Technology

Smart Home Devices for Renters

Sprucing up your rented apartments to make you feel more at home can be a little challenging, depending on your landlord’s stipulations. You don’t necessarily have the luxury to make all the modifications with the ease that you would otherwise have had in your own place. However, even with all these restrictions, there are still some ways that you can make your rental home feel homier, cozy, and safer as well.

Here are some of the best smart home devices which you can add to your living space to make you feel more comfortable and at peace. Most of these devices require little to no external installation and are also pretty easily available to the domestic consumer in today’s day. Despite this, it is still recommended to check with your landlord prior to installation, in case it violates any terms of your agreements.

Smart Doorbell

Smart Doorbells can make you feel all the more safe, especially when you are living in an apartment or in a house alone. Although smart video doorbells need to be wired into your door, which might require drilling there are alternate options available, like the battery-operated variant, where they can simply sit over your doors peepholes.

With peepholes, there is a limited range of visibility whereas in the case of smart doorbells, these can connect to your smartphone and provide you with live camera footage all the while being able to differentiate between objects like animals, packages, or people and vehicles.

Smart doorbells also come with the added functionality of letting you leave pre-recorded messages for when you’re not home. For example, you can easily pre-record a message for your milkman or package deliveries such as “please just leave it by the door” without having to worry if you ever miss out on a notification. 

Smart Plugs

Smart plugs require little to no installation and you would not even have to worry about getting the go-ahead from the landlord. What you also don’t need to worry about any longer is that hefty electric bill. If you often forget about leaving the hairdryer or the lamp on or incessantly stress over forgetting to turn them off while you’re out, then you can easily use your smartphone to turn smart plugs on and off. Some smart plugs are even voice control compatible, so you can turn your appliances on and off simply by your voice. 

Since smart plugs don’t require any additional hardware, they are easy and cheap to use all the while making your home a lot smarter!

Smart Bulbs

Do you need to add a pop of color to your new home? Using a smart bulb can help you do just that! Since smart bulbs have the added functionality of LED lighting you can easily change the color according to your mood. And what’s more, unlike smart switches renters do not need to toggle with the wiring and can just simply screw the bulb on.

With Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth compatibility, some smart bulbs also come with built-in speakers to help you jam out to your tunes. Voice commands or smartphone compatibility means that you no longer have to be in the dark while desperately trying to find the switch to turn on your lights. Simply use the application or a voice command to turn them on or off!

Smart Smoke Detectors

Having a smoke detector is essential for almost all American households, especially as a renter. Since most landlords wouldn’t allow renters to use a wired smoke detector in their houses, the best alternative is a battery-powered smoke detector such as the Nest Protect.

The Nest comes with a built-in speaker that allows it to alert those in the house whenever a potential hazard is detected, whether a fire is about to erupt beforehand, or if there is a carbon monoxide leak so that they can evacuate the area. This feature can be very beneficial for everybody so they may utilize the time to find safety.

Since the Nest has a smartphone application, users including all family members will get a notification on their devices if the smoke alarm has gone off. This means users can receive notifications in real-time and alert authorities from anywhere adding to the level of protection.

With the Nest Protect, individuals can also know the level of Carbon Monoxide in their homes and help alert them when it reaches a high level. Additionally, the Nest checks its batteries and provides prompt alerts to the smartphone application without making annoying sounds at all hours of the night like traditional smoke detectors.

Air Disinfector

With the rise in COVID-19, air disinfectors are an essential part of keeping yourself and your family safe. Completely portable, the nUVo Traveler Personal UVC Air Disinfector can easily fit in your backpack and you can travel around with it. The air disinfector can destroy any kind of bacteria, and viruses present in the air and help you stay safe wherever you go.

For more information on Smart home devices that would work great in your rental homes, head on over to FirstEnergy’s website www.firstenergyhome.com and check out their extensive catalog. You’re bound to find some useful devices there

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