Steps For Keeping Your Home Safe
When you talk about safety, there are two scenarios that come to mind. One is safety from accidents and injuries. And two is safety from burglary. These two things don’t always come hand-in-hand, but they are equally important to keep your home safe.
If you are in a quest to make your home a lot safer, then it’s time to ramp up the security and safety features of your home. You don’t even have to look for a very expensive home alarm system to secure every section of your home. In the same way, you don’t need to cover every corner of your furniture to make sure no one gets injured. If you don’t have the money for it now, you can take a few tips from these ideas to secure your home.
Security Tips For Your Home
One of the most important aspects of a house is security. With theft being one of the major crimes in the country, it’s imperative to keep your homes safe from possible encounters. Here are 5 simple home ideas to help you secure your home.
Have A Heavy-duty Lock On Your Doors
Everyone knows to lock their door at night. But a skilled burglar can easily break into your front door lock if there’s only one lock to break. Adding one or two more locks should be in every homeowner’s security plan.
The best way to secure your doors is to install a heavy-duty lock that can withstand pounding and unlocking tricks. If your door can be unlocked by a key, chances are that burglars know how to easily sneak through it. So, buy an unconventional lock that will give burglars a hard time. One of the most popular locks is a door brace. Although not exactly a lock, it keeps the door closed even if the burglar is already pushing against it.
Convert Old Phones Into Security Cameras
If you have phones that you don’t use anymore, you can convert them into security cameras. Instead of buying a full CCTV system at home, you can place your old phones in strategic places so they can always monitor the activity inside. You can do this by downloading a home security camera app on your phone.
If you are an iPhone user, apps like Presence and iSentry are great options for security cameras. They can record anything with the help of a web camera and they also provide storage for the videos. If you have an Android phone, you can download Ivideon or Reolink.
Add Sensors All Over Your House
There are so many kinds of home sensors out there that can notify the burglar that the house is protected. Some even offer to alert the home owners when these sensors are activated.
One example of a sensor is a light sensor. This sensor is placed outside of your home and it lights up when someone crosses its line of sight. If you have a huge lawn or a garage, it’s ideal to have a light sensor placed there. Besides, it’s easy to spot a burglar when the lights are on.
If you have a lot of windows, a window sensor also looks good for your home. A window sensor sets off an alarm when someone opens it. You can even get a glass break sensor just in case.
Trim Overgrown Plants
This tip does not require you to spend on anything (except for extra help). Overgrown plants are a sign that the house isn’t being kept or that it hasn’t been lived in for a while. So to show burglars that your house is being lived in, trim overgrown plants. To add to that, overgrown plants make it easy for thieves to hide and sneak in.
Start by trimming the bushes in your front porch and by removing the vines that block your windows. Make sure that there isn’t anything burglars can use to access your windows and your second floor. If there are branches leading to your rooms, trim it or cut it.
Make It Look Like You’re Never Out Of Town
There’s also another way to keep burglars out of sight. It’s by making sure your house is alive. No, it’s not by making your house a haunted house. Instead, show burglars that there are people awake even if it’s at the dead of the night. It’s like turning your place to a smart home where it automatically scares burglars.
Some people would like to leave the lights on in their living room and kitchen just to illuminate it. You can also add noise in your home to trick burglars. Amazon has a lot of anti-theft products that mimic human movements and sounds just to scare burglars away.
Keeping your home safe from burglars is both a home improvement endeavor and a habit. Aside from equipping your house with safety systems, it’s important that you are also aware of personal security tricks. Locking the door is a common habit, but secure your house even more by regularly checking your house for weaknesses.
Safety Tips For Your Home
Aside from securing your home, you should also make your house feel safe even more so if you have kids running around. Here are 5 ways you can turn your home into a safe zone for both your children and your visitors.
1. Cover Electrical Outlets
Getting electrocuted happens to everyone, but children are more prone to this because of exposed electrical outlets. If you have outlets just a few inches above the floor, make sure that they are covered. If you won’t be using the outlets anymore, push heavy furniture against it so it’s fully out of reach to people. There are also plastic safety covers that you can buy from Amazon that perfectly fit outlets. And while you’re at it, you can also make your home fireproof by unplugging appliances that aren’t used often.
2. Store Liquids Above Reach
Another cause of accidents is liquid that spills on the floor. There are times when bottles of water or juice spill because they aren’t properly sealed. A quick fix for this is to make sure that all liquids are stored in the right container. There are even bottles that provide a no-spill feature.
But sometimes, it’s not containers that are the problem. If you have kids, they can reach for liquids and these can topple and spill all over the floor. The damage here isn’t the liquid spilling, but the person that can slip if they don’t see the mess on the floor. So if you have kids in the house, make sure that your liquids are out of reach preferably in the topmost shelf or a high counter.
3. Secure Furniture To The Wall
If you’re sure you won’t be moving furniture around in a few years, then you should try to bolt them to the wall. Bookcases and shelves can topple people if for some reason it gets shaken. Someone could also hit these shelves which causes everything (including other furniture) to fall. To avoid cases like these, try to bolt unsteady furniture to the wall or secure them to other heavier things so they have more balance. You can use anchors or brackets to hold them in place. To make it steadier, put heavy items at the bottommost part of any furniture.
4. Have Wire Clips
Wires are a primary cause for people to fall and get hurt. This is why you should always make sure your wires and cords are out of the way. It doesn’t matter if you have children – even adults trip over wires. Fortunately, there is a way to organize wires through wire clips. Wire clips hold long wires together so they don’t scatter on the floor. They’re also helpful if you want to hang a long wire.
5. Prepare A First Aid Kit
And lastly, prepare a first aid kit for small and minor accidents at home. A first aid kit should always have the basic medicines, alcohol, Band-aids, and other solutions to clean wounds. Having a first aid kit can help treat minor injuries on the skin right away. This will save you a lot because you don’t have to go to the doctor to get treated (and who goes to the doctor for a small wound anyway?).
While you’re at it, also prepare an emergency bag just in case anything happens. An emergency bag contains clean clothes, underwear, a flashlight, a few snacks, tissue, and other things you think necessary in cases of emergencies.
If you’ll notice, these safety tips are pretty common sense. However, some people can become negligent in making their home safe for other people. These safety measures can also be called “baby proofing” because most parents do these things when a baby is about to arrive.
In summary, keeping the house safe should always be the priority of any homeowner. There are many dangers to unkempt houses and most of them can be avoided if people became more aware of the weaknesses of their home.
Sources:
- How to Childproof Your Home, WebMD
- 100 Ways to Make Your Home Safer, Reviews.org
Comments