Security is an important aspect of owning and maintaining your home. There is a ton of information about home security, and it can be hard to sort through it all. The following tips will help you figure out what you need to be doing so that you and your family are safe.

Make sure that you change the locks once you’ve taken possession of the house. You don’t know the exact number of copies of that key the previous owners have or have handed out. Hire a locksmith so that you can be sure you are the only person who can access your home. If you lose your keys, you should do the same thing.

Your friends may have some great advice for choosing the right company. You can benefit from the experience of others that have gone before you by paying attention to their recommendations and warnings. Therefore, ask everyone you can in order to obtain the most advice. With thorough advice, the best decision can be made.

Do you keep your dog outside if you leave the home? They can help you with your spare key. Find a place to securely fasten the key to your pet’s collar where it’s not visible. If your dog is suspicious of strangers, you have found a good hiding place for your key.

Don’t allow a complete stranger to come in your home. People try many ways to convince others to open up their doors so that they can commit burglary or worse. Create a rule where you only allow those you’ve invited to your home inside.

Purchase a safe to lock all of the extremely valuable items in your home in one place. This is vital since it means all of your things will be safe if someone breaks in your home. Keep the safe hidden somewhere remote.

Keep your car in the garage. If your car is locked up inside, it cannot be stolen or vandalized. Keeping your car in your garage also keeps a thief from knowing whether you are at home or not.

The materials of your home should be fire resistant. This give your home an extra protection layer. You can enhance home safety with excellent fire precautions.

Don’t be shy. Be friendly with people that live in the neighborhood. Ask them to look after your home, and in return, look out for theirs. You shouldn’t neglect gossip. Important security details (like the presence of strangers in your neighborhood) can come out of the most innocent conversations.

Don’t allow anyone you don’t know to look into your house. Be wary of those who come to your door selling products, asking for help, or telling sob stories. These people might want to actually do you harm or could be casing out your house for a future break-in.

Skylights could be a problem for the safety of your home. Although skylights provide your home with a lot of light, it is also very helpful for burglars to break in. Any skylights in your home should be secured with strong hardware.

Use your garage for your car, not just storage. Keeping the car in the garage can keep thieves from vandalizing or stealing it. Hiding the car from plain sight can keep possible intruders from figuring out when you’re home and also when you are not.

Security System

Remember to have an annual inspection of your home security system. Call the company and have them send someone to check it out. A number of things may cause your alarm system to have problems, including mother nature and wild animals. If the problem isn’t visible, you may be unaware of it.

If you install a security system, make certain to hide the wires well. Intruders can easily disable your home security system by cutting or unplugging the wires. Keep the wires hidden in the walls or underground to keep intruders from getting in. It will keep your family safer.

Always go with your gut when it comes to choosing a security firm. If the men who come to your home to do the installation seem untrustworthy, you can change your mind. Ask the company to send a different installer or simply change companies. The point of having a security system is to make yourself feel at ease.

Replace rotten wood near door frames. Anybody wanting to break into your house can just pry off rotted wood and get inside. Replace rotted wood with fresh wood to make your home safer.

Walls can serve as a handy hiding place. Small valuables fit nicely inside walls. Just open up an electrical outlet or a phone jack that is not in use. Installing a false unused plate is very easy to do if your home doesn’t have one.

Plug a rechargeable flashlight into an outlet in each room of your house in the event of power outage. They give you and your family the opportunity to move around should the electricity go out. Also show your children how to use them so they can help out in emergencies.

If you are throwing away the box an expensive item came in, wait until trash day to put the box out. Having these boxes around will let thieves know the type of items that are inside your home.

If you are entering a house that has already been occupied, you should first change your locks. The person who used to live there may still have a key. You can do your own installation to make sure that no one else has a key.

Once you’ve moved to a new house, make it a priority to replace all locks. While the person that previously had the home may seem okay, you don’t know who they actually are. Besides, other tenants or owners might have copies of the key if the previous owners did not change the locks.

A reputable security company will send a representative to your home to design a custom system. You need some features which other families may wish to do without. Working with a business that will look out for your specific interests will help you be much safer at home.

Your first priority when you move to an apartment or house where others have lived in before is to replace all the locks. While you may trust those who lived there before you, you have no idea who lived there before them. It is possible to purchase and put in locks on your own so you can be assured you have the only keys.

Dogs are an excellent way to protect your home. Dogs are very protective of their turf and usually make noises when something is amiss. You don’t even need a huge, vicious dog. Small dogs are noisy and unpredictable and very good at deterring burglars.

If you wish to boot your home’s security, one cheap way to do this is to buy exterior lights with motion detectors. These lights illuminate your home during the night. As an added bonus, they are affordable and quite efficient. If they are positioned correctly outside of your home, your motion detectors can make it impossible for strangers to sneak around.

When you’re dealing with a security company that provides you with significant equipment to install, ask about the benefits and drawbacks of buying versus leasing. You’ll spend less money in the long-run if you buy the equipment outright. By leasing equipment, you can get the protection you want for less, but you may be paying for it over and over as time goes on. Check out both options and determine which is best for you.

Get a custom-designed plan that fits your needs by having the security company do a site visit in your home. They should take your concerns seriously and address any issues you have. The right company will make you feel more safe and secure in your home.

Using a timer on lights is a great idea. Not only does this save you a step, you can continue the routine even when you are not home.

If you have an established routine for turning your lights on and off, consider investing in a timer. This makes your life a bit easier, and it means that your lights will still be lit even if you are away from long periods of time.

If you have a door that isn’t solid wood or metal, change it for either one. These types of doors are much stronger and harder for someone to break into. This makes it much more difficult for a burglar to kick in the door and break in. It’s a good idea to replace all your exterior doors with more secure ones. It really doesn’t cost a lot.

Keep your window coverings drawn in the evenings. You don’t want to attract peeping Toms. If possible burglars get a look at what you own, they might target you next. Lock everything up and shade your windows to stay discreet.

Safeguarding your home is one of the most important things any homeowner can do. It can be hard to tell what information is useful or not, though. When you do come across security info you find helpful, (hopefully, including the article you’ve just read) it’s a good idea to hang onto it for future reference.

Is your door made of solid wood or metal? If not, then replace it. Those materials will hold. A would-be intruder will have much more trouble getting through one of these than a hollow door. It shouldn’t be too expensive to replace all exterior doors, so do it immediately.