4 Tips for Improving Security in Your Home

15 June 2016
 Categories: Construction & Contractors, Blog

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Keeping yourself, family and property safe is one of the most important roles you have as a homeowner. Household burglary is one of the most common crimes committed in Australia, and a weak security system in your home can make you especially prone to intrusion. As technology advances, burglars are finding more sophisticated ways of launching their attacks. For instance, you can easily find a video on YouTube that demonstrates how to pick locks. As such, it's important to update your home's security every so often to ensure you are adequately protected. Below are helpful tips to get you started.

1. Install robust locks

The first deterrent for an intruder is coming near you home and finding robust locking systems that will be hard to penetrate. Your locks will determine whether or not they can gain silent and easy entry and wreak havoc before leaving. There are a variety of locks in the market. Your best bet is to have more than just one lock in place. Deadbolts are a good idea to reinforce the normal cylinder locks.

However, the best method of securing your home is through keyless locking systems. These use either sensors to detect biological attributes like fingerprints or iris prints or have keypads where only those that know the code can gain access. While expensive, they are advantageous in that changing codes in case of suspected vulnerability is very easy.

2. Replace/rekey locks when necessary

As a homeowner, it's important to keep track of the people that have keys to your house. When installing the locks, have a professional locksmith make only as many copies as you need for members of your family, and ensure that they take care of those keys. Not everyone comes to your home with good intentions, so ensure keys are not kept where they can be accessed easily and copied without your knowledge.

If you suspect that your security could be breached (e.g. a disgruntled former employee goes away with a copy of your keys), you can get a locksmith to replace the lock or rekey (change the lock cylinder's configuration) to make any existing keys completely useless. Replacement and rekeying is also recommended when you move to a new place, since you cannot know how many people retain keys to your new home.

3. Have a working alarm system

You can install silent or audible alarm systems on all your potential entry points, which secures the whole house. While features like keyless entry are useful mostly for exterior entry points, the alarm system can be connected to all doors and windows in your house. When switched on, it has sensors that should be aligned at all times. If entry is attempted, the sensors will be misaligned and cause noise and send a signal to law enforcement.

4. Install metal bars on doors

Metal bars can offer one-sided and second-line protection against attempts to use force to break a door. Your doors to the exterior should be installed such that they open outward, rather than inward. This would make it difficult for someone trying to kick down the door or use a heavy object to knock it down to gain entry. Installing metal bars simply provides additional security to the door.