Anyone own a smart house?

[M-technik-3]

I'm very sorry to read that. American Red Cross helping you guys out? Or has insurance put you up in a hotel?

[skateimitation]

I'm so sorry to see about your house, that is terrible!!

As for the smart homes, I actually install them everyday for my job.

It's pretty crazy what you can do with your phone, control hvac, have the system shut your hvac down if you open a window for any extended time, cut lights on and off, the possibilities are endless. If you have any questions ask away! I will answer the best I can.

[herbivor]

I'm so sorry to see about your house, that is terrible!!

As for the smart homes, I actually install them everyday for my job.

It's pretty crazy what you can do with your phone, control hvac, have the system shut your hvac down if you open a window for any extended time, cut lights on and off, the possibilities are endless. If you have any questions ask away! I will answer the best I can.

Awesome. I meet with a guy later this week to start talking options. I may let you review his suggestions to make sure Im not getting screwed.

[Pac1373]

I have nothing to offer in regards to smart homes, I live in a 112 year old victorian palace, it is ANYTHING but smart, getting new doors/ windows installed as I type but I digress.


I really just wanted to tell you that I am sorry you lost your home (temporarily) you pets and your possessions, you seem to be finding the positives in this, but I wanted to add my condolences to the list as well.

that is a pretty devastating experience, I wish you and your family well, and hope that the road back is as smooth as possible for you.

best wishes and regards,

Patrick

[ohthejosh]

Saw the thread title and thought of the disney movie.

Sorry to hear about the house and the dogs :( But as far as smart houses go I cant really contribute since the smartest thing about my house are the blown bulbs I refuse to replace because they dont actually add any illumination to the area it's located therefore saving me a few pennies LOL buuuut I suggest investing in solar panels! since you will be starting fresh.


Also please dont get a fridge that has twitter,fb, etc on it.

[Ryan Stewart]

Wow that truly sucks.

That being said we try to clean the thing twice a year. Have seen the damage it causes. We have a natural gas powered drier, so I can only imagine the damage that would cause.

Concur on both points. Sucks about the possessions but triple on the dogs, thinks are things but lives are lives.

I rigged my parents house up as a "as smart as they could handle" house. They loved it, I couldn't get too crazy because they probably wouldnt have been able to figure it out but I put cameras up, integrated the alarm/communication systems, etc.

I smartened up my apartment. To be honest its CONSIDERABLY easier to do now compared to what I did. Power is all you need now that Wifi is in every home.

Also, make sure everyone knows you are doing this regarding insurance and local govt. There are a lot of credits, rebates, discounts, etc that you can get.

[AntiScope]

Saw the thread title and thought of the disney movie.

[42000]

Sad to hear about your dogs!

I am pretty interested in this topic. I am an architecture student and this is what i want to focus on down the road. One simple solution you might want to look at as far as HVAC is the nest t-stat. It's a relatively cheap t-stat that you can control from a phone, etc. totally programmable too. As far as insulation I would def go with either recycled denim or sprayfoam if you have the money. Solar hot water is cheap, photovoltaic is a lot more money but probably worth it. Think about getting a pellet stove too. They put more particulate matter into the air but much less CO2. and it lessens are dependence on oil companies. (although we still drive e30s lol)

[Jand3rson]

As someone who used to work in the AV/Home Theater/Smart Home industry, be careful, because all of that automation-type stuff will add up REAL FAST. I know they infrastructure and the backbone required for all that type of stuff, and you're looking at big money and lots of time/labor to install it all. Smart/automated homes are great, and I'm by no means trying to talk you out of it, but all that technology comes at a price, and is not always as simple and easy to use as it looks on the surface.

[spike68]

I have never lived in a smart house before, but this subject involves my major in college currently (Building Science) at Auburn University.

Right now the current construction market (commercial and residential) is trying to aim things towards having smart structures using green products. The only major disadvantage to getting one to be certified (LEED, BREEAM, ect.) is the always brings up front end cost, although it will most indefinitely pay you back in the long run.

There is already a good establishment of companies that create highly efficient systems to keep energy cost down. If I were you, I would look into finding not just equipment and systems that use less power, but I different source of power, such as solar panels, or generators powered by wind (if your region permits). In some states you can even sell energy to power companies too.

But if you really want to benefit the most in terms of energy usage, look into efficient HVAC systems. HVAC generally takes up the most energy to run and its the system that is used the most. Finding high efficiency units will most definitely save you more money in the long run and it will pay you back the fastest.

There is a lot more detail all this can go into, but id be here forever. I hope i helped at least a little bit. Im sure I will continue contributing as conversation sparks on this thread.

[z31maniac]

^What's the current top end SEER rating?

[e30vert]

I literally gasped out loud when I read about the dogs not making it. Man that pulls at my heart strings cause I know I would be a total mess if we lost our dogs.
My condolences.

Yes I own a somewhat smart home.

As someone stated above the Nest is a cool gadget that will control your HVAC system and learn from your heating and cooling needs and preferences. Thats great, but you want to start with one technology and stay with it. Not hodge podge things together with different devices that are not made to interoperate.

Pick a standard that you know will be somewhat futureproof and then invest in that technology. All my devices interoperate and are not made by other manufacturers to hopefully communicate.

I went with Smarthome Insteon technology and it does everything I need it to do and more!

I can control lights indoor and outdoor , Holidays lights, Appliances, my humidor temp and humidty (reading temp and adjustments) HVAC for home and connected garage, motion sensors, infrared night vision cameras. Send notifications (text /email) to phone. i.e. someone triggered motion detector in front driveway, humidity of humidor is low, etc.
Complete control via iphone/ipad, or Android devices if I so choose.

I have a moderate installation and am always looking for ways to "beef out" my system cause Im a technology nut and am away from the home for weeks at a time.

Right now I am working on getting my floor standing Convienience store beverage fridge in the garage to only turn on the internal Flourescent light when there is motion detected in the garage proper and keep it on for a set duration.

After that it will be to detect the temp of the beer in the Kegerator and announce this via voice control on an internal Siri proxy that is setup. Its gonna be able to respond to Siri commands when asked "Siri what is the temp of the beer in the kegerator?" Custom responses that insert the temp into the response statement will be used-

For instance "The beer is currently {insert temp} degrees lets have one"

The current technology available can do some wonderful things and I like to challenge myself to find new and fun ways to implement it.

It can be expensive but wiring is one of my fairly strong suits so I dont pay installers to do all the work. Its all me!

I would look into Insteon and for a more complicated control setup dont start with the Smartlinc and go right to the ISY99 controllers. I quickly found the basic Smartlinc to be less than required as the controller.

[James Crivellone]

As someone who used to work in the AV/Home Theater/Smart Home industry, be careful, because all of that automation-type stuff will add up REAL FAST. I know they infrastructure and the backbone required for all that type of stuff, and you're looking at big money and lots of time/labor to install it all. Smart/automated homes are great, and I'm by no means trying to talk you out of it, but all that technology comes at a price, and is not always as simple and easy to use as it looks on the surface.

That is the largest annoyance I have with the Crestron / Control4 methods. Those guys charge an arm and a leg because nobody can directly compete. Trust me I love the stuff, but I would NEVER pay someone else to come and install one of them. Sadly neither Control4 or Crestron support end users directly, and all want to go through dealers. Sorry I'm not paying someone to setup an automation scene / trigger / etc. However sadly as Home Automation is still seen as a luxury it will take some time to hit the end user.

As 10Toes mentioned above I run a MiCasaVerde Vera 2 controller, GE Switches / Outlets / Dimmers, Sony Ipela HD security cameras, IRIS Z-Wave Thermostat, Z-Wave Locks, SMS / Email Notification, automated scenes, audio is all tied into an Android App, etc.

[Massimo]

Not sure if troll, or troll trolling on his lunch break

[Hooffenstein HD]

I've always liked the Ultrahouse 3000.