If you’re worried about burglars and thieves entering your home, you’ve probably considered installing a security system or two. However, state of the art security systems tend to be expensive and only marginally effective at protecting your home. The best protection from break-ins is hidden right under your nose. It’s all those obvious things that people neglect in their home’s security. Start from some of these and you’ll find the results to be more than satisfactory.
-
Keep potential entrances locked
It might seem like the most obvious piece of advice ever, but you would be surprised at how much this simple change can affect a home’s security. People don’t always check their windows and doors before going out. It’s sort of implied that they’ve probably locked everything and they don’t double-check in most situations.
When you head to a store that’s relatively close by, you probably won’t worry about a potential break-in or burglary. You wouldn’t even activate your security system. After all, it can’t possibly occur while you’re getting your groceries, right? Unfortunately, it most certainly can. Some thieves happen to be in the right place at the right time. Stealing valuables doesn’t take a lot of time, so you could end up without some important things in the blink of an eye. Make sure you double-check some obvious entrances before leaving the home, just in case.
First story windows are usually neglected since it wouldn’t make sense for a thief to enter through them, right? The bad news is that they would. Climbing to the first floor isn’t all that difficult, all you have to do is stack a few yard items and you’re good to go. Consider locking those windows as well.
-
Be smarter about hiding keys
It’s happened to everyone at least once. You dropped your keys somewhere and you can’t get inside of your home. To prevent this awkward situation from ever happening again, you might hide a key somewhere near your home’s entrance to have a Plan B in case you find yourself without a key. However, some of these hiding places are a little too obvious.
Avoid placing your keys anywhere that an average burglar could guess you would. Putting it under the doormat or inside of the closest flower pot is just asking to get robbed. An opportunistic burglar will gladly take the opportunity to search a few things here and there to avoid having to actually break or pick the lock. You’d best believe that they’d find a lazily concealed key.
Try giving your key to your neighbor instead. If they’re rarely at home, you can always resort to hiding your key in some of their flower pots. Nobody is going to think to look there. Plus, if someone finds it, they’ll never suspect that it’s the key to someone else’s house.
-
Update those locks
Today’s homeowners are unaware of how much the quality of their locks influences their chance of getting robbed. While it’s true that smart thieves will mostly go for unprotected homes, not every thief is going for the low-hanging fruit. Some will try their luck with a home that has rudimentary locks. With the average quality of a front door lock being pretty bad, stealing from a locked home is nearly as easy as stealing from a wide-open one.
Many older locks can easily be picked or bumped open with some simple tools. Even while you’re fast asleep in your own bed, someone could quietly pick a few locks and end up stealing your valuables. It might be necessary to take some extra precautions. While someone could pick your locks, there’s nothing they can do against a strong set of bolts attached to your door. These are only accessible from the inside and burglars can’t exactly break the door in half to enter quietly. It’s a pretty simple, yet effective way to prevent lockpicking thieves from entering your home.
-
Reinforce doors and windows
Even with a strong set of locks and safety mechanisms, you can’t rule out someone using brute force. While it may be unlikely that someone will try to directly break into your home during the night, daytime robberies aren’t out of the question. If your windows are flimsy or your doors aren’t perfectly secured, you could end up with a broken entrance and a lot of missing items.
Consider reinforcing a few of your weaker doors and windows. If you don’t mind the slight change in view, you could always install window security on the outside of your home’s windows. This makes it nearly impossible for someone to break in through a window unless they’ve brought industrial tools with them. Doors can’t have a cage around them like windows can, but you can always get a tougher door. A stronger material that’s made to be thicker will prove very difficult to break, even with some good burglary tools. It simply wouldn’t be worth the trouble of any thief.
Conclusion
Theft-proofing your home is a lot more complicated than just locking your doors when you leave home. Today’s thieves are clever and dedicated to their mission, which is why you need the same kind of dedication to protect your home. Consider some of these ideas for your home’s safety and you’re unlikely to have any thieves or burglars enter your home any time soon.