Mentioned by several CE pros, the garage is well poised to become the central nerve center of your home. As a primary entry point into the home, activities that occur within it can trigger a chain of events that will get your house ready for your arrival. When the garage doors lift, for example, lights in the mud room and kitchen could brighten. You could also have the thermostats adjust and have the gas fireplace switch on. The same system could also tell you that you’ve forgotten to shut the garage doors by illuminating a button on a security or home control keypad in your kitchen, bedroom or elsewhere. By pressing that button you could close the door.

THE WIRE: Standard 20- or 22-gauge alarm wire (2- or 4-conductor) between the garage door motor and the processor of a house-wide control system.