It’s amazing on overlocked home security is in North America, which in turns makes the vast majority of people extremely vulnerable to people looking to break into their homes. I’m not here to knock your local police department, but even the best will need a few minutes to respond to your house after you have alerted them and that’s if you even recognize the threat. There could be situations where you are not home when your house is broken into. Now I do realize there are many security systems out there but for most people they are too expensive even these days. Here are 5 easy ways to better secure your home without having to go to crazy extents.
Deadbolts
Deadbolts are not new technology; they have been around for decades and they simply work. Deadbolts are not fancy, or complicated and that’s the beauty of why they are so effective. A deadbolt lock can be only opened by a key or handle which is different from a spring bolt lock which uses a spring to hold the bolt in place. Spring bolt locks are susceptible to being defeated by applying force on the bolt which is not possible with a deadbolt. The best part about deadbolts, they are cheap in the world of home security with a decent lock costing about $35-40.
Get safety latches
Next to deadbolts, the next easiest and cheapest way to beef up your door is to add a safety latch to it. These are easy to install and use, as you just slide a latch over and you will easily add hundreds of pounds of resistance to the door making it much hard for someone to kick in the door. Obviously, these can only be used when you are inside the home but that could be the time you most need it anyway (i.e. sleeping).
Install Security Strikes on your door
Doors are probably the most targeted point of entry for break and enters so it’s the reason why I am covering them the most. You can take your existing door strike plate and just drill in 2 larger screws to replace the stock ones. However, the best way to do is this is to purchase a security strike plate which will offer 4 to 6 screw holes instead of the standard 2. They are also thicker in size and in combination with the screws require much more force to break through.
Setup motion activated lights
It’s no secret that many break and enters happen at night, because well it’s dark and the bad guys can conceal themselves in the darkness. A good way to take away their advantage is to away the darkness by lighting them up. Motion activated lights are especially handy because they light up the bad guy when they least expect it. You can find these for reasonable prices and if you want to get a bit fancy, you can splurge for the solar panel ones.
Keep spare keys safe
Believe it or not, many people hide a spare key to their home under the mat outside their door or the only rock right next to the door. I wish I was making this up, or exaggerating it but it’s a serious issue. For the love of god, do not hide the keys to your house in what is essentially plain view of anyone looking to gain entry. If you really need to hide a spare key to your house there are plenty of creative ways to do this such as hiding them in the garden, using fake rocks, etc.
Ben