Let’s face it. We all wish we were handier than we are. Some people can seemingly fix anything. If you’re like me, you revere these kinds of folks because you know you’ll never be quite as adept at fixing things as they are.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want to try and I don’t want to learn. Ever since I bought a house, I’ve tried to take on as many tasks as possible when it comes to my home. I want to become better at putting things together, fixing things that break, and understanding everything that goes into owning a home. Over the past few years, I’ve taken it upon myself to put together a smart home. This has helped my home become more efficient and has made life simpler around here. However, similar to how I was too scared to mount my TV above my fireplace and hired someone to come do it, there are a few smart home tasks I won’t take on myself.

Upgrading an electrical panel

That is well above my pay grade

One of the first things I did when I moved into my home was go down to the electrical panel and try and understand what each breaker coincided with in the house. The breakers were not labeled when we moved in, so I had to do a lot of testing to figure it out. This meant plugging something into an outlet, running downstairs and hitting a breaker, and running back up to see if that device had turned off while plugged in.

I soon realized that the wiring in my home was incredibly strange and found out that the previous owner did a decent amount of electrical work themselves, meaning that one breaker had one set of recessed lighting on it and another had an entire room connected to it.

Knowing I wanted to set up more smart home devices in my home and considered adding a smart monitoring system, I called up a local electrician to come and look at the panel. He upgraded the entire one in the basement and the one in the garage for me, adding more breakers along the way.

This stopped me from watching YouTube videos to try and figure it out and probably getting electrocuted in the process. I have swapped out individual outlets in my home before, but doing an entire panel seemed way more than I could handle.

An extensive router rack can be difficult

You can probably handle a simpler one yourself

Using the router and modem that your internet service provider gives you is an easy choice to make. While it won’t give you the security you might want and might charge you more for rental fees, it’s still a road you can go down. You also won’t be able to see how your traffic is routed to understand which devices might be phoning home.

If you want to upgrade, you probably want to replace it and install your own router and your own modem. This can open up a ton of possibilities for you, as you can make sure that you can run VLAN and keep track of what each device is doing.

Having a router and modem that work well can help you set up your smart home because you can decide how you want the smart home laid out. For those who want to switch from their ISP’s equipment, you have to pick out new ones by yourself and then figure out how you want to install them.

Of course, you can move around the home to hook up Ethernet cables, which will give your home direct connections while setting up different access points. But, if you don’t know what is inside your walls and how the electrical was laid out, you might want to leave that to a professional.

Creating your own system can include a lot of wiring and if you aren’t prepared for it, you might experience a mess with cable management. This can lead to overheating and potentially pose a fire risk.

A smart water monitor shouldn’t be attempted alone

A plumber should be there to assist or lead

Water damage is something that could destroy your home and hurt you significantly when it comes to your wallet. Whether it’s from a skylight that isn’t properly sealed or from a pipe that burst, you might not have enough time to get prepared before you’re worse off.

In terms of a sudden burst pipe, a smart monitor like the Moen Flo would help squash the problem. This connects directly to your home’s main water line and learns your home’s normal water usage. It looks for breaks in the pattern and recognizes if there is a significant rise in water usage.

When that happens, it can automatically shut off your water, preventing leaks from damaging your home. The system sends you real-time notifications to different smart home ecosystems, so this can work with almost any smart home.

Because this needs to be installed in your water line, it is highly recommended that a plumber install it. If it is installed incorrectly and you cause damage to the pipe while you’re installing it, you could be in more trouble than it would cost to hire a plumber.

Installing an entire security system on your own

Hard-wiring cameras might be tough for you

If you’re lucky, like I was, the previous owners of your home might have already set up a security system that you can take over. But, if you want to put one in on your own, you should consider a hardwired one.

The benefits of a hardwired one prevent the system from going down with a Wi-Fi outage and they can be more easily routed to the police in case of an emergency. The Ring Video Doorbells that were already in my house were both wired, so I didn’t have to worry about doing anything with them.

I did install the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Plus on my own, but only because the hard-wiring was already set up in my backyard. I replaced another floodlight with this one.

Installing sensors and cameras is a tougher task, as it requires drilling into the walls, routing cables, and making sure that the electrical work is up to code (something that is a nasty thing to find out for a potential future buyer of your home if it isn’t.) It’s probably smarter to let a licensed electrician or someone from the security company that you’re using to come in and install them. Even though smart home cameras are becoming easier to integrate in home ecosystems, certain ones should still be installed by professionals.

There are a lot of smart home cameras that you can install that are standalone or wireless options that are simple and easy to set up. These won’t require a professional and you can do them yourself in a matter of minutes.

Sometimes, it’s smarter to leave the smart home work to the professionals

Setting up a smart home might be something that you’re interested in. But you need to know your own limitations. If you’re incredibly handy and have done a lot of electrical work in homes before, you might feel comfortable setting up more intricate devices. For those of you who are like me, I’m happy to learn when someone else comes in and installs gadgets. This ensures that my smart home is running safely and efficiently.