Getting burgled is a lousy experience the aftershocks stay with you for a long time. It's not just about what was stolen, it's also about the fact that your home has been defiled and this takes some getting over. I have written this article to encourage folks to get proactive and slam that stable door well before the horse has bolted. Most home burglaries are carried out by opportunists,stalking residential areas under cover of darkness looking for easy targets,most of them lack any real skills (ie lock picking or knowing how to disable alarm systems),they could be carrying tools such as a pry bar or small bolt cutters,its not that difficult to deter them,and send them looking for easier pickings. I have written this guide as a series of bullet points to make it easy to work through.

DIY HOME SECURITY GUIDE

• Ensure your front door and windows are clearly visible from the street (burglars don't like being visible).
• The fences to the side and rear of your property should be tall and difficult to climb.
• All sheds and outbuildings should be secured with good quality fittings and locks (cheap ones are easily dealt with) Our thief could find things here to make his attempt on your house easier (ladders for one thing)
• Wait for darkness then examine the sides and rear of your property for places a thief could hide whilst trying to open a door or a window-consider fitting lights on motion or uv switches to these locations
• In daylight again examine all doors and door frames,windows and window frames.All frames should be sturdy and secure,all doors and windows should be a good snug fit in their frames.Loose fitting doors and windows are easy targets.
• Look for climbing places to upstairs windows,drain pipes,roofs to single story extensions,trees close to house etc, consider the use of anti-climb paint.
• All ground floor windows and all upstairs windows vulnerable to climbing attack should have locks.
• Ensure that all external doors have good quality locks fitted (consult your household insurance -there will be a minimum standard specified but remember that's a minimum),don't forget if you have a connecting door to your garage this also counts as an external door from a security point of view.
• Where external doors have panels or glazing check that the panels are strong (often they need strengthening against being kicked in) and the glazing should be toughened.
• If you're going to hide spare keys (not recommended but widely practiced) make sure its somewhere original and unique to your household,don't even think about the front door mat or somewhere else in plain sight you never know who might be watching.
• Audit the keys to your house, if you have never changed the locks since moving in then you have no idea how many there are and who has them,if you have changed the locks can you account for all the keys,has a family member ever lost one etc. It may be time to change the locks again.
• You and your family need to cultivate good habits -don't leave valuables clearly visible through windows this can prove too much temptation for our burglar.
• Folks with sliding patio doors or french windows will need to take special measures-patio doors will need an extra door lock and an anti lift lock(to prevent lifting the door off its track) French doors require two door locks and bolts top and bottom on both sides,and if the hinge pins are exposed measures need to be taken to prevent their removal.

When making any changes to doors and windows bear in made fire regulations,not only do We need to make it hard to get in, but your family need to be able to evacuate quickly in the event of fire.

This simple 'basic stuff' will be sufficient to deter most would be burglars,now that the basic home security guide is attended to it is appropriate to consider alarm systems and or CCTV monitoring. There are many excellent systems available both at the DIY level or the Professional level. At the most basic level warning signs and dummy alarm units or dummy cameras can be a good deterrent,but it could be your insurance that determines what kind of alarm system you have. All alarm systems weather DIY or Professional have the same limiting factor They are all only as good as the response they cause. In many areas people have become almost immune to alarms going off,many systems are too sensitive and frankly have become a nuisance,also the response time of police or security guards is often too slow,burglars know this,hence the rise in smash and grab robberies.The point is whilst burglar alarms are becoming a necessity these days they are no substitute for getting the basic stuff well sorted.