I live in a lovely quiet village, but last month there was a spate of robberies in the village. Down the road, a couple of bikes were stolen from a shed. Another night tools were stolen from inside a van. A neighbour had his garage door left open. So it’s got both of us thinking about how we can safely secure our home. Our garage and drive is next to our house, but we don’t have visuals on it all the time, plus there is a public path down between our property and the garage. I’ve been reading up on a few tips on how we can make our home safe from intruders, here is what I’ve learned.
1. Keep an eye on your home
OK, so the obvious one is to keep an eye on your home. Invest in some kind of security camera system. You can get ones that connect up to your tablets and smartphones. This will need further research for us, if we want a camera for our garage area and drive due to the public path. But we could install motion sensor lights. Would-be burglars like the cover of darkness. I’m sure that would give the early morning dog walkers a fright when they walk past. So probably not an option as it would be going off all the time!
2. Front door security
You could have some type of biometric access control system installed on the front door, which uses facial recognition technology to allow access to your property. Such systems are now being used by many industries, including construction – to ensure access to building sites is safe and secure. But from a homeowner’s perspective, you’d have no key to lose, so no one can find it to gain access. This could work in combination with a smart video doorbell, so you can see and hear who may be at the door. Most of these are motion-activated, so you can see what’s happening on your doorstep even if they don’t ring the bell.
3. Alarm systems
Why not have an alarm system set up. Most often a visual alarm on the outside of your house is enough to deter burglars. This could be set up for your garage as well.
4. Keep windows and doors locked
It’s common sense really to keep your windows and doors locked when you go out. But even if you are at home it makes sense to keep your back door locked, I’ve heard of people working in pairs going around to houses and while one knocks on the front door to keep you busy, the other has jumped your garden back fence and in through the back door stealing valuables. If you have any broken locks get in touch with a professional like Danum locksmiths who can fix these for you and advise you on keeping your home safe and secure.
Other useful tips to safely secure your home
- Don’t leave valuables in sight
- Upgrade your window and door locks
- Look like you are home when you are not
- Plant prickly and thorny plants on your boundary
- Lock away garden valuables
- Safely store spare keys – not under the flowerpot or doormat!
Do you have any further ideas to safely secure your home? If so I’d love to read them in the comments.