5 tips for how to keep your home secure
Our homes are supposed to be where we feel safest, but the fear of intruders can often keep you awake at night. These are some of our tips for how to keep your home secure, so you can sleep easy.
1. Ensure all doors and windows are locked
This may seem like an obvious answer, but it’s something that can easily be forgotten.
One way that you can start making your house safer is to actively check your doors and windows before going to bed and before leaving the house. Making this part of routines for both instances will decrease the chances of you accidentally forgetting to lock up fully, as it will be ingrained as a habit.
This is also essential for when you will be leaving the house for a long period of time, such as for a holiday. Not only will this keep your house more secure, it will also stop you from having the pre-travel panic that you forgot something.
2. Change your locks
Changing your locks can feel like a hassle, but it has long term benefits for the short term inconvenience. Two of the most important times to change your locks is when you move home and if you happen to lose a house key. Although these might feel like actions to take purely for peace of mind, it is possible that someone could easily access your property from a rogue or spare cut key.
This could also be a useful change to make if you start noticing difficulty in locking or unlocking your doors. Not only would this make it harder for intruders to enter your home, it could also make it easier for you through not having to struggle with it each time you turn the key.
3. Motion sensing lights
Not everyone wants or can afford security cameras for their homes, but that doesn’t mean that security procedures can’t be put in place to scare off potential intruders. Motion sensing lights are a great way to do this, as they make people more easily identifiable during the night, as well as alerting people to movement outside.
This could get frustrating if there are a lot of nocturnal cats or wild animals in the area, but the benefits much outweigh the costs on this one.
These motion sensing lights could also be to your advantage, as they can light the way for when you are coming home at night, making it much easier to get in safely.
4. Replace broken windows and doors
Again, this seems like a fairly obvious solution. Any doors or windows that may be broken in your home is an easier access point for potential intruders. This could mean anything from broken glass to broken locks that remain open.
This can be done via your local glazier if there is a broken window pane, and most glaziers will have an emergency service to help get your house secure as quickly as possible.
If the locks are the issue, most of the time you can just change the locks as discussed above, but sometimes you will need to change the door or window entirely if there is damage to the frame or the door itself.
5. Change your doors and windows entirely
Changing your doors and windows could be a great way to update the appearance of your home as well as increase its security measures. New doors are likely to be stronger than your old one just through the wear and tear your old one received. This isn’t all you can do, however.
Some doors are fitted out with extra security devices that can help stop intruders and keep your house secure, as well as being stylish and energy-efficient. For example, Solidor doors engage a hidden lock feature when it detects tampering on the door, and Door-Stop doors include locks that can be upgraded for extra security.
Check out our page on these composite doors for more information.
If you have a door or window that needs changing or need more advice on how to keep your home secure, contact a member of the team or set up a video call appointment via our website.
Posted: July 6, 2020