When people think of home security, they are inclined to think of electronic surveillance systems. However, there are other methods to protect yourself and your family from harm and burglars. I will give you my top ten tips for home security.

1] Windows are really the key to home security. Window-stays become loose or sloppy as they get older and now and then you can get a window-stay to jump off its peg by thumping the outside window frame. Fit window stay locks

2] Doors must be robust, well-hung on solid hinges and have secure locks. Fit deadlocks, especially on external doors.

3] Extra keys should not be hidden near the door under a mat, a flower pot or a rock. If you want to leave a key with a neighbour, select the neighbour carefully. Be cautious of those with teenage kids, their friends may become aware that the spare key in the fruit bowl is to your house.

4] Tools that can help a burglar must be locked away. Keep your shed and garage doors locked and if you have a ladder, chain and lock it to a fixed point like a wall.

5] Dogs are helpful for home security, but they should not be relied on. Some thieves will poison a dog to get in. If you leave your dog in the house, get a box to fit inside your door to collect whatever comes in, lock the letter box closed or seal it off permanently. If you leave the dog in the yard, try to get a neighbour to check up on it from time to time.

6] Plants and bushes should not be allowed to grow large enough to obstruct anyone’s view of windows and doors. Passers-by and ‘nosy neighbours’ are a big disincentive to burglars, but if no one can see a ground floor widow, the burglar can gain access unnoticed. if you do want bushes under your windows, make them tough, thorny ones.

7] Boundary walls or fences are your first line of defense. They can be a good deterrent, if you get the design right. Some people embed broken glass into the top of the wall, but this can be against the law and can hurt unsuspecting cats. The best thing to do is nail carpet-gripper just below the top, inside edge of the wall. Anyone putting their hands over the wall to pull themselves up will get a very nasty shock and leave DNA.

8] Valuables should not be put on show near windows. Your house is your home not a presentation case. Put your TV, DVD player and video recorder in a cabinet, maybe get a safe for your valuables and conceal that too.

9] External lighting is a key part of nocturnal security. Get garden lights that are activated by motion (microwave) or heat (passive infra red), put at least one on each external wall of your house.

10] Electronic surveillance systems are a necessity these days. You do not need cameras, but they are helpful for identifying intruders. Your home security system can be wired or wireless, monitored or not.

These top ten home security tips should prevent your home from becoming an easy target for burglars.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with wired home security systems. If you are interested in Security Systems For Home Use, please click through to our site.

Home security is a mammoth issue, but this is nothing new – it always has been an issue for parents and home owners. The problem is that family structure has altered. Not so long ago, people had much larger families and mothers or grandmothers were at home to look after the kids. With six, eight or even ten kids in a family, the house was never empty so burglars did not have a lot of opportunity. There was more social cohesion too, so criminals were loath to steal from their neighbours. So they attacked shops instead.

However, shops and other businesses started using electronic burglar alarms as the prices came down. These security systems were so effective that burglars turned to stealing from people’s homes, which is made easier by the fact that the kids are in school and the parents are at work all day. American federal statistics show that domestic burglaries are up almost ten percent since 2004. So, what can you do to deter a burglar?

If your residence is left unoccupied for a large part of the day because your children are at school, nursery or a baby-sitters’ and you are at work, consider getting some home help or joining a neighbourhood watch scheme. If you had a cleaner coming and going, it would afford some activity to discourage thieves.

Becoming a member of a neighbourhood watch would convey to your neighbours that you are worried about security and they will keep an eye on your home while you are out. Get your self a dog too, although be conscious that they can be easily poisoned, if the crook has access to them..

Fit an electronic surveillance system. This could be a monitored or tape set-up. Monitored is the best. An added bonus to a surveillance set-up is that you can be certain what your baby sitter gets up to while you are out too. You can turn it off when you yourself are at home or just leave the outside cameras on.

Another additional benefit with a home security system is that you can get a panic button connected to the system’s main external siren and strobe light. If you are set upon or worried, you can activate the alarm by pushing a button on a device that you can wear around your neck. They can also be built into watches and brooches. These personal panic buttons are useful for the elderly and single women providing peace of mind to those living alone.

A monitored surveillance system will also warn you if your house catches fire while you are asleep or out or if someone is prowling around your backyard. Often the operator of the system will phone the emergency services as well after they have alerted you.

A good surveillance system can be used as a bargaining chip with your insurance broker to gain some hefty discounts on your premium. If you have a small business that you operate from home, you may be able to off-set some or all of the costs against your business too and a good home surveillance system can increase the selling price of your house, because it makes it that one step more complete, like having uPVC doors and windows and a timber deck.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with home security systems comparison. If you are interested in Security Systems For Home Use, please click through to our site.

In all likelihood, every home and every business would benefit from the security of a panic alarm. Breaks-in are common enough, but with people living longer the chances of stroke or heart attack have risen too. If you were living alone it would be dreadful to be lying on the ground incapacitated for hours. Panic alarms are the answer. They can be sited in a handy location or worn around your neck.

These are not the kind of personal alarms that emit a high pitched whistle or siren sound. Those alarms are meant to discourage criminals on the street or to draw attention to the user. No, I mean a gadget that triggers your home security system. it does not create a noise of its own, but communicates with the main security control box by some type of radio signal.

Some of these panic alarms do not activate the main security siren, but instead send a message to a monitoring security company. These so-called silent panic alarms are most often used in banks, firearms shops and places that deal with lots of cash. However, any business could use a silent panic alarm. Household alarm systems usually trigger the external siren in order to signal your neighbours that you are having problems.

Panic buttons are particularly helpful to the elderly or and infirm. Sometimes, people fall and cannot get up. You could also have a heart attack or stroke and not be able to make it to the phone. A panic button on a ribbon around your neck would resolve this problem. Some of these panic buttons are monitored too and others even have a microphone and speaker so that you can speak to an operator and explain your predicament.

Some of these panic buttons have a keypad so that you can transmit codes to the operator. Other systems have been built into watches and brooches in order to make them easier to carry. If you wear your panic alarm, it is far less easy to forget to take it with you when you go upstairs or into the garden.

If you can afford security, you really ought to have a system, as good as you can afford, installed into your home and business. A panic alarm is a useful extra item for home and office use too, but it is especially reassuring to the elderly. Many older people are frightened of falling when they are in the house alone and fear of burglars or worse is a constant worry. A panic alarm linked to the main home siren is also a comfort to women living alone.

If you do get a home security alarm with a panic button, make sure that you keep a standby battery near at hand and check that the battery in the device has not become exhausted. You should also advise the neighbours you get on best with that you have a home security system and that they should come to your aid or phone the police, if they hear your home security siren and see the flashing light.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with home security systems comparison. If you are interested in Security Systems For Home Use, please click through to our site.

Security is an essential aspect of life, but then it always has been. It is normal for parents to do their best to take care of their families and it is normal and even a legal requirement for an employer to ensure the safety of his or her staff. Part of the way we carry out these tasks is to secure the environment in which we live and work – our homes and our offices or other places of work.

A good security system for our homes and businesses is usually an electronic system. Windows and doors – ie possible entry points – will be monitored by sensors. In order to maintain an operational security system, it is necessary to use a frequently changed password system. In a home the keypad will usually be numeric only, but you should change the password at least every month and possibly even every week.

For example, if you have teenage children or older, they will be bringing friends back. These friends will be able to see you child entering the password. This can be even more serious if the person is a boyfriend or girlfriend who subsequently gets dumped.

Similarly in an office or other place of work, it is a good idea to have pass cards that can be canceled if the employee leaves the company. A lot of harm is caused every year to material goods by disgruntled ex-employees and old boy- and girlfriends.

You can help passers-by and police by leaving some light on inside your building. Frequent passers-by, neighbours and police will get accustomed to seeing lights on, so if a burglar switches them off, they will become suspicious.

Prowlers do not like light. Similarly, do not let bushes, shrubs or trees hide possible entry points. Keep them trimmed back so that people can see any doubtful activity. You would be astonished how many people just sit in their windows all day watching.

Outdoor security lighting is an outstanding way of deterring intruders at night. Set up a few solar garden lights that are switched on by passive infra red motion sensors and they will be cheap to run. The good thing about them is that they do not proclaim their presence to the would be burglar, but they will catch him or her in a floodlight when he enters your property.

Another tip is to nail carpet gripper just under the top edge on the inside of your garden fence. Anyone trying to haul himself up over your fence will have a very horrible surprise and leave DNA for the police.

If your business or home has an open door policy in order to allow clients or your kids to walk in, install doorbells or chimes that are triggered by under carpet sensors, door sensors or PIR’s, so that employees or family can not be caught by surprise. It is very useful, because if your busy secretary doubles as a meeter of walk-in clients, it will guarantee that she does not miss anybody or keeps anybody waiting.

Owen Jones, the writer of this writer, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with home security systems comparison. If you are interested in Security Systems For Home Use, please click through to our site.