Brookside · Historic charm + modern tech
Brookside · historic homes, hidden technology.
IntegrateIT is a smart home and AV installer serving Brookside in Kansas City, Missouri, a short drive north of the design center at 15108 Glenwood Ave, Overland Park. Plaster and lath decide the method here, so runs use what the house already gives us rather than opening hallway ceilings: concealed cabling, wireless lighting where there is no neutral, and displays hung with the wiring hidden. Control4 Platinum Dealer, Crestron Elite Partner, Lutron Certified Dealer, CEDIA member, HTA Certified. Five-year workmanship warranty. (913) 804-7575.
Brookside took shape in the nineteen-teens and twenties on the Missouri side of the line, and the architecture has barely changed since. Tudors, Colonials and bungalows sit on narrow lots under a heavy tree canopy, most of them with plaster-and-lath walls, hardwood over subfloor, and stone-walled basements that were never meant to be finished. That construction is the whole story of integration here. From the Overland Park design center it is a short drive north, which makes Brookside one of the easier Missouri-side neighborhoods for us to service.
Installing in Brookside
What is different about Brookside houses
Installing in Brookside is different because plaster and lath do not behave like drywall. Plaster is brittle at the edges, the lath runs horizontally across the studs, and a cut that would take a minute in a newer house becomes a patch-and-skim job for a plasterer. So we plan runs to use what the house already gives us: original chases, closet stacks, the space behind stair walls, and the gap between the basement joists. Every opening we do make is deliberate and gets restored properly.
Wireless carries more of the load here than it does in the suburbs, and that is a design decision rather than a shortcut. Lutron RA3 and no-neutral dimmers let us light a house from the nineteen-twenties without pulling new switch legs behind plaster, and battery shades handle windows where the trim is original and worth keeping. Keypad plates get chosen so they read as hardware appropriate to the house instead of modern plastic on a period wall. Restraint is most of the craft.
The network problem in Brookside is not square footage, it is materials and trees. Plaster with wire lath behaves like a screen and cuts wireless signal room to room, the lots are tight enough that neighboring networks crowd the same channels, and the mature canopy limits what any outdoor link will do. The answer is more access points, each on a real cable, placed by ceiling location rather than by convenience, with the equipment tucked into the basement where the old coal room used to be.
The kind of work we do in Brookside
- 01
A Control4 and network update in Kansas City, bringing an older system and its wireless coverage current
- 02
A mantel mount in Kansas City, hanging a display over a fireplace with the wiring hidden
- 03
A residence golf simulator in Kansas City, with room layout planned around swing clearance
What we install in Brookside
The full integration stack — designed to disappear.
Before you call anyone in Brookside
We wrote down the parts most people learn the expensive way.
How to choose a home automation company
The questions worth asking before you sign with anyone — including us. What a dealer tier actually buys you, and what happens in year four.
Read it
Golf simulator room requirements
Ceiling height, swing clearance and screen distance decide whether the room works. Measure before you buy the launch monitor, not after.
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Control4 vs Crestron vs Savant
Three platforms compared on their merits by a dealer of two of them. There is no universal winner — the house decides.
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Questions from Brookside homeowners
Can you wire a nineteen-twenties Brookside house without wrecking the plaster?
- That is the normal request here, and the answer is yes with a plan. We route through original chases, closets and the basement joist bays, and we use wireless lighting and battery shades where a wall would otherwise have to be opened. Where an opening is unavoidable, it is cut small, in a spot we chose, and restored by someone who works in plaster. The site walk is where those paths get found.
Why does my Wi-Fi drop between rooms in an older Brookside home?
- Usually the walls. Plaster over wire lath is close to a metal screen for wireless, so a single router in one corner of the house cannot cover it no matter how new the router is. We replace that with several hardwired Ubiquiti access points placed for the floor plan, a separate lane for smart devices, and cabling run through the basement. Coverage becomes a matter of geometry rather than of buying a bigger box.
Where does the equipment go if the basement is unfinished stone?
- An unfinished basement is actually a good outcome. We build the rack in a dry corner off the floor, keep it away from the sump and the exterior wall, and give it ventilation and clean power. Runs then fan out through the joist bays, which are open and easy to work in. If the basement is damp, we look instead at a closet on the main floor and design the rack smaller to fit it.
Can a theater work in a Brookside house with low ceilings?
- Often, in a different form than a suburban basement build. Height under the joists is usually the limit, so a full overhead Atmos layout may not fit. What does work is a well-designed media room on the main or upper floor: a large direct-view display, in-wall speakers finished into the walls, acoustic treatment behind the millwork, and one remote that runs the room. We measure ceiling height first and tell you which it is.
We also serve
- Country Club Plaza
- Waldo
- Kansas City, MO
- Prairie Village
- Mission Hills
Brookside consultation
Tell us about your Brookside project.
Consultations are by appointment. We'll spend an hour walking through your space, talking about how you live, and sketching what's possible — at no cost, no pitch.