5 Tips for Keeping Your Home Cool and Comfortable this Summer

Author: Sarah Reckard 
Published: July 23, 2019

As temperatures are rising outside, here are some tips homeowners can use to stay cool and make their home comfortable.

1. Get Smart About Thermostats

With a Honeywell® Home smart thermostat, homeowners won’t have to worry about being overheated or too chilly. The home will have a temperature that’s “just right.”

As people move throughout their day, the thermostat will help keep the house at an ideal temperature to maximize energy savings when they are away from home and cool the house when they are at home.

2. Create Ideal Environments

According to recent product research from Resideo, 60% of homes have a room that’s uncomfortable – like a bedroom over the garage – and that is difficult to balance. As such, you may want individual rooms to be a certain temperature depending on the time of day.

Creating such a system is a snap if you have a smart thermostat with smart-room sensors, like the Honeywell Home™ T9 or T10 Pro Smart Thermostats. You can prioritize the temperature in the rooms you spend the most time in. For example, if the kids have friends over and are playing video games downstairs, you can keep them comfortable and deliver the right temperature to the right room at the right time. Likewise, at night – you can select the ideal temperature for sleeping so the entire family can sleep at the optimal temperature.

3. Pay Attention to Humidity

When temperatures reach above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, indoor humidity should not exceed 50%. Higher than that and you may start to see mold appear throughout your house. The best solution is a professionally installed whole-home dehumidification system, which helps you monitor and manage your home’s moisture levels. Our DR120 Dehumidifier can remove up to 120 pints of moisture per day – that’s 15 gallons of humidity taken out of your home a day.

3. Pay Attention to Humidity

When temperatures reach above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, indoor humidity should not exceed 50%. Higher than that and you may start to see mold appear throughout your house. The best solution is a professionally installed whole-home dehumidification system, which helps you monitor and manage your home’s moisture levels. Our DR120 Dehumidifier can remove up to 120 pints of moisture per day – that’s 15 gallons of humidity taken out of your home a day.

4. Get Your Ductwork in a Row

Improving indoor air quality (IAQ) doesn’t need to be complicated. One of the simplest, yet most effective ways to remove airborne odors and VOCs is cleaning the air that travels through the home’s ducts. A UV treatment system or air purifier is just the ticket. UV treatment can eliminate live airborne particles and surface mold that may otherwise go undetected and grow in duct systems and cooling coils.

5. Go Light on Light

An open window makes a room hot in a hurry, so keep the curtains or blinds drawn during the hottest part of the day. You can block out up to 80% of solar heat with cellular shades, according to the US Department of Energy.

For more smart-home tips, check out our other solutions for the summer. To ensure your home has the latest solutions to beat the heat, contact a professional.

How to Build a Smart Kids Room To Help Keep Kids Safe, Comfortable and Make Life Easier

Author: Becky Gjerde 
Published: April 24, 2019

Baby products, toddler gear and pre-school accessories have gone through many evolutions over the years. We’ve come far from the days when kids didn’t even ride in car seats. Today’s parents are faced with a multitude of purchasing decisions, and with so many decisions, how do you know what’s actually going to add value – or spark joy – in the long run?

Just like car seats, smart home technologies for your child’s nursery can make babies safer, and make parents’ lives much easier. As a mom with a strong “tribe,” I’ve gathered the following recommendations to help modern parents create a smart kids bedroom for a safe and happy, growing child.

Tip #1: Use Technology That Grows With Them

Smart monitoring gives you the ability to check in on your baby from your smart phone. The Honeywell Home™ C2 Wi-Fi Security Camera makes for a great high-tech baby monitor. The camera can detect motion and sound, even recognizing a baby’s cry, and send notifications directly to the Honeywell Home app. Better yet – when you don’t need to monitor baby in the crib, you can move the camera into another area of your home and make it a D.I.Y. security cam.

Tip #2: Spark Play with Smart Lights

From playtime to bedtime, kids’ imaginations are electric! Smart lighting can bring to life those dreams. For example, you can install a color-changing LED smart bulb in your child’s lamp that can fill your child’s room with their favorite colors. Use a rainbow setting when visiting the ‘land of unicorns,’ or use a blue hue when pretending to live ‘under the sea.’ You also can use lights to signal dusk, which can help cue bedtime.

Tip #3: Make Clean Up a Breeze

Arguably one of the most-important, low-tech solutions in a bedroom is smart storage. A few simple, kid-friendly storage containers in the closet or under the bed can mean the difference between a fun or challenging clean-up session.

Tip #4: Use Smart Speakers for Relaxation

The bedtime struggle is real! Whether kids ask for ‘one more story,’ or ‘anther glass of milk,’ kids love to stall at bedtime. At night, use calming music – or even a kid-friendly meditation story – to help lull your kids to sleep.

Tip #5: Remember That When baby Sleeps, Everyone Sleeps

Research says the ideal room temperature for infants is between 68 and 72 degrees. Smart thermostats, like the new Honeywell Home T9 Smart Thermostat, have smart room sensors that keep comfort in check. As naps or sleep schedules change, you can easily adjust the temperature in that room via the Honeywell Home app, or through voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.