Wi-Fi in a large single-story house: covering the length
No stairs, no floors to cross, and still the bedrooms at the far end get nothing. In a long house, the problem is horizontal, and so is the solution.
In this guide
Single-story homes seem easy for Wi-Fi: no slabs to cross, no stairwells. But a large ranch house or bungalow spreads its rooms out, and the far end can be twenty or thirty meters and a long line of walls away from the router.
Why long houses are tricky
- Distance adds up horizontally. The router can easily be at one end, where the line enters, and the bedrooms at the other.
- Walls in a row. A straight path from one end to the other crosses wall after wall; each one takes a share.
- Wings and L-shapes. Separate bedroom wings or an L-shaped plan put some rooms around a corner from everything else.
Put the router in the middle of the length
In a long single-story house the router belongs as close to the center of the length as the cable allows: often a hallway, the central living area or a utility room in the middle. From there it reaches both ends with half the distance. Keep its antennas vertical; everything to cover is sideways. See which way router antennas should point.
How many units
- Router in the middle, house up to a moderate length: often enough on its own.
- Router in the middle, long house or wings: a node toward each end, placed where it still hears the router well.
- Router stuck at one end: a node around the middle and possibly another toward the far end. Better still, move the Wi-Fi to the middle with a cable and save a unit.
Count the weak zones on a map rather than trusting square footage. See how many mesh nodes you need.
Wiring is often easier than you think
Single-story houses frequently have an attic or crawlspace running their whole length, which makes pulling Ethernet cables to the ends much easier than in a multi-story house. A wired node at each end performs like a router there. See wired backhaul.
Don't forget outside
Long houses usually come with long gardens, patios and garages. If those matter, place end nodes near the doors that lead outside. See Wi-Fi in the garden.
Map the whole length
The difference between "fine" and "poor" in a long house often happens around one particular wall or doorway. WiFi Heatmap maps the house room by room on your iPhone, so you can see exactly where the router's coverage fades and put the nodes one room before that point. See where to put a mesh node.