Booked your summer holiday? Worried about your home security? Most people do and for good reason too because statistics and crime figures show that there is a noticeable increase in residential break in's during July and August when most families take their summer holidays. But there is no need to stress as you can beat the burglar and keep your home secure and it won't cost you the Earth either.
There are many free and cost effective ways to secure your home or business and most are just common sense so Peek Lifestyle has put together the following useful list of simple tips and advice for home or business security to help you beat the burglar and keep your possessions safe during your holidays.
1. Safe Practices You Should Always Follow
- Never open the door to unknown visitors. Fit a door viewer (peep / spy hole) or a door chain and take a look at who is at your door before opening it.
- Don’t leave keys on the inside of door locks or window ledges near the door as burglars can break a window and reach inside and unlock the door.
- Remove keys from view and keep them in a safe place.
- Don’t leave your name and address on any key tags. If you lose your keys away from the home they could fall into the wrong hands.
2. Physical Security Tips and Advice
- Have window locks fitted. Keep your windows locked, especially those on the ground floor or easily accessible due to flat roofs, for example.
- The home office recommends fitting 5 lever deadlocks to all external doors. You should have or upgrade locks to British Standard BS 3621:2004.
- Sheds and outbuildings are very vulnerable to theft and as a result you should have a substantial lock and padlock or padbolt in place. All valuables should be kept locked up inside sheds and outbuildings and remember never to leave expensive garden equipment outside. Use a chain and padlock to secure ladders and other equipment that may be used to break in to your property.
3. Other Deterrents You Can Adopt
- Gravel or pebbles on driveways warn you when someone is approaching your house. Burglars know this and it therefore acts as a deterrent.
- Fit blinds to windows. Venetian blinds or vertical blinds can act as a significant deterrent as they are noisy obstacle for burglars attempting to gain entry.
- Preferably install an alarm system or at least fit an external dummy alarm box in a prominent position on the outside of the house.
- Join your local Neighbourhood Watch scheme and display the Neighbourhood Watch and CCTV in operation stickers.
- Cut back hedges and trees near to your house to make it difficult for burglars to conceal themselves.
- Property marking can act as a good deterrent as the markings make it difficult for a burglar to sell on your goods.
- Time light switches with motion detection act as a good deterrent to burglars, as there is no where for a burglar to hide.
4. Advice For When You Do Go Away on Holiday
- Use a timer switch to have a radio come on and off to give the impression there is someone home.
- Use timer switchers to switch lights on and off and suitable times of the day and night.
- Do not leave curtains drawn during the day.
- Cancel your milk and papers. And finally, ask a neighbour to keep a watch on your property, while you are away
5. How to Choose a Trustworthy Local Locksmith
- Choosing the right locksmith is important as you dont want to give just anyone access to the locks for your home, your vehicle, or your place of business.
- Check credentials, A Locksmith should be certified, qualified and fully trained. The UKs leading locksmith training college is Train Locksmiths, Atherton, Gtr Manchester so it's a good idea to phone or email them becuase if yourl ocksmith is fully trained then there is good chance this is where he/she did their training.
- Check the locksmith to make sure there are no bad reviews or complaints since you must trust your locksmith.
- Find out if they have had a DBS (CRB) check
- Look on their website or social media pages for testimonials and references.
Always use a local independent locksmith
As a rule it's best to avoid the large so called "national locksmith companies" as these are generally just call centres using self employed locksmiths and it is well known that the bad, unskilled locksmiths with poor feedback and reviews use these call centres to hide there true identity and contact information, also remember that the call centre wants their cut too so prices are usually 3 of 4 time higher than they woudl be if using an independent local locksmith.
Smart Locksmiths is an independent website that lists only local independent locksmiths from all over the UK.
What makes Smart Locksmiths different - and popular with both independent locksmiths and the general public - is the fact that they only promote one local locksmith per area and customer will always contact the locksmith direct and not via call centre meaning you'll alway speak directly to the person who is coming out to you.
