It is surprisingly nice not to carry a house key when, say, you go for a run, or arrive home from the airport in a taxi, or get dropped off by friends. I always have a telephone.
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Itâs one less thing to worry about forgetting (or have fall out of your pocket) and, when youâre coming back from the store, itâs one less thing you have to have in your hands.
More importantly, though, the access control that smart locks allow you to have is much more secure than handing out physical keys to, say, a cleaner or pet-sitter, which can then be easily and quickly copied. I will be able to open the door remotely to allow someone in, or give them a code or âe-keyâ for their phone that allows them access, but I can take that away at any time. I believe it can even be time sensitive, so someoneâs code/key will work only during certain times on certain days as I see fit.
Lastly, you donât ever have to get out of bed a 3am because you think you might have forgotten to lock the back door. You just tell Siri/Alexa to lock the door and roll over back to sleep. Very handy in a 2-story house.
Thatâs why you leave a key under front door mat.
Not in my neighborhood you donât. Weâre surrounded by Rice professors and doctors. You canât turn your back on those people.
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Smart locks are like fob-activated push button starters on cars.
âThatâs a silly thing. How hard is it to put a key in and turn it and oh my this is much much nicer keys you can go right straight to hell.â
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This is the main reason why I put smart dead bolts on the front/back doors, because my wife and son routinely leave those doors unlocked (ADHD brain). Now my OCD brain can be at peace by manually locking/unlocking the dead bolts from my phone, and Iâve also set up automations to lock them when theyâve been unlocked for a certain period of time and whenever we arm the alarm system. That I donât have to give my kids or my in-laws or anyone else keys to the house is a plus.
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I like how you donât have to change batteries on keys.
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Oh, donât get me wrong, that level of automation is fantastic to have if you want/need it. In my professional life we use similar control systems, just commercial grade (Crestron), and they are life savers. But they do cost a pretty penny, and are a pain in the ass when they need servicing.
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This is true.
There were crestron home systems available. They were much more expensive, more than twice the cost as I recall.
Doesnât surprise me. Crestron has some equipment that can be sized for home use, but they are primarily focused on commercial use, running 24/7/365 for years on end.
I recently went out of town for a week and in order to diminish the appearance of absence with an eye towards protecting my home from thieves, marauders, migrant hordes, squatters, Democrats and other lowlifes, I invested in some of that advanced technology everyone is always on about. You know it, I bought me some a them light timer switches. You plug em in, you plug your lamps and whatnot into em, and, get this, once you set the switches (according to a sophisticated series of circularly positioned pegs you raise or leave in place, depending) your lights or blinds or light sabres or whatever it is go on and off however you have it set!
Central American migrant horde comes marching by, Hey, letâs go in ther- oh shit the lights just came on I guess theyâre home better keep marching.
Thatâs right, Slappy, move along.
Itâs like no one ever saw âHome Aloneâ.
Holy shit! Not only are they home, but Michael Jordan is shuffling in a circle repeatedly in their living room!
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My new place has a small patch of grass in the backyard and a flower bed in the front. However, the landscaping around the pathway (community space) is not sprinklered, so the HOA asks the property owners to water the grassed areas in front of our properties.
So how do you handle this in a smart way? You buy two old school oscillating sprinklers and pair them up with smart water control valves. So now, at set times (with automatic skipping if it has been raining), my sprinklers come on and water my green spaces. The front sprinkler placed and angled in such a way that it waters the grass out front too.
An automatic smart sprinkler system for around $200!
I have multiple of those water control valves that work great (I use them for the drip irrigation in the plants and herb/veggie garden). Theyâre about 30 bucks though, so not sure where you spent all your money, unless your sprinklers are made of gold.
Smart controller was $80.
iValve?
Rainpoint.
Had to buy an extra flow meter and two short hoses as well as the sprinklers.
Smart light and fan switches test case works very nicely. Had a little trouble with the fan switch, but now that Iâve done one the rest will be a breeze.
Both appear as devices in my Apple Home app, so I can set them up for automations and scenes.
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