cost of the contacts themselves.

• Any low voltage wiring should be ran separate from the electrical lines. Many companies just run their security wire in the electrician's holes. This is a big NO-NO. The electromagnetic interference that the 110 romex lines put off may cause inadvertent false alarms later on down the road. Every now and then you have to use the electrician's holes in such places like under a bath tub or in a bay window area. But this should be the exception and not the rule.

Additional Costs You Need to Consider

• Vinyl windows will usually incur an additional charge due to the increase cost of the contact and the extra labor involved. If you are not having your system trimmed out, it will also require an additional trip.

• Double hung windows are treated as 2 openings if you wish to have the top of the double hung windows wired.

• Some wood windows may require specialized contacts for proper installation.

• Specialized construction such as concrete walls, 3 story homes, or metal frame construction will also have additional wiring costs due to specialized wiring methods that must be used.

When Should You Schedule Your Security Pre-wire?

You should schedule your security alarm pre-wire after the electrician and ac contractors have finished their rough-ins. Scheduling the alarm pre-wire before these contractors are done is inviting a wire to get cut. But always remember that giving your alarm company as much advance notice as possible is very helpful.

Give Us a Call & We'll Quote Your Houston Security Alarm Pre-wire Right Over the Phone

Feel free to give us a call and we can give you a quote right over the phone in most cases. We will need your count of accessible windows and doors, the size of the home, and the type of windows that you are installing. We will also need to know if the home is a 1 story, 2 story, or other.

Give us a call today @ 281-272-8600 or you can email us at info@texstaralarms.com

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