Keys to Securing Your Home: 5 Easy Ways to Help Protect Your Home

Many high-tech, high-priced home security products are available today. Fortunately, there are less expensive - but no less effective - ways to protect your Lancaster County, PA home, too.

Check out these smart home security tips!

Eliminate Hiding Places.

Keep all entry points to your house well lit.

Trim shrubs and trees that could provide cover for an intruder. Trim tree limbs that could enable intruders to gain entry via an upper-floor window or balcony and keep items such as ladders locked inside the house.

Don’t be an easy target.

Burglars want to hit the easiest target on the block so give them reasons to skip your house.

Home-security decals or “Beware of Dog” signs are good deterrents. Home security alarms are also good.

A subscription to a monitoring service is a good idea, but even the sound of an alarm is often enough to scare off a thief.

Lock windows and doors.

Department of Justice statistics report more than half of all burglaries occur with no sign of forced entry -- meaning a robber was able to enter the house through an unlocked door or window.

Use a heavy-duty deadbolt that is bolted to the door frame with three-inch screws.

Appear to be home.

When you’re away, have someone pick up your mail and newspaper or have them stopped for the duration of your trip. In addition, have someone mow your lawn. Also, use timers to turn specific lights on and off in the house to make it seem as if someone is home.

Know your neighbors.

Make sure neighbors know when you’re planning to be away and how they can reach you in an emergency. Leaving an extra key with a trusted neighbor is a good idea. It’s better than hiding one under a mat or in some other outdoor hiding place.