Safety Plans are Your Family's Blueprint for Home Security Success

22 April, 2010

What would happen if a burglar crashed through your front door in the middle of dinner? Is your family prepared to deal with a burglary both during and after the fact? Of course every family would like to believe they’re prepared for such an eventuality, but the fact is few actually are. This is why it is critically important for every family to have a home security safety plan that has been spelled out to each family member clearly, and practiced with regularity. This is what will prepare you and your family should the worst happen.

No matter where you live, no matter how upscale or downtrodden your neighborhood, you really never know if or when a burglar will decide that your house is their next target. You can help prevent a home invasion or burglary by having the best home security possible. Additionally, taking the time to learn as many rudimentary security steps as possible will help you secure the vulnerable area around your yard and home. This is one of the best ways you can increase the overall safety of your house and family.

Just like you’re doing now, it’s a great idea to read new stories and other informational articles regarding home security and safety tips. You will quickly pick up tips about how trimming the flora around your property will help eliminate hiding places for burglars, and how planting thorny bushes under windows will make them hard to access, and what you should do with your mail, newspapers, and other deliveries when you’re out of town for an extended period of time.

You’ll also learn that burglars are criminals looking for an easy target. They are looking for opportunities that will have them in and out of a house in as little time as possible and with the least chance of getting caught. This means securing and reinforcing the entrances into your house.

Would it surprise you to learn that many burglaries happens because a window was left open, or a front door left unlocked? Daring break-ins only happen in the movies. Most burglaries happen as easily as slipping in through an open window. This can be avoided by locking your windows with strong sash locks, and even using a strong rod or bar in the track of the window. Most burglars will not shatter a window to gain entry. The risk of getting caught is too high.

The same goes for the entry/exit doors. What good are they if you don’t lock them? Have case-hardened steel deadbolts installed in each of these doors, and then use them. Deadbolt locks are a very effective way to keep burglars out of your house. They’ll often take a pass knowing full well that there’ll be an easier target just waiting for them.

The key to all this is ensuring that everyone in your house is on-board with the tasks and daily chores of home security, that they know how to arm and disarm the home security burglar alarm system, and that making it hard on potential burglars by placing lots of security obstacles in their way will make your house too much work, causing them to move on to more fertile grounds elsewhere.

Senior Security - How Seniors Can Be Safer At Home

16 April, 2010

Mark Lowry

Home security for seniors requires a slightly different focus on some key areas of security. One of those areas is dealing with the psychology of burglars. Many see the homes of our senior citizens as easy targets, and a source of quick money for a variety of different reasons. Making the home of a senior in your life harder to penetrate is a very good start.

Installing a monitored home security, like and ADT monitored alarm system is a perfect way to start. Not only does a monitored system offer genuine home security by protecting doors and windows with sensor alarms, but the accessories that come with a newly installed home security system will also help. Yard signs and windows stickers with the name of the home security company are actually great deterrents. It’s been rumored that advertising your home security company is just tipping your hand to burglars, who can circumvent your home security system if they know which company they’re up against.

In reality, that’s a lot of Hollywood hype. Without your PIN and/or password they will be unable to disarm your home security system. Take the time to adhere the stickers to a visible front-yard window, and post the yard sign in an equally conspicuous location. The last thing a burglar wants to contend with is a home security system that will sound a shrill alarm, potentially record his presence with wireless cameras, and have local police emergency response units on their way, often faster than dialing 911.

Medical pendants are another great home security accessory. Medical pendants are one-touch emergency transmitters than can perform a variety of tasks, including being able to detect if the person wearing one has fallen down. With the press of a single button, anyone wearing a medical pendant can notify their home security monitoring company that there’s an emergency and assistance is required. Medical pendants can be worn as a necklace, a bracelet, or like a pager on a belt or the waistline of trousers. Consider medical pendants for any senior in your life that has special medical needs or is less mobile and agile than they once were.

Strong locks on your doors and windows will strengthen your professionally installed home security burglar alarm system. Sash locks and a security bar in the track of windows is an excellent security measure. Short of actually breaking the window, which will instantly sound an alarm, this simple security measure renders your windows virtually impenetrable.

Case-hardened steel deadbolt locks are a must for any door leading into or out of your house. A steel bolt that penetrates the door casing by 1.5 inches or more makes getting through that door extremely difficult. Have a professional locksmith do the installation if you’re more comfortable with that arrangement.

Seniors can be much safer at home with a combination of a professionally installed and monitored burglar and fire alarm system, complete with accessories designed for seniors, conspicuous advertising of that security system, and the use of strong locks on all doors and windows.

Flood Alarms - Spring Time Means Flooding Across Most Of The Country

12 April, 2010

Mark Lowry

Have you ever really sat down and asked yourself if you need a flood alarm installed in your house? How about flood insurance? Most people think that home floods only happen to other people. However, the truth of the matter is much different.

Did you know:

Every year, flooding causes more than $2 billion of property damage in the U.S.

In a high risk area, your home has a 26% chance of being damaged by a flood during the course of a 30-year mortgage, compared to only a 9% chance of fire.

Roughly 25% of all claims paid by the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) are for policies in low- to moderate-risk communities.

Only 4.7 million people currently hold flood insurance policies across the U.S.

Water damage can devastate a home in a matter of minutes, but there are certain home security measures you can take that will help prevent an expensive home emergency. Mainly, you can install a flood alarm in the lowest point in your home. Whether you have a basement that seems to always flood in the spring, or maybe a water heater or laundry room that just might spring a leak, a flood alarm can help you act quickly to minimize a greater potential damage.

Many homeowners choose to have a home security burglar and fire alarm installed in their house, which is a good thing, home security monitoring from ADT home security is invaluable. This offers great protection, particularly when the family is away from the house. However, what happens if an emergency occurs in your house and it’s not a fire or a burglary? How will you find out about it if you’re on summer vacation? Will you know that your basement is quickly filling with water, or will you return home two-weeks later to a disaster that will leave you paralyzed and speechless?

A relatively inexpensive flood alarm can save you tens of thousands of dollars in flood repairs because they’re designed to detect moisture and rising water levels quickly and in turn notify you and your home security alarm monitoring company when rising water levels are detected. You can choose to be notified by email, text message, or a call from a highly trained dispatcher at your home security provider's monitoring center.

This means that you’ll be able to respond quickly, even if you’re out of town, across the country, or even overseas. You can quickly call a neighbor or family member to get over to your house to get the water main shut off, preventing further flooding and further damage.

Now that spring has arrived, it’s time to take flood control very seriously. Many parts of the nation had a particularly heavy winter, which means snowcaps are at very high levels. As spring arrives and brings with it a warmer sun, that snow will start to melt, and it will raise the water levels in every creek, stream, river, and lake in its path. If you live in an area of the country that has had a bad winter, and live near any tributaries or waterways, now is the time to get a flood alarm installed in your house.

A flood alarm is an inexpensive investment that can save you thousands of dollars and weeks of inconvenience as you let your house dry out. This often takes weeks and can literally displace your family to temporary living quarters.

The worst thing you can do is nothing, or to go on pretending that it only happens to the other guy. Well guess what? Someone else is having that same thought, and there’s a very good chance he’ll be right instead of you.

Keyless Home Security - Advanced Features Of Common Home Security Products

9 April, 2010

Mark Lowry

If you’re a homeowner interested in using the latest technology as an integral part of your home security and safety plan, then you need to know the latest about biometric and other advanced security systems that are quickly replacing outdated and anachronistic devices. In short, we’re talking about an electronic deadbolt lock system on your front door that will only unlock itself if a recognized thumb or finger print is pressed against a scanner pad attached to the door.

Gone are the days of metal keys that get chipped, bent, broken, or lost. Today, locking your doors can happen automatically, which is something worthy of serious consideration, and unlocking them can be a thing of science fiction not so many years ago. It’s called biometrics and it’s a recognition system that is being used to secure the entry points of homes and business across the country. Never again will you fumble for a key at night, or worse, realize you’ve left them at the office and have to go back to get them. Instead, simply press your thumb against the recognition pad and listen to the sound of your deadbolt system opening, sans key.

Most good biometric locks can recognize several unique thumbprints, which means each member of your household can have their own key, without the key. In situations where there are children in the family, the use of biometric locks can be used as a learning opportunity, stressing the importance of home security and how each member of the family plays an important role.

This technology has not been restricted to front doors. It’s currently found on the locking mechanisms of toolboxes filled with expensive tools, fireproof safes filled with important documents, expensive jewelry, cash, passports, and anything else of value that needs the protection of a safe. They’re also increasingly being used in gun safes.

Many homeowners are choosing to lock their firearms in strong, fireproof safes equipped with biometric locks. Gun safety is important and with children in the house, this can be a great teaching opportunity. Children who grow up respecting guns and the potential power inherent in them, are more likely to consider this type of security in more general terms around their own house.

The more you can do to protect your home from the threat of burglary, the more likely you will be to reach your goal. ADT monitored home security can help protect you and your family. Remaining security conscious at all time is the perfect way to train yourself to be mindful of the things around your house that could lead to disaster if neglected or left to minimum standards.

Home Fires - Here Are The Major Causes Of Home Fires In America

1 April, 2010

Mark Lowry

No home fire just happens. There is always a cause, and causes can be prevented. That is the major focus of home security and safety experts when speaking on the issue of fires in the home. Home security alarm systems are an excellent way of detecting a fire after it’s under way, but they’re not designed to actually prevent a fire from happening. That’s where you come into the equation. Human intervention and preparedness will continue to prevent countless fires that might otherwise have started.

So, what are some of the leading causes of home fires? Cooking and cooking-related incidents account for more than half of the home fires in America. According to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), 55% of home cooking fires start with the ignition of food or other cooking materials. Did you know:

Fire departments in the United States respond to an average of 6,600 home fires per year in which a microwave oven is involved in ignition. These fires cause an annual average of three civilian deaths, 110 civilian injuries, and more than $22 million in direct property damage.

Cooking equipment fires are the leading cause of home fires and associated civilian injuries. These fires accounted for 40% of all reported home fires and 36% of home civilian injuries. Burns from cooking oil and extremely hot cooking equipment lead the way.

Twelve percent of the fires occur when something that could catch fire was too close to the cooking equipment, often an open flame on a gas stove or BBQ grill.

57% of reported home cooking fire injuries occur when victims tried to fight the fire themselves.

Thanksgiving is the peak day of the entire year for home cooking fires.

None of this probably comes as a huge surprise, but it certainly points out the need to be extra safe in the kitchen and when grilling in the backyard. Clothing is flammable and it doesn’t take but an inattentive second to catch a sleeve, apron or oven mitt on fire when working with gas ranges.

During the cold winter months, heating equipment is another leading cause of home fires. Some easy-to-follow safety tips can help prevent fires of this type in your home and in the homes of your loved ones. Consider these:

When buying heaters for your house or apartment, look for devices with automatic shutoff features.

Any gas-fueled devices in your home must be installed with particular attention toward ventilation. Don’t ever put unvented gas space heaters in bedrooms or bathrooms.

Never leave space heaters on when you leave the room for any extended period of time. Space heaters should be kept at least three feet away from anything that can burn, and should contain an automatic shut-off mechanism should the heater ever tip over or otherwise become unlevel.

Never use extension cords with space heaters. These types of heaters often demand a large amount of electricity, and the current they draw could melt the cords and start a fire.

Professionally installed home security burglar and fire alarm systems like the ones monitored by ADT home security, are worth the investment countless times over. However, they can easily be defeated by lack of attention to safety around your house. Be conscientious of home security and safety and gain the peace of mind you and your family deserve.