7 Simple Safety Tips for Your Home
One of our biggest fears as homeowners is a stranger breaking in. With the fact that a home in the United States is broken into once every 15 seconds, burglaries pose one of the biggest threats to your home.
It is not just the monetary value of loss or damages that can occur in your home that affects your home life the most.
It is the sense of safety that changes from a break-in. Once somebody breaks into your home, the sense of safety that your family once had will never be the same.
With such a high number of burglaries occurring throughout the United States, there are many people that do not realize that burglaries are actually very preventable. In addition to installing a home alarm system, there are many things you can do to make sure that your home feels safe, and your family feels secure.
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Here are some simple home security tips:
Make it hard to break-in.
70% of break-ins occur by some degree of force. All burglars would prefer to not have to use force. It creates a barrier that is more difficult to overcome.
Let’s start with the most obvious method, do not keep entrances unlocked. This is in regards to doors as well as windows. On top of this you can add reinforced bolts to your doors so that if someone does try to use force, it is more difficult for them.
Eliminate hiding places.
An additional way to make it harder for someone to break-in is by keeping the surrounding of your home well lit. When burglars are choosing a house to break into, they like to have places to hide behind if something goes wrong. By having motion-detecting lights set up around your house, they will be activated if someone is sneaking around your premises.
Another tactic is to have security cameras set up at all the entrances of your home. If linked up well with a home security system, potential intruders will likely be turned away knowing that they could be caught in the act.
Install a proper home security system.
Homes with security systems are 2.7 times to 3.5 times less likely to be targeted for burglary. Potential intruders prefer easy entrances. When they see that a house has been set up to prevent people from forced entry they are easily deterred. Home security systems have many different features to deter intruders. These systems can range from alarm systems, notifying the police, security cameras, etc.
Do not show the world that you are away.
One rookie mistake that homeowners make is keeping the lights on when they are traveling. They do this as a tactic to show people that they are home when it, in fact, shows the opposite.
Instead, set your lights on timers. It will turn your lights on and off at different points during the day to give a more natural impression that you are actually home.
With home security systems there are many home automation features that enable you to do such things. Setting timers on your lights, turning on/off small appliances, or even controlling your heating system are all possible with home automation. It definitely throws an intruder off. Let’s say someone is about to try and break into your home and then all the lights turn on. It will definitely make them think twice.
Build relationships with your neighbors.
One of the greatest ways to prevent people from breaking into your home is to know your neighbors. If you have good personal relationships with others in your street they will be looking out for you. If anything out of the norm seems to occur they will notify the authorities.
On top of this, think about if all your neighbors had armed security systems. If this is the case intruders are very likely to be thrown off to do any type of damage to homeowners within your street.
Outside of just burglaries themselves there are still a variety of variables that can make your home unsafe.
Fires
In 2015 there were 365,000 home fires in the United States. From these fires, there were 2,650 deaths. Needless to say, there is a high risk to your families safety in the event of a fire.
Although fires themselves are not 100% preventable there are some steps you can take to help your family in the event of a fire. Always make sure that you have smoke detectors throughout the house with batteries that are working. Many people have these detectors in their home but forget to change the batteries every couple of years. A smoke detector without batteries is essentially useless.
Also having smoke detectors linked up with a home security system will immediately notify authorities in the event of a fire in your home. This will bring emergency services immediately to your front door in the event of a fire.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Each year 40,000 people are hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning. 95% of carbon monoxide deaths are caused from gas space heaters in your home. Carbon Monoxide is undetectable to human senses. Therefore carbon monoxide detectors in your home are a necessity in order to protect your family. Carbon monoxide detectors can be additions to most home security systems.
There are many do it yourself methods that people add to their home in order to make it safer. For any conscientious homeowner, it makes senses to add additions to your home in order to make it secure. However, no matter what you do to further secure your home there are still many variables that you may not think of. At the end of the day, you cannot watch your house 24/7. This is why it is nice to have your own home security system.
The benefit of these types of security systems is that then you alone are not the only person looking for your home. You have another set of eyes watching and a team of home security professionals making sure that your home and family are safe.
photo credit: Gord McKenna Palm Springs architecture, 1954 Edris House, 2014 via photopin (license)