After you close on your new house, it's time to prioritize home safety when you move in. Especially for first-time home buyers, this can be a challenge. If you've never really thought about how to secure your home, here are a few tips that will help you get started.

Install New Locks

You should never move into a house and keep all of the original locks. You have no way to know if anyone had access to keys from the prior owner, and you don't want to take any chances. Have the existing locks re-keyed, or replace the locks altogether.

While you're at it, make sure that every exterior door on the house has a deadbolt lock on it. This is essential for added security. When you have the deadbolts installed, make sure there's no space between the door and the frame when the door is closed, otherwise a would-be intruder could pry the door open even with just the smallest gap.

Reinforce Your Sliding Doors

Place metal rods or bars in the tracks of all of your sliding doors and windows when you don't have them open. These metal bars will prevent the door or window from opening. This makes it harder for someone to gain access to the house from outside.

Replace Any Doors With Exterior Hinges

If any of your exterior doors were installed with the hinges on the outside of the house, it's essential that you replace them right away. Outside access to the hinges makes it easy for someone to slide the pins out of the hinges and remove the door. Even the most secure locks can't overcome that. Have all of the doors with exterior hinges replaced so that the hinges are inside.

Invest In A Home Alarm System

An alarm system is one of the best investments you can make for home security. Not only will the alarm's presence deter would-be thieves, an alarm that's integrated with your fire, carbon monoxide, and other systems can help keep your family safe in many other ways, too. Choose one with a central monitoring system so that you have real-time access to emergency services when needed.

Avoid Exposed Wiring

Whether it's your home security system's wiring or your electrical wiring, having it exposed on the outside of the house is an invitation for someone to cut the wires to disable your security system or cut the power to the house. Make sure all of your home's wiring is protected with secure sheathing outside so that it can't be accessed and messed with.

Contact a security service, like A Tech Security, for more help.

 

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