How To Keep Burglars at Bay When You Go on Vacation
Amid all the excitement (and occasional chaos!) that typically occurs in the weeks and days leading up to a vacation, it can be easy to forget about what you’re leaving behind: your home and your treasured possessions. Burglaries and trespassing may be a long way from your thoughts, but in truth, your home is at its most vulnerable when it’s empty.
To help protect your home and its contents while you’re sunning yourself on a beach somewhere, check out the following tips and advice to keep burglars at bay:
Check every door
Doors that don’t close properly, have rusty hinges or are faulty in any way, should be checked and replaced or repaired where necessary. Remember that a lock is only as secure as the door it’s attached to, and if burglars can bypass the lock by simply removing the door; job done as far as they’re concerned!
Check how secure your garage is
Even if your garage doesn’t have entry into your home, it should still be made as secure as possible. A burglar who can easily get inside your garage, might assume that the security of your home is just as weak, and make attempts to get inside and burgle it. Not only that, but if you store tools inside your garage, they can steal those and use them to get inside your home.
Check that the garage door itself, and any adjoining doors are securely locked (ideally with a deadbolt or other such high security lock), and make sure that all windows are blocked to prevent burglars from seeing what’s inside. Then, have your local garage door specialist or licensed locksmith assess the locks on your garage door, and its opening and closing mechanism, to make sure it isn’t faulty.
If the locksmith is going to visit your home, why not have them assess the overall security of your home before you go away, to give you peace of mind?
Strengthen all of your windows
Check your windows for cracks, rusty hinges and weak frames, as windows are often an easy route into someone’s home for a burglar. Security bars can be installed to strengthen their security, and your local locksmith can better advise you on this.
Install motion sensing lights
These are a cost-effective and simple to install deterrent for burglars, and light up chosen areas of your home (the front entrance, for example) when movement passes in front of them.
Consider adding CCTV cameras
Not only can CCTV footage help you catch burglars in the act, but they can actually act as a deterrent, too, as most burglars will pass by a property protected by security cameras; the risk is simply to great.
Install an alarm system
Set to call the local police should they be triggered; alarm systems are a relatively inexpensive way of keeping your home safe while you’re away.
There’s nothing worse than returning from a fantastic vacation, to discover that burglars have ransacked your home in your absence. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you by following the above advice, and consulting with your local licensed locksmith should you have any concerns or questions about keeping your home safe while you’re away.
