Are you planning a vacation soon, and stressing about who is going to house sit for you? Well, if you don’t have any pets, you really don’t need a house sitter anymore. Here are a few common worries that homeowners have when they go out of time, and the solutions that home automation now offers for them.
Burglars Ring Your Doorbell to Check if You’re Home
One way that burglars give themselves confidence before breaking into a home is to ring the doorbell. If they don’t get any response, they assume the house is empty and will proceed to break in and steal all your favorite things. With today’s cool technology though, you never have to be “gone” from your home, even when you’re away. Using things like the BeOn Lighting System or the Ring Video Doorbell, you can send burglars running. The BeON Lighting System will respond to the sound of your doorbell, and mimic a pattern of lights switching on that simulate the homeowner is home. The Ring Video Doorbell will give you a live video feed of your porch, and allow you to use the built-in speaker to communicate with the visitor, making them think you are on site.
Your House is Quiet and Dark
Your house never has to sit quiet and dark while you’re away. You can set up your home lights and electronics to run on timers that mimic your daily routine so that it looks like you are home. You can also use switches that can be controlled remotely from an app, so that you can turn anything on or off from anywhere, at any time. With these options, your house will look occupied in the morning and at night, and can even look occupied during the work day hours.
You Think You Left an Appliance On
This is another area where timers and app controlled switches come in handy. If you have a timer set up, you never have to worry if you were in too much of a hurry to turn off the coffee pot. If you have app-controlled switches, you can simply remotely check the status and turn things off as necessary. Your friends and neighbors will appreciate that they aren’t getting texts asking them to stop by to check if the curling iron or television is still on.
Your Know You’ll Be Gone and Plan on Using Your Pool
If you think you have some sneaky and shady neighbors that might be planning on using your pool while you’re gone without permission, well, they are going to be really embarrassed when you catch them. You can set your motion lights to turn on and stay on, and also to notify you when they do turn on. You can also set up a security camera that allows you remote access of the live stream. If you are tech-savvy, you can set up a speaker box that allows you to remotely speak through it.
You Left a Door Unlocked, or Want to Know When a Door is Open
Smart locks are perfect for families or individuals that travel a lot. Not only do they allow you to remotely check and change the status of your locks, but they can also keep a log of each time the lock is armed or disarmed. If someone breaks into your place, you’ll receive a notice that a door has been opened, and you can call for help.
Stacked Up Mail
OK, OK, I don’t really have a home automation solution for this. Nothing says “I’m definitely out of town.” like an overflowing mailbox; however, you can easily set your mail to hold on the USPS website.
What home automation devices do you use instead of a house-sitter? Leave me a comment.
Photo by: Wonderlane
