The philosophy of over engineering

[aveatry]

When I am doing stuff around the house I am always trying to think ahead - like what if I need to ????
Years ago i put in telephone wires under floors when I was refurbishing each room from scratch, sticking out where I thought I would need a piont in the future, even had the forsight to see that I would need it for the tv one day. Then came along DECT phones and wifi for the tv internet and all my efforts were wasted. Just canot think of everything

 

[i_am_fubar]

That sucks. Wireless is used as an excuse for not needing cables, but personally, because of speed, security and ruggedness, I will always prefere cables (that's for alarm, network, phone, doorbell... etc).

Doing a similar thing with the new place, but instead of running wires, I'm running conduit, so while I'll have CAT5 at the moment, I can upgrade to CAT6, or fiber, pull coax through as well... etc. I consider that while it won't be perfect for everything in the future, it does provide more future proofing than not having it.

 

[aveatry]

Not saying ive changed my ways -- still do it I am exactly like you with the cables,door bell an all, it was mainly the phone changing to DECT thing.
Ive done the same with ethernet and gone straight for cat 6. I have a route under the floorboards with a peice of washing line from one end to the other and whenever I use it to pull a new cable through I always attach another washing line and pull that through with it so its ready again. I put in a new oak floor and left behind the sofal a section that I could remove to get under the floor for future wireing

 

[jeds]

With regards to IKB...

The Cliffton suspension bridge. Still standing, still in use and with only a few minor upgrades, coping with the the massive increase in traffic since it's design. Over engineered for sure, but to a massive long term reward.

The Themes tunnel. Admitadly, massivly over budget and due to alternative themes crossigns since, no longer in use. It is a marvel of engineering and still standing today.

That isn't to say he couldn't not massivly over engineer a solution. The Renkioi hospital was an example of something he designed to a spec, for rapid construction and limited longevity. But it still had features that, while un-needed in the end, would have proved a boon to patients and doctors that were not in the original spec.

Brunel didn't over-engineer the bridge. He died before the bridge was completed and the structural design was taken over by Hawkshaw and Barlow. They altered the deck to make it stiffer and increased the chains from doubles to triples. In fact the actual chains used were from the demolished Hungerford Bridge over the Thames which were even heavier than their design.