Westwood · Established enclave
Westwood · careful retrofits for older architecture.
IntegrateIT is a smart home and AV installer serving Westwood, Kansas, about twenty minutes north of the design center at 15108 Glenwood Ave, Overland Park. There is no spare room in these houses, so the design starts with where the equipment can honestly live: cable through existing chases and joist bays, lighting plates chosen to suit original trim, a compact rack in a basement corner. Control4 Platinum Dealer, Crestron Elite Partner, Lutron Certified Dealer, CEDIA member, HTA Certified. Five-year workmanship warranty. (913) 804-7575.
Westwood is small enough to drive across in a minute, a compact Johnson County city pressed against the Kansas City line near the medical center. The houses are mostly pre-war and early post-war, bungalows and small Colonials on tight lots with alley access, plaster walls, modest closets and basements that were built for a furnace rather than for a rack. That scale is the defining constraint here. Our design center is about twenty minutes south, so Westwood is easy territory for us to service.
Installing in Westwood
What is different about Westwood houses
Installing in Westwood is different because there is no spare room. These houses do not have a bonus closet, a mechanical room with elbow space, or a media wall waiting to be filled. So the design starts with where the equipment can honestly live, usually a corner of the basement or a purpose-built cabinet, and then works outward with a rack sized to that space. Choosing fewer, better components matters more here than in a house with room to hide mistakes.
Plaster over lath is the wall we are working in, and it does not forgive careless cutting. We route through existing chases, closet stacks and basement joist bays wherever possible, and lean on wireless Lutron lighting so switch legs do not have to be pulled behind original walls. Where an opening is unavoidable, it is small, placed on purpose, and restored by someone who knows plaster. Keypad and outlet plates get chosen to suit trim from the nineteen-twenties rather than to stand out against it.
Coverage in a small house on a small lot is more about neighbors than about square footage. Plaster with wire lath blocks wireless room to room, and the houses are close enough together that everyone's network crowds the same channels. Two or three hardwired access points placed for the floor plan, with channels and power set deliberately, outperform a single powerful router every time. Smart devices go on their own lane so a house full of them does not slow the family down.
The kind of work we do in Westwood
- 01
Concealed cable routed through existing chases and joist bays across a main level
- 02
Retrofit lighting control with plates chosen to suit original trim
- 03
In-ceiling audio and a compact rack built to fit a small basement corner
What we install in Westwood
The full integration stack — designed to disappear.
Before you call anyone in Westwood
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
Lutron HomeWorks vs Control4 lighting
Written by a dealer authorized for both. Which one fits depends on the house rather than the budget — here is the framework.
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The smart home pre-wire checklist
The runs that cost fifty dollars before drywall and five thousand after. Worth reading while the walls are still open.
Read it
Questions from Westwood homeowners
Is my house too small for a real system?
- No. Small houses often end up with the tidiest systems, because every component has to justify itself. We size the rack to the space that actually exists, use in-ceiling or in-wall speakers so nothing takes up floor area, and put lighting, audio and shades in one app. What changes in a compact house is component selection and placement, not what the system can do for you day to day.
Can you avoid damaging the plaster?
- That is the goal, and we plan for it. Existing chases, closet stacks and open basement joist bays give us most of the paths we need, and wireless lighting removes the need to pull new switch legs behind plaster walls. When something must be opened, we cut small, in a spot we selected, and have it restored properly. The site walk is where those routes get identified before any commitment.
Where would the equipment go in a house with no mechanical room?
- Usually a dry corner of the basement, off the floor and away from the furnace and any water. We build a compact rack with ventilation and clean power, then keep run lengths short. If the basement is not suitable, a purpose-built cabinet on the main floor can work with the right components and quiet cooling. We decide that on the walk rather than guessing from a floor plan.
How close is your office to Westwood?
- Our showroom and design center are on Glenwood Avenue in south Overland Park, roughly twenty minutes away, and we are in the northeast Johnson County cities most weeks. Site walks are no cost. Service on systems we installed is scheduled during business hours, and we continue to support them for as long as you own the house.
Westwood consultation
Tell us about your Westwood 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.