In Gainesville, pick smart home devices you can take with you when you move.

Choose devices you can take down cleanly when you move

If you might move, choose devices that work with what’s already in the house: smart bulbs in the light fixtures you have, and a lock that fits over the inside of your existing deadbolt. The outside of the door and your keys stay the same. Keep the old thermostat and doorbell in a labeled bag, so they can go back on the wall when you move.

In older houses, choose devices that need no new wiring

Gainesville has a lot of older houses. Plaster walls crack easily when a new wire is pulled through them, so in an older house it’s worth choosing devices that need no new wire. Plenty of smart thermostats need constant power, which comes through a wire called the common wire, and many older houses don’t have one connected. In that case, a small power adapter added at the air handler, the indoor heating and cooling unit, can supply the power without a new wire through the walls. Where a doorbell has no wiring, a battery doorbell works.