Tag Archives: sensor lights

General Safety Issues

Securing Your Home While On Holiday (Guest Post)

1 Comment

 Note: With spring break coming up, these are excellent safety tips that we all should follow. pb

The last thing you want when relaxing on holiday is to be worried about the security of your home. As professional locksmiths, one of the most common questions we are asked is how best to secure a house when you are away. Here are our Top Seven Tips. 

1. Get a trusted person to house sit 

This is the ideal option as it ensures your house is not empty. Do you have a family member or friend who might like somewhere to stay for a few weeks? This is often a great option for young adults who still live at home or in share houses. They are responsible enough to care for a home and might appreciate a break from where they are living.

 For longer trips you can also consider professional house sitters. Agencies screen their candidates very carefully. You will pay a small fee and have the peace of mind knowing your house, garden, mail and pets are being cared for. 

If you do get someone to stay in your house, remember to tell the neighbours or your own family – anyone who might come past and get suspicious if they see a stranger entering or leaving your home! 

Tip: Keep close track of who you give keys to and write down some guidelines if you are using a friend / family member or house sitter for the first time. 

2. Don’t advertise the fact you are away 

The internet has become a place to share a lot of personal information. Please be mindful about how much you give away online. We would recommend never advertising on social media sites or public forums that you are going away. Of course you may email family or friends who need to know this information. But if you are posting the news anywhere that strangers can access the information, think twice. 

Tip: If you do want to share your holiday photos or news, do something simple such as implying you have someone staying in your house. This will minimise the chances of a stranger who might come across the information online ‘trying their luck’. 

3. Inform neighbours or close family / friends 

If you are lucky enough to have good neighbours, you probably already have asked or given favours in the past. Even neighbours you don’t know that well are usually happy to do basic tasks such as: 

  • take bins out and put them back
  • collect your mail
  • keep an eye on the house for any unusual occurrences 

They may even be happy to water the garden or feed a cat. If you don’t have neighbours you can ask to do this, consider asking a family member to stop by once every few days. And if this is not an option, you should put a stop to your mail – including any regular deliveries – so it doesn’t pile up. 

Tip: Put a No Junk Mail sign on your mail box so this doesn’t pile up while you are away. 

4. Inform Security Company or local authorities 

If you have an alarm system, let your security company know you will be away and contact details for a person close to home in case of an incident.  You may also like to inform local police (only for trips longer than a few weeks) especially if you live in a small town where you know they will keep an eye out.   Some neighbourhoods have a Neighbourhood Watch or similar community program. Find out if there is one in your area and contact them. 

Tip: You can place a sticker on your front window saying the house is protected by a security system even if it is not. Every small deterrent helps. 

5. Invest in a light switch timer 

One small and worthwhile investment is a light switch timer. You don’t want to leave all lights off the whole time, nor do you want lights running all through the night. 

Install a light switch timer in a few key rooms, as well as on a few outdoor lights. Set them to emulate normal living hours. Again, the aim is to provide a deterrent. Anything that will give a potential intruder enough reason to doubt their actions and move on. 

Tip: A sensor light is so simple and yet amazingly effective. Nobody wants to get caught in an unexpected flood of light. 

6. Check all locks, bolts and keys 

You can do this yourself or get your local locksmith to come and do a safety check and audit. This can include: 

  • ensuring deadbolts on all external access doors
  • checking window locks
  • reconciling your keys – if in doubt, it can be wise to get locks re-keyed to a master key system. This way you can be 100% certain nobody else has keys to your home and you control all keys that are cut. 

Tip: Make sure a family member, neighbour or friend has a key in case of any unusual event or emergency, but don’t leave one anywhere on your premises. 

7. Secure windows, sliding doors and other unusual entry points 

Not all entry points can be secured with deadlocks. But make sure there are no easy access points. Things to check and install include: 

  • place rods in the bottom of sliding doors so they can’t be forced open
  • place nails or bolts in window frames so windows only open a small amount
  • check padlocks to places such as sheds, garages etc to ensure they are secure
  • lock or seal any unusual entry points such as attics or cellars 

Tip: Screen doors and screens on windows are a way to provide an extra level of security and protection for your home. 

Author Bio: 

Jeremy works with Five Star Locksmiths (Melbourne). Five Star Locksmiths provide 24 hour locksmith services in Melbourne’s CBD and its suburbs. Jeremy writes content that provides value to the readers.

 

 

 

 

 

General Safety Issues

SIX WAYS TO PREVENT YOUR HOME FROM BECOMING A TARGET FOR THIEVES (GUEST POST)

1 Comment
By Bill Walter 
 
Some things in life can’t be controlled. If a tornado is coming towards your home you have to pray that it turns in the other direction and heads off down another street. When it rains so hard your roof feels like it’s about to collapse you have to hope the slates will keep as much water out as possible. All these things can’t be controlled and if Mother Nature wants to destroy your home you have to just sit there and hope there’s still something left by the time she stops. Then you have nasty thieves who want to destroy your home, but they want to do it in another way.
They want to smash your window, climb in and steal as much things as possible. It’s probably dirty drug addicts who want their next fix. They’ll come into your home and steal your TV, then hopefully they can sell it for a few bucks to buy some heroin. Those dirty people are only looking for one thing: an easy target. You don’t see many drug addicts climbing fences, cutting your electricity, and using sophisticated tools to open your door without leaving evidence. They just want an easy target and here’s how to make your home unattractive to them.
Make it painful
If you have shrubbery outside your home you should make sure it’s the jaggy kind. That way when they see it they will know they are going to be ripped to shreds if they decide to sneak through it. If it’s on the other side of your fence and they decide to jump over they are in for a nasty surprise. You won’t see many people break into someone’s home when they have blood pouring down their arms.
Get a higher fence
Small fences are not going to scare many people away. They will deter a small number of would-be thieves, but you need something a little higher if everyone is going to turn around and walk away. You don’t have to rip out the old one and build something much bigger, but just take it into consideration if you ever decide to replace it.
Let there be light
You want your home to light up like a Christmas tree whenever anyone approaches it. If it’s a friend they are going to appreciate the fact they don’t have to walk around in the dark, and if it’s a burglar they are going to turn around and start sprinting for their car. Unless someone is a really good ninja they are not going to get past motion detection lights.
Beware of the dog
This is obviously an old one and you do see lots of people with these already, but that’s because they work. Have a big sign on your garden fence that tells them you have a huge dog, even if you have a little one or none at all. Would you take the chance when you could just as easily look for another home to break into?
Let there be more light
This time you need to think about what’s happening inside your home. When someone is walking down the road and they spot all your lights off they will realize there’s no-one home. Now they just need to get in and out as fast as possible and they have themselves a new television. If they see lights on they won’t come and steal the TV while you’re watching it, so keep the lights turned on when it’s dark.
Have an alarm system
Everyone would benefit from an alarm system. It gives you some peace of mind when you go to sleep. It’s even better if you tell people you have an alarm, just so they don’t have the same peace of mind when they decide to break in. If they see a sign telling them the house is wired they won’t come near it.
 
Bill Walter has recently started writing home improvement topics and regards home security as the top most priority. Refer the mentioned link to get knowledge on best home security system.
General Safety Issues

BURGLAR REVEALS FOUR TIPS FOR HOME PROTECTION – Guest Post

Today’s guest writer is Kevin Raposo.  He has sent some very useful information that will help you protect your home and belongings.  Enjoy this article!

GUEST AUTHOR – KEVIN RAPOSO

Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a burglar? We got the chance to sit down with some burglary professionals and asked them. Here’s what we discovered:

A Tonka Truck left in the yard could invite a burglar to choose your home

Home burglaries may seem random in occurrence, but they actually involve a selection process. A burglar’s selection process is simple. Choose an unoccupied home with the easiest access, the greatest amount of cover, and with the best escape routes possible. Don’t have a burglar alarm? Here’s a list of suggestions that will help you minimize the risk of a home burglary, and also make your home unattractive to potential burglars.

Before picking a home, a burglar will scope out your entire neighborhood to get a better idea of what he’s working with. To do this he will usually walk around with a rake, or even go as far as dressing up as the cable or electric or phone repairman. “I’ll even post a flyer on your door to get a closer look into your home” says burglar professional Cliff T.

Here’s how to make your home less desirable to burglars

  • Tear down the privacy fences—these give a burglar excellent cover from neighbors.
  • Trim your bushes—Any sort of high vegetation, like trees or shrubbery, covering your windows allows a burglar to break them without being detected. Burglars prefer lots of cover.
  • Put away the Tonka Trucks and Strollers—Toys or playground equipment in your yard are signs that kids live there…which usually means a mother lives there…“cha-ching” that means JEWELRY.
  • Create the illusion that you are home. By using timers on lights, radios and TV’s. Making your residence appear occupied, even when no one is home, will deter the bad guys.

Here’s a shocking diary entry from a convicted burglar that gives you a more in depth view into the mind of a burglar, and how he targets a home.

Homeowners should be looking at their home with the eyes of a burglar. In other words, consider the location of the home from various angles. Is the home isolated or surrounded by other homes? Does it provide secluded nooks and dark corners for a burglar to hide in or escape from? Is the house adequately lit or relatively dark? Is there a security system? Burglars will look at these things when identifying potential targets.

Kevin Raposo is a writer for SimpliSafe-Live Safely, and can be contacted at kevin@simplisafe.com. He will be featured in upcoming articles.  Thanks so much, Kevin.  We need to pay attention to his advice.  Do what you can to follow his guidelines.  Another tip is to take pictures of all your appliances, furniture, and other items that may be taken in a robbery, or destroyed in a storm.  This will help your insurance company estimate the value of lost personal property.