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
No, it’s the other way around: the house will most likely be occupied. However, when we are older, we will probably travel more than we do now. By then, my parents will probably no longer be living there, but tenants in the two front houses. Of course, you can’t involve tenants in the same way as your own parents. Therefore, in my opinion, the next house will need to have an even higher level of automation.
Matthias
Matthias
Regarding the drainage of a house, there are already plenty of options to effectively manage the water.
Nowadays, in planning, we tend to size the pipes a bit larger. With properly sized soakaways or similar systems, even for a flat roof, this should no longer be an issue.
Honestly, I don’t really see your problem.
You already have a good idea of what needs to be done and what doesn’t. In the end, you just need a few outdoor cameras plus the status of your other houses, and most of your issues should be resolved.
For other (technical) problems, it is advisable to bring in specialists.
A system integrator for building automation (KNX), HVAC engineer for heating/ventilation/plumbing, security experts for alarm systems, etc.
Nowadays, in planning, we tend to size the pipes a bit larger. With properly sized soakaways or similar systems, even for a flat roof, this should no longer be an issue.
Honestly, I don’t really see your problem.
You already have a good idea of what needs to be done and what doesn’t. In the end, you just need a few outdoor cameras plus the status of your other houses, and most of your issues should be resolved.
For other (technical) problems, it is advisable to bring in specialists.
A system integrator for building automation (KNX), HVAC engineer for heating/ventilation/plumbing, security experts for alarm systems, etc.
To be honest, if you ask me, what you really need is a psychologist, not security advice.
You can’t control and secure everything, and I find the very effort quite unsettling.
Just the way you imagine the security service, video surveillance, and everyone reacting within seconds, including perfectly timed gate opening.
Have you ever seen what kind of people work in security services? Do you really think they call the police for every cat?
It seems to me like you’re living in the wrong movie.
You can’t control and secure everything, and I find the very effort quite unsettling.
Just the way you imagine the security service, video surveillance, and everyone reacting within seconds, including perfectly timed gate opening.
Have you ever seen what kind of people work in security services? Do you really think they call the police for every cat?
It seems to me like you’re living in the wrong movie.
apokolok schrieb:
To be honest, if you ask me, you don’t need security advice but a psychologist.Come on, not every cat needs that. By the way, I would actually regard your first sentence as a bit rude. Still, I’ll give you a concrete example of why it’s important to stay constantly updated and adjust your own strategies if necessary: In the past, it was unusual for intruders to carry a telescoping ladder, for example. But recently, this has actually started to happen. It was also uncommon for intruders to remove roof tiles and then cut through the roof structure. Nowadays, this does happen from time to time. If this kind of activity isn’t detected immediately, since the roof isn’t integrated into the building envelope security, and strong rain follows shortly after, you end up with a serious moisture problem.
That said, I find the construction method of a “solid-tile roof” quite interesting, so this probably won’t be an issue in my case.
We don’t always have to talk just about break-ins. It’s enough if a big tree falls during a storm and damages the roof.
Matthias
Then the person who empties the mailbox will take a look afterwards.
In storms, when trees fall, an unoccupied house at the moment is at the very bottom of the priority list.
I partly understand concerns about burglary and vandalism, but you can’t secure against every possible risk.
Everyone expects valuables in an armored truck, but not in an Aldi bag.
In storms, when trees fall, an unoccupied house at the moment is at the very bottom of the priority list.
I partly understand concerns about burglary and vandalism, but you can’t secure against every possible risk.
Everyone expects valuables in an armored truck, but not in an Aldi bag.
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