How to Defend your Home against Burglaries

Burglaries are serious felonies and they can leave your home as well as your life in ruins. Responsible behavior is crucial for self-protection, but it's not always enough. Here are some useful tips on how to effectively protect your house or apartment from being burglarized.

Elementary Precautions

First of all, never leave your key hidden in ''secret places''. That’s because there are no secret or safe places when it comes to hiding your key. It's ridiculous to think that the burglar isn’t aware of that. So, if you have to leave your key somewhere and not carry it with yourself, then leave it with a neighbor you can trust. You can pay them back by returning the favor.

Make sure that your garage door is always closed and locked. An open garage door is a unique display of everything inside and the burglars see it as an invitation to your home.

Ask your neighbor to pick up any of your mail that piles up. A loaded mailbox is a sure sign that you have been away for a while. The burglar's first choice is always a vacant house, so don't help them out by giving away signs of your absence.

Changing Locks and Codes

When moving into a new house always change the locks and codes of burglar alarms. You can never know how many keys have been made and who has them, regardless of what the previous owners tell you. It's a rare case, especially with older households. Change the lock when you lose the key as well, especially if it was stolen. Changing the codes and passwords to burglar alarms is crucial. It won't do you any good if a potential burglar knows the code.

Deception

Make the impression that you’re home even when you’re not. This can be done by using timers for turning on the lights, the radio, or perhaps the TV. This method is great for fooling a burglar who observes the house before he attempts to break in. They won't be sure if there is anyone in or not. This method can also be combined with a burglar alarm. If a burglar decides to observe a house for a longer time period they may realize you are using a timer, and when they break in the alarm will go off.

Warning Signs and Messages

Don’t leave messages on your front door. Many people like to write ''I'll be back around noon'', and they give information to potential burglars and make their job a lot easier since they now know how much time they have at their disposal. A clever thing to do is to place a warning sing regarding a burglar alarm even if you don’t have one. If you live in a house, place a ''beware of the dog'' sign on your gate, even if you don’t have a dog.

Safety Doors

Make sure that unsupervised doors and windows remain closed and locked even when you're inside. It often happens that you're upstairs while burglars roam freely on the ground floor. Also, install safety doors instead of regular ones. Entrance doors are a crucial element in protecting your home from being burglarized. Safety doors are not only fireproof and sound proof but are also harder to break through. Now that you know all the important details and precautions regarding burglary, you can enjoy the safety of your home.

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Author bio:

Diana Smith is a passionate home improvement blogger. She is interested in home decoration related topics like how to decorate home on the small budget, how to choose the right front door, feng shui, etc. Diana loves to see her readers getting useful information from her articles.