If you are a homeowner, you should know the importance of being safe. Nothing is worse than having your house harmed or ruined. Besides being a valuable possession in its own right, your home is also the stage upon which you live your life. You can do more to protect your home and its occupants by checking out the advice presented below.
When placing your spare key outside for emergencies, give careful consideration to where you put it. Common places to hide a spare key are above your door frame or underneath your doormat. Therefore, thieves are more likely to check these places out first. You could hide the key with your dog on the collar.
Do not post on your social media accounts regarding when you will be away on vacation. It’s exciting going to new places and enjoying your time, but you could alert thieves to an empty home that they can easily break into.
Remove old plants and debris from your yard. As the summer heat rolls in, there is a higher chance that these can catch on fire, putting your home at risk. Be sure all sorts of flammable items are kept under control around your home.
Check with your local law enforcement agency about home protection plans. 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. If your police department does not offer these programs, find a private security company.
Change your locks if someone you don’t trust moves out of your home. As time passes, keys end up getting into the wrong hands. Changing locks is not very expensive and should be done within a few hours.
Lock your home when you leave, even if you don’t think you will be away for long. It may be shocking, but many home invasions and burglaries occur by intruders walking through the front door that was left open. It does not take a long time for a robber to pilfer items worth thousands of dollars.
If you have purchased any large and/or expensive items, do not throw the boxes away until the day before the trash man is scheduled to come. These boxes sitting outside your home serve as a flag for thieves to target your home.
Are you aware of the value contained in your home’s wiring? The majority of people aren’t aware of this fact until a burglar steals these wires. The reason they are valuable is because of their copper. A burglar can easily strip off your wires from the outside of your home very quickly. In order to protect yourself from this risk, make sure wires on your house are difficult to find and hard to access.
Before allowing anyone into your home, check their references carefully. Do not hesitate to hire someone to run a background check if you have doubts. You can’t know for sure about the integrity of people you hire, and blindly giving them access to your home can be a huge mistake.
Your home’s exterior needs to be well lit. Burglars prefer the cover that night provides their criminal activities. Install lights by each and every entryway to your home. Some examples include first story windows, garages, doorways and porches.
If you get home and notice an open door, do not go in to see what has happened. A thief might still be in there, which could put you in danger. Your best bet is to call the cops and wait until they arrive before you do anything else.
If you’ve got guests that you don’t want in particular areas of the home, close the area off so it is not accessible. It is possible to have locks that require just codes, not keys. You can either install these locks by yourself, or have them professionally installed if you are not that handy yourself.
Talk to your security company about the contract; in particular, inquire about the various contract lengths that are available to you. There are going to be ups and downs for each one. The longer the contract, the lower your monthly bill, but if you move or become dissatisfied, you are stuck with the monthly fee. While a short contract provides you with extra freedom, it can cost you more for each month.
As stated in this piece, making sure your house is safe need not be tough. You just need to be knowledgeable on home security ideas. Utilize the tools provided here to make the best home security decisions for your unique situation. Never put these tips to the side but instead use them to make sure that your home is protected and safe.
