A home is a place where we should feel safest.
When we come home from a long day of work, wrangling kids, or running errands, our houses should be safe havens from the rest of the world.
Protecting your home is not just about the safety of everyone who lives there, but also about preserving a significant financial investment and your personal possessions.
If you own a home in Utah, it is in your best interest to review the security measures in place.
Whether you head out on vacation, leave for work, or stay home all day, break-ins can happen at almost any time.
Often, the person breaking into a house is known by the owner.
Fortunately, you can be proactive in protecting your house with better security measures.
Here are seven steps to make your property more secure.
Update All Your Locks
This is especially true for new homebuyers.
If you recently purchased a home from another owner, part of the transaction likely included handing over the keys.
They are required to provide you with every copy of the key that exists, but sometimes things can slip their minds.
Maybe they gave a house key to a close family member or a friend.
If they forgot to recover the key and provide it to you, a stranger may now have access to your home.
This is why many homebuyers update the locks once they move in and get new keys.
This ensures that only brand-new keys can open your doors.
Install Automatic Timers for Lights
One of the simplest ways to deter would-be robbers is to keep the home well-lit.
Although it may not fool all potential criminals, and most break-ins occur during the day, many will avoid entering a home that appears occupied at night.
Automatic timers for lights ensure lights come on at night or while you are out of town, even if you forget to turn them on yourself.
This very simple addition could be the deterrence needed to change someone’s mind about breaking into your Utah home.
Consider Security Cameras
This is another great tool for deterring potential break-ins.
Even if a security camera is not currently on, its presence could prevent someone from taking risks on your property.
Nowadays, many smart cameras let you view disturbances right from your smartphone.
You can then assess the situation and alert emergency services if you see someone entering the house.
If you speak through the camera, you can even say that the person is being recorded, which may cause them to retreat.
Many smart devices improve home security, and cameras are a common deterrent for home robberies.
Add a Whole Home Alarm System
If you have serious concerns about home security, calling in the professionals can provide peace of mind with an advanced security system.
Someone who has undergone Utah burglar alarm system license training can install a network that makes your home so much safer from break-ins.
An advanced system will detect any attempts and trigger loud alarms, while notifying local law enforcement of the break-in.
Whole-home alarm systems are ideal defenses because criminals typically avoid drawing attention to themselves, so a dramatic response from this technology will quickly drive them off.
Use Motion Sensor Lights
As mentioned previously, lighting can deter some criminal activity.
When a house looks dark, it is more likely to be investigated by a potential robber, especially if you are away.
If the lights suddenly turn on as a burglar approaches the house, it can scare them off, as it could reveal their identity if there are security cameras.
Outdoor motion sensor lights are a simple and effective upgrade for protecting your home.
More advanced models may even be connected to surveillance cameras so you can be alerted if the light comes on while you are away.
Implement Property Barriers
A barrier is a great physical defense.
Anything that makes breaking into your house harder can be enough to change a criminal’s mind about trying.
If you live in an area of Utah with a high rate of robberies, consider installing a secure fence around your property.
If you are willing to invest heavily in this infrastructure, you can add an automatic or manual gate to the driveway and a full boundary wall.
This may seem like a drastic measure, but it offers advantages beyond added security.
It also enhances the property’s privacy, so you can feel safer about children playing in the yard.
Depending on the type of barrier, it can enhance curb appeal when it’s time to sell the house.
Improve Wifi Security
Physically breaking into a house is not the only way someone can disrupt your life due to security failures.
Most homeowners have Wi-Fi networks so they can access the internet anywhere on their property.
If you have wireless internet, this could be a channel through which someone may steal personal data from your devices and online accounts.
Strengthening Wi-Fi security can be as simple as choosing a password that is hard to guess.
Avoid using birthdays, anniversaries, email addresses, or addresses as passwords.
You can also invest in encryption for your Wi-Fi network, which will make it much more difficult to hack.
Do Not Underestimate the Impact of a Break-in
Most homeowners do not spend much time considering the risk of a break-in.
Perhaps you have changed the locks and ensured all windows close securely, and that is enough for your peace of mind.
However, if you live in an area where break-ins are common, some of these extra steps could save you from a terrifying experience.
Break-ins do not just affect your finances due to lost possessions. It can completely end your feeling of safety on your property.
Many homeowners who have experienced break-ins never feel safe again.
Prevention is the best strategy to avoid the trauma and aftermath of someone invading your private space.
Whether you install smart cameras, upgrade the lighting, or construct a barrier around the property, these measures can be enough to prevent most criminals from making any invasive attempts into your Utah home.
