Secure and Smart: Fall Home Security & Smart Tech Tips!

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[00:00:41] Eric Goranson: To find out more, head to pyramidheating. com. Oregon CCB 59382. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered. This is Around the House. Welcome to the Around the House show, the next generation of home improvement. [00:01:00] I'm Eric G., thanks for joining me today.

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[00:01:20] Eric Goranson: Much easier to search and you can find all that information at around the house online. com. And if you've got a question for us, you can join us at 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. That number again. 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 4 4. We're going to have a lot of fun today. We've got a lot to talk about here. And this is going to be one of those shows here that I think it's going to be able to help a lot of people, which I think is super fun for me.

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[00:02:06] Eric Goranson: And I say fall home security, cause you know, the days are going to start getting shorter as we come into fall here. And it's a great time to start to think about that. So we get into fall, we get into school. Lots of things going on, package thefts, people trying to break in the holidays as we get into later in the year.

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[00:02:52] Eric Goranson: It is a transmitter. So if you have. Your router that comes in and that is what's transmitting that wifi signal onto the [00:03:00] house. It's usually pretty close to where a cable box was or wherever it legacy of where it was put into the home. Many times though, that's going to be next to a fireplace or it's going to create a shadow behind some things like appliances, fireplaces, you get exterior walls or HVAC systems.

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[00:03:41] Eric Goranson: The problem is it's not the best. For having signals come through because that foil does slow things down. So years ago, I changed over to a mesh wifi system. And what this does is this gives you multiple routers around the house. So now you have three places you're [00:04:00] transmitting from instead of one. So if you have three of those pox or whatever you want to call them.

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[00:04:29] Eric Goranson: Now, the cool thing is, is that you can really go around and place these by just looking at your phone and seeing how the settings are with it. Oh, wow. I'm only getting two out of three bars right here. Maybe if I move it over here, it'll be better. And you can really get a dialed in. So you have strong wifi anywhere in the house.

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[00:05:11] Eric Goranson: So first thing is get that dialed in and make sure you got that going. Now, here's the thing. If you have the ability, let's say you're remodeling. If you're remodeling around the house and you want to go But you got the walls open or you're running wires, things like that. Throw in some cat eight cable, six, seven, eight, whatever the best you can afford to put in there.

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[00:05:50] Eric Goranson: And that'll give you even faster speeds outside or on a second floor in an office, wherever you're using the highest speeds, maybe it's the bedroom where you like to [00:06:00] stream your favorite movies and in 4k, it doesn't matter. Those wired connections will always be a faster, Connection. So don't abandon those, use them where you got them.

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[00:06:30] Eric Goranson: And quite frankly, if you want to use it for something later down the road, works pretty well. So think about how that could help you around your house with that. Now, if you're out looking At a mesh system. Take a look at wifi six or seven. I've got the six plus at my house here. I've had it for a number of years, but there's now wifi seven out there.

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[00:07:15] Eric Goranson: And one of the first things to do after you get this set up, make it a, make it a habit to restart your router every three months, every two months, kind of like your phone. Restarted every once in a while. Or if you're on a system like Comcast Xfinity, go through the troubleshooting every once in a while and do that.

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[00:07:57] Eric Goranson: So it could be your hardware, but with the speed test, at least [00:08:00] you'll get an idea of what's going on. And then so many people out there are getting lower speeds and what they're paying for. And that's not because the internet providers are doing something badly. Many times it's they haven't came over and looked at your system or tuned it up.

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[00:08:35] Eric Goranson: Holy smokes. That got so much faster. So ask some hard questions. If you've got a cable line come into the house. Make sure that it's working correctly. Talk to your service people, make sure that's dialed in, but to take a look at it, my favorite brand and people always ask, what's your favorite brand? The most reliable one I've had for a, a mesh wifi.

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[00:09:12] Eric Goranson: Cause I did buy something that was very advanced at the time, but when I do, I will probably go back to a TP link and do something with that. So making sure that you can get the most out of your system is all about this foundational stuff. That goes with this home security. So make sure you've got this dialed in and make sure that you've got a good signal coming in and that you're getting the most out of what you're paying for.

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[00:10:10] Eric Goranson: to be around now? Show the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for. Thanks for joining me. I'm Eric G. If you're listening on the radio. Thanks for tuning in across the country and all five time zones that we're working with. We appreciate all you guys down from Tampa, Florida, up into Maine, and of course, across the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii and Alaska.

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[00:10:47] Eric Goranson: I'm going to be putting up our weekday special podcast up there in video form so you can see it. So make sure you catch that over there at around the house, online. com. And we've been talking here about fall home [00:11:00] security and of course, smart home tech. We've been talking about the basics here of basically getting your smart home system ready to build out.

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[00:11:32] Eric Goranson: And what I mean is what is the kind of hub of your whole system? Cause you don't want to have. 22 apps, one for lighting, one for this, you want to have the one stop shop for your hub. So there's a lot of different things out there. There's a new one called matter. There's Z wave, which is really smart things.

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[00:12:10] Eric Goranson: You want to make sure everything speaks that language. And there's some big differences between these different ways. And it's going to decide where you're going to go in the pieces you buy. So I'm going to do my best here not to get into the weeds on this, but I think it's an important conversation we should have.

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[00:12:43] Eric Goranson: That's out there. We've got Google, Amazon, Apple have their own kind of smart home protocols. But really matter is the latest that's coming out. And I tell you what, this is something that's out now. And the biggest thing is the keyword that we've seen in smart home stuff over the last [00:13:00] few years. And that is interop.

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[00:13:26] Eric Goranson: And so you have these different things where quite frankly, you could have competitors, Samsung and LG, for instance, working together to make sure that your system works correctly. And that's something very new because. Over the years, up until the last couple, these manufacturers have really had a death grip on their systems and didn't want to let access, especially to their competitors.

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[00:14:18] Eric Goranson: So they're trying to make this increased compatibility between all of these. Which is really cool. So you have, for instance, if you just go matter, you get the benefit of reliability, interoperability. So things work together, security and a one source approach. And I think that's interesting because when you start comparing that to other things, it's really going to be kind of the best of the best.

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[00:15:05] Eric Goranson: And act as a router. So it really extends this, but it's managed by the Zigbee Alliance, which is a multi stakeholder group, Cisco, Phillips, Samsung, Sony, that kind of stuff. So it has a lot of advantages, but I think. In my opinion, matter is going to go above this. And so it does have some interoperability, but not is the same as what you'll see out of matter.

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[00:15:50] Eric Goranson: And so it does, it's got a lot more operability into that or to say that word so many times, but that's what it is now. Z Wave is a wireless communication [00:16:00] protocol as well. Now it's managed by the Z Wave Alliance, which is like 700, 800 companies, lots of different manufacturers. Now again, it works really well.

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[00:16:33] Eric Goranson: The whole network can come down and that's a problem. So those are some of the big ones. Of course, there's wifi out there Which is another technology that we see out there where it's just super convenient But really that's not what you're seeing out there. You're seeing more z wave zigbee and now matter And so that's what you need to know before you get going with this.

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[00:17:13] Eric Goranson: And so my opinion, I was using a lot of Z Wave, I'll be upgrading into matter. Okay. But Samsung smart things has been probably the best use and it's now called really smart things, but smart things has been the easiest to use with the most products out there. And that has been a big help because that means I have one controller to control my lights, my alarms, my door locks, all those different things.

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[00:18:01] Eric Goranson: If you're just starting out, matters can be the way to go. If you've got some older pieces around, you're going to expand out. Maybe the Samsung smart things. With with Z Wave or any of these others might be the way to go for you, but I would sure take a look and see what you can do to upgrade things as you go.

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[00:18:34] Eric Goranson: We'll talk about that and so much more We're going to start talking about security cameras in this next segment that I don't want you to miss around the house We'll be right back To find out more about us head to around the house online. com. Don't change that tile. We'll be right back after these important messages.[00:19:00]

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[00:19:31] Eric Goranson: That doesn't end up on the radio. We've been talking about fall home security and smart home tech here today. We were just talking about the different languages that these systems use. And of course, trying to make sure that your wifi is dialed in. Now, one of the big things right now are security cameras.

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[00:20:08] Eric Goranson: That's not guarded by somebody. Is you're the guard. You're the one that has to sit there and every time a cat walks across from your neighbor's house and sneaking into your yard to a kid cutting across the lawn trying to get to the school bus and take a shortcut, you now are the security guard 24 7 and I don't know about you, but my phone gets turned off a lot at night.

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[00:20:52] Eric Goranson: Not that somebody broke in and stole the catalytic converters. I've got cars in the driveway. Didn't stop them a bit. They waved at the camera, even with the mask. [00:21:00] But were you able to go out there? No, because you slept right through it. Like most people do, this stuff happens. So the best way to handle this, in my opinion, is to turn around and go with a security system that has a guard.

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[00:21:33] Eric Goranson: But the problem is. Is it all it takes is a windstorm or a glitch or a battery running out and all of a sudden you've got a false alarm. You've got to pay those alarm fees to the year, to your city, county, state, whoever does that, if they do it in your area and you've got to pay that license fee. And then if you have problems, you run the risk of having to pay a fine for false alarms.

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[00:22:12] Eric Goranson: And that is why I have been a believer of a system from deep Sentinel. And you've heard me talk about it here before, and we'll have them on this fall again on the show. But deep Sentinel is the king. Of security and I've got it at my house. So what you do is you mount up cameras around. There's no wires.

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[00:22:54] Eric Goranson: I'll see that it's something's coming on there. And whoa, we got a person. Let's take a look up. It's the Amazon driver. You'll [00:23:00] get a nice little message saying delivery notification. You have a box on your front porch and you can go back and look at the video, but here's the cool thing. And this is where the security makes a big difference.

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[00:23:28] Eric Goranson: Somebody's trying to bust in, take your catalytic converter, steal the stuff out of your car. They now go, Hey, what are you doing? Give me your identification. And if it's a prowler, they have the ability to call 911 for you at your residence because they've got a quick line into that. Now, the cool thing is they can say, Hey, it was a white haired, long hippie, tattooed guy trying to break into a house.

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[00:24:12] Eric Goranson: Then, oh, there's alarm code and quite frankly, frankly, an alarm system wouldn't have done anything with that. And so what happens is, is now that guard jumps on and goes deep Sentinel, Sentinel security. And what happens is, is if they don't get their attention and, Hey, I've already called the police you're prowling, get out of here, they have 140 decibel siren that they can kick off.

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[00:24:48] Eric Goranson: Everything's good. And they'll ask you who you are. And everybody's really cool. Now, where this makes a difference is on your front door. If someone's prowling, if they come up. I even had this at my house and it's a funny story, but [00:25:00] it made a lot of sense. And one of my kids was running out of the house on the holidays.

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[00:25:25] Eric Goranson: It was all cool. But if that would have been somebody that had snuck around the system, and went bailing out the front door, now we had a description, and automatically they looked up at the camera, and you have a thing going there. So it's really cool how that works. And I think it's something really good to take a look and they have stuff for commercial.

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[00:25:59] Eric Goranson: I think that's [00:26:00] really cool as well. So there's a lot more over there. So check out deep Sentinel for home security to me, a little more expensive than what your usual. All your ADTs and all your other alarm companies are, but not much. But to me, it's the ultimate because you're catching them before they break in.

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[00:26:39] Eric Goranson: Or your neighborhood has gone sideways and is getting to be a higher crime neighborhood. You can get three or four neighbors down there, get these things almost put together. And now all of a sudden you're going to get the attention of these criminals coming through there that might be breaking into houses, breaking into cars, Or maybe it's just the homeless person that's trying to sleep on your [00:27:00] front doorstep.

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[00:27:14] Eric Goranson: So these are issues that we're seeing in major cities and it's something that might be something good for you and keep your house safe. And what I like about it is if your car is parked in the front driveway and you've got it set up correctly, you now, as you're going out to your car, if someone comes up and approaches you and you've got a problem, you've got somebody watching your loved ones coming in and out of their car, which is not a bad little deal.

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[00:27:56] Eric Goranson: So think about that. Now one other thing here too that I [00:28:00] want to talk about with smart homes is we're seeing a lot of smart appliances and we come back. I want to talk about how these can make your life a little bit easier. How you can use them correctly. And there's some stuff out there that's really dumb that I'm not a fan of.

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[00:28:29] Eric Goranson: com. We also have our YouTube, which is on that same thing there. Just look for the around the house show. We've got it right there on the front page. Of the website around the house, online. com. You can find out way more information right there. After these important messages, we return. Don't change that dial.

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[00:29:10] Eric Goranson: to the around the house show. The next generation of home improvement. You want to find out more about us. If you're joining us on the radio, you can catch us over at around the house, online. com. We've got all our stuff over there from the TV show to the podcast. To everything else out of there. We got some great new stuff coming up on the TV show.

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[00:29:46] Eric Goranson: com. And that makes it really easy for you to find us 'cause we're really doing more to help you explain stuff to you in the video format so we can help you with those DIY projects. 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44 is the number here. That number is [00:30:00] 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 4 4 for your home improvement question. All right guys, we've been talking about, uh, fall home security and of course a mixture of smart home tech.

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[00:30:27] Eric Goranson: So, Let me talk a little bit about this because I think it's one of those things that really makes a lot of sense for some people where I think smart home appliances make sense is if you've got a cooktop and you've got a hood across it, a top of that, that when you turn the cooktop on, it turns the hood on automatically.

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[00:31:01] Eric Goranson: And you can just see, Hey, wow, I got 20 minutes left or I got a minute left. I can go out and get those machines swapped around. Or I can download settings for blankets and towels and in those weird situations where you're trying to clean something a little bit different and you're not sure what setting a lot of these companies have those specialized settings.

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[00:31:36] Eric Goranson: Got friends coming over. I got a barbecue this weekend. Let me make sure that ice bin is full. I used a lot yesterday so you can get some of that quick ice and things like that. And of course What are the lifespans of the filters and things like that? So smart appliances are great to the stuff that I don't like, or some of always make fun of it, but it's the rice cooker that gives you the weather, that kind of useless stuff.

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[00:32:12] Eric Goranson: So you always have some there. Of course, it's not going to go get it from Costco for you, but it's one of those things that you have some options there to do that. So think about those smart home appliances. It could be really smart and really help you out. With some things and I think laundry and cooking and maybe preheating that oven things like that could be really easy.

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[00:32:51] Eric Goranson: And he gave it an air fryer. So these people bought a range, didn't have it. And now the oven has an air fryer feature just because they had the stuff in it to make it that, [00:33:00] and they added the programming and an over the air update and it fixed it. So something to think about, they got an added feature out of it, which is cool.

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[00:33:33] Eric Goranson: You're probably not going to do a smart thermostat. However, you really want to make sure you've got a common wire. Now there are some solutions out there. That common wire is basically what's going to power. That unit coming from there. So if you don't have enough wires, that can be a problem. Sometimes you can rewire it.

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[00:34:09] Eric Goranson: Many utility companies out there are giving away either free or nearly free smart home thermostats to save money on that. Now, one thing to be careful with, like my utility here, if I go for the maximum rebate, I also give them control of my thermostat so they can move it on a, like a heat day. If it's cranking, it's super hot.

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[00:34:47] Eric Goranson: Some people don't care. Some people go, I don't want anybody to have control of anything in my house. I completely understand that as well. So think about that. You can get, I've seen some people giving away these things for free. 25 bucks [00:35:00] neck and save you a hundred, a hundred and a half by doing that. So think about that, take a look.

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[00:35:23] Eric Goranson: If you want a more expensive, more feature filled with a video set on it, take a look at the brilliant setup. Both of those are great. The Lutron app has always been a great one and has been just absolutely an industry standard out there. And it's very simple to set up. So something to take a look at there.

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[00:36:15] Eric Goranson: So they'll pay for that, up to a thousand bucks for the electrician to come out and take a look at what that is. So many electrical, it's saving, like the last number I saw was 50 or 70 thousand fires that stopped before it happened. In homes. And so insurance companies are like, wow, if I can nearly eliminate the risk of an electrical fire by giving them this, this 300 piece.

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[00:37:09] Eric Goranson: So now to deal with it, maybe you didn't realize it, but that will let you know. And if you're having electrical issues, it will do the same thing. Maybe you've got low power coming in. So maybe you're only running in 110 versus what it should be there. Like one 12 to one 20. So if you get into a low power or overpower situations, it really sits there and tells you, Hey, you got a problem.

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[00:37:53] Eric Goranson: If you're having package thefts that Amazon or UPS or FedEx packages are getting taken off the front porch, [00:38:00] this is the way to stop that and put one into my house. They're absolutely amazing. And it really helps that. So one other quick thing before we go to break here and wrap up this. Episode here is take a look at exterior lighting, make that smart.

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[00:38:33] Eric Goranson: It makes the house look beautiful. And of course it makes it safer by sending them down to the darker houses where they might not get caught. Hey guys, before we go out to break, I just wanted to mention for all of our new listeners to the podcast, to the national radio show, I appreciate every single one of you.

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[00:39:06] Eric Goranson: And of course, Instagram, Facebook, all of that. And if you dive deep into our. Our YouTube page. You'll also see the segments that I'm putting in there in a playlist from the around the house, Northwest television show over at Fox 12 plus, you can grab it right there. And if there's something you want me to talk about it in a future episode that maybe we haven't talked about, hit me up.

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