We all want to keep our homes as secure as possible, and luckily for us, these days there are lots of steps we can take to reduce the threat of intruders. To help you protect your property and belongings, I’ve put together five tips on improving home security.
1. Outdoor lights
One of the best ways to put any thief off from entering your garden is to have bright lights fitted to the outside of your property. These work by turning on as soon as they detect any motion in the area. So, if someone should enter your garden, they will switch on.
While they unfortunately won’t be able to signal that there is an intruder, this spotlight could be a deterrent for many burglars. They might run away as soon as the light comes on to avoid anyone from seeing them. Or, if it happens late at night, the sudden brightness could cause you to pay attention to what is going on outside and call the police if you see anything suspicious.
2. Good-quality locks
Gardens are, by their nature, open areas, and if someone can climb over a fence, they will more than likely be able to enter your yard one way or another. There are ways to put them off though, such as having a locked entrance door. Typically, these are bolted shut, enabling people on both sides of the door to open them.
If you’re really keen to keep intruders out though, it is worth investing in a more secure lock so it can only be opened from inside the garden with a key. You could also make sure the lock on your garage is of a high quality, as burglars might try to find a way into your garden through your outdoor storage.
Houses with keen DIY and horticultural enthusiasts tend to keep a lot of valuable items in their garages, such as tools and gardening equipment, so, I’m sure, you will want to keep these as protected as possible as well. It might even be worth investing in another cheap metal shed where you place those things you need easy access to on a regular basis, and put your precious and expensive items in your highly-secure garage.
3. Light timers
If a thief thinks there is someone in the house, they are less likely to go near it as they don’t want to be spotted. So, why don’t you just pretend you’re inside your home, even when you’re not? By using timers on some of your internal light switches, lights in certain rooms will turn on at the time you indicate. This will make it appear as though there is still activity going on inside the house, putting off any potential burglar.
This is one of my favourite security options when going on holiday for a week or two, as if it looks as though your home is empty for long periods of time, this could be read as an open invitation to enter your garden and possibly your house as well.
4. Natural deterrents
One thing I love about gardens is there are so many options when it comes to creating natural deterrents. The green-fingered among you will know nature uses its own defence mechanisms – and you can take advantage of this!
Growing plants that are covered in thorns will put anyone off climbing over a fence and falling into a prickly bush. Look out for creeping juniper, holly bushes, firethorn, roses and blackthorns, as these all have prickly branches or stems. These will certainly deter any burglars if they’ve looked around your garden before making the jump over your fence.
Prickly ash is another popular choice, as its branches are covered with sharp spines that are painful to touch. They can grow tall too, which may tempt burglars to use them to rest on when pulling themselves over into your garden. This will, undoubtedly, prove to be a sore mistake!
5. Alarms
When most people think of alarms, they think of ones you can fit inside your home. Well, there are external models as well, and driveway alarms can prove very effective at persuading any intruders from not entering your private property.
These detectors can be placed in a number of locations, particularly entrance points such as your driveway and garden. Much like other forms of security alarms, once they detect something moving in the area after they have been switched on, they will sound. It could take just a couple of notes of your alarm before the burglar goes fleeing down the street!
