We’ve talked time and time again about how home safety is important, because your home is a huge investment after all. However, today we want to turn our attention to another aspect of home safety — protecting it from outsiders and theft.
While many of our tips have gone over how to keep your home safe for your loved ones, now we’ll focus more on how to make your home secure.
Each year 2 million home burglaries are reported in the U.S. Even with the highest percentage coming during summer months, you can still implement these home safety practices year-round.
Protecting Your Home
1. Check Your Doors
Close to half of all home burglaries are through an open window or unlocked door. So naturally the best and easiest first step to take is to check your doors and windows religiously.
Additionally, you should be checking for exterior damage, loose knobs, jiggly handles, missing screws, glass near a deadbolt, etc. All of these aspects could affect the integrity of your doors or windows.
2. Security Lights
Burglars are looking for the easy target — if your home is well-lit chances are it will deter your home from being targeted in the first place.
Installing exterior lighting, motion detector lighting, door lighting, etc. can scare off unwelcomed guests. Consider timers for interior lights or leaving a TV or radio on to simulate presence within the home when you’re away.
3. Secure Patio Doors
If you have sliding glass doors, an easy fix is to throw a large stick in the door track, but that’s not the most attractive option. There are some great auxiliary foot locks, like this one, that are easy to install and use.
4. Alarm Systems
A great investment is a security system. Your home insurance company might even offer discounts for having your house monitored this way.
If you aren’t ready to go for a big home system, you can get inexpensive door and window alarms as your first line of defense. These are especially good ideas for unused corners of the house that are often dark or unoccupied.
5. Maintaining Landscape
Perhaps a lesser-known tip, but if you have shrubbery around entrances and walkways, it’s a good idea to keep them trimmed. These could be potential hiding spots for thieves, so don’t make it easier for them.
6. Put Away Expensive Items
If you have a nice grill, lawnmower, bike, etc. be sure to put them away. If you don’t have a garage, then get a storage shed (with a lock!) and don’t leave items unattended.
Leaving out nice things could attract unwanted attention to your home.
7. Smart Technology
Nowadays there are TONS of smart home tech solutions floating around the market, so take a look at some of the options.
A few popular items include:
- smart door locks
- security cameras
- doorbell cameras
- digital door locks
Most of these can be controlled remotely and connect to apps on your phone, allowing you 24/7 access to your home.
We hope these tips are helpful and can take away some of the stress of life, allowing you to enjoy your home with your loved ones.
If you want to take extra steps to ensure the structure your home is safe, schedule your home inspection today!
Our trained professionals will make sure there are no hidden dangers lurking in your home.
