TV mounting, smart home and Wi-Fi in Staten Island, NY

Staten Island has more variety than people expect. The North Shore around St. George has older Victorians and attached houses on steep streets near the ferry, Todt Hill and Emerson Hill have large homes on wooded hillsides, Mid-Island neighborhoods like New Dorp and Great Kills are full of detached and semi-attached houses, and the South Shore toward Tottenville has newer construction, townhouses and two-family homes. Each comes with its own installation issues.

Many of the island's semi-attached and two-family homes are built with brick or block, have a finished basement and a garage below the living space, and a deck off the back. That layout often leaves the router in the basement and the bedrooms two floors up with weak signal. A wired access point on each living level solves it. Brick and block also call for masonry anchors when mounting TVs or cameras, and we plan cable paths through the garage ceiling or basement where possible.

Neighborhoods along the eastern and southern shoreline saw serious flooding during past coastal storms, and many homes there were rebuilt or raised. If you live in a low-lying area, keep your network equipment, recorder and any audio gear off the ground floor and the basement floor. Battery backup on the router and cameras keeps you connected through short outages, and leak sensors near the water heater can alert you early. Outdoor cameras and junction boxes should be mounted well above grade, and exterior wiring should enter the house at a high point rather than near the foundation.

Hillside homes on Todt Hill and around the North Shore often have long driveways, retaining walls, pools and decks with views toward the harbor or the hills. These properties benefit from outdoor access points, cameras along the drive and at the gate, outdoor audio for the pool area and landscape lighting on stairs and paths. For any home, we keep the system simple so it runs from one app on your phone. Two-family owners can also give each unit its own network and its own doorbell camera.