Remote Control Home Alarm Provides Additional Security

Some painters were recommended to me by referral. By all accounts, they were hard workers and reputable.  Because of my normal home security obsessed nature, I’d generally do some type of background check on the owner and get something of a background check from him on his employees. However, because of the time crunch of the project, and the fact I was away while my interior was being painted, that wasn’t an option here.

Fortunately, I have the ADT Pulse™ home automation system that lets me check in on every aspect of my homes activity remotely.

After the floor sanders left the home, the painters came in right after. I was able to monitor and watch their progress via my internal security cameras and monitor my home security, as well. I have some funny video of painters face up against my cameras like curious creatures happening upon technology in a wilderness PBS documentary. Funny stuff!

Anyway, the remote home control system allows me to set up automatic recording of the cameras every time a motion sensor detects movement. The painters were given specific instruction of where to paint and where not to paint, which also meant where on the house they were allowed to be.

For example, the bedrooms were NOT to be painted, which meant there should be absolutely no triggering of the motion detector or cameras in that wing of the home. And, I can happily say at no point in time my cameras automatically record the standard 30 seconds of video when the motions are tripped in the bedroom wing.  I know this because I was able to access my system from thousands of miles away over the internet and see all movement and recorded incidents.

Further, in the office area, I have all kinds of technology that I wasn’t able to remove from the home and there are office cabinets that nobody should be snooping in. The painters had a job to do in that area and my cameras detected and recorded constant movement. In reviewing the footage, I concluded they in fact did their jobs and at no time snooped or violated my home security. I love that “I know”.

And finally after they left, the concern was they now knew the “lay of the land” and every aspect of my home security. So if anyone of the painters was a part time burglar, he was able to case my home from the inside, and would know how to easily break in. He could also unlock a window to help him out.

However, my home alarm has sensors on each window and upon remotely monitoring my system I determined one of the windows was in fact left propped open.  More than likely this was done by accident. So, I called a friend over to lock it and make sure all the other doors and windows were properly locked.

Once my friend left, I was able to remotely set the alarm via my iPhone to “away status” which meant all the sensors were armed including the motion detectors. Even if I couldn’t get a friend over to shut and lock all the windows, I could still set the alarm and it would “protest” the open window but still activate. And even if the “painter/burglar” came in through the unlocked window, the motion sensor would pick him up and go off. Nice. Thanks ADT Pulse™!

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing ADT Pulse™ on Fox News.