Common Home Security Vulnerabilities and Tips On How To Fix Them
Being a homeowner is one of the more challenging jobs on the planet. Not only does a homeowner have to worry about maintaining the vital systems in their residences, they also need to focus on keeping burglars at bay. Unfortunately, the number of home burglaries in the United States has steadily risen over the past few years.
Most people fail to realize that the average home burglary lasts less than ten minutes. In this short amount of time, a burglar can take many of the items you value. If your main goal is to avoid becoming a home burglary victim, then you need to work on addressing the security vulnerabilities your residence has. Below is information about some common home security vulnerabilities and steps you can take to address them.
Damaged Door Locks Have To Be Replaced
The average home burglary isn’t planned out in advance. Usually, a criminal will see a home that appears vacant and then approach it to see if any vulnerabilities are present that they can exploit. The condition of the exterior door locks is one of the first things most criminals will look at. If the door lock in question looks old and damaged, a burglar will try to pick it. If they are successful in their attempt to pick a door lock, they can gain entrance to a home and take what they want.
Rather than ignoring the damage to your exterior door locks, you need to replace them immediately. The best way to ensure this job is handled correctly is by working with the professionals at Mr. Speedy Locksmith. Our team will have no problem getting new locks installed on your exterior doors in a timely manner.
Inadequate Door Reinforcement
If a burglar feels like the locks on an exterior door are hard to pick, they might resort to kicking the door completely in. These smash and grab style robberies are extremely common. It will be easy for a criminal to break down your door if it lacks adequate reinforcement. The average deadbolt lock will only have a ¼ inch support from the wood frame around an exterior door.
This small amount of support makes the average exterior door easy to kick down. Replacing your striker plates and using longer screws to get into the actual structural components of your door frame is a good idea. Reinforcing these striker plates will make kicking in your door much harder for criminals.
Avoid Leaving Hinges On Out-Swinging Doors Exposed
Out-swinging doors are quite common in homes across the United States. These doors usually have hinges that are exposed. A burglar can use these exposed hinges to gain access to your home. All they have to do is remove the pins from the doors to take them off of the hinges and walk into your home. Using specially-designed security studs on your exposed hinges can make removing the pins from them nearly impossible.
If your home has one or more of the vulnerabilities mentioned above, it is time to fix them.
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