Different Ways to Improve Your Home Security in Washington DC

If you are in Washington DC and worried about your home security, you must install mortise locks. By default, wooden doors are equipped with a “Yale” style lock. A bolt from a keeper fixed to the door frame is withdrawn by turning a knob on the inside or a key on the outside of the door. These door locks are readily pushed since the keeper is usually only kept in place by 2 or 3 screws. The security of a mortise lock is significantly higher; when this style of lock is locked, the bolt projects into a slot in your home door frame. 

They require a key to open, preventing doors from opening by smashing a glass panel and twisting a knob or handle. Installing mortise locks is almost always a requirement for insurance plans. These are generally standard on modern aluminum or PVC doors. For added strength, the central locking mechanism is usually connected to two extra bolts that protrude from the top and bottom of the door frame. If you can’t lock your windows, try adding locks. For casement or sash windows, there are a variety of options.

Everything Should Be Light Up

Install bulbs in lights that are controlled by a timer or that turn on at random. PIR floodlighting (which can detect body heat) must be installed around your home on the outside. Break-in suspects don’t want to be seen while they try to break in.

You Should Install an Alarm System

Whether you are building a new home from scratch or hiring a home builder in Washington DC for upgrades, installing an alarm system at your home is beneficial. It would help if you affixed fake boxes on walls. Choose ones powered by a solar panel & have a flashing light to offer the impression that they are operational. Today, home security systems come in both wired & wireless configurations. A security system will not prevent criminals from entering your home, but it may serve as a deterrent. You may be eligible for a discount on your home insurance if the alarm is installed and maintained to an authorized level.

Everything Should be Lock Up

Everything that may be used to break into your home should be locked up. For example, ladders, metal bars, garden tools & other items that burglars may use to gain entry to the property should not be left lying around.

Hide Valuables & Don’t Keep More Money at Home

Jewelry, money, computers, cellphones, and giant TVs are the types of items that thieves are looking for, so keep them out of sight. You should avoid keeping more money at home. You should always keep keys safe, and do not put them near a mail drop box where they can be stolen through the aperture.

Restrict Access to Your Home

To discourage robbers from climbing up downpipes, you can grease or coat with special slippery paint. Lockable gates deter potential thieves from casing the joint. Many individuals chose to lubricate their yard gate because it alerts them when somebody enters the yard!

Use Hedging, Thorny Shrubs & Climbing Roses as Barrier

While large walls, fences, or chain link fencing can be effective barriers, they can penetrate if they are not topped with barbed wire, spikes, glass, or other deterrents. A burglar can cut a chain-link fence using snips or a pocket bolt cutter, and if given a leg up by his accomplice, he can scale a low wall. On the other hand, hedges can be far more effective.

Various plants and trees are decorated with vicious thorns, and a burglar would find it too difficult to cut through such a barrier. Examples are Holly, whitethorn (hawthorn), blooming quince (japonica), gorse, and berberis. Prickly hedges have the drawback of being difficult to cut, and the thorns may easily pierce thick gloves. Thorny climbing roses or briars can also be grown and trained to climb walls and gates.

You Can Mislead The Burglars

When you leave home, close the drapes and blinds and switch on lights & radio to give the impression that somebody is at home. An effective deterrent is a dog or an artificial emulator that sounds like a dog barking when somebody proceeds toward it. An anti-burglary gadget with several high-intensity output LEDs of various colors is available in the market. To simulate the flickering effect of television, they may turn on and off at random. It may be left on in your home when you are not there, and it costs a fraction of what television does. An automobile parked in the yard may deceive thieves into believing the home is occupied.

Inform The Police as well as Your Postal Service

If you’re going to be gone for an extended length of time, ask your mail provider to hold your mail. If it builds up in a mound in the hallway, it’s a dead giveaway that no one is home. Paper delivery should likewise be halted. Notify the police that your home will be empty for some time.

Surveillance And Neighborhood Watch Are Useful

If your neighbors are friendly, ask them to keep an eye on your home while it is unoccupied. To capture the movements of individuals outside doors and windows, you must install CCTV cameras whether you are creating a new home or planning home remodeling Washington DC. If visible, they may function as a deterrent, but they may also suggest that you are too concerned with security and have items worth stealing! In addition to digital recording devices, small concealed cameras are an alternative.

Ensure that the cameras generate high-quality images and are placed near enough to windows and doors to get mugshots of prospective criminals. Many Crime stoppers-style TV shows frequently broadcast CCTV videos of such poor quality that it is difficult to make out people’s faces. Keep an eye out for automobiles that come to a halt in front of your home.

Accomplices Shouldn’t Distract You

Burgles frequently work in groups. If one external door is unlocked, don’t open it. Someone may break in through the back door or window while you are distracted.

Don’t Post Your Whereabouts on Social Media

You should not disclose your next family trip on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media websites. Burglars may “listen in” to this “free broadcast” and determine when your home is empty.

Automated Blinds & Curtains

Curtain rails that close automatically can be purchased. Some of them can be controlled from afar over the internet. There are also automated blinds available, as well as a kit to convert existing blinds.

Tips to Stop Your Home from Being Robbed & Burgled

• A television that is left on late at night is a dead giveaway. Set a timer for it, so it doesn’t turn on in the middle of the night.
• Don’t talk about your future vacation on social media platforms.
• Do not leave valuables, for instance, jewelry and cellphones, lying about. A thief can easily pocket and remove these.
• Criminals might cooperate with shady taxi drivers to find out when you’ve left your house. Request that they pick you up close to your home, but not outside of it.

Final Words

It doesn’t have to be difficult to figure out how to safeguard your home. You do not need to complete everything at once; use the above-discussed different ways to get started. When planning a home remodeling Washington DC, determine which things are essential to you to improve your home security as well! Being aware of possible security risks & taking action is the greatest way to keep your home & loved ones safe.