[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It is around the house and we were talking about security systems here, and that is one thing that I wanna have a good heart discussion about here because it can be a real issue. And this is gonna be making sure that if you're gone for an extended period of time of not having, you know, the squatters that show up as you get in certain areas, like in my town here where I live in Lake Oswego, that is not really an issue.

[00:00:29] Eric Goranson: We don't. Have squatters showing up here because, uh, we have a well-funded police department. We'll get into the politics of it all here, but we have a well-funded and appreciated police department and, uh, when we call them, they show up and, um, they don't let a lot of things slide around here. Um, and so the criminal, um, the criminal minds basically don't have, uh, time to really get a good foot in.

[00:00:51] Eric Goranson: So do we have crime? Yes, but it is, uh, Much different than just when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home. There is a lot to know, [00:01:00] but we've got you covered. This is around the house. Welcome to the Around the House Show. This is where we hope to get the most outta your home through information and education.

[00:01:10] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining us today. Hey, if you wanna find out more about us, head over to around the house online.com. Then we have the Radio Show podcast, and of course TV show out there for you to check out. Well, today. A couple subjects I wanted to talk about how to keep your house cool this time of year because it seems like, uh, it has been a hot summer across the US and I wanted to really talk about, and even in Canada, All of our North American friends and these rules work everywhere, but this is stuff that I want you to be able to pay attention to and maybe help keep your house cool a little bit through management of the temperature and all of that.

[00:01:45] Eric Goranson: Well, let's dive into this one. So first off is one that I was talking about here. Um, I filmed a little video for my uncle TV station this last week, but when was the last time you took a look at the outside AC compressor and made sure that [00:02:00] that's clean? Dialed in. So I took out my leaf blower out there and just kind of blew some air around it without kicking up any dirt or throwing anything at it.

[00:02:08] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what the amount of dust that came outta that was amazing. My, you know, we have not had a lot of rain here, and when you haven't had a lot of rain, that means dirt. The rain helps keep that thing clean. So I got out there and just blew it out with that, and I got pounds of dirt into that. And dirt means that well, That was really hurting my efficiency.

[00:02:30] Eric Goranson: So I had pollen, dirt, all this buildup in there that I need to get blown out. And it's a new unit, so I wanna make sure I'm taking care of it. So that is the first thing. Keep that cleaned up. And then second of all, I want you to really work on making sure that you have things away from it. If you have bushes, trees, shrubs.

[00:02:47] Eric Goranson: Things stacked up around it. I wanna see you have three or four feet around that thing so you get great airflow. So the more airflow you get, the better off you are. Now here's a trick that works well for me, and the first [00:03:00] thing you need to have is you need to have a really good. You know, water quality that comes out, that's not hard water.

[00:03:07] Eric Goranson: I don't wanna see any mineral buildup in this water, but you can take one of those misters and sit there and put one of those misters at the hose end and spray it onto your H V A C compressor. Outside that mister will help cool that unit. And a water transfers heat better than air does, so you can kind of super cool that if you're careful.

[00:03:29] Eric Goranson: And, uh, always check with your H V A C professional, make sure that your model can do this. But really they're meant to be outside. They're meant to be rained on. They can get wet from time to time. So like, uh, you know, with our 108 degree heat, we had this last week here in the Portland metro area, you could put that mister out there for a day or two and not hurt anything.

[00:03:48] Eric Goranson: What? I do that every day. No, that's not really what it's meant to. You're gonna rest things out. It's not meant for that, but, For that occasional heat wave, that mister is a great way to keep that cool. So [00:04:00] you can get out there with a hose and and mist it as well, but you're gonna have to be standing out there and it uses way too much water.

[00:04:05] Eric Goranson: But that mister is a great way to keep that thing supercharged and to keep the house cool. So that's a good one right there. One of the first things though that I want to see you tackle though is to make sure, one, you have the right airflow. So if you're trying to get the most out of that central heating and cooling system, I wanna make sure that your val, your D, your ducts are working correctly.

[00:04:26] Eric Goranson: You've got all the vents open, you don't have any of those vent filters in the space there. Those things can really hurt airflow. You wanna get the most airflow you can. So make sure you've got the vents open and you have everything controlled, and that means. You need to have a good filter in there as well.

[00:04:42] Eric Goranson: Make sure that you've got the right air filter and that it's clean 'cause you wanna get the most you can outta that. When in doubt you can grab that air filter out and uh, and vacuum it out real quick. Put it back in, get some of that stuff off it until you get a new one. But really you wanna replace that filter and keep it working.

[00:04:58] Eric Goranson: Now [00:05:00] one trick that you can do, like me, I have a very expensive filter in mine, but what you can do is I can go out and get a cheap one to put in there when I'm doing construction and things like that, that I'm not having to ruin a hundred dollars filter. But really keeping that filter clean is a good one, and that's gonna keep that airflow going and then making sure, of course, that you're getting that tuneup done.

[00:05:21] Eric Goranson: Uh, at least once a year on that air conditioning system for that central heat and air system. Now, if you've got, uh, a ductless system, a lot of the same things work. The same with air conditioning. If you've got one of the mini split systems, making sure that filters are good, making sure that you've got, uh, everything cleaned up.

[00:05:40] Eric Goranson: Working at its optimal efficiency is key. Now if you've got a window air conditioner, making sure that you've got a couple things going. For instance, making sure that you've got all the windows and, and doors sealed up around that, making sure that that's doing well. And, um, you know, making sure that you've got an efficient unit working.

[00:05:59] Eric Goranson: Um, the [00:06:00] problem is, is that the older units, they use a lot more electricity, so they cost you a little bit more and make sure you've got the right size unit. For your place. So making sure you can do that, that's great for renters, great for the occasional person. I mean, here in the Pacific Northwest where I lived in Portland metro area, we had probably 40% of the homes even having ac.

[00:06:22] Eric Goranson: A decade ago, and it's more than that now, but we still have a majority, I think, of our people in this city that don't have, you know, central air or air conditioning. And so you're seeing that issue when, uh, we get up to the, you know, a hundred five, a hundred eight, a hundred sixteen or 17 like we did a couple years ago.

[00:06:41] Eric Goranson: Those are issues for keeping your house cool. That are important. Now let's talk a little bit about keeping Mother Nature. Helping, letting her help you keep your house cool. So watch your temperatures. This is gonna take some time of getting out, getting up early probably, but usually between [00:07:00] four and 6:00 AM is your coolest time in the morning.

[00:07:03] Eric Goranson: And always watch your weather to see. You can jump on the weather channel any one of your weather apps and see what that's doing. But jump on and take a look when that is, if that's, if you're getting down, you know, below 70 degrees. You can go in and open up all your windows and ventilate the house as best you can and bring that inside 'cause it's cooler outside than inside.

[00:07:24] Eric Goranson: Take advantage of that as long as the air quality is good outside. Open those windows up. Let it go through. If you have a skylight that opens, that's great. One other trick if you wanna pull that outside air in is open up those windows and turn on your bathroom fans and your kitchen vent hood that vents outside.

[00:07:40] Eric Goranson: Make sure you got everything going, and then that way that is going to ventilate out the most you can. Now, another trick that I do is I use cross flow ventilation. What is that? Well, if I have my hottest room in the house being upstairs and the coolest is downstairs. Sometimes I'll turn on the upstairs [00:08:00] bath fan to pull out that hot air, let that come in, and then pull that air downstairs, upstairs, and that works out pretty well.

[00:08:09] Eric Goranson: So anytime that you can do that, if you've got window air conditioners, air conditioners, and you can get some cross flow ventilation, you have stuff that's coming in. From one side of the house and going out the other ventilation is key. If you can get that hot air outta the house without having to replace it with a bunch of even hotter air, then that's gonna be smart.

[00:08:28] Eric Goranson: So that's one other trick for you to make sure that you're good, is to really make sure that you're ventilating things correctly. Watching that outdoor air quality, like my air quality here today is kind of sketchy. Uh, it's in that, uh, yellow intermediate range. So these are one of the things that uh, might not have been a great day for, uh, ventilation when you have it in the yellow.

[00:08:48] Eric Goranson: 'cause your air inside is probably cleaner than it is outside. And then the other thing I do too is when it's hot in the day, I, um, you know, I try to keep things sealed up as well. I'm trying [00:09:00] to do my, uh, laundry early in the morning, so that dryer, if that is in your house, that that is putting the heat, that creates a lot of heat and it also pulls in a lot of air.

[00:09:09] Eric Goranson: So if you're doing that in the mornings, you're not gonna heat the house up so much. And this is the time of year that even though it's hot outside barbecuing and cooking outdoors is a great thing to do. Even though it's much less comfortable, you're not adding that additional heat inside the house, which is a solid way to go.

[00:09:27] Eric Goranson: So anytime that you can do that, you're gonna be a little bit better off and not have to worry about that crazy heat because, uh, you don't wanna turn the oven on the house when you're trying to keep it cold. More around the house. As soon as we come back, we're gonna be talking about how to. Couple more trips to keep your house cool.

[00:09:43] Eric Goranson: And then home security for fall after these important messages. Don't go anywhere.

[00:09:58] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Sticky and [00:10:00] Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to Around The House with Eric G. Yeah. We love Eric G and you should too.

[00:10:24] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we help you get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Mary g. We are having a great time here in the radio and podcast for you. We've been talking about some of those, uh, tricks and tips to keep your house cool.

[00:10:40] Eric Goranson: And another one that I have, which is good, is making sure that you have the right designed H V A C system. Now keep in mind the typical H V A C system is designed to reduce the inside temperature of your home by up to 30 degrees. So that means if you've got [00:11:00] 70 as your desired temperature and you wanna keep it at 70 and it's 110 outside, You're gonna have to see.

[00:11:11] Eric Goranson: It's not designed to go that far. Right? So these are things that you should keep in mind. It's not always the, the, the fault of the H V A C company, especially in older house. It's trying to keep up for that. Now you want them to size things accordingly, but let me tell you what, here's another thing that I've seen that has been interesting out there in the H V A C field.

[00:11:34] Eric Goranson: I am not an H V A C tech. So let's start out with that. But I'm gonna keep this in a more, we're not gonna get in the weeds here 'cause that's boring radio and podcast, but, These days with the nicer systems, you are seeing variable speed systems. So you know, in many homes you've got the heating and cooling, or it's a heat pump or whatever, and it's a fan is on, fan is off, fan is on, fan is off, and that's what it's, then you get into a [00:12:00] multi-speed system where maybe you have a high low fan or a three page fan, and that's what it's these new digital motors, variable speed are super efficient and so they kind of come up with your higher seer ratings.

[00:12:11] Eric Goranson: But what they do is it really gives you the ability for that to go into overdrive when there's need for it. So they can design the system slightly bigger. Where before it might be cycling it a little bit too much, but now they can get it where that outside compressor runs at. Variable speeds. The fans running at variable speeds.

[00:12:34] Eric Goranson: All these things are happening. So it's more efficient, and when you need a little bit more H V A C, it can go into turbo mode for you and get you there. So that is something for you to consider when you're looking at stuff. If you're just looking at the single speed stuff, I get it, you're on a budget, that's cool, but maybe you're not gonna have that extra when you need it, when you get into those heat waves or things like that.

[00:12:59] Eric Goranson: So those are things that [00:13:00] you just kind of wanna be careful with. Making sure that you're, uh, you're mindful of that. Now, one of the other things I'm seeing people do too is go in on another trick and tip is if you've got that room that's hot, and I've done this with my house, and this is something to consider when you're putting in a new system, and this is more, um, A trick, but it works and it can be expensive, so it's something to consider.

[00:13:27] Eric Goranson: If you have the traditional home that has living room, downstairs, kitchen, all that stuff, and bedrooms upstairs, you end up having that problem where 10 degrees is. The difference typically between in the hot summer, between upstairs and downstairs, it's 80 upstairs and 69 downstairs. And guess what? You have some air flu issues in the house.

[00:13:48] Eric Goranson: So what you can do is in many homes you could add a zone system and what they have to do is come in and make it so you have a damper that the system can control and say, Hey, I have a, uh, temperature control for [00:14:00] upstairs, so I'm gonna control those ducks going upstairs, and then we're gonna control what's going on downstairs.

[00:14:06] Eric Goranson: And so what that does is I can actually set it so it's cooler upstairs in the heat than it is downstairs. And so that's one way to go. And other way to do it is to add a, uh, mini split system up there so you can control that in the bedroom. And that's a nice way to go as well. And so what you can do is add mini splits up there.

[00:14:25] Eric Goranson: You can control that and uh, that way you have that additional cooling capacity. So that's another nice way to go too. And sometimes that's cheaper. You know, and there's nothing wrong with that, but that's another way to do it. Now, the other thing you can do with that as well is that, uh, that gives you that ultimate control, but you still are fighting mother nature.

[00:14:46] Eric Goranson: My problem is if I set upstairs to 69 degrees, and we'll just say that below 70, that my problem is, is cold air goes downstairs, right? Heat rises, still fighting that. So my problem [00:15:00] is, is when I, in the extreme heat, Downstairs colder than upstairs. And so then I have to turn the fan on to move it around, but I still don't have enough airflow really to move that around enough to fight Mother Nature in the way that heat is going to rise and the cold air is gonna settle.

[00:15:15] Eric Goranson: So that leaves some additional issues that way. So it's something to consider, but it's something that you're not gonna completely win unless there's doorways and stuff. But if you have a big open space down, like I do from upstairs to downstairs, that cold air loves to drop down there and head rolling down the stairs and you can feel it.

[00:15:31] Eric Goranson: So something to think about when you're looking at a house and you're thinking about that H V A C system that can be troublesome for you. And so, uh, that's another one. Now, another tip that I have here too that's not, not construction related like that, where you have to build something into it, is to make sure that you're monitoring your temperatures within your app.

[00:15:53] Eric Goranson: So for me, I've got the house here. With my fan today, it's a hot day [00:16:00] outside. I'm gonna be high over a hundred. So when I'm recording this for the show, and so I have my fan going, and I tell you what, it is cold. My house is cold right now, but it's in the morning, right? So it's okay. And so what I'm doing is I'm keeping the fan on trying to anticipate that over a hundred degree heat.

[00:16:19] Eric Goranson: So when I go to bed tonight, I can sleep better. I'm not gonna be 85 in the bedroom or 80 in the bedroom with that. And so that's a good way to go. So something to consider when we're looking at that. So I don't want you to worry about, um, you know, getting the house too cold 'cause now you're uncomfortable day.

[00:16:40] Eric Goranson: That waste energy. So making sure you're good there. And then the other thing to consider too is, you know, um, and this is something to consider, um, and I'm a proponent of this 'cause it can save you money, but watch your peak time rebates and stuff that you can get from energy, uh, provider, from your [00:17:00] electrical, some of these people out there, uh, during.

[00:17:04] Eric Goranson: High demand. What are they doing? They're giving you a rebate if you turn your, uh, thermostat or change your thermostat or in some areas you can give control of your thermostat to your provider and they will change your temperatures based upon what the demand is out there. So, um, I want you to be comfortable.

[00:17:20] Eric Goranson: I want you to be safe, but there's also some places to save electricity and save your power bell. 'cause if they're gonna hit you during peak time and you're trying to keep that house cool. Um, you know, if you can move it a couple degrees, that could save you a little bit of money in the long run there.

[00:17:36] Eric Goranson: And then overnight when things are going, you can get it cooler and go that way. It's harder to get that house cooled down when it's been hot than it is to stay on top of it and keep it there, because once that heat's in, it's hard. You have to overcome that hump and that hurdle to get there. So that's another way to go.

[00:17:55] Eric Goranson: But when in doubt, uh, if you're having problems and your system is not cooling, [00:18:00] Consult your H V A C professional. Make sure that your system's working correctly, that you don't have anything plugged. You don't have a fan that's not working to speed, or you don't have enough free on or something in the system where it's having to work harder.

[00:18:12] Eric Goranson: And, uh, pay attention to that stuff. And maintenance is always gonna be key. Now we come back, we're gonna talk about home security for fall. All the things you should be thinking about as the lights start to, uh, you know, Dwindle in the evenings. It's not in my area. I can't stay outside in the daylight till 10 anymore like I used to.

[00:18:30] Eric Goranson: And uh, we wanna make sure that your security is up to par for the fall. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.[00:19:00]

[00:19:00] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Kehl, the middle Cowboy from Kehl, the Ron Kehl Band and Steeler. We are rocking around The house with Eric G. Ray is you. Welcome back to The Round The House Show where we help you get the most outta your home through information education. Today's episode is brought to you by Root Quencher and root quencher.com.

[00:19:19] Eric Goranson: If you have trees, shrubs, bushes on your lawn. Or your yard or your property, and you are trying to keep them watered. This puts the water underground right at the root so you're not having to waste all that stuff on top. Or if you're on a hill and it's running down, guess what? It's not getting to those plants.

[00:19:35] Eric Goranson: And so root quencher.com might be your answer. Take a look at those guys. Thanks for the, uh, support of a Round the House. Well, today we've been talking about a bunch of different things. We started out talking about, uh, ways to keep cool in this second part of the show. I really wanted to talk about some security issues around your house getting ready for fall because you know, the days are getting shorter as we go into fall.

[00:19:58] Eric Goranson: And you know, it's one [00:20:00] of those things that it's always a good time to tackle some of these projects while you still got great weather. And so why not dial in your security around your house? Uh, and there's a lot of different options with that. Uh, first off, if you've got. Porch pirate issues. If you have people out there that are taking packages or potentially taking packages off your porch, there's a company I want you to take a look at that I'm friends with.

[00:20:27] Eric Goranson: I love these guys. M B Sentinel, M b Sentinel. They make products like the box gobbler. Which is a built-in lockbox situation with a code for those packages. So if you wanna stop people from stealing them, this is your answer. You can put 'em out on a post, you know, or you on a column out by the street. You can build it into the side of your house where it drops into the garage, and you can give your delivery driver those directions of where to put stuff with the code [00:21:00] number, and that gives them access to drop things off.

[00:21:02] Eric Goranson: So, This is one way to prevent those packages, especially coming up on the holidays. Take a look at these guys. I love them. They're a small business made in the United States and, uh, they do great things over there. So check out m b Sentinel if you're worried about those, uh, package thefts in your area.

[00:21:22] Eric Goranson: Now, second of all, I want to talk about really some of the things that you should do first, and one of 'em is just, Stand it out in the evening when it's twilight out there and look at your house from the street. How do you leave your house at night when you go to bed? How does that look for you? And I want you to take a look at a couple things.

[00:21:41] Eric Goranson: One is the area, what's well lit, what's not? Do you have a clear path to the house, to the front door of where you enter in? Are there places for non desirables to hide and jump you? And I know this sounds a little farfetched, but it's something that [00:22:00] you want, have a clear path. You don't wanna be surprised.

[00:22:02] Eric Goranson: So if you've got some tall bushes that somebody could stand behind by your house, maybe that might not be the best place for 'em. Maybe something lower would be a better one. Now, of course, in the evenings lighting or early morning lighting is always a key right here. And you know, one of the things I've learned is plenty of, uh, you know, break-ins and stuff happening during the day when people aren't home because.

[00:22:24] Eric Goranson: Most criminals are not looking to go into a house with somebody there, 'cause well, that could create problems for 'em. So they're always looking for the empty house. So that's another key right there. So during the day, you want it to make look like that there's, you know, activity around the house. And so making it seem like somebody's home is always a great piece of advice.

[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: Now at night, you can do that with lighting. You can also make sure that you're the. Best lit house in the neighborhood that, well, maybe that criminal will go down to another house down the road. And I know that's unfortunate, but really you're trying to protect your house and keep it safe. That's your number one priority in this [00:23:00] situation.

[00:23:00] Eric Goranson: So making sure that you've got that dialed in is good. So take a look at the lighting. Is, uh, you know, where, where the cars are parked. Is that well lit? Is it, uh, something that makes it so, uh, if somebody pops up there and it starts poking around your car in a driveway, is that something that's gonna be an issue?

[00:23:15] Eric Goranson: Now, in a perfect world, you've got those cars in the garage that's locked and that's another one right there. We'll go back to garages in a second here, but that's really making sure that you've got that well lit and that's gonna mean all the way up, you know, with maybe some lighting in the walkway or things like that.

[00:23:31] Eric Goranson: How well lit is it coming up to the front of the house? Can you see everything you need to see to go safely indoors into your house without having to, uh, you know, so you can identify any issues Now with garage doors, this is interesting. Now if you look at the newer garage door openers, especially the stuff that are.

[00:23:48] Eric Goranson: You know, Chamberlain, LiftMaster, they have created a series of garage doors that actually help you fight. If someone tries to break in, like if somebody comes by and tries to lift up on the garage door, it [00:24:00] will help and push it down. Now that's a good one. My garage door has a deadbolt that actually puts a big piece of steel in front of the wheels so it can't get forced up.

[00:24:09] Eric Goranson: That's another way that even if somebody was to try to get in, they're gonna have to go through it and not pry it up. And so that's another hint right there. And then as well, anybody, these, uh, anyone that's using the MyQ stuff can also set it up where Amazon can deliver in there. So you have the ability to give Amazon permission through the app.

[00:24:29] Eric Goranson: And through their app where, uh, you can get those deliveries dropped off in your garage. And uh, that is another way to do it. But, uh, for packages, I personally like the MB Sentinel better because that way it gets all your packages, not just the one from one certain place. 'cause I. As you know, even if you order something from Amazon, it doesn't always go through there.

[00:24:49] Eric Goranson: There's always other places that are delivering it, and that could be your FedEx, U p s or another third party delivery company. So those are things to consider. Now, the [00:25:00] next one here that I think is really important is having a solid security system. And that security system, you know, security systems are not for everybody and there's different ones out there, you know.

[00:25:13] Eric Goranson: Um, let's talk about the basics here at like a 30,000 foot level, you know, a camera system. People think a camera system is a security system and it's really not. Cameras like ring and those kind of things are great for documenting a crime happening or notifying you. But we all get so many buzzes and beeps and stuff, we never pay attention.

[00:25:34] Eric Goranson: To those things where it happens anyway. So most of the time a camera system is just grabbing what happened and maybe you can identify a sub, you know, a, you can identify what happened and maybe what the subject was that was doing it. Maybe you go, Hey, that was the kid down the street. That's one thing.

[00:25:50] Eric Goranson: But really that's all they're good for. So the other issue you have is many security systems are just a series of sensors on your doors and windows [00:26:00] and maybe some motion sensors. That brings its own issue. Because what that does is that documents as it's happening, but it doesn't prevent it. And many police departments have really big problems showing up on alarm calls where they say, Hey, uh, door three alarm code.

[00:26:18] Eric Goranson: And they show up and the cat opened the door, the wind blew the door open or something, and they don't like the false alarm calls. So I like more of a monitored system where you have things going. Uh, it's no secret. My favorite is Deep Sentinel. That's my favorite. And I think that one works out really well because you have the camera system and then that is beyond your house.

[00:26:39] Eric Goranson: So the advantage of that, Is that when you have this going on, that's the cool part, is that you have eyeballs on your property. So if somebody comes up, knocks on the door. You don't answer it and they start poking around. Somebody is going, Hey, uh, you know, deep sentinel security, what can I do for you? And you've got eyeballs on it.

[00:26:58] Eric Goranson: And then when they [00:27:00] call, if you're in a high crime area or an up and coming neighborhood, even that, uh, you've got eyeballs on it. And if you've got that in a neighborhood, this can transition a neighborhood from a higher crime one into a lower crime one, because now you have enough people down there.

[00:27:14] Eric Goranson: That you're scaring people away and they're going to easy targets. 'cause that's generally what happens with alarm systems. When people come up and go, Ooh, ah, I'm gonna go to another target. And so if you can get a handful of people in the neighborhood to start putting security systems in, um, that can help, especially when you're looking at something like this where somebody walking up to your front door can get stopped before they start busting the door in and setting it off an alarm code.

[00:27:39] Eric Goranson: You don't want to have them. Kick the door in and set the alarm off. You want 'em to start fidgeting with the door and have a security person come on. Like they're standing there going, Hey, what, what can I do for you? And then they have the opportunity to call up and say, Hey, it was a white guy with tattoos and long hair breaking into the house.

[00:27:55] Eric Goranson: Look for 'em. And uh, now they've got a suspect description. [00:28:00] And then you've got somebody for them to be chasing down. So anytime that you can have a security system prevented from happening, that is much better than an alarming in saying something happened. And that may be you chased them down the road into another neighborhood.

[00:28:15] Eric Goranson: Uh, unfortunately that's just the, the, the brutal crime of it all is that, uh, you're not gonna stop 'em. Many times if you can get 'em down the road, that's prevention. That's worth all the effort you put into it around the house. We'll be right back. We'll talk a little bit more about home security.[00:29:00]

[00:29:02] Eric Goranson: It's the end of the show now. Drinking down people. It's time to go. It's that time again, it's last call. Welcome back to the Round the House Show. This is where we hope you get the most outta your home through information and education. We were talking about the first half of the show about, uh, you know, top tricks to keep your house cool.

[00:29:20] Eric Goranson: And then second, uh, you know, home security here for the fall. And we were talking about security systems here. And that is one thing that I want to have a good, hard discussion about here because it can be a real issue. And this is gonna be making sure that if you're gone for an extended period of time of not having, you know, the squatters that show up as you get in certain areas, like.

[00:29:42] Eric Goranson: In my town here where I live in Lake Oswego, that is not really an issue. We don't have squatters showing up here because, uh, we have a well-funded police department. We don't get into the politics of it all here, but we have a well-funded and appreciated police department and, uh, when we call them, they show up.

[00:29:58] Eric Goranson: And, [00:30:00] um, they don't let a lot of things slide around here. Um, and so the criminal, um, the criminal minds basically don't have, uh, time to really get a good foot in. So do we have crime? Yes, but it is, uh, much different than just 20 minutes away where it's a completely different subject. And so they've done a really good job of, uh, supporting the police in my community, which I appreciate.

[00:30:23] Eric Goranson: 'cause that means they have better training. We're not gonna get down that rabbit hole today, but it's, it's good. So in other areas, uh, more metropolitan areas, especially here in the West Coast and certain east coast cities, if you head off to, um, you know, go take care of mom for three weeks someplace you could come back and have somebody living in your house or living on your yard.

[00:30:45] Eric Goranson: Then you've got a problem trying to get 'em outta there. And that's where really trying to control that perimeter of your home is something that's important. And of course, that mixture of security, you know, um, having a good [00:31:00] fence that is a six foot fence around your backyard or whatever's building code in your area and then having, uh, a fence around the front is good too.

[00:31:08] Eric Goranson: Sometimes a no trespassing sign or a, uh, you know, a no soliciting sign could be key. Uh, just so people don't show up in there. And really, if you have the, uh, the squatter or camper or houseless issue and you want to keep those people off of your place, um, really making sure that you've got, um, you know, all the right things in there from the security system to, uh, the gates and controlling access.

[00:31:35] Eric Goranson: You're better off if you can have a, if you have a front little gate there that you can lock, you know, before it gets up to the house while you're gone, and then your mail is being collected by somebody and, um, you know, you've got a way to do that. That's not a bad way to go. But really when it comes down to it, maybe having a house sitter there or somebody keeping an eye on the place, uh, would be better off for you.

[00:31:56] Eric Goranson: So there's a lot of things when it comes to security out [00:32:00] there, uh, that's important. And, um, I think there's things that you can do to really help, you know, um, keep the crime down in your area. Now, in high crime areas, this is where, um, you know, you, you've got some, you've got some answers out there, but I tell you what, some of them are pretty, pretty harsh realities.

[00:32:20] Eric Goranson: You know, I've seen people go in and put in, um, you know, window film in and, and more bulletproof. Glass situations on the front of the house, uh, where they have stuff that, uh, is gonna be a little bit more durable to break-ins. I've seen people go through and, um, I've, I really haven't seen them, but I've heard of it.

[00:32:38] Eric Goranson: I know the products out there where they make ballistic panels you can put in the front of your house. So if there's a drive-by in the neighborhood that, uh, that doesn't come ripping through the house except over glass, you know, uh, bulletproof glass is expensive and most residential homeowners will not put it in there.

[00:32:53] Eric Goranson: But, uh, creating bulletproof walls, uh, might be something that if you're remodeling might be smart, but, um, [00:33:00] you've gotta live in a pretty substantially, uh, high crime neighborhood to make that make sense. But again, there's a lot of things that you need to take a look at, and really when it comes to figuring out your security for your home is making sure that you identify the needs and what's capable of having in your neighborhood.

[00:33:17] Eric Goranson: Now, one of the other things that I want you to pay attention to, Is security like, I like having a smart home stuff, and if you've got the right stuff, it works out really well. Now, one of the things that you can do, Is to forget, you know, sometimes people forget to lock their door at night. There's things like that, you know, if you're at All Tech Handy, you can go through and set it up where you've got a, uh, a smart home hub.

[00:33:39] Eric Goranson: You like Samsung Smart Things, for instance, where you can go through and set everything up. So when you hit the Goodnight button, it locks your doors. It makes sure your garage door is shut. There are a lot of things you can do like that if it's something that you forget to do. But, uh, another couple of security tips that I wanna see you try as well is.

[00:33:55] Eric Goranson: Is making sure that, um, you know, for instance, locking those doors at [00:34:00] night, lock the house, you know, lock the door between the garage and the, and the kitchen. You know, those are all little things. If you've got a, a, uh, basement access, you know, that's coming in a basement door or something like that, is that full glass?

[00:34:14] Eric Goranson: Is it something that's, that's, that's built out correctly? Is it secure? And then, you know, things you can do as well is if you've got a glass door, making sure that you've got a lock on either side. A key to get in and out. You can lock that where people don't bust in that back door. You know, you also wanna have egress.

[00:34:30] Eric Goranson: And so that's a key there. So make sure that you've got it situated correctly in your following building code, but you really wanna make sure you've got that dialed in. And so really taking that into consideration. What is your security needs? What's secure, what's not? Making that house. I mean, really if someone wants to get into their house, they'll cut in through the studs and go in there with a, with a circular side.

[00:34:50] Eric Goranson: I mean, they can get in your house. You're just trying to make it a lot harder for them to do it. Now, lighting, like we talked about earlier, is probably your safest bet [00:35:00] to help bring a light to everything and in your backyard as well. Think about that. If you, uh, go peek out the back window, you wanna make sure it's well lit enough that if you wanna see it, what's going on out there.

[00:35:09] Eric Goranson: If you hear noises, That you've got a good perimeter around your house and that sure helps out, especially when it comes to people wandering around and doing things that well, you might not want them to do. Now in the next few minutes here, I wanted to talk about something that can be very helpful, and that is getting your neighbors together.

[00:35:25] Eric Goranson: Do you know your neighbor's names? Do you know who they are? What if you got a neighborhood watch together and maybe your local police department even has some resources to help you with that? But just having everybody know what's going on in the neighborhood is key because there's nothing like somebody coming by to your house going, Hey, can I help you if someone's poking around?

[00:35:44] Eric Goranson: That is something, if you've got that tight-knit neighborhood, that can be like its own little watch situation there. Especially if you've got people that are working at different times of night. All those kind of things can be very helpful and uh, without being too nosy. That's [00:36:00] great. And I'm not talking about get with your h o a that's usually a problem.

[00:36:03] Eric Goranson: HOAs are not really there to, to be helping many times. Now there are some great HOAs out there, don't get me wrong, but many times they're just, uh, Collecting the money, doing the yard care and making sure people don't break the rules. And, uh, the crime is usually not one of the biggest things they deal with, but these are things that you should probably handle and get dialed in.

[00:36:21] Eric Goranson: And, uh, any kind of a neighborhood watch where people have an eye on things and uh, you know, I like it when you have a different ma neighborhood mix. We got some people working nights and swing shift. That is great 'cause you've got different people coming in and out all the time. And so if you've got some people coming to the neighborhood, that's, uh, that's a good time for them to catch that.

[00:36:39] Eric Goranson: So, uh, neighborhood watch can be a good thing. The other thing to do too is reach out to your police department. Maybe they have a situation where they can come over to your house and walk around and tell you what the big crime areas are in the neighborhood and what's happening and what you can do. So, uh, I've seen police departments that I've lived in.

[00:36:59] Eric Goranson: I have a [00:37:00] community resource officer that's trained in this. They'll come out and walk around the house with you and help you, uh, do that as well. So make sure that, uh, if you've got a resource there to go ahead and use it because anytime you can bring a pro over to, uh, help you go around there. That's good.

[00:37:14] Eric Goranson: And the last thing, um, Home security wise, just make sure your wifi and your passwords and stuff are nailed down. Make sure you've got all that stuff. Don't have any open wifis in your system. Last thing you wanna do is have somebody getting into your system and, and trying to hack into stuff. It's increasingly rare.

[00:37:30] Eric Goranson: It's harder to do, but anything could happen. So make sure that you've got, uh, your computers. Anything around your house, make sure that you've got all that stuff. And then watch your virus stuff coming in. Make sure that you don't have, uh, access to stuff and you're giving people away information that they don't want.

[00:37:45] Eric Goranson: So watch all of those passwords. Make sure that you've got strong ones, you know, uh, two factor authentication if you can. And then making sure that everything's locked down. Use a nice long password on your home wifi, that's got numbers, symbols, [00:38:00] capitalizations. Not common things. Don't use the password. 1, 2, 3, all those different things.

[00:38:05] Eric Goranson: And, uh, anytime that you can get internet security mixed into your home security thing, it's gonna make a safer environment for everyone. So that will do it for today. Well, those are my home security tips and the tips to keep cool out there. You've got anything you want to add to that? Or another tip that you think I should have put on there, head over and message me at around the house online.com.

[00:38:25] Eric Goranson: You can go over the contact me button and that'll get you right to me there. Or send me a message on social media. I can be found on just about every platform out there except TikTok. And uh, you can find me out anything on or around the house. Alright, everybody, have a great rest of the weekend. Enjoy yourself out there.

[00:38:42] Eric Goranson: Be safe, stay cool. Think about home security. And we got a brand new show coming up next week. If you're listening on the radio, make sure you catch the podcast during the week. 'cause we do have other things. That. Don't make it on the radio like our midweek special. All right, well stay safe out there For more information, head to around the house [00:39:00] online.com.

[00:39:00] Eric Goranson: Thanks for tuning in to Around the House!