Creative Home Automation for Second Properties

When you consider outfitting your cottage with “smart home features”, what comes to mind?

• security, of course, to keep the burglars away
• thermostats you can turn down from anywhere in the world for when cottage season is sadly done, or you are away
• lights and window coverings set to periodically adjust position so it appears that someone is staying there

Balaklava can arrange for any or all of these innovative and useful automations.

And we have also completed jobs that are smaller-than-whole-home, extremely creative, and just as impactful.

The Newfoundland example

For instance, think of Newfoundland.

You may picture rocky shores, kissing a cod, and snowbanks high enough to hide six moose standing on each other’s shoulders. Which isn’t that far off - the climate is harsh, and the famous Wreckhouse Winds leave behind cracked windows, orphaned roof shingles, dents in siding, and an overall trail of destruction. Twisted hydro poles and turned-over tractor-trailers included.

Now imagine that this is where you own a second property.

Nestled amongst Scotch pines, your cabin on the east coast is truly idyllic.

In summer months, you slide into Adirondacks on your picture-perfect deck and blissfully stare at the lake below. You sip your nightcap as the loons call to each other. You relish surprise guests (visitors who helped build the original cabin and have brought half of their in-laws on a road trip to show it off) and the hospitality of others enjoying their time on the lake.

But you aren’t there feeding gray jays from your palm all year.

So, what happens when you have returned to life elsewhere?

Here’s what Balaklava has installed at one particular property an hour south of St John’s that also functions as an Airbnb.

Envision that this is your investment property, and it has been equipped with:

• security cameras vivid and accurate enough to ensure that the only people four-wheeling up your laneway when you’re not there are the expected guests or the neighbours kind enough to shovel your cliff of a driveway.                                                 (Also, Balaklava makes sure the motion detection zone is perfectly configured so you aren’t getting pings on your phone every time a bird flies by or a tree blows in the breeze – which is more than quite often out there.)
• A network with two access points: interior and exterior WAPs mean you are connected wirelessly around your property, even at the dock
• Keyless entry deadbolts that can be monitored from anywhere. You know who is coming and going – and the exact time they arrived and left.
• A thermostat you can easily adjust when you’re away from the property – upping it as the sun sleeps in or turning it down when your guests forget
• Lighting that can be automatically or manually switched on so that it looks as though someone is always about. Also, exterior lights set to turn on an hour before sunset and back off when the sunrise hues have left the sky.

The extra dilemma

There is also another issue that Balaklava had to consider – one that is common in places where cold settles into your soul for several months of the year: damage associated with winter winds and chill.

Many of you know that Newfoundland can get cold in the winter months.

Temperatures may soar as low as -30 °C. But it isn’t the cold that devastates as much as it is the wind.

Gales that can reach 103 km/hour prove problematic to even tiny cracks or gaps. When this happens, wind strips away heat, causes water left over in pipes to freeze and expand, and ultimately creates a blockage or rupture.

Even an under-cabin entrance that is left ajar half an inch can result in thousands of dollars of damage to valves, pipes, and pumps.

A creative fix to avoid winter damage

Here’s how Balaklava uniquely solved the owner’s biggest worry, frozen pipes.

Under the crawl space below the cabin, a small control system was installed.

This device monitors outside temperatures, and when they hit a certain, pre-determined level, a connected space heater automatically turns on and does so for an hour. Safekeeping the water pump and pipes above zero bypasses potential wreckage.

This very affordable measure proactively pushes away worries and stops the owner from writing endless cheques to plumbers come spring.

Not all of Balaklava’s solutions are massive or all-encompassing.

Some are simple, creative fixes that will save you time, money, and worry.

Let us know what you need – and we’ll help simplify your life.