Source: https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/where-to-position-home-cctv-cameras/ Guide # Where to Position Home CCTV Cameras, and Where Not To Front door, driveway, side gate and rear garden: camera positions that work on Berkshire homes, and the angles that waste money or upset neighbours. [Get a Free Quote](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/where-to-position-home-cctv-cameras/#contact) [01753 017 999](tel:+441753017999) [5.0 on Google](https://g.page/r/CSp6B2OJMURNEAI/) Published 13 August 2026 Camera count is the question people ask. Camera *position* is the one that decides whether the system is useful. A four-camera kit aimed at sky, fence caps and a neighbour’s bathroom is worse than two cameras on the door and the drive. This sits next to [how to choose a CCTV system](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/how-to-choose-cctv-system-uk-home/). Positions first, shopping second. ## Cover approaches, not architecture Burglars and delivery disputes both happen at doors and gates. Start there. **Front door.** Face height as someone reaches the handle, with enough width to catch a person standing to the side. A camera over the door pointing at feet records shoes. On a deep Windsor or Ascot porch, a doorbell on the frame often cannot see the person at the outer step. That is a second camera, or a different mount, not a wider lens asked to do magic. **Driveway.** Enough of the car and the person leaving it that a number plate and a coat are both in frame. Long Windsor and Ascot drives often need a dedicated camera, not a door camera asked to do both jobs. If the gates are 25 metres out, the door camera will give you a blob. Accept a gate or mid-drive camera, or accept that plates are not in the brief. **Side gate.** The forgotten route on terraced and semi plots in Slough and Maidenhead. One camera here often matters more than a second camera on the patio. Alleys between houses are how people actually walk round. A patio camera looking at furniture will miss that. **Rear elevation.** Kitchen doors and bi-folds are how people actually live. Cover the door, not the entire lawn. A wide rear garden in Virginia Water may need a second camera if the far fence is a genuine access, not just a view. A river or railway at the back of a Maidenhead plot is not usually an approach. Do not spend a camera on scenery. Walk the plot at dusk. Infrared bloom off white walls, security lights, and glass all change what the camera sees compared with the sunny photo on the listing. We do this on survey because the 4pm winter sun on a west front is a different job from the June listing photo. ## Height, overlap and the “more cameras” trap Too low, and the camera is stolen or knocked. Too high, and you identify nobody. Eaves and porch soffits are the usual compromise on Berkshire housing. A camera in a tall tree looks impressive from the road. It records hats, and it moves in the wind. A camera on a 6 metre gable looking down a drive records scalps. We would rather drop 50 centimetres and catch a face. Overlap is useful at a corner where two elevations meet. It is wasteful when three cameras all look at the same patio table. We would rather spend the budget on a better lens at the drive than a third camera duplicating the kitchen door. Doorbells are not a substitute for a proper front camera on a deep porch, and they are not enough on a five-bed with a side gate. They are a good extra on a flat or a small terrace. Treat them as a parcel view, not as the whole shell. On a four-bed in Bracknell we often land on three cameras: front, side, rear. The fourth camera on a kit diagram is usually looking at the same patio from a slightly worse angle. Push back on that before anyone drills. ## Where not to put cameras - Neighbour’s garden, windows, or shared alley you do not control - Children’s bedrooms, as a default, without a very clear reason - Directly behind glass, where IR reflects and night footage is white fog - On a tree that moves, or a plastic fascia that will not hold a housing - So far down the drive that WiFi cameras cannot possibly stay connected - Pointed at the sky because the bracket was fitted “level” instead of aimed - Indoors as a default in living rooms, unless the household has actually agreed Law sits in [home CCTV and UK law](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/home-cctv-uk-law-gdpr-neighbours/). Physics sits in [why cameras drop off WiFi](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/why-cctv-cameras-drop-off-wifi/). Indoor cameras in living rooms split households. If the point is a package thief at the door, keep the system on the shell. Hallway cameras catch family more than intruders. We will fit them if that is the brief. We will also say what they will record. A camera on a flimsy fascia or a UPVC board that flexes will droop within a season. The housing needs a solid fix: brick, a proper soffit board, or a mount we can actually screw into. Pretty plastic is not a mount. ## Cable routes decide which positions are honest A perfect angle that needs a cable chased through a listed frontage in Windsor is not a perfect angle. We plan positions *with* the loft, soffit and external trunking, not against them. That is why CCTV and [data cabling](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/data-cabling/) are the same visit on most homes. PoE cameras want a Cat6 each. If the only way to the far gate is a 40 metre trench, we will say so, and we may recommend a different camera or a different spot rather than pretend wireless will survive the trees. Positions we can cable: - Soffits and eaves with an internal loft - Garage gables - Rear extensions with a void - Garden offices, if a cable already exists for WiFi - Conservatory corners, if we can get into the frame without wrecking the roof Positions that often stay wireless, if they stay at all: - Rented outbuildings - Temporary site huts - A gate post with no duct - A fence panel you do not own On a gravel Ascot drive we can bury a run if you want the gate camera. On a shared unadopted track we often cannot. That is a position conversation, not a later surprise. External trunking along a fence is honest. A wireless camera “until we trench next year” is how the dropout tickets start. Loft hatches that are boarded, lit and reachable make the day short. Hatches stuffed with insulation and no boards make it long. Tell us which you have. We would rather quote the boards than invent a route through a bedroom. ## Town-specific habits we see on survey [Windsor](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-windsor/) and Eton plots often have a public-facing front and a private rear. Cover the public approach without turning the camera into street surveillance. Period eaves and conservation frontages push us into soffits and lofts, not a chase down the brick. [Slough](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-slough/) terraces need the side alley more than a wide rear pan. Parking is tight, deliveries happen at the door, and the gap between houses is the real side access. One well aimed camera there beats two on the back wall. [Maidenhead](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-maidenhead/) riverside gardens pick up glare and trees. Height and IR matter more than camera count. Water and pale render at night will wash a cheap camera. We aim for the door furniture, not the river. [Ascot](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-ascot/) and [Virginia Water](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-virginia-water/) drives are long. One door camera will not read a plate at the gates. Trees between house and road kill wireless. Plan a dedicated drive or gate camera, and plan the cable with it. [Bracknell](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-bracknell/) estates vary from compact new-build to wooded plots. The wooded ones fail wireless first. New-build foil insulation fails it indoors too. The compact plots need neighbour-aware aiming more than extra cameras. ## Design on a survey, not from a kit diagram Bring photos of each elevation and where the router lives. We will mark positions, cable routes and a recorder location, then quote that design. If two cameras will do, we will not sell four. A kit diagram assumes a cube house with a loft like a motorway. Berkshire housing is not that. We stand under the eaves with you, look at the approach, and only then talk hardware. The install sequence is in [CCTV installation in Berkshire](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/cctv-installation-berkshire-what-to-expect/). The product categories are in the [choosing a system](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/how-to-choose-cctv-system-uk-home/) guide. If you already bought cameras, bring them to the survey. We can often use them in a leftover position. We will not pretend a wireless doorbell is a driveway camera. ## Lighting, IR and the pretty-but-useless shot A camera looking into the evening sun on a west-facing Windsor front will silhouette every visitor. A camera too close to a white wall will bloom in IR. A camera behind glass will record its own reflection. We would rather move a camera a metre than “fix it in the app”. Security lights that come on in the same frame can help or wreck night footage depending on the camera. Tell us what already exists. We are not trying to turn your eaves into an airport. A flood that blinds the lens is worse than no flood. Package thieves at the door need face height and the doorstep in frame. A high gable shot of the whole street is how you get GDPR-adjacent letters and still miss the hands on the parcel. [Home CCTV and UK law](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/home-cctv-uk-law-gdpr-neighbours/). Colour night on a properly lit porch can be useful. Cheap IR on a glossy front door is a white blob. We check this at dusk on the survey when we can, or we aim knowing we may tweak on handover. A camera you cannot identify a face on is decoration. ## Combining CCTV day with WiFi day If we are already in the loft for [data cabling](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/data-cabling/), adding camera home-runs is cheaper than a second visit. Tell us both briefs. A driveway camera on WiFi “for now” becomes a permanent dropout. [Why cameras drop off WiFi](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/why-cctv-cameras-drop-off-wifi/). The same Cat6 skill lands access points and cameras. A house in Maidenhead or Virginia Water that already needs outdoor coverage is often the same day as the CCTV. Do not buy a mesh node to rescue a gate camera you could have cabled while the loft was open. On handover we walk the live view at each position with you. If a camera is looking at a hedge, we move it before we leave, not after the first missed incident. [Get camera positions checked →](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation/) FAQs ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Where should I put CCTV cameras on a house? Cover the approaches: front door, driveway, a side access if you have one, and the rear elevation. Height should catch faces, not just the tops of heads. Extra cameras on every corner usually overlap rather than add coverage. [CCTV installation](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation/). ### How high should a home CCTV camera be? High enough to avoid casual tampering, low enough to see a face. Eaves height is typical. A camera in a 6 metre tree looks impressive and records unusable hats. [CCTV installation](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation/). ### Should I point a camera at the street? Covering your own driveway and the public pavement immediately outside is common. Staring into a neighbour's windows is not. See [home CCTV and UK law](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/home-cctv-uk-law-gdpr-neighbours/). ### Do I need a camera in every room? Almost never. Indoor cameras are a privacy decision as much as a security one. Most family homes are better with the shell covered and the hallway left alone. [Home CCTV, UK law and neighbours](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/home-cctv-uk-law-gdpr-neighbours/). ### Can you advise positions in Windsor or Maidenhead? Yes. We plan positions on survey in [Windsor](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-windsor/), [Maidenhead](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-maidenhead/), [Ascot](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/cctv-installation-ascot/) and the other CCTV towns we cover. ### Should cameras be wired or wireless based on position? If the position is permanent and you can cable it, wire it. Wireless is for the awkward leftover, not the front door. [Do CCTV cameras need WiFi?](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/do-you-need-wifi-for-cctv/) Explore More ## Related blog posts [Amazon LEO vs Starlink for UK Homes Amazon Leo vs Starlink for UK homes. What you can order today, how the installs compare, and which dish Berkshire and Surrey properties should book. Learn more](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/amazon-leo-vs-starlink-uk-homes/) [How Much Does CCTV Installation Cost in Berkshire? How much home CCTV costs in Berkshire. What drives a two to four camera PoE quote, and when cabling matters more than the cameras. Learn more](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/cctv-installation-cost-berkshire/) [Getting Reliable WiFi in Large Surrey Homes Reliable WiFi in large Surrey homes. Why mesh fails on tree-lined plots, when to cable, and town pages for Virginia Water, Egham, Woking and Weybridge. Learn more](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/blog/reliable-wifi-large-surrey-homes/) Next step ## Need this sorted properly? Our engineers cover Berkshire, Surrey and West London. Get a free assessment and an honest recommendation for your property. [Get a Free Quote](https://berkshirewifi.co.uk/contact/)