Setting up new house

KristinaB

KristinaB

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Okay - as most of you know, I will be getting a new home in about 8-10 months. We are converting a 1344 square foot 3 bay garage into a 4 bedroom home. The floor plan has 2 bedrooms and a bath on the West and another 2 bedroom and bath on the East. Down the middle, we will have a large great room and in the back of that is the kitchen and laundry room. That center section will be totally open. What I need to know is (being new to deaf products and such), is, what all should I include. I know I need something for the doorbell. I already have a vibrating Sonic Boom clock. We are having wood floors. We will be required to have 4 smoke alarms. How do I get ones with strobes or lights? I won't have a lot of money to spend towards all this, so I need to be economical. It is not very often that I am home alone. I will be getting the flashing strobe light for my P3 soon. I have looked at the doorbells with flashing signalers at Home Depot and Lowe's and was not really impressed, but then, maybe I am not thinking right.

Can someone offer some suggestions or advice please?
 
We built our beach house at the Outer Banks 5 years ago. (In fact, I'm typing from NC right now.) I told our contractor I wanted a fire alarm with a light in our bedroom. He found it and installed it; also did a flashing light in the hallway just outside our bedroom.

It's more industrial-looking than I would have liked, with a "FIRE" plastic covering on the light in the hall, but it does the job. Annoying thing though: the green light on the fire alarm (showing it's working) is very bright and visible directly from my line of sight when I'm in bed. I like a totally dark room. So think about placement: you probably want it near the door, but if you're a light sleeper and bothered by light, think about the relationship of your bed to the alarm.

We have a back porch where we spend a lot of time, so we bought a wireless doorbell chime to hang on the wall there. There is a wireless transmitter that sits on the interior door chime near the front door, so when someone is at that door, it rings both inside the house and on the chime in the back porch.

I'm not likely to be out there without my HAs on, so that works for us. You might be able to find a similar thing with flashing lights.
 
Check with your local fire company. They may give you free strobe lights. I think our's does, but I've never checked with them (I think I can still hear our alarms even w/o my HAs on when I'm sleeping. There's an alarm right in my room as this is supposed to be a family room, not a bedroom and there's a fireplace in it.
 
Dogs are absolutely great secondary alarm systems if someone is at the door!

But not so good at being smoke detectors, unfortunately. Long story, but I was once in a house where the oil furnace malfunctioned and filled the house with smoke while I was sleeping. I woke up to the horrible smell; my dog was still sleeping peacefully (and in danger of dying from smoke inhalation, actually). We both got out of the house safely, but it was no thanks to him. I told him he was never going to make the pages of Reader's Digest with THAT attitude!

No smoke detectors were in the house - this was a long time ago.
 
radioman said:
If you have a contractor doing the work for you, I would get it hardwired. look here Harris Communications Smoke and CO Detectors | Photoelectric and Ionization Emergency Devices for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Products for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Sign Language

As for being economical , is your life worth being cheap? Buying it once and using hard wired option guarantees it will last for a long time so its cheaper in the long run.
Click to expand...

The smoke alarm with strobe on the 2nd page for $69 is the one my contractor installed. One of the cheaper and less aesthetically pleasing models, but it does the job.
 
radioman said:
If you have a contractor doing the work for you, I would get it hardwired. look here Harris Communications Smoke and CO Detectors | Photoelectric and Ionization Emergency Devices for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Products for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Sign Language

As for being economical , is your life worth being cheap? Buying it once and using hard wired option guarantees it will last for a long time so its cheaper in the long run.
Click to expand...

No, my life is better than being cheap. That's why I did not say cheap per se'. Since we are having to pay so much for special windows and all, I am looking to not break the budget. The contractor will hardwire whatever I need and he is aware I am in need of things.

My main question was, is smoke/fire and doorbell all I really need? Thanks for the helpful info and the links. I will check them out and see what the contractor can do.
 
Beach girl said:
Annoying thing though: the green light on the fire alarm (showing it's working) is very bright and visible directly from my line of sight when I'm in bed.
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one little strip of duct tape will solve the problem.

Cable Modem and Router were in my room. Its flashing light annoyed me so all I did was put a book in front of it. problem solved :D
 
Jiro said:
one little strip of duct tape will solve the problem.

Cable Modem and Router were in my room. Its flashing light annoyed me so all I did was put a book in front of it. problem solved :D
Click to expand...

I use black electrical tape as well. My printer, modem and router get covered with a pillowcase overnight and when not in use. Computer is shut down and unplugged overnight. Mainly due to Florida's wacky weather and Florida Power & Light being Florida Flicker & Flash. :giggle:
 
Jiro said:
one little strip of duct tape will solve the problem.

Cable Modem and Router were in my room. Its flashing light annoyed me so all I did was put a book in front of it. problem solved :D
Click to expand...

We tried the trick with duct tape but it messed up the sensors, which have to be clear in order to work. Putting tape over the light made the alarm go off.

Maybe we need to fine-tune that idea a little bit.
 
Beach girl said:
We tried the trick with duct tape but it messed up the sensors, which have to be clear in order to work. Putting tape over the light made the alarm go off.

Maybe we need to fine-tune that idea a little bit.
Click to expand...

huh.... wow.... what a complicated alarm system.
 
Not that complicated. But I can blame my engineer husband for not having the engineering skill to put a tiny bit of duct tape exactly where it's needed, and NOT over the sensors!

I'm used to it now, actually, and it doesn't bother me as much as it did.

Incidentally, Kristina, while you're at it - nothing to do with hearing, but keep in mind the various "aging in place" assistance things you can do very cheaply now. For instance, put studs for grab bars in the bathroom, in the shower for sure and maybe next to the toilet if you can. You don't have to install all the bars now, but if there's a stud there for support, it will be easy to do it later and have it be more secure.
 
Beach girl said:
It's more industrial-looking than I would have liked, with a "FIRE" plastic covering on the light in the hall, but it does the job. Annoying thing though: the green light on the fire alarm (showing it's working) is very bright and visible directly from my line of sight when I'm in bed. I like a totally dark room. So think about placement: you probably want it near the door, but if you're a light sleeper and bothered by light, think about the relationship of your bed to the alarm.

I'm not likely to be out there without my HAs on, so that works for us. You might be able to find a similar thing with flashing lights.
Click to expand...

Luckily, I am not bothered anymore by light. If I am in a deep sleep, then it will wake me if it automatically come on. With hubby's work schedule, I have learned to fall asleep with a light on in the room.

I will think about the idea you gave about your back porch with the doorbell signaler. The house will be 32 feet from front to back and we will be having a 15X42 patio in the back, so that would be a good idea.

I am also going to make sure that my P3 flasher will have plenty of length so I can move it as needed.

I am getting confused (comprehension issues at work right now) with the link Botti provided, but it does have some very good and helpful information. I have bookmarked it. I have used Harris Communication a lot. Hubby would prefer not to have it hardwired since when his mother and my mother die, we will be moving over to MIL's house. By then, son will also have moved out and we will fit, and then rent out the new house. He may also decide to rent his mother's house and us stay in the new one. He would prefer it to be "portable" as much as possible. Our contractor is also checking up on things and will let me know what he finds.

Thanks again everyone. :ty::ty:
 
It's never going to be a detriment to anyone to have it hard-wired. You never know, could be a selling point to the next buyer. And at less than $200 for most of those systems, it's not going to break the bank for you.

Hard-wired is more fool-proof if you are not meticulous about changing the batteries in them twice a year.

The doorbell chime thingie we bought is called a "doorbell chime extender." It was similar to these from Home Depot. Less than $30. Very simple to use.

"http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...chime&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053"
 
Beach girl said:
Incidentally, Kristina, while you're at it - nothing to do with hearing, but keep in mind the various "aging in place" assistance things you can do very cheaply now. For instance, put studs for grab bars in the bathroom, in the shower for sure and maybe next to the toilet if you can. You don't have to install all the bars now, but if there's a stud there for support, it will be easy to do it later and have it be more secure.
Click to expand...

We are having grab bars put into both bathrooms for the showers. No tubs will be installed at all. Contractor has a friend that is the electrician. He said that when the washer and dryer are installed, he will install a flashing light with 2 settings to let me know when the washer and dryer are done. The light will be installed on the wall over the doorway to the laundry room which is in the kitchen. This electrician is also planning on putting a light switch both inside and just outside my bedroom door. This way, we can turn lights on normally and also someone on the outside of that door can flash the lights to get my attention. Same with the bathroom.
 
Kristina, I have BK strobe alarms. I have a ton of smoke detectors in my house (city codes) as well as 2 BK strobes, one is in my bedroom, the other on the 3rd level where I spend a lot of time. Anyway, I didn't have to do any research -- I simply told the electrician who was installing all the wiring for lighting, etc. that I wanted these (I had my house custom built.) He went and found these and installed them. They work great! If you are having an electrician do your wiring, ask him to get you the strobe alarms. (They were only a fraction more expensive than regular smoke alarms, and since I had to pay for smoke alarms anyway to be in compliance with city codes, this was the way to go for me.)
 
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