What NOT to Do for Your Home Security
January 31st, 2017
It’s amazing how many home security blunders people make, despite the person thinking they’re following the guidelines perfectly. Even the most stringent of common sense approaches can fall down if you’re not prepared for an intruder, and a few seemingly innocuous things left out of place might be all an intruder needs to gain access to your home.
With that in mind, we’ve collected together the three primary ways you might be lacking – and not even know it! – in your approach to home security. Have a check through this list, cross off anything that doesn’t apply, and remedy all that do.
Testing doors and not locks
One of the easiest ways to gain access to a house is through the front door.
A lot of people rely solely on their large, thick, wooden doors, thinking they could withstand a missile hit. We’d wager a few of them even could, but a lot of people stop their security at the front door.
This is a dangerous way to think, because it’s not just how the door holds up but the lock as well. A lot of the old, thick doors have some fairly substandard locks – they’re liable to fall apart under an experienced hand. Some of the old models might have sturdy deadbolts, but the lock mechanisms aren’t complex enough to go up against a modern lockpick or an experienced lockpicker.
If you’re looking at your door, check the frame, door and lock before crossing it off the list. If one of them isn’t up to scratch, it should be the first thing you replace.
Leaving spare keys
If you’re the sort to leave a spare key out, by no circumstances should you leave it under a doormat or flowerpot. A doormat or a flowerpot might be a handy convenience tool, and you can even get ones with fake bottoms, but they’ll also be the first place a robber will check.
The most secure plan is to not leave keys outside of your possession or house at all, but some people still need an alternate way in. Under these circumstances, you should look into getting a magnetic lock-box for your keys, and hide it underneath or to the side of things that are awkward to reach, impossible to see, and that wouldn’t look out of place even when doing so. For example, attach a magnetic box to under the lip of a flowerpot instead of the bottom, or hide it inside the barbecue lid (just remove it before you end up with a cooked keyring).
On top of this, whenever you use your keys you should make pains to check that no neighbours or others can see you taking out or putting them back. If they do, it might be best not just to move them, but do away with the whole idea of spare keys for a while – if it’s been moved, they might just keep looking until they find the new spot. Persistence beats craftiness eventually, and they only need to get lucky once.
‘House Guarded by ____’ signs
Want to make a burglar’s day? Put up one of those signs saying that your home is guarded by whatever company you’ve used for your alarm system. You never, ever want to give somebody more information than they currently have.
A burglar will automatically assume a worst case scenario for most houses – after all, to succeed they have to enter your home, find something worth the risk of breaking in, and then get away. One mistake or one thing overlooked might mean that they do jail time, so most crooks will case a place out for days, weeks or even months beforehand.
For this reason, a burglar has to wonder about whether you have an alarm system, and if so, how to bypass it. What better gift for them than the exact type of alarm you’re using!
A burglar can find out a lot from a simple sticker. Your alarm company might have faults that you don’t know about, older models might have issues, and all alarm systems work slightly differently (this is done purposefully so that learning to bypass one doesn’t mean you can bypass them all).
By telling them the company, you tell them the first steps they’ll need to bypass your particular model. By the age of the sticker, they might be able to even make an educated guess as to the model type and weaknesses therein.
Take down those stickers immediately if you have them up. They’re great advertisement for your alarm company, but bad for your actual security.
If you wish to advertise to potential home breakers that you do have an alarm system, use a generic sticker that includes no business names or specifications.
Keeping your home safe
By making the right choices when it comes to home security, you’ll be making the best decisions to ensure your valuables and family are protected from intruders. And if you feel your home is in need of additional security from intruders, contact the experts at Commandex today.