Smart Switches 101

As smart homes become more common, some homeowners are going beyond basics like smart bulbs and assistant hubs like Google Home and Amazon Echo. This can take a number of forms, from the addition of smart electronics and security systems to sensors throughout the house that can recognize when people walk into rooms and adjust the lighting and other resources accordingly. One increasingly popular option is the installation of smart switches in lieu of simply relying on individual smart bulbs to control lighting.

So what are smart switches, anyway? How do they work? Can you install them anywhere, or are there specific things that your home needs? If you’re curious about smart switches and whether they would be a good addition to your home, here are some of the basics that you should consider.

How Smart Switches Work

At their core, smart switches operate like most standard light switches and can turn lights or other connected devices on and off. Given that the switches are smart devices, though, they can do significantly more than that. Smart switches allow you to control the lights remotely using either an app or voice control through a digital assistant or a third-party hub. Depending on the bulbs that you use with your smart switch, you may also be able to control the brightness of the lights (similar to a dimmer switch) or function as a three-way switch. It’s worth noting that unless the bulbs are designed for it, smart switches can’t give you the ability to control the light’s color the way that standard smart bulbs can.

Perhaps the greater benefit of smart switches is that they allow you to tie your lighting into a larger smart ecosystem without having to pair each individual light bulb to the network. This gives you greater control of your home as a whole and allows you to incorporate lighting into smart home routines without having to program a bunch of individual components. You can also pair your smart switches with remote controls, giving you a portable switch that lets you control your lighting even without accessing your overall smart home controls.

Smart Switch Requirements

There are two major things that you’re going to need to use smart switches in your home. Perhaps the most important is grounded wiring, as all smart switches require grounding to operate. If you’re upgrading light switches that weren’t grounded, you’ll have to ensure that a ground wire is available, or your new switches simply won’t work.

Once you’ve got your switches grounded, you’re also going to need access to a 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi network. While this is a standard Wi-Fi frequency, 5Ghz Wi-Fi is also increasingly common, but is not compatible with most smart devices (including modern smart switches). Almost all modern routers and wireless access points are capable of broadcasting on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands, so if you don’t have a 2.4Ghz band currently at your home then it shouldn’t be too difficult to add one.

Installing Smart Switches

There are two aspects to installing smart switches: installing the physical switch, and connecting it to your Wi-Fi network. Installing the switch is similar to any other grounded light switch installation, so it’s certainly doable as a DIY project if you feel confident in your wiring abilities, but check with your code office to make sure you’re allowed to do this kind of work. Once installed, the switch can then be connected to your Wi-Fi network using the manufacturer’s smartphone app on a phone or other mobile device that’s connected to the same network that the switch will eventually use.

Since wiring a smart switch involves dealing with electricity, if you aren’t confident in your ability to install the switch, if your local code office requires an electrician for that kind of work, or if you need a wiring upgrade, then you should call in a professional.

What Is a Deep Energy Retrofit?

Owning an older home can be a really amazing experience. Not only do you get to actually live in a slice of history, you’re also there to make decisions about this building that will stay with it potentially for generations to come (no pressure). But it’s not all pink toilets and clawfoot tubs; a lot of the most important calls in older homes are about energy efficiency.

Deep energy retrofits are becoming increasingly common for older homes, helping to turn these structures that can be absolute energy vampires into far more efficient versions of themselves. This is well beyond a little weather stripping, and can make a big difference to longer term performance.

Deep Energy Retrofit Versus Weatherproofing

Weatherproofing is vital for homes of all ages, just to make sure that your home is sealed as best it can be, and that the equipment you have is performing at its best. But weatherproofing usually involves sealing cracks, caulking trim, and making sure everything fits snugly together. Deep energy retrofits can go well beyond that, depending on your home, your goals, and what your experts have to say about it.

In a deep energy retrofit, sealing the holes is important, but so is upgrading materials that are fundamental for the energy efficiency of an older home, using materials that make it more on par with newer ones. For example, as part of a deep energy retrofit, you might replace all your windows with triple pane insulated glass unit windows, and insulate the underside of your roof to help prevent heat penetration into your attic.

You might also upgrade or completely change your HVAC system, for example, going from a boiler to a ductless mini split system or improving air flow by adding new air intakes throughout your home. The combinations are endless, and largely depend on your local climate and your home’s needs.

Problems to Watch for With Deep Energy Retrofits

Although deep energy retrofits can save you a lot of money in the long term, there are some issues with doing the wrong kinds of upgrades to your home. Some houses, for example, use a type of exterior wall structure that isn’t very compatible with spray foam. They actually need the air gap between the walls to help moisture evaporate away from your house.

Other homes might have never been intended to be sealed so tight, so older fixtures like gas stoves and furnaces may require additional ventilation to prevent build-up of harmful carbon monoxide gasses. Most older homes constantly exchange air with the outside world, which is why they may require significant modification to achieve a safe deep energy retrofit.

Because deep energy retrofits often require a rethinking of how the building envelope functions, they can be very time consuming and costly to complete. This isn’t a reason to not pursue one, but it is something to keep in mind while you’re planning out your upgrades. After all, it’s hard enough to live with a kitchen in chaos, let alone an entire house turned upside down. A “one section at a time” approach can work well.

Looking for a Deep Energy Expert?

Although most of the work involved in a deep energy retrofit can be easily completed by a brave general contractor or handyman, it’s important to get the right person for the job when it comes to these projects. Not only will your home’s individual needs be taken into consideration, you’ll be certain that other, less obvious things (like carbon monoxide buildup) are caught before they become an issue.

Summer Siding Clean-Up

Good siding can go a long way toward making your home look beautiful. For a lot of homeowners, they discover only one big drawback to having siding on their homes: it needs to be cleaned to keep it looking its best. Depending on the color of your siding, you may notice dirty streaks, dusty discoloration, and possibly even green tints from algae or mildew that will need to come off in order to restore your siding’s beauty.

Fortunately, cleaning siding usually isn’t too difficult, provided you have the right tools for the job. In this case, the right tool is typically a pressure washer. This can make short work of cleaning your siding, though it’s important that you understand how a pressure washer works and what you should and shouldn’t use one on. With a little caution, though, you’ll have your siding restored to its original beauty in no time.

Pressure Washing 101

Pressure washing isn’t difficult, but it does require a bit of preparation and care. Any loose items or decorations that could be damaged need to be removed from the area being cleaned, and electrical boxes and other items that don’t need to be hit with a high-pressure stream of water should be identified and possibly marked with tape so that you can avoid them. The pressure washer should then be positioned in a convenient area to clean the part of the house you’re focusing on and hooked up to your hose, and any cleaning product that you want to use, such as algae remover, should be added.

Once you’ve got the pressure washer set up, get a firm grasp on the wand and start spraying the siding. Start at the top of the house and work your way from side to side, slowly making your way down, to keep dirt and other unwanted material from flowing down onto areas that you’ve already cleaned. Keep an eye on the pressure and maintain a good grip on the wand as you move it to keep it from getting out of control. After you’ve finished the section you’re working on, move your pressure washing setup to a new area and start the process over.

What to Wash (And What to Avoid)

It should seem pretty straightforward what you should spray with a pressure washer and what you shouldn’t. Unfortunately, there are some potentially problematic surfaces that you might not consider which could result in unexpected damage.

Obviously you should avoid spraying anything fragile or loose, but you might not consider the effect that a pressure washer could have on painted siding where the paint has started to chip or flake. It turns out that pressure washers are great at removing old paint, which isn’t a discovery that you want to make while trying to clean your siding! Another thing to watch out for is siding that’s cracked or otherwise damaged. The pressure washer can make this damage significantly worse, both in vinyl siding and wood siding.

This is why it’s important to double-check the area you plan to clean and look for signs of damage before you actually start up the pressure washer. A little bit of inspection beforehand will go a long way to ensuring that you only wash siding that can withstand the pressure and that you won’t end up breaking or stripping something along the way.

Send in the Pressure Washing Pros

If you’re worried about the possibility that you might mess something up, you can hire a professional to get the job done. Power washing pros are available who know exactly how to handle the job, and siding installers and painters often offer power washing services as well.

Summer Is the Season for Fireplace Additions

If there’s one thing that you think about during the summer, it’s… probably not getting a fireplace installed. In fact, there are probably very few home updates or additions that are further from your mind when heat indexes top 100 degrees and the sun is beating down. Just because you’re not thinking about a fireplace doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be, though.

Fireplaces add a mix of beauty and function that few things can top. And as weird as it sounds, the summer might just be the perfect time to install a new fireplace or update an old fireplace that’s already in your home. There are several reasons why this might be true, so here are a few things to think about if you’re considering a fireplace addition this year.

Benefits of a Fireplace

There are a number of benefits to having a fireplace in your home. Not only is there something comforting and even romantic about having a live fire going, but it also gives you a good source of heat and light that is typically still accessible even if the power gets knocked out. This can be very useful during the winter, especially if you live in an area that’s prone to severe freezes or heavy snow and ice that can damage power lines.

Depending on the type of fireplace you have, they can also be very eco-friendly. Wood-burning fireplaces can provide a bit of energy independence as well, allowing you to use a fuel source that you might be able to gather yourself instead of having to rely on utilities that will drive up your electric or gas bill. Even if you have a gas fireplace, though, it may still provide you with a cheaper option than some electric heat sources, and you’ll have a much greater amount of control over how much the fireplace is used.

Fireplaces in the Summer?

While it might seem like a strange idea to install or upgrade a fireplace in the middle of summer, there are a few reasons why this might be the best time to do so. One of the biggest is the fact that summer is the off season for fireplace installers, so you can usually get pretty quick service for installations, upgrades, and general maintenance. You’re also less likely to encounter delays because of hard-to-find components or in-demand backdrop materials being out of stock, since there won’t be nearly as much competition trying to get installations at the same time.

Another great advantage to getting a fireplace installed during the summer is the fact that many installers offer sales or other specials to try and keep business moving throughout the slow season. This means that you might be able to save some serious money on your fireplace by getting the work done now, even though you won’t be able to take full advantage of it for several months. Deals and specials will vary from one installer to another, of course, but depending on what you find it could definitely be worth your while to take advantage of an off-season installation.

Create Cool Summer Spaces With Awnings

If you have any kind of outdoor space, the chances are good that it’s the perfect place to hang out in only limited windows throughout the year. Although you probably imagined something like a backyard oasis when you chose your home, the reality is a little different when the sun gets a bit too bright and bears down a little extra enthusiastically.

That’s ok! There’s a solution for this very problem, and it’s a simple fix that can help transform that hot, bright patio or deck into a truly flexible outdoor haven. That’s right, it’s time to consider adding an awning to your home.

What Is an Awning?

Awnings were very popular features of homes prior to widespread air conditioning systems, and even persisted after central air was common to help shade windows and porches. You still see them as standard features on recreational vehicles, but they’re also coming back as important parts of a home’s exterior.

These large shades, made of materials like durable cloth or aluminum, are simple to install, relatively inexpensive, and create pools of shade immediately. Unlike trying to grow trees for shade, which can take years and years, or installing temporary shades like sail shades, awnings are fast and permanent solutions to your heat puddle woes.

In the past, they only came as fixed units, so once installed, they were where they were, even if you needed there to be more sunlight in the shaded space at certain times of the year. Today, however, you can choose between fixed awnings and retractable awnings, and even awnings that have remote controls to help you open and close them whenever you feel like it.

Retractable Awnings Versus Fixed Awnings

Because there are so many awning types available today, it can be hard to decide which one is ideal for your situation. Perhaps the most important question you need to ask yourself is if you’d be better off with a retractable awning or a fixed awning. Both have their pros and cons.

Fixed awnings are generally very sturdy, and can be less expensive because of the lack of additional mechanisms required to make them open and close. They don’t need a lot of maintenance because they have no moving parts, so besides the occasional wash, they mostly just hang around. Fixed awnings are great for patios that you’d like to shade year-round, or for places like above windows or doors that let far too much sun into your home.

Retractable awnings, on the other hand, can be an important part of your home’s climate management, even if they also double as shades for entertainment spaces. Because they can retract, you can close these awnings when the weather starts to cool off to allow the sun to help warm your home through passive solar heating. Even if you don’t need the thermal help, they can be closed before bad storms or heavy snows, leaving you with one less thing to worry about.

Freestanding Awnings Offer Flexible Solutions

If you’re not quite sure where you want your awning installed, or that you want it installed on your home at all, a freestanding awning might be the right solution for you. They’re great for backyards and pool areas, creating a lot of shade exactly where you need it, without being dependent on the location of a nearby wall.

Like building-mounted awnings, freestanding awnings come in a variety of materials, designs, and with retractable or fixed options. The only difference is that instead of being mounted on a building, they’re mounted on top of legs, much like a pop-up canopy. There is some risk with this design of wind damage, so if you’re in a windy area, make sure to choose one rated for high wind speeds and mount it securely to the ground.

Tips for Your Basement Remodel

Having a finished basement is a great addition for just about any house. It can give you a place to relax, a play area for your children, or even additional bedroom space if you need it. Some people even use basement areas to create fully furnished workshops, craft rooms, and other furnished DIY areas so they’ll have comfortable places for hobbies and keep DIY clutter out of the main house areas. The possibilities of a finished basement are limited only by your imagination.

With that said, finishing or remodeling a basement area can be a big undertaking. There are ways to keep it from becoming overwhelming, though, as well as things that you can do to avoid potential problems down the line. While the specifics of your basement project will depend on where you live and how you’re designing your basement, here are some tips that should help you to remodel your basement space into something closer to your liking.

Plan for the Basics First

There are a few things that you’re going to want to tackle before you get too far into planning your basement remodel. Some issues such as stuffy air, moisture problems, and poor lighting often plague basements and cause finished basement areas to be underutilized compared to the rest of the house. You’re going to want to make sure that any foundation cracks or other leaks are taken care of, that the basement has good ventilation and air purification as needed, and that there’s sufficient lighting for your needs.

Heating and cooling issues are another thing you’re going to want to plan for early on. Finished basements can become stuffy or drafty if you don’t have proper HVAC extensions or other heating and cooling options in place, and pipes running through the basement ceiling can make a huge mess if they freeze and burst during especially cold winters. Proper insulation, good seals around windows and doors, and some way to keep temperature-regulated air flowing can go a long way toward avoiding these issues.

Make the Room Your Own

Before you really dive into a major remodeling project, take the time to figure out exactly what the space is going to be used for. Once you have this in mind it will help a lot with other design decisions. Having a purpose in place can help you choose wall and ceiling colors, aid in determining storage needs, and even help you choose the sort of flooring or furniture that you want in your finished basement area.

As you plan out your basement and what you want to use it for, your needs can also make it easier to tell whether you’ll need a single large room or if you’ll want to partition the basement space into multiple smaller rooms. Having a plan in place will go a long way toward making sure that all of your needs are covered and that your new space will actually meet your needs.

Bring in Some Help

While there are a number of jobs that you can DIY in a basement remodel, there are still some areas that are best left to the professionals. This is especially important if your basement needs new lighting installed, new plumbing, or an extension to your HVAC system to ensure that you have adequate ventilation in your new basement area. While it may be tempting to try and do some of these things yourself, that can set you up for a lot of problems down the road.

Preserving the Charm of Historical Homes

When you’re looking for a house, or even making decisions about the one you already own, there’s a lot to be said for leaving things be. Sure, there are some horrific things that history gave us that should be forgotten forever, but there are also historical features that are not only charming and quirky, but sought-after by buyers. These days, getting a house ready for sale doesn’t mean having to get rid of everything that makes that house interesting.

Preserving a Home’s Character and History

It’s not unusual to need to do some kind of updates to a home. No matter how cool the mid-century modern bathroom is in your MCM ranch, or how original the kitchen in your Victorian, sometimes change is inevitable. For example, you might need to make these spaces more accessible, or update the plumbing or electrical, requiring extensive changes.

But you can still update and preserve a home at the same time by making careful choices that make sense with the home’s history. Choosing replacement materials that are close to what would be accurate for that bathroom that needs a walk-in shower, or refitting a new kitchen with extensive nods to its period, are common ways to handle these situations. It can help complete the illusion by repurposing as many of the original elements as possible, which also keeps more trash out of the landfill. One notable exception to the rule is if your materials are considered hazardous, like flooring made with asbestos (consult with a remediator on how to legally and safely remove it in your state).

Do Buyers Want Pink Bathrooms?

Yes! Although HGTV would have you believe that the entire world wants homes that are black, white, and gray, the truth is a lot different than that. After touring homes that have been completely “grayed out,” having that cool retro bathroom or deeply detailed wooden trim is actually a point in your favor with many buyers. Your house can stand apart from the crowd, simply by being itself. There’s no amount of sterilization that can make an old house a new one, but you can sterilize the heart and history out of a home very quickly and easily by trying to turn your home into something that it isn’t.

Buyers do pick up on that in homes that have been way overdone. They never quite feel right. When people walk into a house expecting to see wooden floors or chrome plating because it reminds them so much of their grandmother’s house, and what they get is a generic house that looks like 10 others that are currently under construction, it’s a big letdown.

Preservation Also Saves Money

Not only does preserving as many of the cool features of your home as possible keep more construction waste out of landfills and help your home stand out from the crowd, it also keeps more money in your pocket. Things like Formica counters and tile floors never really go out of style, nor do good quality lighting, brick, hardwood flooring, wooden doors, or hundreds of other sturdy materials that you find in older homes.

Everyone who tours your home will have something to say about every material in it, no matter what you choose, so you might as well do yourself a favor and keep all the things that make your house your home. It’ll save you money and draw in new buyers who are looking for something beyond the boring gray of today’s real estate market.

Who Can You Call for Help?

When it comes to a historical rehabilitation, there are plenty of people who can be called in to help get the ball rolling. From general contractors who help preserve historic homes, to electricians who specifically focus on older structures, and even window installers who can upgrade the efficiency of your home without changing the look of it, there’s an army of people to consult.

Is Your Smart Home Spying on You?

Once upon a time, smart home devices required dedicated hubs and a unique kind of wireless network to operate their various lights, sensors, and switches. With the popularity of digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and the Google Assistant, though, it was only a matter of time before they became a dominant force in smart home technology. While dedicated device hubs still exist, a significant portion of smart home devices are now designed and marketed to work with popular digital assistants and devices such as the Google Home and Amazon Echo.

This brings a considerable amount of convenience to smart homes, since instead of having to use control apps or other means to interact with hubs you can simply ask Google or Alexa to do what you want to do. Some people consider this problematic, however; after all, just how much are Google and Alexa listening to you? Is your smart home spying on you without your knowledge? Let’s find out.

Your Home Has Ears

Devices such as the Google Home and Echo can do a lot of things, but their general design is kind of simple; they are essentially internet-connected speakers with microphones. This means that they could theoretically listen to anything that you say, and given the way that they function, they are actually listening all of the time. The devices passively listen for their “wake words”, the “Hey Google” or “Alexa!” that activate their features and get them ready to receive instructions.

This leads some people to wonder whether these devices are spying on them, listening to conversations for words or phrases that could then be used for marketing or more sinister purposes. This ranges from people who think that the devices are building targeted ads off of the things that they say, to those who believe that the devices record what you say and turn incriminating speech over to the police or government. None of this is true, but that doesn’t mean that some of it couldn’t come to pass in the future. It also doesn’t mean that there aren’t some other potentially problematic activities going on.

Is Your Smart Home Spying?

Having a computer process the things that you say and convert them into marketing (or flag them as “problematic” and turn them over to some sinister government agency) is programmatically intensive. That’s why digital assistants primarily use wake words to activate their language processing; it’s much easier to listen for a few specific words before diving deep into language processing. The problem is that if the assistant hears something close enough to its wake word, then it will start recording for processing even if you didn’t actually try to engage the device, and that recording can pick up background conversations as well.

There is some concern that certain patents and algorithm updates could result in more targeted use of recorded data, allowing companies to pick out keywords from discussions for marketing purposes. It’s worth noting that not all patents actually make it into commercial products, especially given the spotlight that’s being shined on data leaks and consumer privacy in recent years. While these patents definitely show that Amazon and other companies have considered how this sort of data harvesting would work, the sort of large-scale harvesting for marketing purposes that some people fear is (at least currently) not actively out in the wild on these devices.

What Is a SEER Rating?

With the cost of heating and cooling a home throughout the year, homeowners want to have the most efficient HVAC units in their home that they can afford. Asking for recommendations for a specific unit can bring about a wide range of different answers, though. Those who are in the market for a new HVAC unit need a way to tell just how efficient different units are beyond all of the hype. That’s where SEER ratings come in.

An HVAC unit’s SEER rating should be one of the most important factors you consider when trying to decide on a model. Unfortunately, if you don’t really know what a SEER rating is or how it’s used, the rating can be kind of confusing. To help, here’s a basic rundown of what SEER ratings are, how they’re used, and where you can turn to get more information.

SEER Ratings Explained

First things first: SEER stands for “Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio” and is one of the details provided on those big yellow “EnergyGuide” stickers that you’ll see on things like air conditioners, heaters, and HVAC units. It’s a ratio that compares the output of the unit over the course of an average season divided by the average energy used during that same season. This provides you with an idea of how cost-effective using the unit will be since the ratio sums up how much energy it will take to keep your home comfortable for an entire season.

It’s important to keep in mind that the rating represents the unit’s maximum potential efficiency; your actual experience may be (and likely will be) at least somewhat less than that potential based on weather conditions and other factors such as routine maintenance. Even with that in mind, the SEER rating provides a starting point for comparing different options and finding the best solution for your home.

Using a SEER Rating

When it comes to SEER ratings, you want to find HVAC units that have high numbers. This means that a relatively small amount of energy was used to create the output that the unit achieved, which translates to a significant reduction in cost for you. If you’re upgrading from a unit that is maybe 10 to 15 years old, there’s a good chance that you could save as much as 20 to 40 percent on your energy bill due to the higher efficiency of modern units. Using the SEER rating as a guide and comparing new units to the SEER rating of your current one will help you to maximize that savings.

Similarly, SEER ratings can be used to compare models from different manufacturers to find the one that provides the best bang for your buck. A unit that’s more expensive up front may still save you money in the long run if it has a notably higher SEER rating than cheaper models. While there’s obviously limits to how much your budget can spare, using the SEER rating as a comparison point can help you to find the most efficient option from among multiple models that otherwise seem very similar.

Choosing the Right HVAC Unit

If you still aren’t sure exactly which HVAC unit you need, don’t be afraid to talk to a professional. Get in touch with pros that specialize in HVAC sales and installation, as they’ll not only know how to find the most efficient unit within your budget, but will also help you take factors such as your region, the local climate, and the size of your home into consideration. Best of all, they’ll be able to deliver and install the unit for you to make sure that everything is done correctly.