We’ve got 1Gb broadband coming into the house, but the WiFi itself is awful once you leave the sitting room.
Kids are constantly complaining about lag, streaming buffers upstairs, and there are a couple spots where the signal basically disappears. I’ve already tried an extender and a powerline kit, neither really fixed it.
Router is currently in the sitting room at one end of the house. I’m considering a mesh system now, but honestly I don’t know whether I need 2 nodes, 3 nodes, or if I’m just throwing more hardware at the wrong problem.
Can I realistically sort this myself or is this the point where I need to pay someone to come out and look at it?
Before buying another box, find out where the problem actually starts. 1Gb internet doesn’t mean much if the router is stuck at one end of the house and the WiFi can’t get through the walls. I’d map the signal first. I use NetSpot for this — do a quick survey around the house and you’ll see where coverage drops instead of trying to judge it from the little WiFi icon.
@Quantum_Fluke Didn’t even know you could map it like that. I’ve literally just been walking around looking at the bars on my phone 
Did a survey and it’s pretty obvious now. Sitting room is great, hallway is okay, then signal falls off badly toward the bedrooms. The worst area is the back bedroom and the room above the garage. So yeah, router placement seems to be a big part of it.
Then please stop buying extenders lol.
@Quantum_Fluke I can probably get one Ethernet run into the hallway without destroying the house. Would one AP there actually be better than buying a 3-pack mesh?
Very possibly. And since you already have the floor plan, NetSpot has a planning mode too. Drop the plan in, add the main walls, then try the AP in that hallway and see what the predicted coverage looks like.
Also, whatever you do, don’t upgrade the internet package because Netflix buffers upstairs. You already have 1Gb entering the house. Buying 2Gb would just give the router twice as much bandwidth to keep imprisoned in the sitting room. This is a WiFi coverage problem, not a “needs more internet” problem.
@Quantum_Fluke Fair 
Modeled a hallway AP and it looks way more sensible than where I was planning to put mesh nodes. I’m going to run the Ethernet while I can and start with one proper AP.