When you’ve worked so hard for your home and possessions, the last thing you want is for your personal space to be violated and your treasures ransacked.
Home security is something that should be at the forefront of everyone’s priorities, regardless of your living situation. The reality is that crime will always exist. However, the harder you make it for intruders to enter your property, the less likely they are to target you.
If you want to protect your home against unwanted visitors, this guide is for you. Read on to learn the 5 ways you can improve your existing home security—whatever that looks like—and feel as you should in your living space: safe.
Add or Improve Your Security Lighting
Ever walked by someone’s house in the evening and been blinded by their security light? Intruders aren’t going to target a property that literally puts a spotlight on their attempts to break and enter.
If you don’t have any security lighting, start there. If you do, make sure your lighting is bright and responsive. Ideally, rather than having the lights on at all times (which could cause a bit of light pollution and affect your neighbors’ sleep), you should have a light that operates on a sensor, switching on when somebody walks past.
Upgrade Your Locks
Old locks just aren’t as durable and solidly built as they are now. If your locks are more than 50 years old, or you can’t remember the last time they were replaced, contact a locksmith who can use key blanks for residential homes to install your new lock systems. You need locks that are able to withstand break-in attempts, such as snapping or bumping, and look for ones that are approved by most insurers.
You should definitely replace the locks if you’ve just moved into a new property. Fom a safety point of view, there’s a higher potential of break-ins and theft if the wrong people have easy access to your home.
Install a Lock Box
Source – i5.walmartimages
Still leaving your keys under a mat or plant pot by the front door? This has to change if you want to take your home security seriously.
It’s totally understandable if you want to have easy access to a spare key in the case of an emergency (or just forgetting your key, which is a common problem). But the solution isn’t to leave your key at easy reach for anyone who bothers to look with any intent.
Instead, install a lockbox somewhere on your property—on an outside wall in the back garden is a good spot, providing you have access round the back from your front driveway. This box is secure and solid, and can only be accessed with a code of your choice. Yes, somebody could probably break into it with enough effort, but you’re at least deterring opportunity criminals who might be wandering the streets looking for loose keys.
Protect Your Possessions
Source – europalocks
Home security is about more than just preventing people from entering your property (although that is, of course, the ideal). It’s also about protecting your possessions from anyone who does manage to break and enter.
So, buy yourself a home safe and put your valuables inside it. Safes aren’t only for the mega-rich to stash their gold and jewelry. If you have anything special that you want to protect, from family heirlooms to wedding mementos, you can keep them secure in your safe.
The added benefit of many home safes is that they’re also heat- and flame-resistant, so your prized possessions will survive the worst-case scenario situation: a house fire.
Install a Smart Alarm
If you want something that’s a bit more “with the times”, consider a smart home alarm, which sends notifications to your phone when it’s triggered. That way, you can respond quickly if you believe there’s a reason to be concerned, whether you’re at home or not.
Final Word
How protected and secure is your home as it is today? You can probably identify gaps where you could add or improve on your existing home security.
From updating your locks to keeping your possessions away from sight, there are easy ways to make your home safer.
Remember, home security is something you can continue to improve forever, so you don’t need to make all these changes in one go. Just make it your mission to invest your money wisely into home protection over the next few years, and enjoy the peace of mind that you’ll be better protecting your family and possessions.
