Green Home, Smart Home

December 18, 2017 by gsavs17 Leave a Comment

Smart Home Automation Houston

Home automation is a fantastic use of technology. Once home automation is implemented, your newly smart home can free you from having to turn lights on and off, struggle with a remote to watch your favorite show, or other daily necessities.

Lighting makes the mood. Don’t get up, dial up via your smart phone control dashboard.

While freedom is a terrific benefit, smart homes also can be more energy efficient, saving you money and helping you live greener. Transforming your home into a smart home helps you reduce your overall energy consumption while living a more streamlined lifestyle. With the energy savings you’ll reap, your investment will soon pay for itself.

Lighting control

Making changes to your lighting may offer the greatest energy savings and environmental benefit. Nearly 20% of global electricity use goes to lighting, according to the International Energy Agency. If everyone worldwide switched to efficient lighting systems, that total could be reduced to 10%.

You can start making changes by switching to LED bulbs if you haven’t already. Changing over to automated lighting control can reduce your energy usage further. With lighting control, you can turn lights on or off, dim them, or control multiple lights together in “scenes,” all with the press of one button. You can also pre-set your lights to turn on at sunset each day automatically, so you can come home after work to a well-lit home on those dark fall and winter evenings.

Thermostat control

Installing a programmable smart thermostat can further boost energy efficiency. It can automatically adjust so that your smart home is optimally heated or cooled for greatest efficiency and comfort. You’ll also be able to control the thermostat from your smartphone, wherever you have a signal.

Automated shades

Here in Texas, the sun beats down on us much of the year. The glare can heat your home, combatting your air conditioner’s effectiveness. Installing automated shades and pre-setting them to raise and lower at ideal times can help reduce your energy use as well by controlling how much sunlight shines into your smart home.

Automated lawn care

Everyone likes a lush lawn, and no one wants to deal with the maintenance. Automated sprinklers can make lawn care automatic. What’s more, the system can adjust for rainfall in the area, so you’ll never be wasting water sprinkling in the rain.

We all should do our part to live as green a life as possible—and it’s possible to upgrade your lifestyle while doing it. At Grand Slam A/V and Security, we’re experts in home automation. We listen carefully to what you want and need, and we create a custom solution that’s just right for you and your family. You’ll love how effortless home automation can feel.

Grand Slam A/V and Security is your expert partner for home automation, security and comfort. Through connected systems and creative solutions, we give you on-demand access to music and media, simplify your home and business systems, and help you protect what matters most. With over 20 years’ experience and a staff of technicians at the top of their game, we bring expertise, collaboration, and service to every engagement. Fully licensed, bonded, and insured for both residential and commercial projects, we pride ourselves on working with both your vision and your budget. Learn more about our services and expertise and reach us at 866-99-(GSAVS) or sales@gsavs.com.

Newest Toys for the Home Automation Fan

August 28, 2017 by gsavs17 Leave a Comment

More than 50 years has passed since the 1964 New York World’s Fair. When more than 51 million visitors descended on Queens, New York to marvel over a range of technological innovations and predictions. Visitors were transported from those exhibits into an imaginative future unfurling before them.

A half-century later, it’s fun to revisit some of those predictions against reality to see which ones were right on the money and which were way off the mark. For instance, one of the most popular exhibits, the Bell Telephone System pavilion, featured a “picturephone” that would allow callers to see who they were talking to. Years later, Skype and FaceTime video calls are now old hat for many.

At that World’s Fair, one of the themes that emerged was about how the information age, especially automation, would save humans time and labor. New products for home, car, and office used new plastics and other cutting-edge synthetics, including some miracle fabrics manufactured by Dupont. Today, many of us wear clothing every day or for working out that are made of technical or synthetic fabric, and it’s accepted as an everyday thing.

For all of the creative and futuristic visions the World’s Fair offered, many of those predictions were bound to never reach American homes. From the vantage point of the early 21^st century, though, it’s fun to consider how far we’ve come, and what home automation capabilities are at your fingertips today. We often implement solutions that include Control4 controls that let you tailor your environment exactly to your wishes, such as:

Control systems throughout your home with smart home automation by GSAVS.

Easy and optimal system control.

Is your TV area strewn with remotes? Do your family members struggle to find their favorite show or shift over to a movie from TV? When we’ve set up your system, you (as well as the less technologically adept members of your clan) will be able to accomplish exactly what you want with the press of one button.

Tailor your lighting.

Turn lights on or off, dim them, or control multiple lights in “scenes” with one button press. Or, pre-set your lights to turn on at sunset automatically each day, with no adjustment necessary from you. You’ll also finally be able to stop yelling at your kids to “turn off the lights!” because it will happen automatically.

Adjust your thermostat from anywhere, anytime.

You can control your thermostat from your smartphone, wherever you have a signal. Want to make sure you come into to a toasty home on a cold day? Bump it up a few degrees from your office before you even start your commute.

Install a video doorbell.

With a video doorbell, when someone rings, you’ll get a call to your smartphone—you can see who is there and interact with him or her with one-way video and two-way audio.

Automate your sprinkler system.

By putting your lawn care on automatic, you’ll be able to let go of worrying about when to water or for how long. Our sprinkler system can adjust for rainfall in your area, so you’ll never look like the rube whose sprinklers are watering the lawn in the torrential rain.

Control at the push of a button with Smart Home Automation.

Use an Alexa to track your grocery list.

We can set up systems that help you remember what you need when you’re thinking of it—so that you’re not racking your brain later for that thing you were supposed to remember.

Home automation frees you to tailor your environment to exactly what you wish. Could the 1964 World’s Fair have predicted this sort of sophistication? Not even close. Ready to bring it home? Let’s talk.

Are You Smarter Than Your Smart Home?

May 15, 2017 by gsavs17 3 Comments

Smart Homes are Here

Today’s Smart Home can stop the struggle with remotes to queue up your wife’s favorite show. Smart Homes make readjusting your stereo system after your teenage son has entertained friends a thing of the past. No more coming home to a cold house when you’ve been on a tropical getaway. Forget about turning on the lights as dusk falls. Imagine that these countless small tasks never have to be part of your daily life again. What would that feel like? Freedom, right?

That’s what home automation using components from Control4 can give you—a Smart Home with the freedom to tailor your environment exactly as you wish. When you implement home automation, you implement something that acts as an operating system for your home. You also give yourself and your family peace, control, and security. The best part is that you can control all of these systems from your smartphone—from wherever you have a connection. Set things exactly as you want them and change them anytime from your smartphone, remote, or tablet.

Give yourself easy, optimal system control.

Neither you, nor any member of your family, will struggle to put hands on the right remote ever again. With Control4 products, you’ll ensure that a single button press accomplishes what’s necessary and that your system is always configured optimally to guarantee performance success. Want to take it a step further? Get rid of the remote altogether, and control every component of your smart home right from your smartphone.

Simplify your A/V experience.

Whether you, your babysitter, or Grandma is operating your A/V system, it will be with ease—and without an instruction manual. And, if someone changes a setting, don’t get frustrated. You can easily reset your system with the press of a button—or turn it on or off remotely using your smartphone.

Tailor your home lighting.

Turn lights on or off, dim them, or control multiple lights in “scenes” with one button press. Or, pre-set your lights to turn on at sunset automatically each day, with no adjustment necessary from you. The system can calculate the shifting sunset time for your time zone and turn off the lights at a specified time in the evening—freeing you from running around turning them on or off.

Control your thermostat remotely.

Bump up the temperature a few degrees or kick on the A/C when your plane lands and by the time you’re home from the airport, your home is just as you’d like it. HVAC control automation gives you access to thermostat control from anywhere your smartphone functions.

Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? It should. Are you smarter than your home? The answer is, of course you are. Make your smart home work for you, rather than the other way around. Let us help you.

Grand Slam A/V and Security is your expert partner for home automation, security and comfort. Through connected systems and creative solutions, we give you on-demand access to music and media, simplify your home and business systems, and help you protect what matters most. With over 20 years’ experience and a staff of technicians at the top of their game, we bring expertise, collaboration, and service to every engagement. Fully licensed, bonded, and insured for both residential and commercial projects, we pride ourselves on working with both your vision and budget. Learn more about our Home Automation services and Security expertise and reach us at 866-99-(GSAVS) or sales@gsavs.com.

PHONE: (866)99-GSAVS

Green Home, Smart Home

Smart Home Automation Houston