Why does nobody talk about zoning issues with wireless touchpads?

I was setting up a system in a new construction house outside Austin last week and the wireless touchpad kept losing connection to the main panel. Turns out the builder had metal mesh in the drywall that killed the signal. How do you guys handle RF interference from modern building materials?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasschmidt24d ago

Is it just me or does it feel like everything in modern houses is designed to kill wireless signals? I ran into the same issue with a Z-Wave hub in a place that had spray foam insulation with some kind of metallic additive. The builder probably had no clue their drywall mesh would mess with your touchpad. It's wild how much energy efficient windows and metal roofs can block RF too. My buddy had to run ethernet to every room in his new build because the mesh in the stucco walls basically turned the whole house into a Faraday cage. Seems like nobody thinks about this stuff until you're standing there with a dead signal and a hammer.

bettyroberts24d ago

Building a whole Faraday cage" seems a bit dramatic. Might just need a mesh network, not a sledgehammer.

shanelee23d ago

Building on what Lucas said about spray foam - the metallic stuff is no joke. I had a client who used that fireproof foam with ceramic microspheres and it basically nuked every 2.4GHz signal in the house. Ended up running hardwired repeaters through the attic just to get the door sensors to work.