Lifestyle

Securing Your Home: 6 Tips for Keeping Your Family Safe

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Crime rates may go down but there has never been a time when home security wasn’t a concern for families. There are always criminal minds that are out to exploit any opportunity to burglarize a home or attack the family within.

This is why you must do all you can to make your home as impenetrable as possible. This way, intruders will think twice or thrice before attempting to break into your home. Keep reading for 6 great tips for securing your home and keeping your family safe.

  1. Secure the Basics

The first step to securing your home is to ensure that all your basics are covered. Check your external door frames and hinges to ensure that they are strong and difficult to break into. The following are some essential for home security.

Strengthen the Doors

Many homes have weak doors that thugs can easily force open with a pry bar. For some, all it takes is one or two hard kicks for the door to give in. Make it hard for burglars to break into your home by ensuring all your external doors have strong frames and hinges as well as a solid core.

Hollow doors have an echo when you knock on them and burglars can easily break them. You must also secure your door frames and hinges to make them had to force open. For just about $22 per door, you can easily create your own door hardeners.

Secure your home by placing sensors on all your external doors and windows. These can sound an alarm whenever a door or window is left open. It’s surprising how often we forget to lock our doors before we go to bed at night.

You can also install smart locks that stay locked unless you put in an access code to enter. These are the most modern type of locks and though they are expensive, they are the most secure. Only people that live inside your home should have the keys or access code for your front door.

You can give a spare key to someone that you trust like a family member that lives somewhere else. This way, they can open the door for you in case you lose your keys. In the olden days, we could live our spare keys with a trusted neighbor, but it is difficult to find trustworthy people

Use Deadbolts

Another basic security measure each home must-have is a high-quality, grade 1 deadbolt on all external doors. Deadbolt locks because they aren’t spring-activated so they can’t be jimmied or forced open with a credit card or knife blade.

You can’t have a secure home if your garage isn’t protected. Many homeowners spend a lot of money on their home security but still get robbed by thieves that accessed the home through an unlocked garage door.

While upgrading your main doors, don’t forget to check the condition of your garage door. Old, warped garage doors have gaps that make it easy for a burglar to break in. Replace any old garage doors with secure, modern ones.

The service door that connects your garage to the main house should also be a solid core door with a secured frame and hinges. If a thief breaches your garage door, the service door should be sturdy enough to prevent entry.

Leverage Automation

If you can, automate your garage door so that you can lock and open it using a modern or smart door opener. The remote door opener should be kept with your keys, not in the car. This ensures that your garage always stays locked except when you are driving in or out.

If you’ll be away from home for a few days, go the extra mile and shut the garage door with a padlock so that it’s harder to force open. Always ensure that any garage windows are covered to prevent thieves from peeking in. In fact, all windows in your home should be covered. For this, you can use blinds or curtains.

  1. Outdoor Lighting

Burglars don’t want to be seen, so a well-lit home is a great deterrent for criminal activity. Install strong floodlights outside your home that fully light up all corners. It’s also a good idea to add motion sensors to the lights so that they turn on whenever there is any movement outside your home.

Motion sensors can catch burglars unexpectedly and scare them off. Motion-activated exterior lighting can also save you a lot of money in energy costs as lights only come on when there is movement.

External lights should be placed around 10 to 12 feet above the ground so that thieves don’t tamper with them. Determined burglars can deactivate the sensors so that the lights don’t come on when they attach at night.

Keeping them away from reach helps ensure that your home stays well-lit. Have a preventive maintenance schedule to clean the lights and replace the bulbs so that the lights function optimally, all year round.

While you are outside, trim your hedges and fences. Overgrown bushes are ideal hiding spaces for burglars so getting rid of them is a big part of securing your home.

  1. Home Security System With CCTV Surveillance

Homes without surveillance cameras are three times as likely to be broken into as homes with CCTV cameras. CCTV surveillance can be used to convict criminals, so intruders are often hesitant to approach any homes with cameras.

Advances in technology have helped lower the cost of home security systems so there isn’t any excuse not to get one installed. Modern security systems use wireless internet to transmit a real-time feed. So, with your smartphone or computer, you can watch your home from anywhere in the world.

You can also connect your security system to a local security company or the police. This way, any attempted break-ins immediately send an alert to the police.  

A smart doorbell will detect motion at your front door and record any movement. This ensures that even when you aren’t at home you can get an alert if there is someone at your front door.

  1. Hide Valuables

Securing your home can also be as simple as hiding away your valuables. For instance, if you have expensive bikes, bicycles, tools, or kids’ toys, keep them locked away in the garage. Having expensive items out in your front yard attracts interest from thieves and burglars.

Within the home, hideaway cash, expensive jewelry, and important documents are in a hidden secret safe. Try and get a fireproof, waterproof safe that will protect your valuables even if there is a fire or flood.

In case a thief enters your home, they won’t know where the safe is and may find it hard to break the combination. So you’ll be able to protect your valuables even if there is a break-in.

  1. Armor Up

Another key to securing your home and protecting your family is to buy suitable firearms for your home. All adults in your home should know how to operate the firearms that you choose and they should know the location of each gun. Most criminals will run away as soon as you start shooting at them.

If perpetrators do try to attack you or your family, you can stop them in their tracks with a few bullets. The firearms you choose should be reliable and easy to shoot on target. Defending yourself with Geissele triggers will help to increase your family’s shooting accuracy and confidence.

  1. Be a Friendly Yet Vigilant Neighbor

A safe neighborhood has vigilant residents that take charge of their security. It’ll be harder for thieves to break into your home if your home is being watched by neighbors. Always greet your neighbors warmly and test if they would be open to friendship.

If you notice any suspicious activity in the area, raise an alarm so that your neighbors’ homes stay protected. Your neighbors will repay you in kind by also watching over your property and family. When your neighbors are away on holiday, offer to pick up their mail and create a human presence in their home.

They can also do the same for you while you are away. Start a neighborhood watch if there isn’t one in the area or be an active member of any existing ones.

Take Action on Securing Your Home and Protecting Your Family

The best way to secure your home is to make it as unappealing as possible to intruders. Our home security guide is a great way to start securing your home. Equip your home with surveillance cameras, floodlights, and secure external doors.

This will ensure that your home is the last place in the neighborhood that a thief will attempt to break into. For more home security tips, read the rest of our blog.

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