Early spring is a good time to check your home for normal wear-and-tear and to look around for damage caused by the harsh winter. Here’s a checklist of home maintenance items that can be reviewed in a weekend. If you discover any problems, it’s a good idea to take care of repairs now before they become big ticket items.
1. Check roof and gutters — Interior water damage often originates at the top of the house on the roof, so grab a ladder and check your roof for missing or broken shingles. While you are up there, inspect flashings and joints around chimneys and skylights. Bring a bucket with you to scoop out leaves and branches that are clogging gutters and valleys and finish by flushing gutters and downspouts with a garden hose.
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If you like the idea of opening the door to a pre-heated or pre-cooled vacation house when you arrive, then you are definitely a candidate for a remote thermostat! There are many types of remote thermostats on the market today — some can be controlled by simply calling the telephone number at your vacation house and others which are Internet-enabled can be controlled from your PC or smart phone. Here are five good reasons why a remote thermostat should be the next upgrade to your vacation home:
1. Allows remote temperature control from anywhere
With a remote thermostat, you have the ability to adjust the temperature in your vacation house before you get there from virtually anywhere. If you are a skier with a winter retreat, imagine the comfort and convenience of arriving to a warm cabin versus having to wait hours for the bone-chilling cold to subside? In warmer climates, a remote thermostat gives you the ability to pre-cool a vacation home that is equipped with central air conditioning.
2. Saves on energy
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The holidays are here again and everyone is looking for unique gift ideas. Here’s a list of gift suggestions that that are original, useful and affordable – and sure to bring a smile to those special people on your shopping list.
For Grandparents and Seniors
Amplified Alarm Clock with Wireless Vibrating Pad & Telephone Signaler – Do you know someone who is hard-of-hearing or hard to wake up, or both? This extra loud alarm clock wakes deep sleepers with a loud 90dB signal and/or vibration. The Amplicom TCL 200 Digital Alarm Clock can also signal incoming phone calls. Now offered for $73.00.
Wireless Motion Detector – No one wants to be surprised by strangers at the door. With this wireless passive infrared sensor, grandma can monitor an entrance, walkway or other covered location up to 600 feet away and be warned when a person or vehicle approaches. The Dakota Alert IRWR-3000 Wireless PIR is sold as a kit for $149.99. Extra sensors can be added.
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So you know you want to be able to control the thermostat in your home or business from a remote location, but you can’t decide between an Internet thermostat, a WiFi thermostat and a phone thermostat. All three options give you the ability to adjust temperature remotely and all are similarly priced starting at around $200. So how do you choose?
Selecting the best remote thermostat system for your situation involves a quick analysis of your communications setup and control preferences. Here is what you need to consider:
Communications Setup
If there is a high-speed Internet connection (i.e., modem and router) in your home or business, you can choose between an Internet thermostat and a WiFi thermostat. Both will allow you to control the temperature remotely from anywhere using any Internet-enabled computer or smart phone.
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If you’re a snowbird who will be heading south soon to escape the cold winter months, here’s a list of steps you can follow to winterize your home and protect your property before you go. Investing the extra time to properly prepare and secure your home before you depart will free you from the worries of leaving an empty house and minimize costly repair bills.
Yard – Clean gutters to prevent ice dams and allow melting snow to drain away from the house (and not into the basement); trim tree branches located near the home and power lines; arrange for a snowplow service to plow driveway and shovel walkway so your home looks occupied after major snowstorms. Read the rest of this entry »
Most seniors want to be in control of their lives and dread the day when they have to depend on others for basic needs, which is why remote-controlled devices are so empowering for the elderly and bedridden. Being able to remotely control the TV and other appliances is a huge convenience for seniors. Now, with a device called a wireless thermostat, they can also adjust the temperature of the specific room they are in without having to get out of bed or up from their seat.
In a typical home or apartment, there are one or two heating and air conditioning zones that are regulated by a wall thermostat located somewhere in the zone. Because temperature is maintained where the thermostat is located, rooms located far away from the thermostat suffer from uneven heating and cooling. So, for instance, if the only thermostat in the apartment is located in the kitchen, the master bedroom at the end of the hallway will probably feel too warm or too cold.
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If you’re like many adults today whose aging parents still live independently in their own home, a phone thermostat is something that can make your job of monitoring their well-being a whole lot easier! Ensuring that mom and dad are comfortable, safe and healthy during a summer heat wave or winter deep freeze can be a challenge, especially if they live far away. So having the ability to discreetly monitor and adjust the temperature in their home by phone is an invaluable tool that caregivers like you will appreciate.
Eldercare experts note that there are many reasons the elderly neglect to properly heat and cool their homes, including forgetfulness and frugality. Fear of crime is another factor that keeps many seniors from opening windows, even on stifling hot days. According to Richard Della Penna, Chief Medical Officer of Independa, Inc. and a leading expert on elder care, extreme temperatures can be life-threatening to older adults.
“The elderly are at greater risk than the general population during extremely hot weather because our bodies don’t respond to changes in temperature in the same way as we get older,” Della Penna says. “Beyond causing discomfort, sustained heat and humidity are dangerous for older people.”
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Replacing the old electromechanical thermostats in your home with a new digital thermostat is an excellent way to save on heating and cooling costs. By lowering the heat in your home 10o to 15 o for 8 hours a day, you can save about 5% to 15% a year on your heating bill. A basic digital programmable thermostat can make temperature adjustments for you automatically throughout the day to optimize your energy savings and reduce your bill. If you need or want remote control capabilities, there are more sophisticated models available. Here’s a brief overview of digital thermostats to make it easy for you to choose the model that’s right for you:
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Violent summer thunderstorms can strike at any time, resulting in a power failure that can last for hours. But if you are at work or traveling, how will you know if your pet is stranded at home with no air conditioning and at risk of heat stroke? Pets are equally vulnerable in the wintertime when icy storms can cause a power failure, leaving them shivering in an unheated house for hours until you get home.
There are a number of strategies concerned pet owners can use to be alerted of power failures in their home. Here are a few suggestions:
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Do you need a temperature alarm that will notify you when temperatures get too warm or too cold but there’s no landline phone connection to send out the alert? There are a few stand-alone “cellular temperature alarms” on the market today, but it’s actually very easy to assemble a more economical system yourself by combining two off-the-shelf devices – a cellular terminal plus a freeze alarm – to create a unit that monitors both high and low temperatures and works anywhere that you have electricity and cell phone service.
Typical places where you might need a cellular temperature alarm include vacation homes, RVs and remote buildings like greenhouses, garages and barns. For instance, pet owners traveling by RV in the summertime worry that their dogs will suffer from heat stroke if the A/C were to quit. And absentee vacation homeowners worry about frozen pipes and furnace failure in the winter, as well as air conditioning systems breaking down in the summertime causing mold and mildew growth. In all of these scenarios, a cellular temperature alarm will alert owners by phone if there is a heat or freeze emergency. Read the rest of this entry »
