What Are Smart Home Technologies: A Guide For First-Time Homeowners

If you’ve recently become a homeowner, chances are you’re already contemplating various improvements. Not all homes require extensive renovations. However, fixing isn’t always the goal. At times, the aim is to tailor the home for enhanced convenience or to better align with your personal preferences.

In the past the main way of doing this was by getting appliances. Blenders, irons, eggbeaters, every day there was a new electronic device that made household chores easier. Now, there is a new app every day to make things more efficient. Some are even run on the appliances.

We are referring to “smart home” technology. But where do you get started with smart home technology? How do you know if you need it? What is required, and how does it work?

That is what we are going to talk about today.

How to Know What Smart Home Technology You Need

Most people wonder if they need smart home technology. To answer that concern, let’s do a thought experiment: Do you need a washing machine to wash your clothes?

Technically no. You need a washing machine to wash your clothes efficiently. While the machine washes your clothes, you can do other things. The same goes for your dish washer, and even your oven. Rather than spending time making a fire, you can just flip a switch.

Smart home technology does much the same thing. Things like lights, air conditioning, and even vacuuming can be left to the smart devices, allowing you to do more important things.

That means when you are choosing what smart home technology to get, all you need to do is ask yourself: What chores would I rather not do? There is technology that will do it for you.

The Most Important Smart Home Devices

To begin with, the most important individual smart home device is the “central device”. There are a few different types of central devices. Most people get an Alexa device, which is an Amazon personal assistant that you can give voice commands to.

But there are actually a few different devices like this. Microsoft offers Cortana, Google offers Google Nest, and Samsung has the SmartThings hub. The reason these hubs are so important is because they link together all your smart home devices and let you give voice commands.

It is worth mentioning that most smart home devices do not need to be linked together or be given voice commands. But some do, and for others it can make them even more efficient.

Most people tend to start with a smart air conditioner. This allows you to set a temperature which the air conditioner will try to keep to. If you have ever lived in an inner-city apartment, then you know the tedium of getting up to turn the air conditioner on or off every twenty minutes.

This is a good illustration of why the smart home hub with voice commands is valuable. Some air conditioners already turn on to get to a set temperature. Smart air conditioners can be a lot more precise, but you can also use voice commands to tell them to stop remotely.

Smart ovens have much the same thing going on. They can have their temperatures and turn-on times scheduled, but if you have voice commands set up you can direct them to preheat. This allows them to be ready much more accurately and quickly.

Incorporating Smart Home Security

While most people focus on appliances and convenience features for their smart home, others are surprised to learn that security features such as alarms and cameras can be integrated into smart home designs as well. In fact, they can even serve as your home’s hub device.

If you know anything about home security, then that is probably a lot of information at once. Even if you don’t, then you are probably wondering what it all means. Let’s break it down.

To begin with, consider the common house alarm. House alarms will usually have a device built into the wall that controls the alarm, allowing you to set it and turn it off. This is what can be used as your hub. It doesn’t end there. Some alarms do not even use a wall mounted device.

These will either be mounted to a smoke detector, in place of one (if they come bundled with smoke detector-like features), or at least near them. These can also serve as a hub since they come with their own wireless connectivity, they will just be controlled through a phone app.

Not only can security devices, such as cameras and the alarm itself, be tied to them, but household appliances like the aforementioned smart air conditioning and smart oven can too.

The Full Smart Home Picture

Let’s recap what we’ve discussed so far: Smart home devices can make your home more efficient. You don’t have to spend time or energy fiddling with things, you can instead focus on doing what you want, whether that’s work or relaxing.

New homeowners in particular will enjoy having a temperature-controlled home through smart air conditioning, faster and easier cooking through a smart oven, and better security through a smart alarm system. The best part? It can all be controlled through your phone or voice.

These features will make things faster, easier, and cheaper. The efficiency of smart devices means that they are never on longer than they need to be, which lowers your electricity bill. And home security means your home’s liability is lower, which in turn lowers insurance costs.

Conclusion

The longer you live in your new home, the more you will begin to see small things that could use improvement. And if you plan to live in that home for the rest of your life, then it behooves you to fix those small things. If you need any help picking out or setting up smart home devices, visit us. We are more than happy to show you how to turn the home you just bought into your home.

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Krystal Morrison
 

I create this blog to share my daily tips about home improvement, children, pets, food, health, and ways to be frugal while maintaining a natural lifestyle. Interested to be a Guest Blogger on my website? Please email me at: [email protected]

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