Winter Security 101

Perhaps one of the most unpre­dictable seasons of the year is winter. With frequent temper­ature varia­tions and weather condi­tions ranging anywhere from snow, sleet, ice, storms, and rain, your home must endure a lot of stress during the season! While plenty of these tips are bound to have positive effects on year-round security, we will focus on winter home security tips and tricks that will have lasting impacts on your home.

1.Take notes of the outside of your home for potential ​“blind” spots during each season.

There is a common miscon­ception about criminals. While many believe burglars and other types of criminals are unorga­nized, possibly not that intel­ligent, studies show that many criminals are highly organized and detailed, often stalking a home for weeks before striking. They want to memorize patterns, movements, and potential blind spots on your property. Sometimes they know your property better than you! As a home owner, it is extremely important to know that layout of your land. Take notes of where hiding spots could be. Try to occasionally adjust camera angles in these areas. One way you could do this is in windows where during the summer you have lots of foliage, place a trash can or a ​“decorative” barrel in front of the window to block the line of vision.

Make sure you don’t leave anything valuable visible in the window. Criminals are often motivated by valuable assets. They make many of their decisions based on what they see, and as such, HomeAd­visor recom­mended that homeowners take their own surveys of the exterior with this in mind. If you can clearly see valuable items through the windows, burglars can too.

2. Some simple nature hacks to communicate your presence.

The upkeep of your home or building commu­ni­cates volumes. Did you know that something as simple as shoveling your driveway or mowing your lawn can signal a burglar that there is a good chance someone is home? Many thieves may see a driveway that hasn’t been shoveled as a family that possibly is on vacation. It’s important to remember this if you live in an area with heavy snow.

You also can utilize motion censored lawn lights during the winter to show your presence as well. If a thief sees these lights, they will be cautious to approach the residence or building in fear of alerting someone.

3. Reinforce your points of entry with sensors.

For the residents’ safety, many homes have several points of possible entry. It’s important to reinforce the safety of these entry points by installing sensors on windows and doors. But sensors are not always focused on keeping things out. Sensors can also alert to any potential hazards such as water damage or even someone getting out of the house (think teenagers!).

Here are some uses of sensors that every homeowner can benefit from:

Pipe Sensors: in areas where freezing pipes are a constant threat, pipe sensors can really save the homeowners some money and stress. You will get alerts when your pipe is reaching a freezing point so you have time to act accord­ingly before the pipe bursts.

Motion­Viewer sensors: Motion­Viewer sensors can be either indoor or outdoor. Motion­Viewer sensors can be adjusted to not be tripped by children or pets, and if they are tripped, will take a ten second video to send to you so you know who (or what) tripped the sensor!

Glass break sensors: Glass break sensors are pretty straight forward. You can detect anyone breaking into your house via window or glass door by the breaking of the glass. With Resideo specif­i­cally, you will get a notifi­cation straight to your app.

Now that you’ve learned how to work with nature and technology to protect your home or business during the winter, schedule your free consul­tation with Bates Security to enhance your level of security. As a Resideo Premier Security dealer, we offer every­thing from home security cameras to smart alarm systems to wireless doorbells. Our Resideo trained security experts will help you take control and protect your home or business from internal and external threats.