How to Geek - The Worst Things About Owning a Smarthome
Written by Josh Hendrickson
Sometimes owning a smarthome feels like becoming a part-time electrician, only without proper training. Old houses have all sorts of “gotchas,” and some issues you may encounter are out of date wiring, non-functioning doorbells, and thick signal-killing walls. You might even discover you can’t use a wired video doorbell at all—and it may be prohibitively expensive to fix it.
Take it from me. My house was built in 1956, and I can’t use smart light switches because it doesn’t have neutral wires in half the rooms in the house! Most smart switches need a neutral wire, but in the 1950s neutral wires weren’t called for in the electrical code. Work done on the house brought a few rooms up to code, but it’s inconsistent at best. If your house isn’t up to code, getting it there means calling an electrician. They’ll have to run wires through your home, which may be difficult or impossible, and you’ll spend quite a bit in labor alone.
Note: The above comes directly from his article. Click here to read more.
Written by Josh Hendrickson
Sometimes owning a smarthome feels like becoming a part-time electrician, only without proper training. Old houses have all sorts of “gotchas,” and some issues you may encounter are out of date wiring, non-functioning doorbells, and thick signal-killing walls. You might even discover you can’t use a wired video doorbell at all—and it may be prohibitively expensive to fix it.
Take it from me. My house was built in 1956, and I can’t use smart light switches because it doesn’t have neutral wires in half the rooms in the house! Most smart switches need a neutral wire, but in the 1950s neutral wires weren’t called for in the electrical code. Work done on the house brought a few rooms up to code, but it’s inconsistent at best. If your house isn’t up to code, getting it there means calling an electrician. They’ll have to run wires through your home, which may be difficult or impossible, and you’ll spend quite a bit in labor alone.
Note: The above comes directly from his article. Click here to read more.
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