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How secure is your home?

Locking your front door isn’t enough to keep your home, possessions, or your family safe. Follow these tips and tricks from ADT security to ensure that your home is safer than Fort Knox.

Assess your weak points
Stand outside your property and inspect it as if you have been locked out. Are there any weak spots in your security? If you can get inside without keys, so could someone else!

Start from the outside in
Security starts at the border of the home. This may include a locked automatic gate for vehicle entry, an electronic release on the small locked front gate, an intercom, lights to illuminate the gate area and a wall or fence with electric fencing. Also all shrubs that can hide intruders should be removed or cut back.

Shed some light
Light is a burglar's biggest enemy. Installing exterior lights outside your home that are activated by movement will light your garden and deter unwelcome visitors. Perimeter floodlights can be used when you are home alone or away and can be time activated if you are on holiday. Beams can also be installed in the garden to act as an early warning system.

Cover your entrances
Next tackle the front door. If burglars can get to it, it is easier to get your belongings out! Install the best locks possible. A deadlock provides good security but a mortised deadlock is even more difficult for the burglar to overcome. Guard against exposed door hinges, as the hinge pin can be easily broken. A 180-degree peephole is another essential and the front door area should also be clearly lit at night. Fit security gates over all exterior doors including the upstairs balcony.

Install burglar bars
Relatively few burglaries involve breaking large glass windows as this takes too long, is too noisy and there is a risk of injury. However, a burglar will break a smaller window to tamper with the window catch. Consider installing keylocks on your widows and install burglar bars.

Get a good security system
The above hints plus a modern security system linked to a reputable armed response service should encourage burglars to move on to a less secure home. A good security system should include alarm sensors on doors and windows to detect intruders and panic buttons in the home to summon help from the armed response company in case of an emergency.

Visit www.adt.co.za for more information.

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How do you keep your home safe? Let us know in the box below.
 
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