Your home is your family’s safe haven, so you need to ensure that they are always safe. Therefore, you must ensure your home is outfitted with security features such as an alarm system, CCTVs, and motion sensors to ward off burglars and other potential threats. You must also ensure that your doors and windows have a locking system that can not be easily opened by strangers.
So if you feel your home lacks security, you can conduct renovations to upgrade the security status, thus safeguarding your family, pets, and assets.
Renovations Tips to Upgrade Your Home Safety
These are some of the renovations you can do in your house to discourage home invasions.
1. Ensure That Your House Structure Is Stable
Do you live in San Antonio and want to renovate your home to install upgraded security features? Before starting renovations on your house, you must work with the foundation repair professionals now serving San Antonio to check your house foundation and determine whether it’s stable enough to withstand the renovation.
If you live anywhere other than San Antonio, you can and should do the same. You just need to find the best people for the job.
The best part about working with professionals is that they will inspect your house’s floor plan inside and out, including the gas, water, and electrical lines. And if something’s amiss, they will help you conduct the repairs or recommend the best people for the repairs to avoid future problems.
2. Hire Contractors
You might be tempted to do the renovations yourself to save on cost. However, you might make matters worse if you know nothing about construction. Upgrading your home safe might require extensive work, from installing better doors and windows, plumbing to prevent leakages, and wiring for outfitting your house with a security system. All these renovations require experts, so work with contractors.
When hiring contractors, don’t work with just anyone, do your research, check the reviews on their website and if possible, ask for a recommendation from friends and families before settling on one.
You must ensure that the contractor you hire is an expert in that field to ensure that the renovations are up to par and work on keeping your house safe.
3. Motion Sensor Light
You can consider installing motion sensor lights if you have a vast garden. They are helpful, especially at night, as they help notify you if someone from the outside tries to access your home through the backdoor as their movement triggers the lights. They will alarm you to check what is going on. It is also a great way of preventing home invasion, as thieves will be wary or run away when the lights turn on.
4. CCTV Cameras
We all want our homes and families safe when we are away at work or on vacation. You can install CCTV cameras inside and around your property’s perimeter. The best part about CCTV is that the live video can be integrated into your smartphone, allowing real-time access to your home. So, if anything untoward happens while you are away, you can see it and alert the police on time.
CCTV cameras also come in handy for parents with kids and nannies at home, as they can maintain their peace of mind by checking in on their kids regularly on their phones. Besides, when thieves see that your house is equipped with CCTV, they will be wary and will not invade your home for fear of being caught.
5. Alarm System
An alarm system is a security feature that should be in every home. So if your home is lacking one, make sure to install it during your renovations. Do your research on security system providers in your region, ask for recommendations from families and friends, and choose the one that best meets your needs.
Some of the things to check when hiring a security company include the following:
- Years of experience
- Certifications
- Technology
- Size
- Response time
- Reviews
- Cost
Most companies usually combine CCTV cameras and the alarm system. Therefore, if you find a reputable company, you will save on installing security cameras separately. And when setting your alarm, don’t use simple codes, such as important dates in your life, as people can easily guess these things. Try and come up with unique codes only known to you.
Ensure that the company also outfits your windows and other points of entry with an alarm, which notifies them if anybody tries to force their way in. And if you don’t have the budget to work with a security company, you can install your own security system, as the many DIY videos on the internet will show you.
6. Invest in a Safe
Before burglars invade your home, they spend days, weeks, or months scoping out your home to check what valuables are in the open. It’d be best to invest in a safe to keep all the valuable items, such as jewelry and other documents, from plain sight.
7. Install CO2 and Smoke Detectors
When renovating your home, you protect it from outside dangers and your home. You must outfit your home with smoke and Carbon monoxide detectors. This help protects you from inhaling poisonous gasses as they will notify you when there are toxic gasses in the air.
Consider placing one in each room and having a fire expert conduct tests on them monthly to ensure they are working seamlessly. You can install an escutcheon system in the house so that, if there is smoke, they are automatically turned on to extinguish the fire. Remember to change their batteries twice a year.
8. Install Fire Extinguishers
Apart from outfitting your house with an escutcheon system on the ceiling, you can equip your home with fire extinguishers. Ensure there is one in the kitchen, as it’s where fires are likeliest to happen. Fire extinguishers help save lives and your property from destruction by extinguishing a small fire that could escalate if left until help comes.
9. Upgrade Your Doors and Change the Locks
If you’ve just moved to a new house and notice that the doors leading to the outside are weak and can be knocked after several kicks, you should consider replacing them with heavy and kick-proof doors.
You should also change the locks as you don’t know how many people the previous owner had shared the keys with. You can upgrade the lock system by using a digital keypad where you need to scan your fingers, face, and eyes or input a code. This will deter previous homeowners from accessing your home and any other strangers.
While changing the locks on your doors, check on your windows and upgrade their locking system by ensuring they can’t be opened from the outside. If people can see your house from the outside, installing window film on your windows and doors would be best to keep wandering eyes from your home.
10. Clean Your Home’s Front and Back Yard
If your backyard and front yard are huge and have huge thickets, thieves can use them as hiding places. So, clear out all the bushes and remove all the valuables from plain sight to avoid attracting burglars.
To make it more burglar-proof, consider planting thorny plants near the windows so that no one can peep in without being pricked.
11. Better Lighting System
Have a bright home to keep robbers away for fear of being seen. Therefore, install a smart lighting system in your home. Install security lights around your house and the path leading to your house. There should also be flood lights near your garage and other entry points.
Better yet, smart lighting ensures that you can set them so that they can turn on and off at certain times of the night, signifying to anyone outside that there are people at home. This is essential, especially when you are going away for a vacation.
12. Install a Safety Door
If you are keen, you may have noticed that some homes usually have two doors at the front. So, if your home has one wooden door, consider installing a safety door, usually made of steel. This ensures that burglars can’t access your home quickly, and by the time they break down both doors, someone will have heard the noise, or the security company will have been alerted.
A safety door is also essential as it can help you see who is at the door and decide if you should let them in.
13. Upgrade Your Roofing and flooring
Ensure that your family is living in a safe environment by replacing the roof. And if possible, you can upgrade the roof design with the help of experts. This ensures that your assets are protected, and no one accesses the house through the roof. You should also ensure that the flooring is suitable for your family, and if you have older people in the house, consider installing heat pads on the floor of their room to protect them against cold. And remember to childproof and pet-proof your house.
14. Home Fence
A fence is a crucial feature of keeping your home secure. So, use sturdy material to fence around your house and ensure that your gate is sturdy enough to keep invaders away. A high fence is the best as it prevents burglars from climbing over. And if you have the budget, you can install an electric shock at the top part of the fence, which is to be turned on at night or when there is no one at home.
Final Thoughts
Keeping your home secure is every homeowner’s first priority, ensuring that the family and assets are safe. Therefore, if you’ve just acquired a new home or your current residence lacks some security measures, consider renovating to install a security system, better doors and locks, and a home fence.
If you feel your home is not secure from home invaders, use the tips in this article to check which security features are missing and do the necessary renovations to keep your home safe.