Hey all! Over the past year I have been slowly upping our home’s level of tech savvy-ness. It all started when I switched out our front door key lock with a key pad entry. My minds was blown and I have been loving the ease that this “smart home” accessory brought to our lives. So I started dabbling with other fun gadgets that could make our lives easier. I am lucky enough to team up with the great folks over at The Home Depot, and was able to play around with some awesome new garage door openers, and the timing could not be MORE PERFECT!
If you have been following along, you are probably aware I JUST finished up my shop. Let me tell you, she is a BEAUTY! I saved up to pay for it outright, and THEN I poured my blood sweat and tears into it. My husband and I built it from the ground up. It is every woodworkers dream.
Allow me to brag for just a minute… the new shop has 1200 sq ft. After the building process was completed, I built a ton of custom storage, PLUS 3 garage bays for plenty of natural light! Hence the “perfect timing” for these new garage door openers. Up until now my morning routine, is a healthy breakfast consisting of Diet Coke and a PopTart (breakfast of champions) and then I walk out to the shop and open up all the garage doors using the good ol’ manual operator option. (A rope that came attached to the garage doors from the manufacturers.) I really can’t complain about it, but oh my word the idea of garage door openers for these suckers made me giddy!
AND these babies did NOT disappoint! Let me introduce you to the newest member(s) of the Sawdust2Stitches team, the Genie MachForce.
It was a fairly easy install, that ensured an easy morning routine, no more rope for me! The instructions were straight forward and easy to follow. I will add this, I have 8′ doors, which IS considered an “XL” door, they do have one for standard size 7′ Genie MachForce openers as well.
Tip: Do as much prep work as you can while it is on the ground. Your arms will thank you later.
If you are installing these solo, might I make a suggestion!? Gratefully, I did have my husband around the afternoon I was installing these, and it HANDS DOWN made life so much easier. However, my husband is as brilliant and lives by the motto “work smarter, not harder”. He’s a smarty pants and he utilized a tie down strap to support the motor while we installed them. (Also very convenient if you are a blogger and you want to get some process shots. 😉 
The motor install is fairly standard for up until this point. But this is NO STANDARD piece of machinery it’s “Smart”!
Alright, here is the part that makes me a little geeky. It has an app that goes with it! And not just any app, it serves as a remote control for all of my Genie Openers. As you can see in the image below, I have access to all of my programmed garage doors.
Why is this so cool? It’s not like the standard clicker that you keep in your car (although it does come with 2 of those as well), with your phone app you can control your garage doors from anywhere! So, if you ever pull a “Home Alone” and can’t seem to remember if you shut your garage door… Ta-Da they have an app for that!
So, let’s explore the possibilities… Can’t remember if you shut the garage door? You can put your mind at ease. Neighbor call and need to borrow the wheel barrow? You can let them in remotely and then shut the door behind them! Want to freak your wife out and play with her head while you remotely open and shut the garage doors while she is working in the shop? You can do that too! (True story)
One other thing I think is pretty awesome, is it also notifies me when someone opens or closes the doors! It may SEEM a little stalker-ish, but it’s nice when I am away and get a notification that alerts me that my house garage door has opened. It basically announces to me that either my husband just got home from work, or if it’s an unusual time I know to check my Ring Cameras 🙂 You can read all about that smart home update here.
Well folks, all good things must come to an end. This is my final “Smart Home Campaign” post. It has been so much fun to up my tech game and heighten my homes IQ. Over the period of this campaign I am realizing how much I ABSOLUTELY love ease these little gadgets bring to my life. In case you missed some of the other posts take a gander below!
Ring Security Cameras
Hue Smart Bulb 
Schlage Keyless Entry 
Thanks so much fro reading along!
Take Luck,
Corey
*I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in the Smart Campaign promotional program. As a part of the Program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.
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Your shop looks completely awesome! Congrats on having your hoe become so smart!