The more secure your home is, the less likely you are to become a victim of a burglary. While high-tech gadgets are very effective at boosting your home security, solutions don’t need to be complex or expensive. Some of the best ways to secure your home are the simplest. Even those security solutions that do involve alarms, cameras and sensors, needn’t cause you a headache. Read on to discover the simplest steps you can take to make your home secure.
Gravel surfaces
One of the simplest tricks to boost your home's security is to add gravel to your driveway and garden paths. Why? Because gravel is noisy. It’s hard to sneak around the exterior of someone’s home when the ground beneath you is crunching loudly. It’s not a foolproof way to keep burglars out or catch them in action, but when used alongside other simple measures, it certainly helps.
Maintain gates and fences
Most people who have a garden, also have gates and fences. So, it’s likely you already have the foundations for a secure home. But to be useful, fences need to be maintained. Panels that are falling down or rotten, won’t act as any sort of obstacle to burglars. Furthermore, a neglected exterior can be tempting if someone’s looking for an easy target. It not only makes it easier to sneak in around the back of your home but burglars may assume that your doors and windows are just as poorly maintained and easy to breach.
Cut back foliage
While it’s handy to have high, secure fences around the back of your home, that’s not necessarily the best solution for the front. While they can help to protect vehicles on a driveway, you may end up turning your home into a fortress and block natural light from your home. It can be better to have low fences or walls and keep your foliage trimmed, so that your front door is visible from the road. Although this could make your home more accessible to burglars, it can also be a good deterrent as there’s nowhere for an intruder to hide. They can be seen by your neighbours and anyone passing by.
Add lots of lights
Another simple way to secure the outside of your house is to install lighting. Even just an outside light near your front door and a few solar lights dotted around the garden will make it harder for burglars to go undetected. But you can improve your home security further by installing exterior lights with motion sensors. These will automatically turn on when someone moves within the path of the sensors, alerting you to a potential intruder. Security lights like these are also a good deterrent. You can get these professionally installed, so there’s no need to worry about wiring or positioning sensors.
Secure your doors
Even if you implement multiple measures outside your home, it won’t be secure without good front and back door locks. These are essential if you want to stop thieves from entering your home. There is a simple way to tell whether your locks offer a good level of security. Mortice and cylinder locks that are up-to-scratch should be stamped with the British Standard Kitemark and BS3621. If you’re getting new locks fitted you can ask your locksmith for advice or check what’s recommended by the Police or your insurance company.
Put things away
You can help to prevent break-ins and prevent the loss of valuables by simply putting things away. It sounds obvious, but this simple step can make a huge difference to your home’s security. Leaving ladders and tools accessible to burglars, just makes their life easier. Even outdoor furniture can be handy if a burglar needs something to stand on to reach a window. So, even if you don’t think the items lying around your garden are worth stealing, you should still put them away – preferably locked in your shed or garage.
But it’s not just the items outside. Leaving things like car keys, jewellery and expensive gadgets on show inside your home is just making them easy to grab. And if they’re visible from the window or door, you could be turning your home into a target for burglars.
Be part of your local community
One of the best ways to protect your home is to make friends with your neighbours. A closer relationship with those living around you can be beneficial. You’ll be able to ask them to keep an eye on your home when you’re not there and vice versa. You may even wish to go a step further and join your local neighbourhood watch. Membership can also give you access to discounts on security devices and systems, so it’s a win-win.
Don’t shy away from cameras and alarms
There’s a lot to be said for installing camera and alarm systems but the idea of this can be overwhelming and make you feel as though you need to be monitoring your home 24-7. This can make life stressful. But you can implement a system without needing to understand technology or spend time remotely watching your home by getting a professional installation done and leaving the monitoring up to them. There is a cost to this, but it’s one of the best and simplest ways to protect your home and have peace of mind.
No comments