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Tag Archives: security

Keeping Your Home Safe

Posted on by Posted in Security .

Home SecurityKeeping your home protected against burglary doesn’t need to involve expensive and complex systems. The majority of us already have various safety measures in place which go a long way towards making our homes feel more protected. However, burglary is often an opportunistic crime and identifying the seemingly small issues that could put you at risk can have a huge benefit on the overall security of your home. From storing your valuables in a home safe to investing in a monitored alarm system, the following tips are all simple steps that you can take to deter potential thieves and give you peace of mind.

Window Locks

Window locks may seem like an obvious step, but they’re easy to overlook. Ensuring that all of your accessible windows are fitted with locks offers a huge boost to the security of your home, giving would-be burglars fewer points of access. Sometimes though if you have older windows, the locking mechanism may fail. In this case, Art Roofing Contractors recommends looking into installing some new ones. If your locks are visible from outside, this also has the extra benefit of deterring thieves from targeting your home in the first place. Different types of windows require different types of locks, so consider consulting a reputable locksmith for further advice. Continue reading →

Home Automation – A Modern Essential?

Posted on by Posted in Entertainment, Heating, Security .

NimbusHome automation has been around for nearly 3 decades, however many people still regard it as rather a gimmick, or something that resembles the floating skateboard in Back to the Future. But are home automation systems useful in the modern home? Do they come in forms that are workable by anyone less than Bill Gates? And most importantly can they benefit the average household in day to day life? We spoke to Mile High Automation to get answers to all of these questions, and more besides.

Home Automation… The surprising benefits

Home automation systems seek to do one of three things, and those are to: increase security, improve efficiency and convenience or provide comfort. By looking at what the market has to offer today, it is possible to gain an insight into the sometimes surprising benefits of home automation.

Security

  • CCTV System – CCTV systems have been employed by private residencies since their conception; however they can now benefit from their owners using a mobile device to view their property from anywhere, and at any time.
  • Remote access control – Whilst at first glance a remote access control system may seem a frivolous waste of money, its practicality is somewhat surprising. Such systems allow the user to remotely control who accesses their property, whether it’s the house sitter watching the pets whilst you’re on holiday, or a teenage child returning home from school; remote access provides a helpful solution, whether you’re at work or aboard.

Efficiency and Convenience

  • Lighting Control – If you think that lighting control is reserved for only actors creating an ambient mood at the flick of a switch, then you should think again. Lighting control systems come in all shapes and sizes, and can range from allowing you to switch off all the unissued lights at once, to recreating your own mood lighting.
  • HVAC (Heating, ventilation and air conditioning) Automation systems – HVAC automation systems provide a little more freedom than the traditional home systems. Just think, no more returning to a cold home after that beautifully warm holiday. You can switch your heating on from another country.
  • Temperature Adjustment – If you’re a frugal person, and you turn your thermostat down every morning before you leave, then you’ve probably gotten to work and started wondering whether you remembered to do it that day. A home automation system could manage all this automatically for you.

Comfort

  • Sound or Home Cinema System – Many of us have seen those private cinemas that are seemingly a standard feature within the homes of the rich and famous. But are they really reserved just for those that represent ‘the other half’? Today people are able to install similar systems with a little investment, and a home automation system can provide a one stop remote for switching between home cinema, TV and music.

From this list, it is easy to see that home automation systems have a wide and varied range of benefits; whilst some systems may be of more use than another, there is certainly no modern home that wouldn’t benefit from some sort of home automation system.