Simple Steps to Securing Your Home

Security systems, fences, and door locks have their own place in keeping you and your children safe in your home. They each, if installed properly, are designed to keep people out of your home. Let's look at each.

Fences actually do double duty they keep people out and in depending on how you look at it. If you pick the right type of fence, i.e. solid and at least 4 feet high with a locked gate, it will keep out most intruders (those that don't want to put in the effort of climbing). It will also keep your toddler or pet contained within the safety of your property. Decorative fences will not usually give you the same effect. They are usually too low or have beams spaced wide enough for someone to climb through. Your child might stay within the fence, but it would not keep a person from reaching over and taking them.

If the fence is for looks, then by all means buy what you want. But if it is for an added layer of safety or protection, then the higher and more solid the better. And of course, none of that counts if you forget to lock the gate.

Door locks are what really keeps an intruder out of the home. Not just door locks, but also window locks. Never forget to lock your windows. There is not excuse for it. All windows come with locks.

As for doors, make sure that you have a dead bolt on all outside doors. The lock on the knob itself will not stand up to any amount of real pressure. They are a weaker lock and can even (sometimes) be opened with a thin piece of durable plastic. Believe me; I opened my own door with one once. However, once you install a dead bolt, you increase your chances of keeping an intruder from entering from a door. Dead bolts are solid, have a metal casing that they lock in to, and cannot be picked with a piece of plastic.

One caution...if you have little windows around your door, do not put in the kind of dead bold that has a turn lock. Put in the type that you have to use a key to lock. The reason is that someone could break the glass and turn the lock and walk right in. If you have a dead bolt that requires a key, then it is pointless for them to break the glass to open the door.