Tips For Securing Your Home

These tips provide a good guideline for making your home more secure and keeping your family safer. Using this list, take some time to walk through your home and see what areas there are for improvement.

Doors & Windows

  • Exterior doors should be solid core. It is advisable to avoid doors with wood or glass panels;
  • All doors should have a secure fit with a solid frame;
  • Use safer door locks: a heavy-duty latch bolt with a dead lock, with panic-proof inside knob, and non-rusting exposed parts;
  • Add dead bolts to your doors. Look for a high quality, one-inch throw dead bolt;
  • Equip all of your windows with locks that are in working order and remember to secure basement windows;
  • Install wide-angle viewers for exterior doors;
  • Consider an alarm. There are many effective systems available today.

Read more: Panic-Proof Entry Lockset Information | eHow.com

Around Your Home

  • Make sure your house number is clearly displayed and visible from the street so that responding emergency services can find you;
  • Thieves do not like being visible. Have adequate exterior lighting and check for burned out bulbs regularly;
  • Landscape with security in mind. Avoid creating hiding places when you place trees, shrubs, plants and furniture near doors and walkways;
  • Chose a well-concealed hiding spot for your spare keys, and be aware of your surroundings when you hide and retrieve them;
  • Keep your garage as safe as you keep your home. Ensure that all doors into the garage are secure and locked at all times;
  • Lock yard tools, axes, hammers and shovels away in your shed or garage; they are effective tools thieves can use to break into your home;
  • Lock ladders inside or secure them to a non-moveable object to prevent thieves using them to gain entry to the second floor;
  • Ensure that you know and control who has keys to your home;
  • Install at least one smoke detector on each floor. Test them once every month and change the batteries every year to ensure they work properly in an emergency;
  • Plan fire escape routes with your family and practice drills.

While You Are Away

  • Always make your house look as though someone is home;
  • Place lights on timers when you are away;
  • Consider keeping a radio on for some ‘sound’ inside the house;
  • Do not leave notes in your door for friends or delivery people that says you are not at home;
  • Don't let your answering machine / voice mail or social network page (such as Facebook) message let people know you will be away;
  • While on vacation put a stop on mail and newspaper delivery or ask a neighbour to collect them;
  • Arrange for your lawn to be cut or snow shoveled;
  • Consider securing your home with Homewatch. Whether you are away for a day or several months, don’t leave your house to chance—leave it to Commissionaires. Our professionally trained staff will ensure that your home is secure and looks lived in as long as you are away.