A recent study stated that when a home is burglarized, a typical homeowner suffers a loss of nearly $2,000 in stolen goods and/or property damage. The report went on to say that the current statistics revolving around home burglaries have grown steadily over the last 10 years and that an American home is the victimized by a burglary every 15 seconds.
It has been well documented that since the national economy has gotten worse, burglary has become a more common crime.
Unfortunately many of these homeowners do not have quality insurance or deductibles, leaving many of them to pay out of pocket to replace any stolen materials. However to coincide with this new spike in home theft, there has also been a steady increase in the national average of wireless alarm system purchases. It seems that for a small investment, a homeowner can ensure the protection of both their property and and home in an easy and affordable style. For those who have already made the jump to a home security unit, simple maintenance is key to ensuring that your system is running at peak efficiency. By checking, installing and upgrading the moving parts and components to your overall home security you can ensure the security for home and family, does not end up another statistic.
Check Outdoor Devices
If any of the components of your security system are outdoors, you will want to check them at least once every week. Storms, severe weather and condensation may all damage the outdoor components of a security system. Even if your devices are rated for outdoor use, try to place them in areas where they will be the least affected by outdoor conditions. For example, for an outdoor home security camera, try to install it in an area where it won’t be exposed to rain, lightning and other potential hazards.
Test Your Security System
Like any electronic device, the components of a home security system may occasionally malfunction. In order to ensure that your home security components are still effective, run a test of your system at least once per month. If your home security system includes monitoring, you may need to call them in order to ensure that you don’t trigger a false alarm. Some monitoring stations will even run a diagnostic of your system from their location, which is usually free of charge.
Change Batteries Regularly
If any of your home security devices are wireless, they may be designed to run on batteries. High quality wireless devices will have an indicating feature that will let you know when it’s time to change batteries. If your device doesn’t have an indication feature, you can generally change batteries every 6 months on most small devices (2-3 months on devices with more power consumption). Also, testing your wireless devices is a great way to ensure that they still have working batteries.
Although a home security system is a paramount need in today’s world, and routine check-ups on the working condition of the moving components to your home’s protection are vital, the best form of protection for one’s home is common sense. By simply and easily locking all your home’s doors and windows whenever you leave your home, you can prevent 90% of home invasions and burglaries.
With these simple, smart and easy to use tricks, ideas, concepts and tips, any homeowner can guarantee the utmost safety and security of their home or property. From changing your batteries, and testing your security system, to checking your outdoor devices, the simplicity of these easily obtainable check-ups are guaranteed to drastically decrease the chances of a would be burglar invading your home.