DIY Home Security Tips
Keeping your house secure is easy and there are many ways to protect your home which don't break the bank.
Panther Protect - Guest Blog
28 January 2016
Oh to be a millionaire. Keeping your house secure is no problem: there are any number of gadgets out there that can make any home virtually impregnable to people who mean it harm. The thing is though, they come with a pricetag. How can the ordinary person who doesn’t have endless wads of cash to burn secure their home against burglary? Luckily there are options out there that can make a big difference in home security without breaking the bank.
Lighting
Leaving a porch light on all night can definitely illuminate the area, but whether it will deter burglary long term is debatable, and it can be a serious drain on your electricity use. An alternative, better solution is to install motion sensor lights. These clever lights come with a sensor which detects movement and turns the light on. Motion sensor kits are easy to procure and easy to install, and have the secondary benefit of acting as an alarm to alert someone inside when there is movement outside. Not only that, but if you’re coming home late one evening the light will sense your presence and illuminate the path for you. Not only are these a great security feature, but they’re a convenience as well.
Another less common but no less useful lighting security technique is lights that are on timers. When installed indoors, timers can be used to make lights come on and off at specified intervals. This is useful if you’re going on holiday for an extended period, as it can help give the illusion that someone is still at home and that the house is not a target. It’s also much more cost effective and environmentally friendly than leaving a light on at all times, not to mention more convincing.
Cameras
It may make you feel a bit like you’re living in big brother, but a security camera system is still one of the best ways to secure your home against theft that is still affordable. Security footage can be invaluable for catching the perpetrator of a crime, but even more valuable is their use as a deterrent.
Security cameras placed in prominent places are more effective than those that are hidden out of sight, as they can stop a burglary from ever occurring in the first place. Robbers are all about risk vs reward, so any measure that makes your home more of a risk than the one next to it is going to help them decide to move along.
Which is why some people don’t even bother with the other use for security cameras: surveillance. Dummy cameras are a popular item, costing less than a tenth of their working counterparts. But what’s the point of a surveillance camera that doesn’t survey? Like we mentioned earlier, stopping the crime before it occurs is better than catching the perpetrator, so though a dummy camera has no ability to take footage the potential robber doesn’t know that, and the device can have the same deterrent ability without the price tag. Dummy cameras can be had for as cheaply as ten dollars each.
Windows
For someone looking for a way inside, a window is a perfect entry point. However there are a bunch of ways to make them more secure.
Bars are the obvious place to start. Steel bars inserted into the window frame are an effective way to stop people entering via them. On the other hand, non removable bars can be a danger in the case of a fire. There are many more sophisticated options which make entry from the outside impossible, but which have provisions incorporated into their design to ensure in the event of an emergency they can be opened from the inside and escaped through.
Bars aren’t for everyone though. If you don’t want the feeling of living in a prison hanging over you, then mesh security screens are a viable alternative. Many companies provide mesh screens which are extremely tough: they aren’t just glorified fly screens.
If you don’t want anything permanently affixed to your windows, then at the very least blinds can be an effective security feature. Though they won’t do much to stop people getting inside, they can act as a deterrent by hiding the interior of your home and preventing people from seeing inside. Burglars often try to scope out what sort of items they could find in a house. If they have no idea what’s inside, they may give up on the home entirely. Again, this comes down to risk vs reward. Many burglars won’t take on the risk of breaking into a home if they have no idea of what’s inside and no guarantee of finding anything of value.
Putting it all Together
By themselves, these strategies might not be enough to prevent your home being broken into. However when used in conjunction with one another, these cheap, no fuss solutions can add up to be a powerful deterrent to burglars, intruders, and other people you rather stay on the other side of the fence.
These helpful tips were brought to you by Panther Protect.
