If you find yourself living alone whether it be all the time or just a lot of the time if you have a spouse that travels, there are precautions you should put in place to keep yourself safe in your home. Parry Custom Homes, a premier Pittsburgh on your lot builder, shares safety tips for yourself or a loved one who may be living at home alone.
The first thing that should be on your radar for home and personal safety when living alone, is to address what your lighting situation is. Outdoor lighting plays a huge role when it comes to deterring intruders or even just people snooping around that you don’t need around your home.
It is good to not have your home lit up 24 hours a day, but be sure to have lights on timers during the evening hours when you might not be home. Leaving the lights on all day can attract intruders. Having lights on a timer will allow for a normal pattern of activity and prevent your home from being all dark when you are not there.
Another good tip is to keep additional lights on in your home, such as a bedroom or two to give the allusion you are not home alone. So, consider putting a few lamps on timers in different rooms in your home. This can make it seem like you have a fuller house, even when it is just you inside.
Most people know about outdoor light sensors that will turn on a light when someone motions in front of it. These are great to have on the outside of your home. However, you can get even more creative with a TV light simulator. This is a device that is no bigger than a cup of coffee and mimics the lights produced by an HDTV. So, when you are upstairs in your home it can look like someone is downstairs watching TV, without having to have the TV on.
If you happen to be a woman living alone, it is great to put up deterrents around your home as well. These can be simple things like a size 13 men’s work boot outside the front of your home, or a giant dog water dish. It is also a good idea to not be home alone if you can, when you have someone coming over to repair your home. If you know you have someone coming to your home to do any type of repair or maintenance, invite a friend over to be there as well if you can so you do not have to be alone or look like you live alone.
Another tip to be sure and do is to change the locks when you move into a new home. Even better, replace it with a lock that also has a deadbolt as well as a key to lock and unlock. Sure turning a lock is more convenient, but if there are windows next to your lock on the inside, it just takes someone breaking the window and turning the lock for them to get in.
There is a way you can make your windows more secure as well. While putting bars in front of them is a tad extreme (and can also cause a safety risk if there is a fire), putting glass protection film on the windows can disperse the shock wave of a broken window if anyone tries to break in through it.
If you don’t have a security system and don’t have the desire to pay for one, fake the look of having one outside your home. Put up signage on your front door window or get one of those front yard signs of a security company to put by the front door. Different types of signs like “Beware of dog” or things to that nature, can also be deterrents.
Especially if you move into a new home, get to know any neighbors you have around you. Not only will this help you get introduced into your new neighborhood, but also give you people to contact in case of emergency and when you get comfortable enough, even ask them to keep an eye on your home when you are both at home or away.
Lastly, be sure you become aware of your surroundings and keep your nose out of your phone when you are coming and going from your home. Just paying attention to your surroundings when you are out or about or coming and going from your home, can save you a great deal of problems that you could run into. People who are distracted are the primary people who are targeted by those who are out and looking for victims, in any scenario.
Use these simple tips for yourself or share them with someone you may know who lives alone all the time or even is alone frequently. It never hurts to extra rules of caution to live by.
Parry Custom Homes is an established homebuilder in the Pittsburgh area. Call or contact us today for more information.