ᐅ Building a Single-Family Home Suitable for Extended Absences – What Should You Consider?
Created on: 7 May 2018 08:22
P
Pianist
Hello everyone!
What should be considered when planning and building a single-family house if you know that you will often be away? It should all work smoothly, with solutions in place for any expected situation, regardless of whether you are there or not. Realistically, I would expect a maximum absence of four weeks.
I’ll start a list here and would appreciate any additions:
- Complete security system with perimeter protection, smoke, water, and gas detectors
- Full outdoor video surveillance with motion detection
- Connection to a monitoring center
- Notifications to the monitoring center in case of power outage or heating failure
- The monitoring center should be able to remotely open the driveway gate and front door
- The monitoring center should have the ability to make announcements around the house via loudspeakers
- No roller shutters (not even automatic ones)
- Roof drainage entirely passive, without the need to pump out infiltration pits during heavy rain
- Automated garden irrigation
- Garden design without large lawn areas, possibly with a robotic lawn mower
- Trash bins must be accessible from the outside for waste collection services
The only remaining requirement is that someone regularly collects the mail. Have I forgotten anything else?
Matthias
What should be considered when planning and building a single-family house if you know that you will often be away? It should all work smoothly, with solutions in place for any expected situation, regardless of whether you are there or not. Realistically, I would expect a maximum absence of four weeks.
I’ll start a list here and would appreciate any additions:
- Complete security system with perimeter protection, smoke, water, and gas detectors
- Full outdoor video surveillance with motion detection
- Connection to a monitoring center
- Notifications to the monitoring center in case of power outage or heating failure
- The monitoring center should be able to remotely open the driveway gate and front door
- The monitoring center should have the ability to make announcements around the house via loudspeakers
- No roller shutters (not even automatic ones)
- Roof drainage entirely passive, without the need to pump out infiltration pits during heavy rain
- Automated garden irrigation
- Garden design without large lawn areas, possibly with a robotic lawn mower
- Trash bins must be accessible from the outside for waste collection services
The only remaining requirement is that someone regularly collects the mail. Have I forgotten anything else?
Matthias
H
HilfeHilfe8 May 2018 08:14Pianist schrieb:
Of course. But: first, the neighbors are not always at home either. And in my specific case, they wouldn’t notice anything at all because they live too far away. The risk area, if I carry out this project, would be the south side. And that is almost entirely surrounded by a public green space, where in one case there is even a path running directly along the fence. The responsible authority has since removed the benches there because they were constantly vandalized.
I’m really glad that all of you obviously live in peaceful areas, but I live here in Berlin, and basically everything that can happen, does happen here. The issue with the copper actually happened as well.
The only advantage here is that when you need them, the police are on site within two minutes. But for that, you need short reporting channels that also work if you are not there. I imagine it like this: someone climbs over the fence and approaches the house. They enter the field of view of one of the video cameras and the sensors trigger an alert to the security control center. The control center looks at the image, sees the people there, and calls the police. When the police arrive, the front gate opens remotely so the patrol car can drive straight to the back and apprehend the people before any major damage is done.
I think that is a sensible concept. Video surveillance is important because it allows the security control center to get a clear picture of the actual situation on site. With purely perimeter security, that isn’t the case. A few years ago, I once had an alarm activation—the sabotage circuit was triggered. So it could have been that someone was tampering with some external components. The control center called me while I was on the other side of the city. So I said they should send the police. The police were on site with two patrol cars and four officers before I arrived, which of course I have to pay for. That’s only logical. I don’t think it’s good if four well-trained officers are not available for other operations for an hour just because my system sends out an alert that later turns out to be a technical defect. That’s why the house just has to be able to provide more information, in my opinion.
MatthiasDirect line to the local police station? You seem to be a public figure.
No, such measures are only provided to jewelers and similar businesses. There must always be an initial verification by a private monitoring center. This usually works well. They know exactly what to do: In case of a burglary alarm, they first call and if there is no response, they notify the police. In case of a fire alarm, they call and if there is no response, they alert the fire department. For a water alarm, they call and if there is no response, they contact the water company to shut off the main supply to the house. In case of a panic alarm, the police are dispatched immediately with a quiet approach.
However, in my opinion, this is only sufficient for a house located directly on the street. A house situated further back on the edge of a green area needs to be considered differently.
There have been cases in this area where burglars have killed dogs. It should be clear that this causes a family tragedy. I am also responsible for the lady of my heart and her daughter. They are already terrified when I’m not around. So at least additional technology must give them a feeling of maximum security.
Matthias
However, in my opinion, this is only sufficient for a house located directly on the street. A house situated further back on the edge of a green area needs to be considered differently.
There have been cases in this area where burglars have killed dogs. It should be clear that this causes a family tragedy. I am also responsible for the lady of my heart and her daughter. They are already terrified when I’m not around. So at least additional technology must give them a feeling of maximum security.
Matthias
H
HilfeHilfe8 May 2018 08:27Pianist schrieb:
No, that kind of service is only available to jewelers and similar businesses. There always has to be a preliminary check by a private security monitoring center. That actually works well. They know exactly what to do: In case of a break-in alarm, they call first and, if there’s no response, they notify the police. For a fire alarm, they call and if nobody responds, they alert the fire department. For a water leak alarm, they call and if there’s no reply, they contact the water utility company to shut off the house connection. And for a hold-up alarm, they send the police immediately with a silent approach.
However, in my opinion, all this is only sufficient for a house located directly on the street front. A house situated further back at the edge of a green area needs to be considered differently.
There have already been cases in this area where burglars have killed the dog. It should be clear that this causes a family disaster. I am also responsible for the lady of my heart and her daughter. They already get very anxious when I’m not around. So at least additional technology has to give them the feeling of maximum security.
MatthiasRecruit Hells Angels or Albanians?
That works here in the Rhine-Main area… A colleague put up a Hells Angels sign at his parking space
and since then he’s had peace.
We have our houses inspected by the criminal investigation department’s advisory service every few years. The assessment usually shows that the general condition is quite good. But the problem is: only professionals can recognize the quality of windows and doors and then leave them alone. Amateurs still try to force entry and cause damage. That’s why I installed an internal grille on the patio door some time ago, which is lowered at night and when we are away. This clearly signals that there is no chance of getting in quickly.
But we are focusing too much on security now. I have that fairly well under control. What I find harder to assess are other issues like heavy rainfall events. The fact is that the drainage components planned for our current house almost 20 years ago are no longer sufficient today because the rainfall amounts have increased more than expected. For a new project, I would therefore try to ensure that all water can always flow freely somewhere over the ground surface without the need for any pumps. All elements of the rainwater drainage system should also be easily accessible and not built-in or hidden away.
For example, this would argue against a green flat roof; a pitched roof with external drainage would be less problematic in the long term, wouldn’t it?
Matthias
But we are focusing too much on security now. I have that fairly well under control. What I find harder to assess are other issues like heavy rainfall events. The fact is that the drainage components planned for our current house almost 20 years ago are no longer sufficient today because the rainfall amounts have increased more than expected. For a new project, I would therefore try to ensure that all water can always flow freely somewhere over the ground surface without the need for any pumps. All elements of the rainwater drainage system should also be easily accessible and not built-in or hidden away.
For example, this would argue against a green flat roof; a pitched roof with external drainage would be less problematic in the long term, wouldn’t it?
Matthias