Preparing for your upcoming vacation can be stressful. You need to pack your belongings, file your leave of absence, and find a caretaker for your pets before leaving. One often ignored aspect to take care of when going is securing your house from unwanted visits. Robberies, trespassing, and graffiti are just some of the crimes that can be committed to your property. That’s why if you want to protect your belongings, you need to secure your house from burglars. Listed below are the best ways to make your home burglar-proof.
Secure All Modes of Entry
Check All Your Doors
Your front door isn’t just for family and friends. Burglars can quickly enter your house if your door isn’t up to par to security standards. Examine your door’s structure by checking the doorframe’s durability and inspect if the hinges are rusty and easily removed. If your doors are rickety and easily broken down, quickly hire a carpenter to fix your doors or try to repair them yourself.
Consider installing security door stop alarms that alert your neighbors of unwanted entry by sounding its 120dB siren for added protection. Alarms on doors are quite useful in stopping burglars since robbers are easily spooked when an instrument alarms them of their presence. Furthermore, if you’re renting or have bought an old house, consider changing the door locks to ensure no one can access your home. Another improvement you can make to your doors is by installing high-quality deadbolts. Robbers can open traditional doors with slim cards. Having a deadbolt ensures that burglars can’t open your doors unless using tremendous amounts of force.
Lock Down Your Garage
Always secure all modes of entry, even if your garage doesn’t have access to your home. Once robbers notice your garage is frail, they’ll exploit the garage’s weak point and steal valuable tools inside. Hence, you should lock all possible entry points to the garage. Start by securing all doors with shrouded locks to deter robbers with bolt cutters. Next, cover all windows with a thick cloth to hide all valuables in sight. Lastly, assess for any security flaws in your garage’s mechanism since burglars can easily pry open the door once it fails. If your garage is inoperable, consider hiring garage door repair services to prevent robberies and upgrade to a smart garage door opener.
Strengthen Your Windows
Weak windows are often the easiest route to your house. After all, your home security measures are useless if a robber can open the window in one swoop. That’s why before leaving, assess all your windows for any cracks, rusty hinges, and weak frames. After that, install security bars over the windows to prevent intruder access. However, keep in mind that your security bars should have a quick-release mechanism for using the house’s occupants.
Illuminate the Whole Property
Use Motion Sensing Lights
Large bright lights are always an excellent move to deter robberies. However, in going on a vacation, you won’t turn off the lights when daylight comes. Thankfully, there are motion-sensing lights that illuminate the house once it detects movement. If motion-sensing lights aren’t for you, try asking a friendly neighbor to turn on the light every night or use a timer switch. Lights installed with timer switches turn the circuit on per its schedule. By including more lighting, you can fake the appearance of having people inside the house.
Eliminate Hiding Places
Houses with huge landscapes and large trees are susceptible to crimes since burglars have more hiding spots. To prevent crimes from happening, trim high bushes and cut down tall trees. If you don’t want to cut your landscape, illuminate all hiding places instead. Burglars are less likely to hide in bushes or trees when a light is shining down on them.
Monitor Your House
Add Security Cameras
CCTVs are a burglar’s enemy. Installing security cameras in your house can scare away potential robbers and, if they ever commit a crime, can be used as evidence against them in court. Look for CCTVs that let you monitor your house with your phone, have night vision, two-way talk, weatherproofing, and motion detection. Once you have security cameras installed, don’t forget to put up a sign that says you have cameras installed inside your property.
Install Alarm Systems
The last surefire way to prevent robberies is by installing alarm systems all over your house. Alarm systems are set to call the local police for any unwanted visits and sound a loud siren to alert the neighborhood. When choosing an alarm system, remember to choose a reputable brand since the police can ignore your alarm system if it malfunctions too much.
Upgrading your house’s security feature can be costly and tiring. Hence, it’s best to start your upgrades small and start from where you’re most comfortable. After all, knowing your house’s weak points are the first part of making your home burglar-proof.
