Most people plan a home security system by shopping for devices, then wonder why the result has gaps. It works better the other way round. Walk through the house room by room, decide what could go wrong in each, and buy only what answers that question.
Here is how that looks in a typical two-story home, using the Ajax home alarm range as the worked example. The same logic applies to other platforms.
Before the rooms: the hub
Everything reports to the hub, so pick it first. Ajax’s Hub 2 Plus handles up to 200 devices, connects over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and two SIM cards, and runs for up to 15 hours on its own battery. That means a dead router or a power cut doesn’t leave you blind. Put it somewhere central, like a hall cupboard, and not right beside the front door. Wireless sensors reach it by radio, so check signal strength in the app before you stick anything down for good.
Hallway and front door
This is where most of the protection goes. Fit a DoorProtect contact to the front door. It’s a two-part magnetic sensor held on with adhesive or screws, with a battery rated for up to seven years. Add one to the back door and to the door between the garage and the house if you have one, since that’s the entry point people forget. A MotionCam in the hallway ceiling corner covers the route in. When it triggers, it sends a short run of photos to your phone, so you can tell a person from a coat falling off a hook.
Living room
Ground-floor glazing is the main concern. GlassProtect listens for the sound of breaking glass, and a single unit can cover several windows in one room, which is neater than a contact on every pane. If you already have a MotionCam in the hall, you may not need a second one here. Add one only if the room has a route that bypasses the hallway, such as patio doors. MotionCam ignores pets up to 20 kg, but test the position with the system armed before you trust it.
Kitchen
Think water and fire here before burglars. A LeakProtect sensor lies flat on the floor, so tuck one under the sink and another behind the dishwasher. It needs no fixings. FireProtect 2 detects heat, smoke, and carbon monoxide in one unit, and heat detection suits kitchens where steam can set off a smoke-only alarm. Check the fire alarm rules for your building, because a connected detector adds the phone alert but doesn’t replace what the regulations require.
Bedrooms and landing
Upstairs needs less. Put a FireProtect 2 on the landing so it can pick up smoke before it reaches the bedrooms, and think about whether upstairs windows can be reached from a flat roof or extension. If so, give those a DoorProtect. Most people don’t need motion detectors upstairs, and you can set the app to arm the ground floor at night while everyone sleeps.
Bathroom and utility room
Another place for leak sensors. Put one near the washing machine and one by the boiler or hot water cylinder. Slow leaks do more damage than burst pipes because nobody notices them for days.
Garden, drive, and garage
MotionCam Outdoor covers a drive or side passage with the same photo-verification approach, and StreetSiren over the door adds a visible deterrent. Ajax quotes wireless range of up to 2,000 metres in open space, though walls cut that down, so test before you commit to a position. Ajax cameras sit in the same app as the sensors, so you can check live video without opening a second app.
Phasing the purchase
You don’t need all of this at once. A sensible first stage is the hub, door contacts on every external door, one MotionCam in the hall, and leak sensors in the kitchen and utility room. Add fire detection next, then outdoor devices and cameras. Because everything is wireless, none of it needs building work, and you can move a sensor if you rearrange a room.
Two things to do before you finish
Test every device and confirm the alert reaches every phone that should get it. Then set up user access properly, so a cleaner or house-sitter has limited rights instead of your own login.
Start from the rooms, and the rest follows. A system built that way covers the places where something can go wrong, and you only pay for what the house needs.
Written by Veronica Furs