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Your home should be the place where you feel safe and secure—but is it? Without the right safety measures in place, your home could be a target for thieves or vandals.
When thinking through your home security plan, it’s critical to take a thorough approach to every aspect of your home. That doesn’t mean you need armed guards or an expensive security system. However, sometimes small things can make a big difference to deter intruders and protect your family and valuables.
What do homeowners need to consider when securing their homes? Follow these ten security tips for peace of mind and protection!
Check the Doors
Most intruders make their way into a home through an unlocked window or door. In some cases, kicking down a weak door helps intruders gain access when they find a locked door.
One of the best things you can do for your home is to bolster all exterior entry doors with additional layers of security. Consider adding:
- Deadbolts
- A door barricade
- Safety latches
- A video doorbell
These measures can help deter intruders and keep them from entering your home. However, if the door itself is weak, it’s time to upgrade to a sturdier exterior door.
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Secure the Windows
An unlatched window makes it easy for criminals to get inside. Make sure all of your windows have working locks—even on the second floor.
To prevent a window from opening wide enough to let a person into your home, install a mechanism to stop the window from sliding open more than a few inches. These window security locks are inexpensive, easy to find at your local hardware store, and simple to install.
Add Security Lighting
Light can be an excellent deterrent for crime. If your home has dark exterior areas that make ideal hiding places or conceal an entry, adding security lighting can shine a light on attempts at criminal activity.
Consider LED motion-activated lighting that triggers on when they sense movement. These lights are energy-saving ways to show potential intruders that your home is not available for a break-in.
Trim the Shrubs
A home with unkempt vegetation around doors and windows is an invitation for criminal activity. When you provide hiding places for intruders to conceal their attempts into your home, you encourage attempts at a break-in or vandalism.
Trim shrubs and trees away from windows and doors. Install landscape lighting to illuminate dark areas around shrubs and reduce the potential for concealment. Solar-powered landscape lighting helps reduce energy costs while adding another security feature to your home.
Leave the Lights On
You don’t need to leave every light in the house on. However, leaving a few lights on can make would-be intruders think that someone is home when you’re away from home.
Using lighting timers can also give the impression of activity inside your house. Setting a timer to turn on a light at dusk can be just enough activity to encourage a criminal to leave your home alone.
Make sure your exterior lights provide plenty of illumination in the evenings, too. A porch light can make your entry bright enough to keep a potential intruder from trying to enter your home through the front door.
Install Security Cameras
You don’t need an expensive monthly monitoring system to keep an eye on your home while you’re away. With today’s wifi cameras, setting up a home security video system is simple.
Wifi video cameras are easy to install just about anywhere you need an extra set of eyes—24/7. They connect to your home network and allow you to view activity through an app on your phone.
If something happens at your home, having a video record of people in and around your home can help police track down the offenders who attempted a burglary.
Place Valuables In a Safe
Does your home have a fire safe? If not, it’s a smart idea to get one for storing valuables and important paperwork.
If an intruder breaks into your home, don’t make it easy for them to find or take critical items. A fire-safe protects valuables from fire, flooding, or criminals. Keep jewelry, home insurance paperwork, birth certificates, and other essential items in your safe to protect them from burglars.
Get a Dog
A puppy makes a great family pet! It can also be an excellent crime deterrent.
An intimidating breed of dog can be a useful security measure, but almost any type of dog can keep intruders away. Dogs bark at the slightest sound of someone creeping around your home, alerting you and the potential intruder that they’ve awakened the dog “alarm system.”
Plus, many dog breeds are protective of their owners and will bark and growl to keep strangers away. Having a loyal pet can help keep your family safe in your home!
Secure Your Wifi
Criminals don’t have to get inside your home to steal valuable information from you. If your wifi network doesn’t have a password, it’s time to add one.
A password-protected network keeps hackers from using your wifi to get into your security system, laptops, and other private information.
Hide Your Valuables
Keeping your blinds closed and putting electronics away after use can help deter a home invasion. When thieves don’t see that you have anything worth stealing, they’re less likely to break into your home.
Obstruct the view into your home by keeping blinds closed—especially at night. Put expensive jewelry and electronics away and out of sight when not in use. When service professionals enter your home, tuck money, wallets, and other costly items away.
Even if you trust everyone who enters your home, it’s smart to get in the habit of hiding valuables when not in use.
Follow These Security Tips For a Safer Home
Don’t invite crime into your home! Follow these security tips to create a safer space and a home that provides plenty of security for you and your family.
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