Home Hacking Projects for Geeks

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The first thing I did when I moved into my new home was to change the

locks and install deadbolts. I needed to change the locks anyway, but I was

shocked that deadbolts weren’t already installed. After all, the house was

built in the 1950s and had gone through several owners. You’d think at

least one of those owners would have been willing to spend a few bucks to

prevent any teenager from breaking in with a credit card.

Installing deadbolts on the three doors of my house took me about three

hours and cost about $60. However, that minor improvement dramatically

increased the security of my home. Sure, a few deadbolts won’t turn my

house into an impenetrable fortress. But it was cheap and easy to do, and

definitely worth the effort.

Since then, I’ve been looking at other ways to improve my home’s security.

Naturally, I researched several businesses that install and monitor security

systems. I have a great deal of confidence in these companies—they are,

after all, security professionals. However, none of the standard solutions

met my needs. While the up-front costs were relatively low, the ongoing cost

of monitoring services was very high. Also, the systems were very inflexible,

and integrating them with my software-based home automation system

would be difficult or impossible.

What You Need

• X10 Powerlinc serial controller

• Eight A