There are two settings, one for when you leave the house, that's when the motion senors go on, and one for when you're there, no motion sensors.
We use ours all the time. It gives me peace of mind at night, especially when my husband travels.
ditto to all of this.
I will never live in a house again without one - the peace of mind it gives me is priceless!
They are really affordable too. We upgraded our system last summer - I now have a keyless remote so I can set and unset it from outside. Our monthly monitoring charge is around $32.
There are two settings, one for when you leave the house, that's when the motion senors go on, and one for when you're there, no motion sensors.
We use ours all the time. It gives me peace of mind at night, especially when my husband travels.
ditto to all of this.
I will never live in a house again without one - the peace of mind it gives me is priceless!
They are really affordable too. We upgraded our system last summer - I now have a keyless remote so I can set and unset it from outside. Our monthly monitoring charge is around $32.
this is the kind of system we're looking at. it's $40 a month i think. definitely worth it.
We have one. I use it all the time; even when home and in the house during the day. That way I know no one is getting in and no one is getting out! LOL!
We have doors and windows monitored. We upgraded our entire system to wireless this year too. I love being able to carry the remote in my purse and turn it on and off when I come and go.
ETA: If you can't afford to put a sensor on every window you can buy glass break detectors which covers one window but will detect glass breaking in that room. It might save you a lot if you have a lot of windows in some rooms.
-- Edited by Michele on Sunday 31st of January 2010 06:28:45 PM
I would so love to have a security system here! It would definitely put my paranoid mind to ease and sleep better at night. Especially because I'm deaf, I think all these bad things happening... it can be hard sometimes but I've learned to have to deal with it anyways. I worry I would set off the alarm by accident and not know it if I were alone. But that was before light systems were installed. Now those are required for landlords if you're deaf and request one, the lights would go off if the alarm was going off so I would be aware and can just turn it off. Now, we just bought this house a year ago, so we'll have to get the system sometime. I would go for window and doors for sure.
Curious how much do systems usually run for? (I'd like to invest into this at some point)
eta that I had a light/alarm system at my old house. I def felt more at ease with it.
-- Edited by Tiffany on Monday 1st of February 2010 12:28:39 AM
we have one installed and we also have it connected to Brinks security system.
because of the dogs, we use the non-motion setting most of the time.
So those guys call us each time we set off the fire alarm in the kitchen ("oops, sorry... just broiling some steaks - wanna come over for dinner?" LOL)
having this cuts us a big break in our home insurance. there were other home safety stuff we had done while we were renovating to increase security and lower insurance costs.
I would so love to have a security system here! It would definitely put my paranoid mind to ease and sleep better at night. Especially because I'm deaf, I think all these bad things happening... it can be hard sometimes but I've learned to have to deal with it anyways. I worry I would set off the alarm by accident and not know it if I were alone. But that was before light systems were installed. Now those are required for landlords if you're deaf and request one, the lights would go off if the alarm was going off so I would be aware and can just turn it off. Now, we just bought this house a year ago, so we'll have to get the system sometime. I would go for window and doors for sure.
Curious how much do systems usually run for? (I'd like to invest into this at some point)
eta that I had a light/alarm system at my old house. I def felt more at ease with it.
-- Edited by Tiffany on Monday 1st of February 2010 12:28:39 AM
ADT has a $99 installation right now and then about $40 a month. it depends i think, on what kind of system you have installed. typically i think installation is $300, so it might be a good time to look into it.
i used to work at the NY School for the Deaf. i remember one time there was a fire alarm (not just a drill - no one expected it) and i happened to be in the bathroom. there was no sound - just the lights, and i had NO IDEA what that meant. then this male faculty member came storming in and literally dragged me out of the stall (i was done peeing already - lol). he wasnt deaf - he was like "that means fire! fire!!" and i was like OHHHHHHH they should have told me that at orientation! so stressful!!!
we have one installed and we also have it connected to Brinks security system.
because of the dogs, we use the non-motion setting most of the time.
So those guys call us each time we set off the fire alarm in the kitchen ("oops, sorry... just broiling some steaks - wanna come over for dinner?" LOL)
having this cuts us a big break in our home insurance. there were other home safety stuff we had done while we were renovating to increase security and lower insurance costs.
that's so awesome. i seriously wish we had the money to just gut this house and start over. it's frustrating, bc if we lived in a different part of the country, we prob could. but here, if we expand or anything, we couldnt afford the taxes anymore. it's really a very "stuck" feeling, even though we live in a GREAT area and would never want to leave. but seriously there are just so many times i sit here (i think being home all day doesnt help) and think "i just want this place MODERNIZED already" - i'm taking a ton of small steps, but this really is going to be a life-long project unless we could just gut it. i feel like every day, it's "ok let me call THIS guy and then maybe that will hold up a bit longer" ya know? so much to take on. getting a security system will be a huge step toward a feeling of "an updated home" - the granite counter helped a lot too. but i dont think i'll ever get the feeling of a fully functional place. it's REALLY frustrating. HOWS THE BABY!!!???
kelly - the best thing about the renovation was re-wiring the house! old wiring scares me - potentially overloading with all this electrical stuff.
but it was a pita - we had to know where all our major furniture would be in the rooms BEFORE we started - like the kids rooms - where would their desks be? that way bert installed 6-8 plugs where he knew a desk would be . i think in his office there may even be 10 plugs in the wall - and they all are used with all the pc crap, printer, scanner, monitors, routers, desk lamp - you name it! etc. but we dont have extension cords and that lessens the fire hazards!
My favorite aspect of our security system has to be the door chime. It goes off whenever a door or window opens, and you can set the system to tell you which one opened.
That way, I always knew if a child was trying to escape (or if someone was coming in). Definitely helpful with small kids.
The keyless remote is great, and I like that the system links for both fire and carbon monoxide.
We got our system with a special, where we paid $99 installation and then signed a contract for 4 years of service. It was only about $40 a month after that-totally worth it. We had Brinks.
kelly - the best thing about the renovation was re-wiring the house! old wiring scares me - potentially overloading with all this electrical stuff.
but it was a pita - we had to know where all our major furniture would be in the rooms BEFORE we started - like the kids rooms - where would their desks be? that way bert installed 6-8 plugs where he knew a desk would be . i think in his office there may even be 10 plugs in the wall - and they all are used with all the pc crap, printer, scanner, monitors, routers, desk lamp - you name it! etc. but we dont have extension cords and that lessens the fire hazards!
ill post a baby update soon!
funny you mention electrical stuff - i have a call in to the electrician (hasnt called back, it's been a week) bc some of our lights have been acting funky - i'm definitely getting a little worried about it. our wiring is OLD and it's definitely time to have it all checked out.
toni - that's the same deal i'm looking into. i called this morning. $99 installation, and then any additional windows and doors are $80 each. i have to discuss with mike what we want to do. i cant wait.
we have one installed and we also have it connected to Brinks security system.
because of the dogs, we use the non-motion setting most of the time.
So those guys call us each time we set off the fire alarm in the kitchen ("oops, sorry... just broiling some steaks - wanna come over for dinner?" LOL)
having this cuts us a big break in our home insurance. there were other home safety stuff we had done while we were renovating to increase security and lower insurance costs.
we had one at our old house. we had motion detectors, but it only detected movements from objects weighing appr. 25lbs (i think) or more. this was super nice because our dog didn't set of the sensor.
we had a fireman walk right into the back door, and i was like, wtf!!! i was cooking something that got smokey too :)
