This time of year, many of us open up our windows to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Nothing wrong with that. But an open window, particularly in an unoccupied house, is an easy target for a burglar. You need to secure them or keep them shut (and turn on your Monitronics monitored alarm system when you’re away or sleeping).
So if you want the window cracked, make sure it is no more than six inches open and use secondary blocking devices, like a wooden dowel or stick for a horizontal sliding windows or a through-the-frame pin or “screw lock”for vertical sliding windows. Make sure that you can’t reach through the open window and remove any of these things.
For the times when the window is shut, place a highly visible alarm company sticker. Monitronics makes some nice ones that are available from customer service at 800-447-9239.
Posted in: Home Security, Tuesday tip
It’s national Fire Prevention Week 2009 from October 4-10, a time to pay special attention to risks around our homes. According to the National Fire Protection Association, last year, fires caused more than $15.5 billion in directly property loss, with $8.6 billion of that being residential.
Many of those fires started in the bedroom, a place that’s designed for comfort and relaxation, but is no safe haven when it comes to home fires: Nearly 6,000 people die annually from bedroom fires, says the United States Fire Administration.
Sleep tight with these safety tips for the bedroom:
- Replace mattresses made before 2007 that don’t meet the new flammability standard.
- Never smoke in bed.
- Make sure that electric blankets, bed warmers, and space heaters are lab tested and do not have frayed electric cords.
- Operate space heaters at least three feet away from flammable objects, like curtains, clothes, bedspreads, sheets, and blankets.
- Keep matches, lighters and candles out of the reach of children. When children play with these items, they often do so in their bedrooms. This is especially critical during the holiday season when the number of house fires by children increases to a peak of 60 fires per day during mid-December.
- Routinely check under beds, in closets, and furniture in children’s rooms for lighters, burnt matches, or other signs that they might be playing with fire.
Posted in: Home Security
According to the FBI, a burglary occurs somewhere in the United States every 15.4 seconds. No home is burglar-proof, but there are dozens of simple tips you can use to make your residence a harder target. After all, time is the enemy of a thief, who wants to work quickly. Make your house a less attractive target and the burglar may move on.
Tuesday tip: Secure your sliding-glass patio doors
That sliding glass door lets in lots of light, but it can let in a burglar, too. Here are some quick tips for securing it:
- That latch is not worth a lot—it’s easily forced open. Use a “charley bar” or two-by-four in the track to block it from being opened.
- Older sliding doors can actually be lifted up and off their track from the outside. To prevent this, keep the door rollers in good condition and well adjusted. Check out your local hardware store for an “anti-lift device;” it looks like a pin that goes through both the sliding and fixed portion of the door.
- Consider placing a Monitronics window decal on the sliding door to prove you’re protected 24 hours a day
- Place a monitored glass break, door sensor, or motion detector on that entry way
Posted in: Home Security, Tuesday tip
