Adding to your home’s safety!

There are small steps you can take toward increasing the safety of your home for you and your family. Invest in a few minor do-it-yourself projects and you can rest easier at night knowing your family is safe from various hazards.

Lighting

The most surprising way to make your home a safer place is one of the simplest: lighting. When people think of how to fortify their homes against accidents and outside forces they often go straight to the notion of locks and security systems, which do serve an important purpose, but sometimes overlook one of the most effective and easiest additions to making sure they are protected from break-ins and other suspicious activity.

Most everyone has some form of outside lighting, such as an overhead light on their porch or above their doorway, but few people go beyond this simple measure when just a little more effort can make a big difference. 

Homes that appear dark and unwatched are more appealing to potential criminals. They may be able to approach a home unseen and use the cover of darkness to go without notice. Alarm from neighbors is often one of the first possibilities they check when deciding on which homes to target. This is even truer if your home is not situated at the front of a street in clear view of others and instead sets back from the main flow of traffic in the area or in areas where neighbors are often away or spread far apart.

Homeowners would be wise to brighten up not only their doorway but their yard at night; walkway lighting along the path can be installed by the owner as simple as the addition of planting stake-style single lights along the path. These can be found, in an energy saving variety, as solar-powered lights as well as those plugged into the house itself, while the house-reliant version can be set on a timer to conserve energy if the owner prefers.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Many homes and apartments come with smoke detectors built in. Are there enough to adequately cover your entire home? You want to know of a fire as early as possible and if your smoke detector is in another room, it could take longer to gather enough smoke to make it go off.

Does your home have carbon monoxide detection? Are you checking and changing batteries on a regular basis? It is a good idea to do a test run every few months to make sure everything is in working order. You also want to consider the manufacturer. Crossfire smoke alarms, for example, have a lifetime replacement guarantee, 3 ways of detecting and self-diagnostics built in. Paying a little more attention to quality will pay off in the long haul.

Home Alarms

Installing—or having installed—a home alarm system can work in tandem with outdoor lighting. A study published by the Electronic Security Association (ESA) indicated that around 83% of burglars would try to see if a home they were considering breaking into had an alarm system. So, just having one alone decreases your risk. You can opt for an expensive state of the art one, or even just an affordable one. Do not just assume your neighbors will report “suspicious” activity.

You can improve your home’s safety while adding to its curb appeal. Lighting can accent your home. Smoke detectors come in sleek designs. Even security systems make your home look pristine and cared for.