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There are always things you can do to better secure your home.
Your home ought to be a safe place, a sanctuary from the rest of the world, where you can truly relax. No dwelling is impervious, but there are still plenty of ways you can protect your home and family from potential criminal trespass. Let’s consider how you can make your property less attractive to a thief. To keep your peace of mind, be on the lookout for any possible vulnerabilities that may come up regarding your locks, points of entry, and the premises.
Follow simple daily rules.
Unclutter your yard.
Keep your shrubs, hedges, plants, and trees properly trimmed, in order to eliminate potential intruder hiding spots. If they’re too tall, not very well spaced, or otherwise unwieldy, a potential burglar will be able to hide easily.
Don’t keep a “hidden” house key.
Don’t keep your house key inside your mailbox, under the mat, or under a flower pot, because any smart intruder will find it. If you have a fake rock as a keyholder, a professional burglar will already know what it looks like. Instead, give a spare key to a trusted neighbor.
Keep all keys and garage-door remotes stored sensibly.
Don’t keep your keys and remotes in plain sight next to a door with a window, or otherwise visible to someone outside. It’s smarter to keep them handy hidden inside a cupboard or drawer instead.
Secure your air-conditioning unit.
To keep someone from getting through an unsecured window, protect your air-conditioner with a bracket, corner braces, or a sliding window lock.
Keep your ladders properly stored.
Don’t keep a ladder outside, because a burglar can pretend to be a handyman or contractor, and take your ladder to get in through an upper window, or maybe make it up to your balcony.
Keep your garage secure.
Don’t forget about the garage door. Keep it closed and locked when you’re not around, and you’ll prevent a potential criminal activity.
Use top-quality lighting, and keep your lights in working order.
Install outdoor lights with infrared motion detectors near each outside door. Motion detector lights will effectively keep trespassers away because they cannot hide. You can also choose lights that respond to changes in temperature, sound, or light, or time of day. Some lighting systems will even allow you to connect to a smart device with a mobile app, so you can continually monitor for possible undesirable activity and respond immediately.
Install timers.
You can put your outside lights on timers. Whenever you’re out for the day, or gone for an extended period, you can make it seem like people are home by using timers on your interior lights too, as well as on your radios and TVs. If you’re away on vacation, it’s even possible to monitor and control everything with a mobile app.
Reinforce your doors.
A hollow door is not as safe, because it’s easier to penetrate. Therefore, as soon as possible, replace it with a solid-core door made of wood or metal. Fortify your doors’ locks by replacing the strike plate (the stationary piece where the bolt enters), and mounting a solid metal plate on the doorjamb for the sliding bolt. Replace any short mounting screws with longer screws that will reach the door’s studs, and this will add more strength to the doorframe.
Replace any poor-quality or worn-out locks with upgraded locks.
Locksmith professionals will always tell you that deadbolts provide you with extra security. Get a grade-2 deadbolt lock, which penetrates the doorframe. Or, purchase smart or digital locks, which provide an additional layer of security.
Secure all your windows and glass doors.
Of course, a window left open is attractive to a potential robber. Ground floor windows are more susceptible to break-ins. Upper floor windows can also be fairly attractive if someone can enter from a tree, ladder, balcony, or fence. It’s good to use a secondary blocking device, such as a wooden dowel, on each window. For optimal safety in an emergency, make sure you can easily remove your window blocking devices from the inside.
For ground level sliding-glass doors, and for any aluminum windows that slide horizontally, use anti-lift devices. Install screws half-way into the upper track of the movable glass panel, which will prevent it from being lifted out in the closed position. Then you may want to place a decal on each glass door or windowpane, near the latch mechanism, to indicate that you have an alarm system, or a neighborhood watch in place.
Install an alarm system.
If you have an alarm system, be sure you know how it works, and then don’t forget to use it! If you’re not arming it, it’s worthless. Teach everyone in the family to operate it properly every day. Consider these strategies:
Finally, be a good neighbor.
Get to know the people in your neighborhood ~ at least on each side of your home as well as two or three across the street. Good neighbors look out for each other. Establish trust by communicating regularly. A good neighbor will keep an eye on your home while you’re gone. You don’t have to be friends; just be civil and help each other out. Some may be willing to care for your lawn, pick up your mail, or do small things that will make it look like you’re home. Be sure to return the favor.
When you can’t do it yourself, hire a professional.
If you do find any weak spots in your home’s security, ask an expert on the best way to remedy each issue. If you’re in Arvada, Colorado, you may want to request a free consultation from one of the residential locksmith specialists on staff at Locksmith Arvada CO.