Your home is your safe space, your little cocoon from the world, so making sure it is safe is paramount. Keeping you, your family and your valuables secure in your bubble is not too difficult so long as you are vigilant. Follow our tips to make your home safe from intruders, animals, and dangers inside the home.
1. Sort Out Your Wiring
Incorrect or old wiring can be dangerous in your home. Having an outdated system such as old pushmatic circuit breakers can pose a huge risk so replacing them when needed is vital. Have a professional electrician assess the wiring and carry out any work that needs doing.
2. Check Your Gas Pipes
Damaged or corroded gas pipes must be fixed and replaced immediately if you spot any sign of a problem. Any dents, scrapes, or piercings can cause explosions and fires that impose a huge danger to your home and your loved ones inside.
3. Add Security cameras
Adding security cameras outside your house is a fantastic deterrent to any potential intruders. If someone can see that you are recording round-the-clock footage of your property they are less likely to try and break in. if you don’t have the budget for a full-scale camera set up, a Ring doorbell will do the job. You’ll be able to see who is coming and going and if your online shopping packages have arrived. It’s a great way to sneakily keep a tab on your younger kids too!
4. Upgrade Your Windows
If your windows are looking outdated and tired it would be prudent to have them restored or swap them out for new ones. If they look old and worn to you, they will look super appealing to a burglar or intruder. Having strong, double-glazed windows with proper locks is your safest option. Remember not to keep the keys in the locks and to hide them around the home.
5. Check Out Your Doors
Ditto your doors. A weak door to an intruder is like candy to a baby. Damaged or weather doors are easy to spot can be broken into easily. If you can, opt for a solid timber wood door, at least 44mm in thickness. A PVC door is also a great option, just ensure the inbuilt handle has a strong and secure lock. Composite doors are the best all-rounder as they are much up of composite on steel frames, so are usually the most structurally sound and hardest to damage.
6. Sort Your Locks
Double up your front door lock with a sliding chain lock so you can open the door just a couple of inches only it’s late at night. It will also serve as an additional barrier to any intruders. Add extra locks on your back door and make sure you have locks through the internal doors inside the house. Lock each individual room (except children’s bedrooms in case of a fire) where it is safe to do so to prevent any intruders from being able to move easily between rooms.
7. Clean Your Air Conditioning Vents
Vents can contain a plethora of nasties so keeping an eye on them is important. Any build-up in the ducts can cause you and your family to become sick, particularly if any of you have respiratory problems. Schedule regular cleaning to eliminate any bacteria, dust, and allergens.
8. Add Outdoor Lighting
Lighting up the outside of your home is a great way to prevent anyone from creeping around your yards. Keeping the area well-lit will make it hard for anyone to hide in the shadows. This is particularly important if you have lots of plants, trees, and shrubbery that make great hiding places. Reducing any dark areas will put off wannabe burglars.
9. Check Your Smoke alarms
House fires kill nearly 4000 Americans every year. Smoke and fire alarms save lives and are essential to every single home. Having one alarm will not do the trick, you’ll need an alarm on every floor, plus any rooms that are used for sleeping as smoke is sometimes hard to detect through closed doors. Even if you have plenty around your home it’s important to know they actually work. Test yours at least once a month to ensure they are in good working order as it may just save the lives of you and your loved ones.
10. Get A Safe
Being burgled is devastating but make it tougher on your intruders and you may prevent them from walking away with all of your prized possessions. Investing in a proper safe is a smart idea to keep your beloved belonging away from prying eyes and grabbing hands. Any spare cash should be kept in there obviously, but also hide away anything with sentimental value. Items that are left behind can easily become damaged during a robbery so sacred photos, old family heirlooms, and anything with personal value should be locked up too.
11. Create A Solid WiFi Password
Data theft is one of the biggest things to be stolen in 2021 so keeping your online information safe is vital. Make sure your home network is protected with a unique password that can’t be guessed and don’t give it out to anyone not living in the home. So long as someone is close to your property they can access your network if it’s not protected properly.
12. Take In Your Mail
It’s easy to feel lazy and leave your mailbox stuffed with takeout menus and junk pamphlets. Clear out your mailbox each morning so passers-by know you’re regularly in the property. Also, you don’t want to be leaving any important information such as credit card offers or cheques that might be in the mailbox.
13. Have A Safe Room
If you live in an area prone to storms, tornados or hurricanes it’s best to have a safe room. Ensure it is windowless and ideally underground like a basement room. Make sure you have it well stocked with medical supplies, non-perishable goods, spare clothes, and a radio. It’s better to be safe than sorry!
What are your top safety tips for in and around the home? Share in the comments!