To prevent a burglar, you have to think like a burglar. For starters, walk outside and inspect the entire perimeter of your home. Think to yourself, if I was a burglar, how would I break into this house. Keep in mind that burglars are looking for the easiest and most inconspicuous entrance. Start with entries on the ground floor and basement. You might be surprised at what you’ll find.

Would You Be Able to Break Into Your Own Home?

Burglars get creative when looking for an entry point, so it pays to carefully inspect the entire exterior of your home with a fine-toothed comb. Many of our customers are surprised to find unsecured basement windows, well concealed hiding spaces, windows on a backdoor that could be broken to gain entry, unsecured garage doors, easily accessible ladders that could help a burglar gain entry to a second story window or balcony, and many other weak points.

Fortifying a Residential Home Against Break-Ins

Every aspect of your home has to be carefully considered. Your goal as a homeowner shouldn’t be to catch burglars, leave that to the police. Your best defense against burglars is to make your home as difficult of a target as possible. Many burglars drive around neighborhoods looking for the easiest target with the biggest payoff, so take a few extra precautions that will help you stay off their radar.

This burglar walks us through what they’re looking for in a target:

10 Simple Home Improvement Tips to Help Prevent Break-Ins:

1. Install Deadbolts – Burglars enter through an unlocked window or door in 34% of residential burglaries. Install bump-proof deadbolts on all doors and keep them locked.
2. Fix Broken Windows – Breaking a window makes noise. If you have a pain missing from a basement, garage, or shed window, you’ve just done the burglar a huge favor. Additionally, broken windows can be sign that people aren’t keeping tight control over what’s happening on a piece of property.
3. Install Motion Sensor Lights – Install flood lights all around your home that turn on when someone approaches your home from any direction, especially if you live down a somewhat secluded driveway. Burglars hate motion sensor lights.
4. Get a Dog Or Make It Look Like You have a Dog – Just the site of a large dog bowl on your back porch can be enough to get most burglars to skip over your house. Put up a “Beware of Dog” sign on your back fence, even if you don’t have a dog.
5. Secure Ladders and Other Tools – Keep your shed locked and find a way to chain up any ladders, so those tools can’t be used to gain entry into your home.
6. Install Security Cameras Or at Least Install Fake Security Cameras – Your best bet is to install working security cameras. If that’s not feasible from a financial standpoint, you should at least put up a few fake cameras, along with a few well-placed signs warning about the cameras but be careful, most professional burglars can spot a fake camera.
7. Set Up Timed Lights Inside Your Home – Coming home to a well-lit house is safer than coming home to a dark house. Automatic lights can also make it look like someone’s home when you’re away. Smart home features like the ability to control lights with your smartphone can be set up by Butler Durrell Security through services like Alarm.com.
8. Start or Join a Neighborhood Watch Program – Here is a list of neighborhood watch programs in the St. Louis area, and here’s some information on setting up a neighborhood watch program.
9. Make an Agreement with a Neighbor to Watch Over Each Other’s Homes – Newspapers, mail, and packages on the front stoop are a dead giveaway that a house is empty. One of the best defenses against burglary is simply having an extra set of eyes looking over your home when no one’s around.
10. Hire a Security Professional to Install a Home Security System – Hire a company like Butler Durrell to install an alarm system and place alarm warning signs in the front and back yards. Homes without security systems are 300% more likely to be broken into.

Preparing Your Home Against Burglars

So, how did your inspection go? Did you find any easy ways into the house? If you came across any weak spots that you aren’t able to fix on your own, it’s worth bringing in a professional security expert. Contact Butler Durrell Security if you’d like help with a security system, surveillance video, or smart home features.