Make sure your home is safe and secure

Making sure that your home is safe and secure is an important part of protecting yourself as well as your belongings. It’s actually pretty easy to protect your home, but quite often some of the most basic and simple preventative measures are overlooked.

Checking windows and doors are shut before you leave your house and before you go to bed is the first thing you should do. Burglars will look for easy access to your home and there’s no easier way to gain access to someones home than through an open window or door.

Replacing old windows for newer, safer ones is a good step to take. Falcon Installations offer replacement windows in South Wales that are impenetrable from the outside. All of their windows have high security features that are a major deterrent to intruders including:

• 5-point Saracen locking systems: dead bold, anti-lift bolts and pre-compression rollers
• Locking systems can withstand 1.5 tonnes of pressure
• Internally beaded, so the glazing units cannot be removed from the outside

Keep keys out of sight! It amazes me the amount of times I’ve heard of people leaving keys under mats, plant pots or even on a shelf right by the front door. You may think your keys are safe, but leaving them in view and in close proximity to your front door is never a good idea.

Getting an alarm and a security light installed is a great deterrent. My neighbour has a security light in their driveway which has a motion sensor on so if any movement is detected the light comes on.

Something my parents always used to do when we went on holiday was leave the lights on a timer. You can set them to come on at the same time each night and turn off at the same time in the morning or early hours.

A lot of homes on my road have open driveways, but having a gate at the end of your drive that can be shut and possibly locked is also a good idea.

Make sure that all of your doors and windows are locked. Shutting them isn’t enough. Some burglars are pretty brazen and will have no qualms in walking up your driveway to your front door to see if it’s open. It may look locked when shut, but it’s always best to lock doors and windows even if you’re home or in the garden.

Keeping valuables out of sight is important too. If you have laptops, tablets, phones, even jewellery that is valuable then keep it out of sight. You may even want to consider investing in a safe.

If you’re going to be away from your home for an especially long period time, I always like to ask someone I know to mow our lawn and pick up our post. Nothing says a home is empty better then an overgrown garden and post bulging out of your letterbox.

Keeping your home safe needn’t be a chore. These simple steps can help protect your home and your belongings. Be safe!