Every homeowner has the responsibility of doing his best in keeping his house safe. There are a wide range of security solutions available to you, depending on your circumstances. Continue reading for some expert tips on making your home a safer place. Only give your house key to a professional house cleaner if you trust
Every homeowner has the responsibility of doing his best in keeping his house safe. There are a wide range of security solutions available to you, depending on your circumstances. Continue reading for some expert tips on making your home a safer place.
Only give your house key to a professional house cleaner if you trust them. If they need the keys and plan on being in there for more than an hour, try to ensure that they are honest, hardworking, and reputable. It is best to do a reference check on them. If they work for a firm, call the local Better Business Bureau to find out that firm’s reputation.
Your dog can actually safeguard a spare key. If your dog lives outside or is able to come and go through a dog door, this is a viable idea. Simply affix a spare key to the collar of the animal. You’ll always have a backup plan if you lose your key!
Buy a safe to contain everything of great value. This ensures during a break in that the most important things are not stolen. Keep the safe hidden somewhere remote.
You never want to open up a door to a stranger without proper identification. Criminals can be endlessly inventive when it comes to generating a convincing story to force their way into your home. No matter how sympathetic the story, remember that it could all be a put-on. Make it a habit to only open your home’s door to people you were expecting.
The only time you should give out house keys to house cleaners is if you absolutely trust them. Make sure you know they are legitimate before giving out the key. Do a background check on them. If the house cleaner is employed by a company, check with the BBB of your area to determine their reputation.
Regardless of the quality of your home security system, you need to check it annually. Ask someone from your security company to come over and have a look. There are many things that can reduce the quality of your system. You may not even know there is a problem if it is not visible.
The walls of your home make for great hiding spots. Small valuables fit nicely inside walls. Just access unused switch plates, outlets or phone jacks. If you have no unused plates, you can put in a fake one.
Do not let people you don’t know in your house. There are some people who are very convincing and good at getting you to let them into your house. This is the first rule of keeping your home secure.
You can hide certain valuables within your walls. You needn’t tear down your walls to do this. Find a place where there is already a hole to get in through. Perhaps you could deactivate a few unused electrical sockets to use as a place to store stuff.
Always lock your house, even if you are only going to be away for a few minutes. You may be surprised to know that many burglars simply turn the doorknob and walk right in. A thief could steal all your valuables in only a few minutes.
You need to be sure the attached garage of yours is secure. There is a solution for people that are worried about burglars going into their home through an attached garage. Try putting a C-clamp on your garage door track. This will stop the door from rising if you want to keep it closed.
Are you aware that your home’s wires are worth something? This is something few homeowners realize until they become victims of wiring theft. The copper inside the wire is very valuable and may be stripped off the exterior of the house in a short time span. Be sure that your wiring is concealed or difficult to access in order to keep your wires safe.
Home protection program details may be available at your police station. They may offer neighborhood watch programs, home inspections, engraving tools for marking code numbers onto items so that they will be easily identified if stolen. Ask your police department to see if these types of programs are available.
When allowing a representative from any security company to enter your home, look for someone in uniform and ask to see an identification. It is simple for a thief to pose as a representative of your home security company as a means of gaining access to your house. This is a danger to your belongings and your family. Proceed with caution.
When you landscape your house, make it safe. Shrubs, trees, fences, etc. should not obstruct the view of your doors and windows. Keeping these features free of vegetation robs would-be burglars of concealment and hiding places. Landscaped features should be set further away for safety, yet keeping beauty in mind.
You need to have your security system checked once a year. Ask the security company to send a technician out to give your system a thorough inspection. Many things can impact the performance of a security system, such as animals and weather. Sometimes it is very difficult to see the problem if you don’t know where it is.
Ask a home security company to come to your house and design a security system that is perfect for your needs. The needs and wants of each family and the configuration of each home are quite individual. A good company will tailor your security plan to the needs of you and your family.
Make sure you have weighed the costs and risks when you are considering your security needs. While alarm systems are great, they aren’t necessary for every family. Depending on your neighborhood and your household, you might well be better served by a reliable guard dog or self-defense training than by high-tech gadgetry. Ensure that you have considered all your options before making a final decision.
Have lights that sense motion. These lights will turn on if anyone walks too closely to your home. This will discourage would be thieves and alert you to any movement on your property. Make sure you regularly change the light bulbs to ensure they continue to work properly.
If you will be away from your home, arrange to have whoever is collecting your mail to also pick up fliers placed inside your door. Some intruders will place a flyer at your home to see if the flyer is removed immediately or not. The more flyers pile up or the longer they are there, the more likely it is that the house is empty.
Keep your garage shut and locked so burglars can’t peek inside. Frost your windows with film bought at a hardware store. Do not keep your door open long enough for people to get an idea of what you own.
Don’t forget to secure your skylights too. Skylights are a wonderful addition to any home, but they also tend to be weak spots that intruders take advantage of. Be certain that skylights in your home can be locked securely.
Dogs make a great security system. Canines are notoriously protective of their family and domicile. You do not need a large, vicious guard dog. Small dogs are noisy and unpredictable and very good at deterring burglars.
Walls are a good place to hide things. If you have valuables that are small in size, you may want to hide them within your walls. Place them in switch plates, phone jacks or an electric outlet. If you have no unused plates, you can easily install false ones.
Do not use spring latch locks on your doors. These type of lock is the easiest lock to pick, it could even be opened by a credit card. A thief only needs to skip the credit card in between the lock to make it open. If this is the kind of lock on your doors, strongly consider adding a deadbolt for safety.
Now that you’ve finished reading this article, you know what you need to do to keep your home safe. Although all this may seem complicated and tedious, it’s totally necessary in order to keep your whole family safe. Using these tips should help you out a lot.
Make sure that your valuables cannot be seen from outside the home. Large windows let in light and give you a great view outside, but that works both ways. Windows facing the street need to be covered to keep inside possessions safe.
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