There are few simple ways to protect your home or commercial property. Here are some helpful ideas to get started with. One is having motion sensor lighting on the exterior of your property and any detached buildings. Two is by having indoor and outdoor timers set to turn on the interior lighting of the building and exterior landscape lighting on the property at dusk and off at a convenient time. Three would be installing a surveillance system to record any activity during the day and night around the property. Lastly, having your home or commercial property updated with an efficient smart system that can be controlled by you from any hand held smart device or PC from mostly wherever your located in or away from your property.
Lighting is your first step. Deterrence is the objective. To prevent even the act of trespassing from taking place, you must set up a successful deterrent.
Start with lights. Motion activated lights that not only focus on the traffic lanes to your property’s access points, but also lighting up the property in a way that draws attention.
Then a security alarm yard sign or two (preferably referencing a real alarm system), followed by the appearance of a comprehensive surveillance system. - again preferably a real system…
Make sure to work with a licensed electrical contractor that understands the power loads your home can take on, as well as the band width needs for your surveillance and home controls.
a few dogs, a moat, and a well trained dragon would also help…
I look at home safety as something we can all do as a homeowner or as a contractor. Most of us use common sense with most safety precautions, although accidents happen. As a pool contractor I would like to focus on that area with some of the major steps you can take to help insure safety. A common sense solution is always have a close eye on the pool when it is being used. A safety barrier is the best defense against unexpected pool use. Door alarms can also alert you to someone entering the pool area. The pool deck can often be slick when wet and can cause some nasty accidents too, you can find many deck paints that can help with that. Diving into pools is never a good idea unless it is designed for that, even jumping in (cannonballs) can cause injuries. Most shallow ends of pools are only 3 feet deep and have steps and benches to avoid. A long pool pole can also be a help when trying to pull a swimmer to safety. The list can go on and on, the expense of these different suggestions are modest normally under 500.00 dollars.
I wrote this because it pains me when I see news where children drown every year when it could of been avoided so easily.
Most homes built from the 1970s through today, are wired with plugs and switches using quick connect holes in the back for the connection of wires, instead of the electrician using the screws on the sides of the device. A few homes are wired with devices that only have these quick connects and no screws for connecting the wires at all. The figure may be as high as 30% of all residential trouble calls, where the circuit stops operating correctly, attributed the failure of these quick connects. I highly recommend a licensed Electrical contractor inspect your home to determine if this is the case. I do not know the statistics of any fires caused by this problem, but I have been fixing this problem for 40 years. Many times the insulation is burned off the wires so that much of the wire has to be replaced within that outlet box. This is a problem that can be easily checked without much problem, and an entire house can have the plugs and switches replaced if needed on any given day. Just pull all the furniture away from the walls and call the contractor of your choice. They will very likely find problems that a you or a future home owner will be paying for sooner or later. Keep receipts in case you decide to sell the home in the future, and sleep much better.
Most Homeowners invest in exterior doors that are made of steel but have wood frames…It takes very little effort to kick in a door of this kind. Invest in a steel door with a steel frame.
Have your home inspected by licensed inspector or by licensed tradesman for each trade and make repairs. Bring your home up to the current standards. For example electricians would check smoke detectors operation and correct locations, tamper resistant recepticles, arc fault breakers…
Putting in exterior Lighting so you can see property well. Installing an Alarm system is very important also. It protects your home as well as call the authorities right away. Lastly if you like dogs especially big ones, that is a big deterrent too.