Advice To Make Your House More Secure

Kayla Gulec Kayla Gulec
Escritório Jardim, CP Paisagismo CP Paisagismo Modern style gardens
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We pride ourselves on our homes and all the work we put into them to decorate and make them reflect our inner style. Our homes are our havens – a safe place for us, our family, and our belongings. So it is no wonder that we want the utmost security for our loved ones and our treasures. 

As we all know, we are living in a society where we cannot always afford to be so trusting with our neighbourhoods. Crime over the last century has skyrocketed to alarming rates. In fact, homes without any sort of defense system in place are five times more likely to be burgled than homes with security systems. It is no wonder that more and more homeowners are cracking down and installing security systems. 

This growing threat is exactly why we at homify have decided to put together this Ideabook – to give you a little advice about how to make your home more secure, so you can feel better and safer in your home with your loved ones, and your belongings.

Smart alarm and video systems

Setting up an alarm or video system in your home is one of the most beneficial things you can do to safeguard your house against burglars. There are many different systems on the market you can invest in and you can place these alarms at literally every entry point to your home. You can install them on windows and on doors, and we have even seen some alarm systems in place on dog doors. 

Most alarm systems are break-in activated, which means that once you set the alarm code, as soon as a door or a window is opened, the alarm system will engage and send a notification to your security company. Sometimes these alarms make noise to ward off the burglar, but others are a bit more discreet, sending only a notification to the police to come to your home and check on you. We recommend the alarm with noise, because they are a better deterrent for unwanted guests.

Video systems are also great things to have in the home, as they allow you to keep an eye on every square metre of your property so you know first hand when someone is trespassing.

Laminated glass

Laminated glass, or shatter-proof glass, is a type of safety glass that holds together when someone attempts to break it. In the event that someone tries to break through, it is held in place by an interlayer (typically of polyvinyl butyral or ethylene-vinyl acetate) between two or more layers of glass. 

If you have a home like the one in this image with tons of large windows, or even a home with sliding glass doors, it is incredibly beneficial to invest in this type of glass. Most burglars will not attempt to shatter a piece of glass more than once if they see the first one didn't take, making this a great home safety feature.

Install security bars on windows

If shatter-proof glass does not do the trick in making you feel safe, there are other options to explore. One of them is to install security bars on your windows. Now this does not mean installing bars on your home to make it look like a prison. On the contrary, these bars tend to be quite fashionable and can match to any exterior decorating style you have. 

Security bars make it near to impossible for anyone to break the glass that they protect, because they offer little room for hands or other objects to pass through. Not only that, but a burglar who sees a home with security bars on the window will more than likely pass by it in favor of a different home without security bars, as it is easier to break in.

Security doors

Security doors are much like security windows, in that many (but not all) have bars over their exterior faces to ward off possible intruders. The bars on the doors make it nearly impossible for burglars to pick your locks, carve holes in your doors, or unhinge them. Again, with security windows, security doors act as a great deterrent for burglars. They see those bars and immediately cross your home off their target list. 

Other types of security doors involve hardcore reinforcement of the door's material in order to make it impossible for an intruder to cut into the door. And as an added bonus, some industrial strengthened doors also function as fire doors that can prevent fire from spreading from one room to another for many hours.

Wireless security alarm for the garage

If you have a home with a garage and you are trying to burglar-proof your home, it is very beneficial for you to install a security system in the garage, as well. Garages are preferred entry points for intruders, as the burglar can be well camouflaged in the darkness, and most garages have doors that lead right into the home. These doors often go unnoticed by owners when installing these systems, but you don't want anyone to have immediate access to your home from the outside. A wireless security alarm will be tripped whenever someone walks across the invisible motion detector, sending an alarm to you and to the police.

Security cameras for the garden

Another easily overlooked area of your home that burglars love to tread through is the garden. Gardens are easy camouflage for any intruder because the plants, trees, and flowers offer great colour variety, making it harder for you to distinguish shapes moving in and out. They also provide tons of shade to hide a person's figure. Not only that, but they are great to crouch behind, especially if you have rather large trees or shrubs in your garden or close to your home. 

Security cameras for the garden allow you to see just what is moving around out there in the dead of night. They come equipped with night vision, so even on the darkest or stormiest nights, you will be able to have a full picture of your garden and the perimeter of your home, so that you are warned way before the burglar even has a chance to reach your door or any danger sets in.

If you're worried that all of this security equipment will make your house look unsightly, check out this family home with a secret garden behind the large wall.

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