Posts Tagged ‘physical home security’

Outdoor security lighting is an important part of a complete home security plan, but many people make the wrong choice in the type of lighting they use. You might assume that bright lights that clearly illuminate your property would be a turnoff to potential burglars and thus the best choice. While lighting that illuminates driveways, paths, and porches can make homeowners and visitors (the invited kind) feel more secure, some types of outdoor security lighting can actually make it easier for burglars to ply their trade.

Bright Security Lights, Not the Best Choice

According to “A Guide to Exterior Lighting” from the spring 2004 issue of Taunton’s Decks & Outdoor Projects, “blasting the driveway or front yard with bright light can make it easier for a trespasser to hide in the shadows” (p. 37). This is because bright lights also create dark shadows in the negative space. Therefore, it is harder for the eyes to adjust and pick out potential intruders hiding in the dark spots. Essentially, bright lights destroy a person’s night vision. So, even though it may seem to make sense to use powerful lighting to illuminate the exterior of your home at night, lower light levels often make a smarter choice.

Lower wattage outdoor security lighting, such as one often sees used for landscape lighting, tends to be a better choice. This sort of lighting illuminates pathways enough for walking up to the house and opening the door without blinding the homeowner to what could be going on in other parts of the yard.

There are times when bright outdoor lighting makes sense (i.e. when checking for fallen branches during a storm or if there definitely is an intruder on your property and you want to scare him away), but rather than using it all the time (which is not smart energy-wise anyway), try having your bright lights controlled by inside switches.

You have worked hard for what you have and you really need to protect it. You would also want to protect your family and keep them safe. These are two very good reasons to install outdoor security cameras on your home and restore your peace-of-mind.

Research has shown that any security measure that can easily be seen is a definite deterrent to intending burglars. Criminals look for easy targets, and are likely to leave your home alone when they see a visible security camera on the house. Cameras have the advantage of not only helping to prevent an intruder, but also will capture the image of any thief who ignores the camera and enters the property. This makes it easier for the police to make an arrest.

Security cameras at the external doors of your house make it easy for you and your family to see who has come to the door. With cameras that are fixed on the doorway, they need only open the door to people they know, and reduce the risk of letting a criminal into the home.

Another great use for outdoor security cameras is allowing you to monitor the backyard. When the children are outside playing, you are able to be indoors continuing with your work, but are able to supervise the children at the same time.

When you go to acquire outdoor security cameras for your home, you will quickly realize that there are some decisions to be made. An outdoor camera can be a dummy camera, for deterring burglars; it can photograph the person at the door, record the image or just allow you to identify them. You can have black and white images, which are cheaper, or color, which give more detail.

There are different camera systems available for home security cameras; you need to decide between wired and wireless. Again, there is a difference in price, a wired system is more stable but a wireless system can often be placed in positions that cannot be reached by a wired camera.

A security digital video recorder will be needed if recording of the security cameras is desired. These can be in the form of a standalone unit and resemble a VCR. A DVR unlike a VCR records onto a hard drive which provides longer recording times and better quality playback. They are available with 4 to 16 camera inputs and have a variety of features with motion detection and remote viewing being the most popular. Personal computers can also be used if equipped with DVR capture cards and will have many of the same features.

The motion detection feature of the DVR allows you to record only when someone or something moves into the cameras view. You no longer need to buy special cameras since the DVR and not the camera determines if it should record. This will also reduce the amount of video that may need to be reviewed if a crime were to occur.

These are just some of the reasons why you need to consider fitting outdoor security cameras to your home. Ensuring the safety and security of your family, your house and your possessions is an important responsibility, and one that needs to be attended to properly.

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Returning home to your apartment and finding your home being ransacked will absolutely turn your life upside down. Your most treasured possessions, heirlooms, TV, computer and jewelry – all gone forever. You must take action to prevent this occurring and you must do this now – don’t leave it until its too late.

If you live in an apartment what must be done in order to improve home security and prevent and break in? The simplest and most effective solution is to install a apartment security system so you will have peace of mind that your home is being protected when you are out at work or on a night on the town.

Apartment blocks are in fact very vulnerable as it is difficult to keep non residents out of the block thus making crime and burglar far easier to commit. Stranger are notorious for hanging around near or in the block and you don’t really know if they are associated with the apartment block building or not.

In order to protect your property and prevent a burglary, a home alarm system is the way to go. People don’t often want to install an alarm system as they think it will be too much work or cost too much. You’d be surprised how inexpensive an apartment alarm system can be and by installing a wireless alarm system, you will reduce installation cost to virtually zero if you carry out the work yourself. Wireless systems are very straightforward to install and any keen DIY’er should have no problems in installing such a system. Reliability is significantly improved over recent years so things like interference won’t be an issue.

In the same way that a wireless alarm system is easy to install – it is easy to de-install too. This is ideal if you are renting your property and you want to remove your alarm system and move on to your next rented accommodation. Simply de-install take it with you and re-install it at the new property.

Download an Apartment Security Checklist to help improve your security.

Wireless alarm systems can easily be expanded so if you can’t afford a full blown system with sensors in every room then buy a basic system and add you it if and when you finances dictate. It’s a good idea to purchase a starter kit then add to it as time goes on.

For real peace of mind, consider installing a monitored alarm system. With this kind of system your apartment will be monitored day and night and if the alarm gets triggered then help will be on hand to assist the emergency. The appropriate emergency service will be called out to attend your properly.

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