Fall Home and Business Security Tips

Prepare Your Home or Business for Fall

Since fall is nearing, it’s a great time to prepare your home and business for seasonal changes and do routine mainte­nance on your security system. The fall and winter seasons have increased risks for fires, leaks, and freezing pipes. Yearly adjust­ments are necessary to make sure your system is doing its job and protecting you from these risks.

Yearly mainte­nance is simple. Here’s a couple of easy steps you can take to prepare your home and security system for the cold seasons.

Replace the Batteries

Many people often forget to replace the batteries in their fire detectors and system. They’re often reminded only when they hear the system report the low battery. The homeowners are vulnerable until they replace the batteries. While some sensors can last 3 – 5 years on the same batteries, it’s recom­mended that you change the batteries yearly so you’re protected.

Check Sensor Positioning

Did your home get renovated or even get some new furniture? Have you rearranged your furniture recently? Make sure to take a look at your sensors to make sure they are still in the perfect position to be effective. If you are unsure, give our team a call and we can assist you.

Yearly Maintenance

Doing your own system checks help prevent major malfunc­tions in your security system, but an annual inspection from a qualified technician helps ensure every­thing stays running in perfect shape. An inspector performs a more thorough check on all the compo­nents, wiring, power supplies, and sensors in the system and replaces or repairs anything that is not performing at 100 percent. Most companies offer annual inspec­tions at relatively low cost, and many include it as a part of the initial instal­lation agreement. This helps prevent more expensive repairs down the road and also reduces the risk of the system failing when you need it most.

The inspector also updates any software that needs it. This sometimes happens remotely through the main control panel without any input from you. However, inquire about the software while the inspector is there to make sure you have the most updated firmware. This elimi­nates bugs and reduces the risk of malfunction.

Check Entry Points

Check all entry points, including front/​rear office doors, doggy doors, garage doors, and screened windows. These should always be monitored for vulner­a­bil­ities. A burglar will check for these entry points first because most homeowners often forget about securing them. Also survey your property. Do you have trees with their limbs close to windows? Trees are easy for burglars to climb without being detected. If you do have a limb close to windows, be sure to cut them down or call a profes­sional to remove them.

Put Away the Gardening Tools

Did you know there’s an added benefit to keeping your gardening tools in the shed beyond clean­liness? There is! If you use a rake to gather leaves and leave the rake somewhere outside of the shed, a burglar will use that rake to break into your house! Same goes for a ladder or even a brick. Anything that could possibly make a burglar’s goal easier to attain should be locked away.

Clean Out Areas with Excessive Leaves

Dead leaves contribute to many fires during the fall and winter due to their flamma­bility. Make sure before you crank up the heat or have too many bonfires, you remove leaves from your roof gutters, and in your yard. All it takes is one spark for the leaves the catch on fire. If you aren’t able to, contact a profes­sional leaf removal company who can do it for you!

And as always, your Bates Security Lexington team is here to service your system and check for any problems. Your safety is our top priority year-round and we appre­ciate your continued trust in our team.