Home Security Audits
You're house is your home, and you should feel safe at home. Every time I enter a customers house, these are the things I'm looking for to make sure their doors are up to my standards for basic home security. These 10 things are easy to check for and I encourage you to check for yourself so you can resolve any vulnerabilities your doors have. I call them the Big 10 of basic home security and here's what they are :
Click each topic to learn more!
There's a couple more things I want to talk about that aren't on that big 10 list but I feel are super important to spend some time on. Let's talk about garage entry doors first.
A lot of the time when I'm giving my customers the whole spiel about this big 10 and how they can improve the security of their doors, they'll say "well we don't really have to worry about the garage entry door, because we have the overhead garage door that keeps people out right?", WRONG! I consider your garage entry door the most vulnerable door in your house (especially if you park in your garage regularly), and here's why. Have you ever walked out into your garage in the morning ad realized it was left open all night? Me too, and it happens to the best of us. So reason #1 is Human Error , nobody's perfect! Have you ever came home from work and a you pull onto your street you notice that your garage door is open and you don't know why? This could happen 3 ways. You could have been pulling out of your driveway and clicked the button and saw it start going down but then stopped watching as you started moving forward, meanwhile an object of some kind falls down through the invisible line at the bottom causing the door to think there's something in the way and opens back up without you noticing. Another way is, though it has never happened to me, but I've heard so many stories of these garage clickers mysteriously getting their signals crossed and operating the wrong door! And lastly brings me to the 3rd reason you are wrong about your overhead garage door being secure... Overhead garage doors can easily be opened with one simple object that almost everyone has in their house - a wire clothes hanger. You can easily make a tool by unfolding it, then making a hook on one end, sticking it up right in the center of the door through the space between the door and the wall, and fishing around until you get ahold of the red pull chord that releases the door from the opener and, BOOM THEY'RE IN! I actually keep a coat hanger in my van for this type of lockout situation and I have used it several times over the years with ease. Overhead garage doors are not a good way to keep unwanted people out of your house, and when left open you're already inviting people who are up to no good into your garage to snoop around, and you decided to skip out on the deadbolts for the garage entry door so now they can use a credit card to just let themselves into your home. Tisk tisk!
OK I have one last subject to cover on this page. And that would be quality name brand hardware vs cheap low name hardware. I'll just say it like this, if you buy a $12 deadbolt to keep your doors locked, you're only gonna get about $12 worth of security. I'll always provide my customers with a variety of hardware options, I'll always make my strong recommendations, and I'll always discourage you from buying the cheapest crap you can buy on Amazon. And going the other direction, sky is the limit. You can spend a fortune on high end medical grade deadbolts (that's the real high security stuff that you need to be a lock picking master to defeat quietly), or put 10 locks on your doors, but there's a good middle ground that will provide decent security, at a very fair price. I'll show you when I get there for your Home Security Audit.