Wednesday, January 15, 2020

16 ways to keep your home secure and safe

Make your doors and windows as difficult to penetrate as possible. Although intruders prefer unlocked doors and windows, many can quickly and almost silently pry open locked ones. Some break a pane of glass so they can reach in and unlock the window or door. Only a few really determined burglars break out enough glass to walk or crawl through, or bash in a well-secured door, and they seldom try to pick locks.

• Get a security audit: Most police departments provide free advice and will send someone to evaluate your home for weaknesses.
• Lose lousy locks: Key-in-the-knob locks are inadequate. Install good deadbolt locks on all your exterior doors.
• Secure sliding glass doors: The locks on sliding glass doors are notoriously flimsy — many doors can be lifted right off their tracks. Numerous how-to videos on the Web can show you how to make yours more secure, or you can pay a locksmith to install reinforcements.