Home Security Beat

12 Ways to Improve Your House Locks

Installing locks is one of the easiest ways to secure your home. Although locks are not a foolproof solution, they at least make it more challenging to burglarize your home. Breaking through a lock requires force, which can create enough noise to alert you or a neighbor that something is wrong. Sometimes just the potential of getting caught can cause a burglar to run instead of continuing to pursue your home. Try these simple tips for your home’s locks so you can be one step ahead of the bad guys.

1. Make sure that there are locks on all windows. You can also install an additional security device to prevent the window from opening too wide.
2. Limit access to your home by investing in fingerprint locks.
3. Install dead bolts with captive keylocks on your doors. The removable thumb latch will make it impossible for a thief to reach through the window and unlock the door.
4. Lock all doors and windows (including second story ones) even if you’re leaving your house for a few minutes.
5. Ensure that all of your doors lock from the inside and outside.
6. Install a chain lock so that you can talk to people outside of your door without giving them a view or accessibility to your home.
7. Re-key one door so that you can give this key out to friends or family. If this key gets lost, it’s easier and cheaper to change the lock on one door rather than all of the doors.
8. Color code all of your keys so you can quickly figure out which key opens what door.
9. Always re-key the locks when you move into a house or apartment, because you never know who the previous owners might have given an extra key to.
10. Store an extra key in a combination or key lockbox if you’re worried about locking yourself out.
11. Update your home with modern locks, because they can be refitted to the door and provide a more reliable locking mechanism.
12. Use keypads if several people need access to your home, but give each person a different code so you can monitor their use. Or use combination keyless locks to keep certain individuals out of specific areas of your house.

Locks have become more functional, and as technology develops, it will be interesting to see how much more secure they will become. In the meantime, these tips will prevent crime and keep your mind at ease.

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Tags: house locks, improve your locks, security locks, window locks