Did you lock your gate? Turn off your espresso machine after that last shot of caffeine before you hit the road? Shouldn’t you have closed the curtains – or should you have left them open? Is your neighbour not going to use watering the plants as an excuse to nose around? Is your new front lawn not going to die on you? Relax, thanks to your smart home system you have nothing to worry about. How to prevent break-ins, garden maintenance tips and temporary access for your neighbours when necessary – this blog is packed with tips and tricks to help you have a worry-free holiday.
Make it look like you’re at home
Break-ins most of the time happen when you’re not at home. Burglars are not fooled by a light in your living room that switches on every night at 10 pm sharp. But what else can you do? The idea of another summer holiday in Los Back Gardenos… no thank you! Thankfully, your smart home system can make it look like you’re at home, while you’re actually relaxing on a beach on Ibiza. How? First, keep track of the following:
- When do you have your telly on?
- When and where are lights turned on in your house?
- When are they usually turned off?
- When do you have music coming out of your SONOS speakers?
Summer ideas
Use this data to create a presence simulation scene. Let your smart home system turn on the radio in the kitchen every evening around 6 when you normally start prepping dinner. Let the television come to live for an hour each morning if you normally have the morning news on, or let it turn on Cartoon Network when your kids normally watch that in the morning. Turn on the telly automatically in the evening just before the 8 o’clock news comes on just like when you’re at home. And have it switch off when you normally go to bed.
The presence simulation scene can also turn off all the lights in your house one by one in the evening, starting at the ground floor – but have it leave on the lights in the bedroom of your teenager till the early morning. Have it open the curtains at 7 AM (except the ones in your teen’s bedroom of course) and have it close them automatically when it gets dark outside. It would even fool your neighbours.
While you’re add it. why not make your dog smart too? Record his bark and integrate it in your smart home system and/or smart doorbell. When a motion detector gets activated or someone rings the doorbell, your smart home system sets of the bark recording.
One of the greatest features of your smart home system is that you can always keep an eye on things no matter where you are. Your smartphone can tell you if you’ve locked all your windows and doors. Forgot your bathroom window? With the simple push of a button, you can close it. Even when you’re lying in a hammock on a dreamy sandy beach on the other side of the world.
Temporary digital key
The only thing left to do is finding someone to take care of the mail for you. Wanna prevent your mother-in-law dropping in whenever see feels like it after your holidays, because she didn’t return the key? A smart door lock can provide her with a temporary access code. That expires the moment you’re back home. The ability to create a temporary access code also comes in handy when your alarm goes off during your absence, and you want your neighbour to check out if everything is ok. Combined with a smart doorbell you can also give your parcel delivery guy temporary access, so he can leave the parcel in your garage or hallway.
Welcome home
It’s time to go on that well-deserved summer trip, with your mind at ease! Your house will be safe and secure waiting for your return. Coming back from that tropical island to a cold and rainy home country? While you wait at the conveyor belt for your luggage, you can turn up the heat a notch, or turn on the air-conditioning when it’s smothering hot.
Wanna go on your summer break with ease of mind, but don’t have the time to create a presence simulation scene? Do you wonder whether everything is installed properly or wonder if you have the correct smart home tools to ensure the safety of your belongings? Let Comfortica take care of it.
Have a great summer!
