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
haydee schrieb:
Note to self: learn a martial art before the next trip to Berlin.I was there last week – I’ve never felt so safe before. No fighting. And it was very quiet everywhere, with hardly any car traffic, lots of public transport, and many hybrid taxis 🙂
Until now, I have felt safe in Berlin, but now I am starting to have doubts.
Heating failure. A modern house does not cool down quickly, and anyway, someone usually comes at least every other day to check the mailbox and water the plants. That person can take care of it.
With a pitched roof, there is no standing water. Flat roofs are also watertight. The gutters should probably be cleaned regularly of leaves.
If the sewer system cannot handle heavy rainfall, there is probably not much you can do. There are backflow valves for the drain pipes that close when pressure comes from the wrong direction. Otherwise, there should be no water intrusion, at most a nearby stream that tends to overflow.
Heating failure. A modern house does not cool down quickly, and anyway, someone usually comes at least every other day to check the mailbox and water the plants. That person can take care of it.
With a pitched roof, there is no standing water. Flat roofs are also watertight. The gutters should probably be cleaned regularly of leaves.
If the sewer system cannot handle heavy rainfall, there is probably not much you can do. There are backflow valves for the drain pipes that close when pressure comes from the wrong direction. Otherwise, there should be no water intrusion, at most a nearby stream that tends to overflow.
