Guest Post - How To Protect Your Home This Summer With Smart Home Products

Summer draws to mind a lot of outdoor activities, nights on the town and pool parties. But with a virus sweeping the nation, a lot of that is changing. This year, summer will look a bit different. And while the temperatures keep on climbing, restaurants, bars and recreational areas across the nation are shutting down to help flatten the curve of the coronavirus. So what does that mean for the summer? It means that families will be staying home more than ever before, turning to their backyards and indoor areas for entertainment and exercise. And while this may seem like a great thing, there are issues lurking just around the corner.

The high temperatures of summer already take a beating on your home’s appliances and systems, but when you add in the excessive use most homes will have due to this pandemic, you get the phenomenon known as “home strain.” Home strain is the acceleration of wear and tear on your devices, appliances and your homes overall structure. While every home experiences some level of this wear throughout its lifespan, the COVID-19 pandemic has really brought this issue into high gear.

Soon, homeowners across the nation may begin to need maintenance repairs for leaking pipes, broken AC’s or malfunctioning refrigerators. But, there are steps they can take now to help prevent this home strain from taking too large of a toll on their homes (and their wallets). This is where smart home technology comes into play.

Smart Home, Smart Summer

Over the past few years, smart home devices have skyrocketed in capability and popularity, offering real-time and remote assistance to homeowners throughout their homes. With smart devices, you can automatically lock your doors, set automatic shut off timers for your gas stovetop and even monitor the activity inside and outside your home when you are away. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what smart home products can do.

There are a few products specifically catered to help counteract some of the damaging heat of the summer, giving homeowners a head start for potential issues or repairs. For instance, smart thermostats can be set remotely, allowing you to avoid cooling a home that’s empty. They can also help save you money as well (up to 10% a year on heating and cooling)! Other devices such as temperature and humidity sensors will alert you to abnormal situations within your home’s climate, so you can avoid a potentially deadly mold overgrowth or pipe damage you may not have caught otherwise.  

Smart home tech also helps keep you safer. Because of the climate, and the fact that many homes sit empty for weeks at a time, summer is home to higher crime rates than any other season. But with a few installations, products like smart doorbells, motion detectors and cameras can allow you to monitor your property from a distance and alert authorities immediately in the case of a break-in. You can even set these devices up to send you a push notification on your phone anytime someone unlocks or locks the front door, offering you total awareness of your home at all times.

Below, the team at Hippo has put together an infographic on smart home devices for a streamlined home. Check out their full list of recommendations and let us know what devices you plan to use for a greater piece of mind and a better functioning home!

Interview - TecKnow

Lately, we see a lot of modern technology in our client’s homes. From lights that turn on when you enter a room to sound systems that come with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa built-in. We spoke with Westport, CT’s TecKnow and Kim Burke to help us make sense of it all.

For the busy person, what is TecKnow?

Tecknow Is a company that custom designs, installs, programs and maintains smart home and office automation systems incorporating solar and/or solar storage. A light, a lock, a solar roof, a battery, a thermostat, irrigation - these are all examples of connected devices that can be optimized and set into “scenes” to create energy efficiencies, security and convenience. Unlike some other smart home systems that collect your data and listen to conversations, the Apple HomeKit platform is all about data privacy, security and does not monetize your data or record your conversations.

What does Smart Living Ecosystem mean?

It refers to the holistic approach of the automation platform we utilize to create homes and offices powered by the sun and controlled by your voice.

For the techno-phobe, how easy are things to use?

Super easy to use. You can use your voice to turn on the lights or say “goodnight” and the lights can turn off, doors lock, garage doors go down, tv goes off, thermostats set lower and alarm gets armed. If you prefer to use your phone or ipad, you can use the touch screen to activate individual devices or entire scenes. In addition, we provide ongoing service to our customers and help them evolve with the technology. We don't just install and leave it to them to figure out. We help to program, service and maintain our installs.

Most people think computers and TV's but what other areas do you cover?

Security (alarms, cameras, motion sensors, door and window sensors), thermostats, lighting, air quality, fans, irrigation, door locks, garage doors, doorbells, outlets, switches, shades, speakers, solar and solar storage utilizing Tesla Powerwall.

What are the most popular services you install?

Every job is different and custom tailored for the client. It depends on what the client focus is...Security? Entertainment? Energy efficiency? Convenience?

What are one or two of the coolest projects you have created?

Every project we complete! There are new devices being added all the time and we are continually amazed at what this platform is capable of. Our latest project incorporating solar and solar storage resulting in a beach home powered by the sun and controlled by your voice is truly groundbreaking. When you come in the door and say "I'm Home!" the shades roll up, the temperature gets set to 70, the lights come on, the fireplace turns on, the TV turns on and favorite music starts playing. Conversely, when you say "Good night" the house shuts down into power saving mode to minimize the draw on the battery that has stored access energy from the sun during the day and runs the house at night.