North Carolina Home Security Systems – Keep Your Family Protected

When your home is burglarized you suffer emotional and psychological damage, as much as you suffer financial hardship. There are some simple steps you can take on your own to prevent a burglary. More sophisticated measures such as installing alarms, deadbolt locks, and other devises may need the help of a professional to be installed properly. Fortunately, there are a number of well qualified North Carolina home security professionals you can call upon to help you secure your home.

The most important step in preventing burglaries is to make your home just too difficult for a burglar to waste their time trying to enter. Most burglaries are not random. In reality, a burglar is looking for certain characteristics in choosing their victims. These characteristics are a residence with easy access, with nobody home, an easy way to escape, and some cover so they cannot be seen. You will deter a burglary by arranging things at your home that fail to meet these characteristics. Simply put, make your home just too much trouble to try to break into.

Back doors and garage doors are the ports of entry into your home used most by burglars because they provide the best cover. You might think your unlocked car is safe if it is parked in your garage but it is not. You should lock the doors and not leave valuables in sight. The door between your garage and the inside of your house should be as secure as any outside door. Use a solid core or metal door at all entrance points, secured with a heavy-duty deadbolt lock with a one-inch throw bolt.

Burglars will often kick a door open. Use a four-screw, heavy-duty, high security strike plate installed with 3-inch wood screws. A burglar seeing this will most likely pass your house up in favor of an easier target. Sliding glass patio doors are particularly vulnerable. Sliding glass doors should have a secondary blocking device. It is important to keep the latch mechanism and rollers in good condition and properly adjusted. Use through-the-door pins or upper track screws. Put alarm, beware of dog, or neighborhood watch decals on the door.

Burglars love open windows. Windows, particularly first floor windows, should never be left open or unlocked. Install secondary blocking devices on even upper floor windows if they can be accessed by climbing a tree or balcony. Install a blocking device that won’t allow windows to be opened more than six inches. Check to make sure doors cannot be opened by reaching through a window.

Getting to know and working with your neighbors is a great way to fight crime. Arrange with your neighbors to have mail picked up, lawns mowed, and cars periodically parked in driveways when people are gone for extended periods. Keep an eye on each others properties and alert the police if you see anything suspicious. Make your home appear to be occupied even when it isn’t. Never hide your house key outside. Instead give a copy to a trusted neighbor.

Create the illusion that your house is occupied when you are away. Install light timers so your house is never dark. Also, install timers on your television or radio. Install exterior lighting as well. Have your entryways lighted. Many security experts suggest placing infra-red motion sensor lights on the rear of single family homes. Criminals want to operate under the cover of darkness, so use a good system of lighting to deter them.

The basic strategy of defending your home against burglars is making it an unattractive target. Many of the things discussed here can easily be done by yourself. The more complicated things, like properly installing alarms, doors, locks, and other devices should be done by professionals. There are many well-qualified and experienced North Carolina Home security monitoring firms who can help you make your home secure for you and your family. Find a Charlotte home security alarm expert today.