Smart Home Technology: DIY
As home owners, we all know the overwhelming necessity of home maintenance. Is your yard perfect? Are the gutters clean? Does your deck need re-staining? There always seems like something needs attention! Now, on top of all the routine maintenance, we have to make our home SMART as well? What does that even mean? Don’t panic – we have three easy ways to upgrade your home with smart technology that is so easy, you can most likely do it yourself.
1. LIGHTING TIMERS – Who remembers Home Alone when Kevin put timers on all the Christmas lights to psych out the burglars??? Well, you can channel your inner Kevin and put all your lights on timers in one afternoon. At 20-30 bucks each, this is a very affordable upgrade to your home. Replace existing wall switches with timers and you can control your porch lights, your indoor lights, just about anything. The installation is very easy (remember to switch off the breaker when you are doing the work) and the programming is not too complicated. The most difficult part is finding a tool to push the tiny buttons! Once you get the installation and programming completed – it is a set and forget product. Most of the timers even come with automatic daylight savings adjustments!
3 BLUETOOTH AND WIFI ENABLED LOCKS – Kwikset has created a set of locks that will easily replace your existing locks, yet enable a whole new world of control. By replacing your existing locks with a Kwikset Kevo, Bluetooth enabled lock, you can open your door with a smartphone. And if you want to be able to control your locks remotely, you can upgrade to the Kevo premium control for an additional $99 and control your locks remotely with a smart phone app. Let your dog walker into your house? Check! Check that you locked the door when you ran out of the house? Check! Anytime you need to control your lock without your key – You can! And it’s actually super easy to install – took us about 30 minutes for each of our locks.