It is hard to imagine that a burglar would have the guts to walk in straight through the front door of your house. Unfortunately, this is very true. 34% of burglars enter through the front door – a percentage higher than that for any other point of entry. This is not surprising – the spare key you keep under the flower pot near the entrance, is not a wise move, everyone knows about it. And most of the times, burglars don’t even need keys. They are experienced in kicking the door down and entering, or removing the hinges to silently gain access to your home.
Here are some steps you can take to protect your front door:
Back entrances are always an attractive option for burglars. They are the ideal entry points since burglars want to avoid unwanted attention from neighbors. Back doors through the kitchen or sliding glass door opening into the deck are vulnerable points from a security perspective. A lot of people leave these doors unlocked or don’t care much for them since they are not used often. And burglars take advantage of this fact. Sliding doors in particular are very vulnerable, even if not smashed. Their standard locks can be opened quite easily and they can be lifted off their tracks even when locked.
Here are some suggestions to protect your back door or sliding door:
Nearly 10% of all burglars gain access to your home via the attached garage. Homeowners who use their garages as the primary entrance into the house typically have a habit of leaving the garage door and the secondary door into the house unlocked for their ease. This mistake is noticed by burglars who scan your house for weak access points before burglarizing it.
Here are tips for protecting your garage entrance to the house:
When thinking of securing your home, you might not initially give much thought to securing the windows. However, you would be surprised to find out that nearly 23% of burglars enter your home through the first floor windows. Windows are potentially the weakest points in your home and are frequently taken advantage of by burglars. Often, burglars would test every point of entry into your home – if the door does not give them access, they are likely to try and get through the windows.
Here are a few tips you can use to secure your windows against potential break-ins:
At first, second floor windows might not even seem like potential entry points for burglars. But do not be mistaken. When all else fails, burglars would take measures like climbing up a ladder or a tree to gain access to your house through one of the upper storey windows. Even though this is less likely, there is still a 2% chance of an intruder coming in from second floor entrances. Do not take chances in this regard and make sure you secure your second-floor windows as well. For this purpose, treat them like they are on the first floor and use all the measures necessary to defend them against burglars.
Here are a few additional tips that can help you protect the second floor windows better:
In addition to protecting these five specific points, you might want to invest in installing additional security gadgets. These could include CCTV cameras inside and outside your house, bright lighting for the outdoors, infrared motion sensors etc. These gadgets will only help increase the security detail on your house and give you greater control over every point in your house. Other methods can include getting a dog, keeping the lights switched on even when you are not home (to give the impression of being home) and remotely monitoring your house for any odd activities.
These 5 entry points are the most common places intruders look at if they intend on burglarizing your house. Strengthening the security at these points will help you decrease the chances of break-ins and keep your family and valuables safe from harm.