Here are our top 10 home security tips to increase your home’s security as we know there’s simply nothing worse than coming home to discover your home has been broken into and ransacked. So while you might not be able to install a moat, there are some clever home security tips and tricks to help keep your family and home as safe as they can be. We know you don’t want to live in a fortress but with some small changes you can make your home a lot safer.
Access points:
Your doors and windows are your access points but so are they an intruder’s. Make sure French and sliding doors are reinforced with shatterproof film and pop protectors. Also make sure they fit snugly in their frames to protect them from being pried open with a crowbar. Add security gates across wooden doors or replace them with aluminium doors, which are much harder to break.
Locks:
Locks are expensive, we get that, and many homes come standard with cheap locks that can easily be picked by a skilled housebreaker. When you move into a new home (even a rental) it’s worth upgrading all exterior locks to protect against lock picking. You also never know who the previous owners may have given keys to so it’s worth knowing that yours are the only ones. And no matter how secure you feel your home, complex or neighbourhood is, keep your doors locked.
Secure access:
You may need to let the cat out when you’re not home or leave the window open for some fresh air, installing a LockLatch is the way to go. LockLatch is simply a lockable latch that allows you to keep any window or door open but still securely locked. See features and benefits of a LockLatch.
Use nature:
Thorny bushes under windows or thorn trees next to scalable walls are small, attractive plants that you can add to your home that make it just that much harder to gain access to your property.
Be invisible:
We know how that sounds but ideally, it should be impossible to tell whether or not you are home. Park your car behind a solid door or gate, keep your street access doors closed and, if your windows can be seen from the street, install timer switches on lights to go on and off at normal intervals in the evening.
Make it difficult:
Don’t leave valuables in view from windows (especially open windows) and consider installing a safe to protect your valuables and important documents. The linen cupboard and pantry are ideal places for a safe as they are often overlooked by intruders – thieves are rarely interested in towels or pasta!
Keep it tidy:
Keep your tools, gardening equipment and ladders locked up in a garage or shed. Make it difficult to find anything useful on your property that can be used to gain access to your home.
Light it up:
This might sound counterintuitive but darkness gives people dark corners for doing dark deeds. Light makes it hard to hide and easy to see what’s happening, so installing motion-sensitive exterior lights and timers on interior lights keeps intruders at bay.
Remember the garage:
Even if there’s no direct access to your home from your garage (and especially if there is), it’s an often-overlooked vulnerability. Keep any windows barred and ensure that any locking mechanisms are secure, even from the inside. Many homes have been sacked and emptied into cars parked in the garage, and neighbours don’t even question it, since a car leaving a garage looks legitimate.
Always set the alarm:
If you have one, make sure it’s working and keep it set. Check in with your security provider regularly to ensure that everything is working as it should. The last thing you want in a home invasion is for your alarm to malfunction and not communicate the problem to your security provider.
We hope these home security tips have given you some food for thought and will provide you with a little extra peace of mind. Have some home security tips of your own? We’d love to continue the conversation over on our Facebook page.
Further reading:
8 Tips to Improve Home Safety for Kids