Episode 1587
Tricks to keep your home cool and Fall home security
For many it has been a HOT summer and we have some tricks and tips that can save you money! Plus with the seasons changing its time to start thinking about Home Security. All that and more in this weeks second hour of Around the House Show!
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Transcript
[00:00:29] Eric Goranson: We don't. Have squatters showing up here because, uh, we have a well-funded police department. We'll get into the politics of it all here, but we have a well-funded and appreciated police department and, uh, when we call them, they show up and, um, they don't let a lot of things slide around here. Um, and so the criminal, um, the criminal minds basically don't have, uh, time to really get a good foot in.
[:[00:01:10] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining us today. Hey, if you wanna find out more about us, head over to around the house online.com. Then we have the Radio Show podcast, and of course TV show out there for you to check out. Well, today. A couple subjects I wanted to talk about how to keep your house cool this time of year because it seems like, uh, it has been a hot summer across the US and I wanted to really talk about, and even in Canada, All of our North American friends and these rules work everywhere, but this is stuff that I want you to be able to pay attention to and maybe help keep your house cool a little bit through management of the temperature and all of that.
[:[00:02:08] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what the amount of dust that came outta that was amazing. My, you know, we have not had a lot of rain here, and when you haven't had a lot of rain, that means dirt. The rain helps keep that thing clean. So I got out there and just blew it out with that, and I got pounds of dirt into that. And dirt means that well, That was really hurting my efficiency.
[:[00:02:47] Eric Goranson: Things stacked up around it. I wanna see you have three or four feet around that thing so you get great airflow. So the more airflow you get, the better off you are. Now here's a trick that works well for me, and the first [00:03:00] thing you need to have is you need to have a really good. You know, water quality that comes out, that's not hard water.
[:[00:03:29] Eric Goranson: And, uh, always check with your H V A C professional, make sure that your model can do this. But really they're meant to be outside. They're meant to be rained on. They can get wet from time to time. So like, uh, you know, with our 108 degree heat, we had this last week here in the Portland metro area, you could put that mister out there for a day or two and not hurt anything.
[:[00:04:05] Eric Goranson: But that mister is a great way to keep that thing supercharged and to keep the house cool. So that's a good one right there. One of the first things though that I want to see you tackle though is to make sure, one, you have the right airflow. So if you're trying to get the most out of that central heating and cooling system, I wanna make sure that your val, your D, your ducts are working correctly.
[:[00:04:42] Eric Goranson: Make sure that you've got the right air filter and that it's clean 'cause you wanna get the most you can outta that. When in doubt you can grab that air filter out and uh, and vacuum it out real quick. Put it back in, get some of that stuff off it until you get a new one. But really you wanna replace that filter and keep it working.
[:[00:05:21] Eric Goranson: Uh, at least once a year on that air conditioning system for that central heat and air system. Now, if you've got, uh, a ductless system, a lot of the same things work. The same with air conditioning. If you've got one of the mini split systems, making sure that filters are good, making sure that you've got, uh, everything cleaned up.
[:[00:05:59] Eric Goranson: Um, the [00:06:00] problem is, is that the older units, they use a lot more electricity, so they cost you a little bit more and make sure you've got the right size unit. For your place. So making sure you can do that, that's great for renters, great for the occasional person. I mean, here in the Pacific Northwest where I lived in Portland metro area, we had probably 40% of the homes even having ac.
[:[00:06:41] Eric Goranson: Those are issues for keeping your house cool. That are important. Now let's talk a little bit about keeping Mother Nature. Helping, letting her help you keep your house cool. So watch your temperatures. This is gonna take some time of getting out, getting up early probably, but usually between [00:07:00] four and 6:00 AM is your coolest time in the morning.
[:[00:07:24] Eric Goranson: Take advantage of that as long as the air quality is good outside. Open those windows up. Let it go through. If you have a skylight that opens, that's great. One other trick if you wanna pull that outside air in is open up those windows and turn on your bathroom fans and your kitchen vent hood that vents outside.
[:[00:08:09] Eric Goranson: So anytime that you can do that, if you've got window air conditioners, air conditioners, and you can get some cross flow ventilation, you have stuff that's coming in. From one side of the house and going out the other ventilation is key. If you can get that hot air outta the house without having to replace it with a bunch of even hotter air, then that's gonna be smart.
[:[00:08:48] Eric Goranson: 'cause your air inside is probably cleaner than it is outside. And then the other thing I do too is when it's hot in the day, I, um, you know, I try to keep things sealed up as well. I'm trying [00:09:00] to do my, uh, laundry early in the morning, so that dryer, if that is in your house, that that is putting the heat, that creates a lot of heat and it also pulls in a lot of air.
[:[00:09:27] Eric Goranson: So anytime that you can do that, you're gonna be a little bit better off and not have to worry about that crazy heat because, uh, you don't wanna turn the oven on the house when you're trying to keep it cold. More around the house. As soon as we come back, we're gonna be talking about how to. Couple more trips to keep your house cool.
[:[00:09:58] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Sticky and [00:10:00] Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to Around The House with Eric G. Yeah. We love Eric G and you should too.
[:[00:10:40] Eric Goranson: And another one that I have, which is good, is making sure that you have the right designed H V A C system. Now keep in mind the typical H V A C system is designed to reduce the inside temperature of your home by up to 30 degrees. So that means if you've got [00:11:00] 70 as your desired temperature and you wanna keep it at 70 and it's 110 outside, You're gonna have to see.
[:[00:11:34] Eric Goranson: I am not an H V A C tech. So let's start out with that. But I'm gonna keep this in a more, we're not gonna get in the weeds here 'cause that's boring radio and podcast, but, These days with the nicer systems, you are seeing variable speed systems. So you know, in many homes you've got the heating and cooling, or it's a heat pump or whatever, and it's a fan is on, fan is off, fan is on, fan is off, and that's what it's, then you get into a [00:12:00] multi-speed system where maybe you have a high low fan or a three page fan, and that's what it's these new digital motors, variable speed are super efficient and so they kind of come up with your higher seer ratings.
[:[00:12:34] Eric Goranson: All these things are happening. So it's more efficient, and when you need a little bit more H V A C, it can go into turbo mode for you and get you there. So that is something for you to consider when you're looking at stuff. If you're just looking at the single speed stuff, I get it, you're on a budget, that's cool, but maybe you're not gonna have that extra when you need it, when you get into those heat waves or things like that.
[:[00:13:27] Eric Goranson: If you have the traditional home that has living room, downstairs, kitchen, all that stuff, and bedrooms upstairs, you end up having that problem where 10 degrees is. The difference typically between in the hot summer, between upstairs and downstairs, it's 80 upstairs and 69 downstairs. And guess what? You have some air flu issues in the house.
[:[00:14:06] Eric Goranson: And so what that does is I can actually set it so it's cooler upstairs in the heat than it is downstairs. And so that's one way to go. And other way to do it is to add a, uh, mini split system up there so you can control that in the bedroom. And that's a nice way to go as well. And so what you can do is add mini splits up there.
[:[00:14:46] Eric Goranson: My problem is if I set upstairs to 69 degrees, and we'll just say that below 70, that my problem is, is cold air goes downstairs, right? Heat rises, still fighting that. So my problem [00:15:00] is, is when I, in the extreme heat, Downstairs colder than upstairs. And so then I have to turn the fan on to move it around, but I still don't have enough airflow really to move that around enough to fight Mother Nature in the way that heat is going to rise and the cold air is gonna settle.
[:[00:15:31] Eric Goranson: So something to think about when you're looking at a house and you're thinking about that H V A C system that can be troublesome for you. And so, uh, that's another one. Now, another tip that I have here too that's not, not construction related like that, where you have to build something into it, is to make sure that you're monitoring your temperatures within your app.
[:[00:16:19] Eric Goranson: So when I go to bed tonight, I can sleep better. I'm not gonna be 85 in the bedroom or 80 in the bedroom with that. And so that's a good way to go. So something to consider when we're looking at that. So I don't want you to worry about, um, you know, getting the house too cold 'cause now you're uncomfortable day.
[:[00:17:04] Eric Goranson: High demand. What are they doing? They're giving you a rebate if you turn your, uh, thermostat or change your thermostat or in some areas you can give control of your thermostat to your provider and they will change your temperatures based upon what the demand is out there. So, um, I want you to be comfortable.
[:[00:17:36] Eric Goranson: And then overnight when things are going, you can get it cooler and go that way. It's harder to get that house cooled down when it's been hot than it is to stay on top of it and keep it there, because once that heat's in, it's hard. You have to overcome that hump and that hurdle to get there. So that's another way to go.
[:[00:18:12] Eric Goranson: And, uh, pay attention to that stuff. And maintenance is always gonna be key. Now we come back, we're gonna talk about home security for fall. All the things you should be thinking about as the lights start to, uh, you know, Dwindle in the evenings. It's not in my area. I can't stay outside in the daylight till 10 anymore like I used to.
[:[00:19:00] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Kehl, the middle Cowboy from Kehl, the Ron Kehl Band and Steeler. We are rocking around The house with Eric G. Ray is you. Welcome back to The Round The House Show where we help you get the most outta your home through information education. Today's episode is brought to you by Root Quencher and root quencher.com.
[:[00:19:35] Eric Goranson: And so root quencher.com might be your answer. Take a look at those guys. Thanks for the, uh, support of a Round the House. Well, today we've been talking about a bunch of different things. We started out talking about, uh, ways to keep cool in this second part of the show. I really wanted to talk about some security issues around your house getting ready for fall because you know, the days are getting shorter as we go into fall.
[:[00:20:27] Eric Goranson: I love these guys. M B Sentinel, M b Sentinel. They make products like the box gobbler. Which is a built-in lockbox situation with a code for those packages. So if you wanna stop people from stealing them, this is your answer. You can put 'em out on a post, you know, or you on a column out by the street. You can build it into the side of your house where it drops into the garage, and you can give your delivery driver those directions of where to put stuff with the code [00:21:00] number, and that gives them access to drop things off.
[:[00:21:22] Eric Goranson: Now, second of all, I want to talk about really some of the things that you should do first, and one of 'em is just, Stand it out in the evening when it's twilight out there and look at your house from the street. How do you leave your house at night when you go to bed? How does that look for you? And I want you to take a look at a couple things.
[:[00:22:02] Eric Goranson: So if you've got some tall bushes that somebody could stand behind by your house, maybe that might not be the best place for 'em. Maybe something lower would be a better one. Now, of course, in the evenings lighting or early morning lighting is always a key right here. And you know, one of the things I've learned is plenty of, uh, you know, break-ins and stuff happening during the day when people aren't home because.
[:[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: Now at night, you can do that with lighting. You can also make sure that you're the. Best lit house in the neighborhood that, well, maybe that criminal will go down to another house down the road. And I know that's unfortunate, but really you're trying to protect your house and keep it safe. That's your number one priority in this [00:23:00] situation.
[:[00:23:15] Eric Goranson: Now, in a perfect world, you've got those cars in the garage that's locked and that's another one right there. We'll go back to garages in a second here, but that's really making sure that you've got that well lit and that's gonna mean all the way up, you know, with maybe some lighting in the walkway or things like that.
[:[00:23:48] Eric Goranson: You know, Chamberlain, LiftMaster, they have created a series of garage doors that actually help you fight. If someone tries to break in, like if somebody comes by and tries to lift up on the garage door, it [00:24:00] will help and push it down. Now that's a good one. My garage door has a deadbolt that actually puts a big piece of steel in front of the wheels so it can't get forced up.
[:[00:24:29] Eric Goranson: And through their app where, uh, you can get those deliveries dropped off in your garage. And uh, that is another way to do it. But, uh, for packages, I personally like the MB Sentinel better because that way it gets all your packages, not just the one from one certain place. 'cause I. As you know, even if you order something from Amazon, it doesn't always go through there.
[:[00:25:13] Eric Goranson: Um, let's talk about the basics here at like a 30,000 foot level, you know, a camera system. People think a camera system is a security system and it's really not. Cameras like ring and those kind of things are great for documenting a crime happening or notifying you. But we all get so many buzzes and beeps and stuff, we never pay attention.
[:[00:25:50] Eric Goranson: But really that's all they're good for. So the other issue you have is many security systems are just a series of sensors on your doors and windows [00:26:00] and maybe some motion sensors. That brings its own issue. Because what that does is that documents as it's happening, but it doesn't prevent it. And many police departments have really big problems showing up on alarm calls where they say, Hey, uh, door three alarm code.
[:[00:26:39] Eric Goranson: So the advantage of that, Is that when you have this going on, that's the cool part, is that you have eyeballs on your property. So if somebody comes up, knocks on the door. You don't answer it and they start poking around. Somebody is going, Hey, uh, you know, deep sentinel security, what can I do for you? And you've got eyeballs on it.
[:[00:27:14] Eric Goranson: That you're scaring people away and they're going to easy targets. 'cause that's generally what happens with alarm systems. When people come up and go, Ooh, ah, I'm gonna go to another target. And so if you can get a handful of people in the neighborhood to start putting security systems in, um, that can help, especially when you're looking at something like this where somebody walking up to your front door can get stopped before they start busting the door in and setting it off an alarm code.
[:[00:27:55] Eric Goranson: Look for 'em. And uh, now they've got a suspect description. [00:28:00] And then you've got somebody for them to be chasing down. So anytime that you can have a security system prevented from happening, that is much better than an alarming in saying something happened. And that may be you chased them down the road into another neighborhood.
[:[00:29:02] Eric Goranson: It's the end of the show now. Drinking down people. It's time to go. It's that time again, it's last call. Welcome back to the Round the House Show. This is where we hope you get the most outta your home through information and education. We were talking about the first half of the show about, uh, you know, top tricks to keep your house cool.
[:[00:29:42] Eric Goranson: In my town here where I live in Lake Oswego, that is not really an issue. We don't have squatters showing up here because, uh, we have a well-funded police department. We don't get into the politics of it all here, but we have a well-funded and appreciated police department and, uh, when we call them, they show up.
[:[00:30:23] Eric Goranson: 'cause that means they have better training. We're not gonna get down that rabbit hole today, but it's, it's good. So in other areas, uh, more metropolitan areas, especially here in the West Coast and certain east coast cities, if you head off to, um, you know, go take care of mom for three weeks someplace you could come back and have somebody living in your house or living on your yard.
[:[00:31:08] Eric Goranson: Sometimes a no trespassing sign or a, uh, you know, a no soliciting sign could be key. Uh, just so people don't show up in there. And really, if you have the, uh, the squatter or camper or houseless issue and you want to keep those people off of your place, um, really making sure that you've got, um, you know, all the right things in there from the security system to, uh, the gates and controlling access.
[:[00:31:56] Eric Goranson: So there's a lot of things when it comes to security out [00:32:00] there, uh, that's important. And, um, I think there's things that you can do to really help, you know, um, keep the crime down in your area. Now, in high crime areas, this is where, um, you know, you, you've got some, you've got some answers out there, but I tell you what, some of them are pretty, pretty harsh realities.
[:[00:32:38] Eric Goranson: I know the products out there where they make ballistic panels you can put in the front of your house. So if there's a drive-by in the neighborhood that, uh, that doesn't come ripping through the house except over glass, you know, uh, bulletproof glass is expensive and most residential homeowners will not put it in there.
[:[00:33:17] Eric Goranson: Now, one of the other things that I want you to pay attention to, Is security like, I like having a smart home stuff, and if you've got the right stuff, it works out really well. Now, one of the things that you can do, Is to forget, you know, sometimes people forget to lock their door at night. There's things like that, you know, if you're at All Tech Handy, you can go through and set it up where you've got a, uh, a smart home hub.
[:[00:33:55] Eric Goranson: Is making sure that, um, you know, for instance, locking those doors at [00:34:00] night, lock the house, you know, lock the door between the garage and the, and the kitchen. You know, those are all little things. If you've got a, a, uh, basement access, you know, that's coming in a basement door or something like that, is that full glass?
[:[00:34:30] Eric Goranson: And so that's a key there. So make sure that you've got it situated correctly in your following building code, but you really wanna make sure you've got that dialed in. And so really taking that into consideration. What is your security needs? What's secure, what's not? Making that house. I mean, really if someone wants to get into their house, they'll cut in through the studs and go in there with a, with a circular side.
[:[00:35:09] Eric Goranson: If you hear noises, That you've got a good perimeter around your house and that sure helps out, especially when it comes to people wandering around and doing things that well, you might not want them to do. Now in the next few minutes here, I wanted to talk about something that can be very helpful, and that is getting your neighbors together.
[:[00:35:44] Eric Goranson: That is something, if you've got that tight-knit neighborhood, that can be like its own little watch situation there. Especially if you've got people that are working at different times of night. All those kind of things can be very helpful and uh, without being too nosy. That's [00:36:00] great. And I'm not talking about get with your h o a that's usually a problem.
[:[00:36:21] Eric Goranson: And, uh, any kind of a neighborhood watch where people have an eye on things and uh, you know, I like it when you have a different ma neighborhood mix. We got some people working nights and swing shift. That is great 'cause you've got different people coming in and out all the time. And so if you've got some people coming to the neighborhood, that's, uh, that's a good time for them to catch that.
[:[00:36:59] Eric Goranson: I have a [00:37:00] community resource officer that's trained in this. They'll come out and walk around the house with you and help you, uh, do that as well. So make sure that, uh, if you've got a resource there to go ahead and use it because anytime you can bring a pro over to, uh, help you go around there. That's good.
[:[00:37:30] Eric Goranson: It's harder to do, but anything could happen. So make sure that you've got, uh, your computers. Anything around your house, make sure that you've got all that stuff. And then watch your virus stuff coming in. Make sure that you don't have, uh, access to stuff and you're giving people away information that they don't want.
[:[00:38:05] Eric Goranson: And, uh, anytime that you can get internet security mixed into your home security thing, it's gonna make a safer environment for everyone. So that will do it for today. Well, those are my home security tips and the tips to keep cool out there. You've got anything you want to add to that? Or another tip that you think I should have put on there, head over and message me at around the house online.com.
[:[00:38:42] Eric Goranson: Be safe, stay cool. Think about home security. And we got a brand new show coming up next week. If you're listening on the radio, make sure you catch the podcast during the week. 'cause we do have other things. That. Don't make it on the radio like our midweek special. All right, well stay safe out there For more information, head to around the house [00:39:00] online.com.
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