A smart home can be a huge improvement by making your day-to-day life much more efficient. Creating a smart home isn’t as simple as buying all the equipment and hoping it works, though. While you can do that, it’s better to slowly adjust to the tech and do your research before buying devices. After all, you don’t want to be left with expensive products you no longer use! To make sure you get it right the first time, follow these eleven tips for creating a smart home.
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Start with a Clean and Safe Space
The purpose of a smart home is to make your life convenient through automation. It’s impossible to do that in an untidy or unsafe space, however. Before you start purchasing smart bulbs and connecting all your devices, it’s important to clean your home and check for wiring issues or water damage.
If you find any issues with wiring or your home suffers from water damage, you must seek the help of an electrician or water damage restoration company. The sooner it’s sorted, the sooner you can start building a safe, smart home. For those who have experienced bad water damage in the home, understanding and familiarizing on the process of water damage restoration will help.
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Prioritize Your Needs
What do you want a smart home for? Do you want to be able to turn the heating on while driving home, switch the lights on with your voice, or wake up to the smell of freshly made coffee each morning? Don’t just buy a smart device for the sake of it – think about what you want and determine your purchases through that. Fitness enthusiasts might want to build a smart home gym first, while those with a green outlook might prefer to start with smart bulbs.
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Read Customer Reviews
Not every smart device is built the same. To make sure you don’t waste your money, look at plenty of customer reviews before purchase. Don’t just look at the ratings, either – look at what other customers used the device for and what type of environment they used it in. Doing so will help you make a more informed decision.
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Start with Smart Lighting
While what smart devices you use is entirely up to you, it’s generally best to start with the most basic – smart lighting. These days, many homes have this automation equipped, as it is no longer reserved for remarkably techy and modern houses. It is simple to set up, too. You just need to decide whether you want to go for smart bulbs or smart plugs. Bulbs are usually better for ceiling lights, whereas plugs can be really handy for connecting your lamps to your smart network.
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Improve Your Internet Connection
No smart home is complete without a stable internet connection. For it to work, you need constant and reliable access, so test your connection and improve it if you find unstable spots. A WIFI extender can be a great help here!
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Make Sure Everyone is On Board
One step many people forget when building a smart home is whether or not everyone in the household is on board. While the tech is generally an improvement, some people prefer the old way of doing things and find pushing a button to be just as convenient as saying ‘Alexa, turn lights on’. If you live with older adults, it’s especially important to ensure they’re on board, as you don’t want to make someone feel out of their depths with tech in their own home.
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Use Alexa or Google Assistant
The two best ways to control your smart devices are through your phone and voice recognition. For the latter, you will need to choose between Alexa or Google Assistant – both of which have their benefits. It doesn’t hugely matter which you go with, though, as they both allow you to switch on devices through spoken words.
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Install a Smart Thermostat
While there are many smart devices to go with, and which you prefer is entirely personal, one you definitely should get is a smart thermostat. Not only does it make keeping your home warm much more convenient, but it can also help save you money and reduce your carbon footprint. Imagine driving home in the wintertime and being able to heat your home through your phone! Plus, the next time you realize you’ve left the heating on after leaving for work, you can quickly and easily switch it off to avoid running up the bill.
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Name Each Device Correctly
You might think it’s funny to call your living room lightbulbs a quirky, unrelated name, but it is much more efficient (and memorable) to name each device by its proper title. Go with simple, short, and easy to remember names to ensure you never forget which device is which.
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Control with a Single App
You don’t need to download multiple apps to control your smart devices. In fact, doing so would be a waste of time. Instead, download a single app to control everything in your smart home, from your thermostat to your coffee machine. It’s ridiculously convenient, and you can control it from anywhere as long as you have a stable network connection.
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Add One New Device at a Time
It can be tempting to build a fully-equipped smart home straight away, but this is generally best avoided. While you might want a smart coffee machine, smart bulbs, and a smart security system all at once, consider adding one new device at a time to get used to it. Once you’ve built a home with three or four smart systems and you feel it’s definitely for you, then you could go all out and become one of the most modern and techy homes out there.
Building and adjusting to a smart home takes time. By following these tips, you ensure your smart home is convenient and personal to you.
