Did you know that a burglary occurs in the U.S. every 13 seconds?  It doesn’t matter where you live or how nice your home is or isn’t. Everyone can be susceptible to a break-in and burglary.

However, learning how to burglar-proof your home can go a long way towards preventing break-ins and deterring burglars. Keep reading to find out how!

How to Burglar-Proof Your Home

It’s an awful experience when you home or wake up to learn you’ve been robbed. Knowing someone was in your private and personal space is truly upsetting and violating.

However, you can avoid feeling this way by learning how to burglar-proof your home. Taking the following steps toward locking down your home.

Motion-Sensored Lights

Even as an adult minding your own business, when you walk by someone’s house and trip their motion-sensor lights, it gives you an unsettling feeling. It makes you feel like you’re doing something wrong or are about to get in trouble. 

As a burglar, tripping the lights of a home you’re about to break into will certainly make you think twice on if you want to proceed. After all, the family dwelling inside will surely notice bright lights coming on in the yard. Odds are, they’ll look out the window to see why they were tripped.

On top of motioned sensor lights, it’s also a good idea to have good lighting around the house in general. The brighter your property is at night, the less likely burglars will be attracted to your property, none of them want to be caught or identified.

Security Cameras

Security cameras work on two levels. First, their mere presence works as a deterrent for most burglars. Once again, they don’t want to be caught and being on camera is a great way to get identified at the police station. 

Additionally, if a burglary happens in spite of security cameras, the video footage will serve in finding the burglar and helping you recover what was lost. If you don’t get your original possessions back, you’ll be able to have a detailed list of everything that was stolen for the police and your insurance company.

Alarms

Next, figuring out how to burglar-proof your home means installing an alarm system. This serves as an effective deterrent for most burglars and as a safety net for you and your family. 

Most burglars will high-tail it once they here an alarm system trip. However, if they decide to stick around, your alarm system automatically notifies the local authorities that there may be trouble in your house.

Check out some of the typical alarms for sale for home protection.

Cut Down on Exterior Hiding Places

Another step in learning how to burglar-proof your home is clearing away any hiding places in your yard, especially near the door. 

Keep vegetation trimmed down, shrubs cut low, and clutter to a minimum.

Secure All Windows

One of the biggest mistakes people make is failing to lock their windows. Regardless of what floor the windows are on, unsecured windows provide easy access for burglars.

Make sure you lock all of your windows, install shatter or window-break sensors, and even add interior lock-bars on sliding windows. These lock bars can be a simple dowel rod placed in the gap where the window would slide to make it impossible to open.

Get Adequate Locking Systems on Doors

Learning how to burglar-proof your home may mean changing out your locks on your doors. 

First, if you have just moved in, it’s probably a good idea to change out the locks. You don’t necessarily know how many people have lived there in the past and still have keys to your front door. 

Additionally, if any exterior doors don’t have a deadbolt, you must install one. Anyone with a credit card or driver’s license can break into a locked door with no deadbolt. Make sure your deadbolt is complete with a crash-plate as well.

Secure the Garage and Shed

Another common mistake people make is failing to lock up their garage or shed. Sure, someone breaking into your shed may not feel as invasive as someone in your home, however, you probably have plenty of valuable stuff out there. 

Install Tall Fencing

Fences are great aids in learning how to burglar-proof your home. They create quite an obstacle for people trying to creep on and off your property, assuming they don’t use the gate.

Installing a tall privacy fence also makes it difficult for a burglar to anticipate what’s on the other side. They won’t be able to tell if someone’s home or if they’ll be greeted by angry dogs, etc.

Get a Dog

Speaking of dogs, having one may serve you well to keep burglars away. The last thing a burglar wants is to call attention to himself. Even more desirable would be getting attacked by a dog protecting its owner’s property.

Dogs also serve as early alert systems, as they’ll sense a burglar before you, your alarm, or even the motion lights do.

Get to Know Your Neighbors

Another intelligent tactic for learning how to burglar-proof your home is becoming familiar with your neighbors. You don’t have to become besties with them, but having a grasp on who your neighbors are and what they look like won’t go amiss.

That way, if you see someone hanging around your home or a neighbor’s who doesn’t belong, there will be no question.

Be Wary About Inviting Strangers Into Your Home

Salesmen and contractors going door to door are sometimes scammers looking for a way into your house. Whether they’re looking to nab something at the moment or just scanning homes for weak points, you need to be careful about who you let inside your house.

Greet people outside your door and keep the conversation there, rather than inviting them inside.

Secure All Outdoor Valuables

Finally, one of the best lessons in learning how to burglar-proof your home is locking down opportunistic thefts. For example, bikes laying around the yard, an unsecured grill, or a laptop left out on your patio table are quick and easy grabs for someone strolling the neighborhood with ill intentions.

Bring indoor stuff inside and secure outdoor possessions.

Stay Safe and Secure

You may not find it necessary to take all of these steps toward learning how to burglar-proof your home. However, we highly recommend playing it safe to take preventative measures.

Who knows, you may never need to worry about a burglary. But then again, you might need to worry about it tomorrow.

For more information about trending homes and lifestyle, check out the rest of our articles.