Every homeowner needs to understand how they can keep their homes safe. Sadly, burglaries in people’s homes are becoming increasingly common, in addition to the extensive risks posed by floods or fires. Read the tips in this article to make sure that you family is safe from outside threats.
Use your dog as the protector of your spare key. If your dog lives outside or is able to come and go through a dog door, this is a viable idea. Attach the spare key to your dog’s collar. By doing this, you have a handy spare key whenever you need it.
Once you buy a house, switch out the locks. You have no way of knowing how many folks might have keys to your house. Call a locksmith to make sure you’re the only one with access to your home. Give a key to someone you trust in case you get locked out.
Home security systems offer additional features besides loud alarms during a break-in. Most systems can be set to sound an alert when anyone enters the home. This is a valuable safety feature for parents of small children since they know if their child has exited the home.
Invest in a safe in order to secure very valuable items. Doing so can protect your valuables in the event of a robbery. Hide your safe in a hard to find place like the basement or attic.
A skylight is another area that needs to be protected for home security. While they are there to let light in, if you do not care for it properly it could also let in a thief. Be certain that skylights in your home can be locked securely.
If you make a large purchase, like a big screen television, don’t simply set the box out in front of your home. Empty boxes might draw the attention of robbers and let everyone know you own new and expensive goods.
Flashlights in your home should always have newer batteries if your power goes out. This is important for you to be able to see should your power go out or you suffer an emergency. If you have kids, teach them how to properly use the flashlights so everyone in the family can help out during a power outage.
Be sure to make good use of the Internet when you’re trying to select your home security company. You should look at testimonials from customers and different information you can find. Also find other companies to get quotes from as well.
Before signing up for home security, find out how long they’ve been in business. A company that has been in business for several years has shown that they can sustain in this industry and proven they provide reliable services that people recommend. You may not feel as safe if you opt to go with a company that has not been in business for long or that does not have a stable history.
If you will be away from your home, arrange to have whoever is collecting your mail to also pick up fliers placed inside your door. Canny burglars will often produce and distribute their own fliers so that they can see whether or not anyone takes them down. A flier that hangs around for days on end lets burglars know that there’s no one in the home.
Put in a surveillance system. Installing video cameras, both visible and hidden, are a great way to secure your home. Visible cameras are a deterrent to most intruders, and should they decide to disable them, a hidden camera will continue to capture footage. Nowadays, you can track your surveillance on your own cell phone.
Keep burglars on the outside of your garage by making sure nobody can actually see inside the garage. Be sure and shade your windows with window frosting, something that you can purchase at any hardware store, so as to keep people from looking in your house. Avoid leaving the door open for extended periods of time.
If you just purchased electronics, do not leave empty boxes outside. Burglars will see those boxes and realize that there are valuable things in your home for them to get. You should cut up the boxes once you empty them.
Are you able to see the numbers on your house from the street? If an emergency occurs, the police will not be able to find your home as quickly if these numbers are too small or are obscured in some way. If you notice a problem, you should be able to fix it fairly cheaply, though.
Take every precaution to protect your home and family from life’s emergencies. Ideally, you’ve picked up quite a few useful security hints from the preceding article. Give all of them a try in order to make your home as safe as it can be.
