If there’s anywhere you deserve to feel safe and protected, it’s in your family home. Unfortunately, just because we bring our family to live in a particular house, it doesn’t automatically mean that property is as secure as it could be.
For this reason, it’s good to think of a few different variables, depending on the property you live in, that can be controlled in order to increase security. On top of that, it’s important to balance security with utility and ease of living, because while the idea of digging a moat filled with sharks around your household sounds quite cool, it’s not going to be very practical, and your neighbours might complain.
Moreover, sometimes it’s not just the physical but also the social and perceptive measures of safety that help you more than anything else. In this post, we hope to discuss all of them, so you never feel as though you have to take your safety for granted in the one household you deserve to feel secure in.
Lighting Is A Great Tool
The perceptive measures mentioned above are best expressed through visual measures that show your household, and your property is not a worthwhile target for thieves. For instance, a strong gate, a warning sign if you have a big dog (or perhaps putting a sign up like this if you’re on holiday), and most of all, lighting, will have a profound effect.
In terms of lighting, motion-sensitive floodlights can have a profound impact, and they can be cleanly installed on your driveway or upon the wall of your household, covering sideway entrances or even the back garden. It’s hard for someone to trespass when they’re going to be in clear view, at all times, because of it.
It’s also worth thinking of your indoor lighting and how it might reveal you late at night. Blackout blinds at night can be a nice means of staying comfortable in your space; knowing you have the privacy you need. In the summer, you may also find value in:
Window Locks & Ventilation
Odds are, at night, you wish for your windows to be closed, and if you live in a busy area, through most times of the day too. But of course, doing so is not always safe. That’s why it’s good to invest in window locks or window units with ventilation locks.
This way, you can make sure that no matter what, you can stay safe, or at least have tremendously advanced notice if someone were to try and brute-force open the windows – and because of the structural strength of your ventilation lock, the chance of this happening is minimal.
It will also help you get some well-needed fresh air into the space; preventing damp, helping airflow, and making your internal space feel airier. In addition, if you fix certain windows to solely open with ventilation locks, it means you can ensure your child’s bedrooms can enjoy some well-needed fresh air without any chance of them opening them and causing a fall hazard.
CCTV & Video Recording
A capable CCTV Installer will be able to provide an excellent, well-installed system that provides you coverage where you need it. You don’t have to live in a super-busy area to make use of this, as making sure your driveway is covered, you have a doorbell camera to see who might be knocking, and you may even be able to check inside to see how your dogs are doing while you’re out – well, it’s not hard to see how this leads to increased feelings of safety and security.
A Social Safety Net
If you can, join your local neighbourhood support or watch group. You can be as involved in this as you like of course, but calling the representative if you notice suspicious activity, getting involved in mutual caring efforts such as paying for the filling of potholes on your private road, all of this can help you ensure a safe, comfortable and secure living situation.
Knowing who your neighbours are and not being afraid to contact them when necessary, or having them provide the same courtesy to you, can quite literally help you pre-empt problems before they occur. If strange people have been seen in the area, if a dog has been stolen, or if you need someone to give a description of the car that used your garden to turn around in while you were gone, these connections are invaluable.
With this advice, we hope you can continue to feel safe in your family home; in the best possible way.
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