After 11 months of ongoing, daily stop-ins and constant changes during this renovation project, dubbed ‘Greenbriar,’ “blessing” is perhaps the best way to describe the process of retrofitting a server room design, according to Constantinos Sandoukas of frayednot.

“The Tech Room stands out for us since we were given whatever we requested, and that never happens on a project,” noted Sandoukas. “Normally when we build systems for these larger homes, we are left with the smallest space to house the heart of the system.

“Thankfully, we were given whatever we wanted for space, though we did have to struggle a bit to get the contractor to give us a wall in front of the existing wall to allow our wiring to move easily between walls and behind the plywood face where the racks are mounted.”

Modular Walls Helped Facilitate Frequent Updates

Frayednot had the wall built originally with plywood in sections to allow for easy removal of the panels as everything fell into place. The modularity of the build certainly proved to be a boon as there were multiple points throughout the project where wires needed to be reran due to shifting wall positions and window placements during the build.

In total, the Greenbriar project features over 240 pulls, with a significant portion of the wiring connecting older infrastructure into the newer AV system. As a result of the shifting walls of the home, frayednot redid 68 data runs and eight speaker runs in order to connect them back to the basement.

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When the time came, frayednot was easily able to set up the interconnection from rack to rack and rebuild the wall face, even going so far as to repaint the walls themselves to make sure everything blended in with the rest of the design.

Server Room Gets Royal Treatment with Dedicated Electrical Pulls

The Tech Room for Greenbriar is also unique in that it is the only area of the build where frayednot pulled dedicated electrical to run back to the main panel. This, Sandoukas assured, ensured that the outlets landed exactly where the team at frayednot intended for them to land.

“Of course, we left this for the licensed electricians to terminate and energize,” he said.

Frayednot also installed also temperature-controlled exhausts on the back wall of the room moving air out of the space. However, instead of connecting to the home’s HVAC system, the server room has its own silohed setup meant to remove condensation while also keeping the room a little cooler as a bonus.

Frayednot also gave the cleaning crew explicit instructions to not vacuum and only wet mop the floor. This will remove the dust variable as well as any possible electrostatic discharge from a vacuum.

It’s also the only location in the home where frayednot has approval to have a dedicated camera under their account with access only for frayednot to have footage of the Tech Room 24/7.

Sandoukas stated it’s a massive help if the team ever runs into any issues with its server rooms.

“We began doing this in our Tech Rooms a few years back,” Sandoukas said. “The client never disagrees with the private access we grant ourselves for that space. In fact, we find that they prefer it. This particular client even joked if we wanted a lock for our access only – but we of course said no since that could be a safety issue.”

Systems & Equipment

• (2) 21U SnapAV Audio Racks with fans and glass doors 
• (2) OVRC Wattbox power management panels, IP control 
• (2) 24-port network switches (Rack 1 & 2) 
• 12U SnapAV rack for network equipment 

This project is part of our coverage for the 2024 CE Pro Home of the Year Awards. Presented annually at CEDIA Expo, the Home of the Year Awards represent the best of the best smart home innovations within the CEDIA channel. If you have a project you would like to submit to the Home of the Year Awards, consider following CE Pro if you aren’t already for when we announce the next submission round.

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