Clever Ways to Safety Proof Your Home

There’s no doubt that we should all be taking extra security measures to keep our home, family, and belongings safe from intruders.  But, that doesn’t mean you have to build a secret panic room or install a barb wire fence around the perimeter of your home.  In fact, that may even suggest to possible intruders that you do have something valuable inside which may be worth the risk of break in.  Intruders are clever and in order for you to successfully safety proof your home, you have to be just as clever.  Your additional home security measures should be as inconspicuous as the intruder themselves.

Here are 8 clever ways to safety proof your home from intruders:

1. First things first, having a good well lit exterior light or a motion sensor light at the main entry doors, front, back, and or side doors is crucial.  If the light switches on while an intruder is lurking around, it will act as an alert that something is going on outside. Whether you’re home or not, the motion light will very much act as a deterrent.
2. Avoid having your expensive goods out on display for anyone to see from the outside. Park your vehicles in a closed garage if you are able to and if you recently bought a laptop or flat screen TV, you might not want to have the cardboard box sitting outside on the curb, letting everyone know you have something shiny and new for them to snatch.
3. Did you know 34% of intruders would enter your home through the front door and 22% of intruders will enter through the back door.  With that being said, deadbolt your doors.  If your doors and windows have been acting up lately and are no longer closing and locking properly, it’s probably time you have them replaced or repaired to say the least.  Without secure doors and windows, your home is completely vulnerable to intruders.
4. Secure your sliding back doors with a rod in the track frame.  A wooden rod or curtain dowel will do the trick. This will keep them from being able to slide the door open should they of managed to release the locking mechanism on the door.
5. Make sure your garden landscape doesn’t provide convenient bushes and shrubs for intruders to hide in.  Keep them well manicured and avoid planting them around your front and back doors.  If your green thumb just can’t resist the urge to plant something near the windows and doors, plant the kind of bushes that could deter anyone away: thorny with spikes!
6. Make sure your house looks lived in when you’re away for longer periods of time.  That means the newspaper and mail is being collected and cleared from your porch, the driveway is being shoveled, and  there is movement happening each day.  This is where friendly neighbours come in handy.  You can help eachother out to keep the neighbourhood safe.
7. Consider installing a garage timer.  The garage is an area that’s easily and more commonly forgotten about.  Perhaps you were distracted on your way out or you children forgot to close it behind them, it happens.  A garage timer can be set to close on it’s own if it is left open for a certain period of time, eliminating the risk and giving you the peace of mind if you’re ever double guessing whether or not you remembered to close the garage door this morning.  
8. Take your name off your mailbox and keep your home phone ringer on low.  This might sound odd until it’s explained to you.  Nowadays, it’s quite easy to get anyone’s home phone number online.  A trick intruders will use to find out whether or not you’re home is by calling your home phone and listening for the phone ringing.  If it goes unanswered, they will like move onto the next steps to get into your home.  It is less likely an intruder will want to encounter a resident during a break in.

In addition to these easy and inexpensive tips, consider installing safety and security window films on  windows that are close to door handles, or any windows that you think are especially vulnerable. What it does is it makes glass much tougher to smash, and frustrates intruders by making them hit it again and again, thus also creating more of a ruckus for nearby people to spot what’s going on.  It’s an upgrade you can ask your window installer about for slightly more of a cost however, it certainly is a very effective option.

Another option that may cost you slightly more however, is certainly worth the investment and added peace of mind for your home is an alarm or doorbell that you can control from your cell phone while you’re away on vacation or even just at work for the day. Some models, like the Ring doorbell, even allow you to have remote live video so you can see your home and speak to the person at your door anywhere from your smartphone.

If an intruder does manage to get into your home, beat them to the treasure hunt.  Try not to have your electronics, valuables, and your grandma’s precious jewels laying out on a silver platter for them to take.  Also try not to hide them in an obvious place, everyone knows about the secret sock drawer or the invisible nook in your closet.  Try hiding jewelry in a hollowed out book on the shelf.

Remember, these tips aren’t foolproof, dishonest people in a moment of desperation are hard to deter no matter what the circumstances are.  If there’s one thing you can be certain of is they will always choose the path of least resistance. They typically would want to avoid an encounter with the resident of the home.  By taking the necessary precautions and following the tips in this article, you might create enough resistance that the intruders path may not lead to your front door.