Home Security Checklist: What You Need To Do To Protect Your Home
Whether you’re a homeowner or renter, you can take some simple measures to protect your home. Here’s a list of tips and tools that will help improve the overall safety of your home.
Improve your home’s exterior lighting.
Crime prevention is a big deal for many homeowners, and one of the most important things you can do is make sure your home’s exterior lighting is up to snuff. This includes ensuring all bulbs work, replacing burned-out ones, and upgrading any that are not bright enough to light up the area as much as possible.
Good exterior lighting is crucial for deterring criminals and can help you spot any suspicious activity around your home.
Lock all doors and windows.
Another simple crime prevention measure you can take is ensuring all doors and windows are locked whenever you leave your home unoccupied. This includes patio doors, garage doors, and windows that open onto balconies or fire escapes.
Similarly, make it a rule to lock all doors and windows before sleeping at night—and don’t forget to lock your car doors, too. Store valuables out of sight. Thieves are opportunists and will take advantage of the opportunity to steal anything they see lying around, so it’s best not to leave any valuable items unattended or visible from outside your home. This includes things like small electronics, large appliances, tools, and bicycles—even trash cans and recycling bins can be broken into if left outside overnight!
Upgrade to a security system.
You may think you’re safe because you live in a quiet neighborhood and your home is tucked away on a side street, but that doesn’t mean that the bad guys won’t find their way there. In fact, they probably will—that’s why they’re called bad guys! So, take steps to ensure they don’t rob and/or vandalize your house.
A security system is one of the most effective methods for protecting your property from intruders. It consists of an alarm panel connected wirelessly to sensors around the perimeter of your house, which trigger when someone breaches them (for example, by breaking through a window). When this happens, an alarm sounds inside and outside of the home and at local police stations or security companies so that authorities can come to check things out before it gets worse than just some broken glass.
Install a video doorbell.
A video doorbell is an easy and inexpensive way to see who is at the door from anywhere. You can see who’s knocking and talking through the intercom with a few taps on your phone. From there, you can decide if it’s safe enough to open the door or not. If not, simply send back a message through the intercom that says “no thanks” or “we aren’t home right now,” and they won’t even know they’ve been rejected.
It’s also nice because it comes with two-way communication, so whoever is at your door can hear what you are saying as well. This means that if someone comes by trying to sell something (which always happens where I live), I can just tell them, “No thanks! We don’t need anything today!”
Maintain your fire prevention system
Fire prevention systems save lives and protect your property. The fire department recommends installing a fire prevention system if you don’t have one, especially if you live in a multi-story home where smoke alarms may not be enough to keep you safe.
It is also essential to ensure that your system is functioning correctly at all times. Contact an electrician immediately if something doesn’t seem right or if you notice anything out of place. This could mean the difference between life and death! Here are some tips on maintaining your fire prevention system:
- Ensure that all smoke alarms are working by checking their batteries every month (make sure they’re working again after changing them).
- Replace them every six months as well.
- Test the batteries in your carbon monoxide alarm once per month.
- Check whether your fire extinguisher is working by spraying water around it or filling out any holes–if it’s not full of fluid yet, replace it immediately.
Conclusion
We hope this checklist helps you feel more confident in your ability to protect your home and family. Even if you don’t have all the items on this list, there are still some things that anyone can do to make their home safer. For example, locking all doors and windows before sleeping at night and installing a video doorbell or an alarm system will give you a lot of peace of mind—even if it doesn’t prevent an actual break-in, it will help police catch criminals faster than they could have otherwise.