Door Check-up! A Simple System for Ensuring Your Home Security
The front door is a home’s first line of defense. It needs to be sturdy, secure, and strong. Unfortunately, it is also a burglar’s favorite point of entry. Your security, their opportunity. A survey by the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors found that 34% of burglars prefer to enter via the front door, and some get in through unlocked ones.
Home security starts in your doorstep so there is no better time to check on your door security than now. Burglars don’t have all the time in the world and they definitely don’t have the patience, so much so that if they can’t pick the locks or kick the door open they’ll probably leave.
Reinforce door security and make them burglar-proof with these tips.
Start with plates and bolts
Improve the integrity of your door by replacing the deadbolt and strike plate. The strike plate is the metal piece secured into the door frame and where the deadbolt latch locks into the door frame. In most cases, the plate is capable of holding the door shut but it may not be strong enough to withstand forced entries. It is best to replace it with a stronger box strike model with longer screws and full metal enclosure where the deadbolt will latch into.
Don’t forget the door frame
To add a layer of security, reinforce the door frame and jamb. Some door frames would just split when forcefully kicked or taken down but with a deeper box strike and a galvanized steel attached to the frame, burglars will have a difficult time getting through. While you’re at it, make sure that your door is not made from some cheap or hollow material. For optimum door security, replace it with solid wood or even metal.
For sliding doors, make sure your door is made of reinforced glass or plastic, and not just plain glass. Always keep them locked and it would also help to place a wooden or metal dowel in the track. Consider metal grills too.
Guard your doors
Burglars are intimidated by security systems. A research involving convicted burglars as respondents found that 83% of offenders said they would attempt to find out if alarms, cameras, or surveillance equipment is installed before breaking in. Out of this number, 73% said they would retreat and seek another target. This establishes the correlation between home security systems and burglary.
Statistics further show that homes without a security system are 300% more likely to be broken into.
One basic security equipment to ensure safety of your property and loved ones is a motion detector. They can detect between human or pet or background temperature to reduce false alarms. Some models are also immune to flashes of lights so that they don’t go off every time a car flashes its headlights.
Wireless door sensors that have built-in shock sensors are also good accessories to beef up your home security system. These sensors will alert your main control panel if someone is trying to break down your door or someone goes off shattering your glass windows. These sensors will give you enough time to alert authorities and perform contingency measures. Apart from benefits to security, wireless door sensors can also warn you of fire, flood or high temperatures.
Installing a surveillance camera on entry points is also a counter measure against home break-ins. Security cameras do not only increase the chance of foiling break-in attempts but they also increase the chance of actually apprehending the criminals.
Let the light shine
Burglars like operating in the dark. They don’t like people watching. Turn them away by installing lighting on your doorsteps to improve the security of your home. Lights expose intruders and just the mere thought of being caught red-handed would scare burglars off. You can use lights controlled by timers so that they go on and off at desired times of the day even when you are away.
Make some noise
What scares off burglars even more than lights? Sounds. A deafening alarm that can potentially wake up anyone within a few kilometers will definitely make these burglars think twice about victimizing a home. One of the tips in ensuring home security is by using all available means to expose burglars and an alarm siren would do the job perfectly. Mount a siren near your front door and other entry points such as back door and garage so that when an intruder breaks in, the security system is alerted and a mammoth of a sound goes off. Pair it with strobe lights to expose the burglar even more.
Some homeowners think that burglary is something far-fetched. Of all the homes, why would they choose yours? But burglars attack in their own time, in their own terms. The least homeowners can do is to be prepared and intimidate criminals as much as they can. Increasing the integrity of doors, the first layer of security, is of supreme importance. Enhance door security by mounting security equipment that will turn burglars away.
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