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
I also find the course of the discussion a bit strange. My question really wasn’t unreasonable. Ultimately, what I want to know is: What do I need to consider to ensure that as many situations as possible can be managed when I’m not there? This also includes times in the future when my parents might no longer be able to help. For example, I need to receive an alert if the heating stops working in winter. I have detectors for a variety of things, but the indoor temperature in the house is not monitored anywhere. I’ve now solved this with a simple GSM socket with a temperature sensor.
I want to be confident at all times that any problems that arise can be handled, so I don’t have to cut a vacation short, for example. That’s not hard to understand, is it?
Matthias
I want to be confident at all times that any problems that arise can be handled, so I don’t have to cut a vacation short, for example. That’s not hard to understand, is it?
Matthias
I honestly don’t quite understand this. The people I know who leave their houses unoccupied for an extended period either hire companies to take care of everything and regularly check on the property, or they have arrangements with their neighbors to do this on a regular basis. In cases of absence over several years (due to professional assignments abroad), I also know someone who compensated their neighbor for this effort.
I don’t think it’s feasible to protect an entire house against all possible risks. It might be possible to secure individual rooms, but not the whole house.
I don’t think it’s feasible to protect an entire house against all possible risks. It might be possible to secure individual rooms, but not the whole house.