Simplify Your Life With Home Automation Upgrades
The evolution of technology has made our lives easier in a myriad of ways. From lighting to sound and heating and cooling there are many ways to incorporate home automation into your new home and each addition will make your life easy and house more efficient. Here’s a look at just a few items to considering when working with your Washington State home builder to construct the perfect home for your family.
Air Conditioning and Heating
Gone are the days where you need to get up and down every time you want to turn on or off your heating and air conditioning system. Not only do the newest systems come with remotes now, but you can also set them to kick on or off according to time and temperature in the room.
Adding in these components that think for themselves, so to speak, allows you to enjoy the comfortable temperature inside your home and focus your attention on the more important matters at hand rather than continually adjusting the thermostat to meet your needs.
Also, if your home is at the ideal temperature, these units will shut off, which limits your energy consumption. This will have a noticeably positive effect on your electric bill, saving you money for years to come.
Yes, thermostats have been around a long time, but this is different. Because of the annoyances that come with programming them on the wall-mounted consoles, many users just leave them at the same temperature all day, which leads to unnecessary energy consumption. Instead, the timers associated with automation upgrades allows you to be smart with your air conditioning and heating usage.
Security and Safety
Ensuring your home is a safe place at all times is the number one priority for homeowners and automation upgrades can be installed by Washington State home builders to help ensure that your new home is a safe place to live.
Let’s start with automatic lighting. While this is ideal when on vacation or away for the weekend, adding automatic lighting lets you set it and forget it. So, set those outside lights to turn on at dusk before you arrive home from work and turn off when you head to bed.
Another cool feature is that with these modern products homeowners can also turn their lights on and off from any remote location at any time they’d like. So, if you plan to stay out late on Saturday, but your lights usually shut off at 9pm, simply lengthen the time to 12pm and don’t worry about tripping over your darkened steps when you arrive home. These lighting automations will also help you limit your energy usage, all at the same time.
Similarly, the newest systems also allow homeowners to use applications on their phones to lock their doors. Say, for example, you forget to unplug your curling iron and a friend is in the neighborhood. You could unlock and relock your door with just a touch of the button allowing your friend to briefly run in without searching for a hidden spare key.
Additionally, if there’s ever any doubt that you locked the doors when you left, you can always ensure that they’re secure by checking on your phone. This prevents you from needing to drive home to check in person.
Also, with safety in mind, similar phone apps can alert you if a fire or carbon monoxide alarm is going off in your home, or if someone has triggered any security alarms.
With home automation, your family will be more prepared and safer than ever.
Appliances and Entertainment Systems
On a lighter note, there’s a number of applications that now allow you to automate your music, television, or even your appliances. If you’re worried you left the oven on, don’t fret. You can shut it off remotely. If you have a big meal to cook as soon as you get home and limited time, you can also preheat the oven with a push of a button. It’s that simple.
You can also remotely operate your washer and dryer, although they’ve yet to figure out a way to transfer one to the other if the machines are separate. But, if you have a dual washer/dryer system, you’re in luck. You can leave your home with the whole process just beginning and come home to nice, clean clothes that are dry and ready to wear.
When dinner’s done and you decide to enjoy some music or relax by the TV, you can have that automated as well. Systems can be set to turn on and off automatically and to a specific station. Just tell your Washington State home builder exactly what you’re looking for and they’ll be happy to walk you through the entire process or direct you to the best systems that align with the design of your new home.
Did you know you can even control your curtains electronically? How about your shower heads? These can be controlled through an application on your phone as well. Today, there’s few things that can’t be controlled automatically. Sure, like everything else, sometimes these automation systems act up, but service professionals will be on standby to help should anything go array.
With how quickly technology is evolving, you can pretty much run all aspects of your home through your phone, which you always have on hand anyway. From preheating your oven to locking your doors to turning on the lights and programming music, automation ensures that your home is programmed just as you prefer it to be, all while making sure not to waste precious energy resources during the process.
Be sure to be prepared with questions when asking different contractors about these new technologies. For those who’ve been around a long time, they’ve been trained in all of the latest options, so they should be properly equipped to answer your questions and give their thoughts on the best and most efficient ways to proceed. This way, you and your family can live the simple, stress-free life you’ve always wanted.
For more information, speak with a Washington State home builder. In the meantime, we’ll wait and see what amazing automation technology is next for us to try. Only time will tell.