The home of the future exists today. Thanks to home automation, you can now place your next grocery order in minutes, lock your front door when you’re already at the office or adjust the temperature indoors when you’re on your way home. Smart home systems do more than make your life easier, though. They can also improve your home’s safety and make your house more accessible as you get or your loved ones get older. Should you decide to sell your home later, a home automation system can make the house more valuable to prospective buyers.
If you’re ready to increase your home convenience and boost safety, here are a few features worth installing.
1. A Home Assistant
Home assistants such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa act as digital administrative assistants for you and others in your household. You can use them to make shopping lists, schedule meetings or appointments and set countdown timers. You can also take advantage of the assistants’ search features and ask them random trivia questions as they come into your head, such as, “What’s the square root of 36?” or, “When was the Eiffel Tower built?”
Along with organizing your life and satisfying your curiosity, your home assistant can connect to and control other smart devices in your house, such as a smart thermostat or smart locks. If you want to use your assistant to control other devices, you need to purchase products that are compatible with each other. Google Assistant works with Google products, while Alexa is compatible with more brands and devices.
2. A Home Elevator
Elevators aren’t only for commercial buildings. A home elevator makes your residence more convenient, safe and accessible. It can also make your home more attractive to potential buyers, allowing you to set a higher price for it when you want to sell.
Among the benefits of installing a home elevator is ease of access. People who have limited mobility, whether they use a wheelchair, cane or walker, can use an elevator to travel from the lower levels of the home to the upper levels and back again. If you have young children who are still mastering going up and down stairs, you can transport them easily from one floor to the other in the elevator, while keeping them under close supervision.
If you live on your own, a home elevator can make you feel more safe and secure. Instead of climbing up and down stairs and risking a fall, you can use the elevator. If you’ve decided to age in place, a home elevator can help you stay mobile and allows you to use more of your home for longer.
An elevator also makes moving objects and furniture a snap. You can load up the elevator with boxes, bags and suitcases and send it from one floor to the next, instead of lugging those heavy objects up a flight or two of stairs.
3. Smart Locks
A smart lock replaces a traditional key with a code that you tap into a keypad to lock and unlock your home’s doors. The locks can give you greater control over who has access to your home. Instead of giving your housekeeper a physical key, you can provide them with a code that only opens the doors when they would be cleaning your house. If you are expecting a package, you can give the delivery driver a code to open the door and place the package in the foyer of your house rather than leave it on the front steps.
Smart locks can connect to your home assistant and mobile device, too. If you are on the way to work and can’t remember if you locked the door, you can check your device to see the status of the lock. If you did leave the door unlocked, you can lock it right from your phone. You can also unlock the door remotely if one of your children forgets their code or if friends or family members are swinging by and you’re not at home yet.
4. Smart Lights
Over the years, the light bulbs in your home might have changed from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Smart lights take things a step further. They are energy-efficient LEDs that connect to a home assistant or other app, allowing you to control the lights from a distance or to program the lights to turn on and off at particular times. Some smart lighting systems also let you adjust the level of lighting. You can wake up to lights that slowly get brighter or fall asleep to lights that gradually dim.
Smart lights can help you save money by reducing your energy use at home. LEDs are among the most efficient types of bulbs, lasting for years longer than CFLs or incandescents and using much less energy. Since you can turn the lights on and off from anywhere, using your mobile device, you can make sure you never leave the lights on when no one is at home or in a particular room.
5. A Dumbwaiter
A dumbwaiter is a small lift that carries groceries, suitcases and home necessities from one floor to the next. Installing a dumbwaiter in your home can make your life more convenient, as you’ll no longer need to carry heavy objects up and down stairs yourself. A dumbwaiter can also make you feel safer at home, as you’ll reduce the risk of falling while carrying things, and can reduce the risk of back strain and other injuries.
6. A Smart Thermostat
Like other smart home devices, a smart thermostat connects to your mobile device, allowing you to program it when you’re away from home. Smart thermostats can also learn your habits and schedule and set themselves to certain temperatures based on when they expect you to be home from work or go to bed in the evening.
A smart thermostat takes the hassle out of maintaining a comfortable temperature in your home. It can also save you money over time, as lowering the indoor temperature in the winter or increasing it in the summer reduces the energy you use. Your smart thermostat can also send you reminders about scheduling HVAC tune-ups and maintenance, helping to keep your systems operating smoothly and efficiently for as long as possible. Regular maintenance prolongs the life of your HVAC system, too.
Inclinator Can Make Your Home More Convenient
Your home should be safe, convenient and comfortable. Installing a home elevator or residential dumbwaiter from Inclinator can make it all three. To learn more, find an Inclinator dealer near you today.
- 3 Misconceptions About Home Elevators - December 9, 2021
- Elevator Controls - November 11, 2021
- Top 11 Unique Elevators in the World - August 16, 2021
ACCESS DEALER PORTAL
