Home Security and Home Prep Tips
If you’re like many people in the Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo area, you go south for the winter or travel during the holidays. According to the AAA, more than 103 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.
That’s a lot of people!
That also means there are a lot of homes left vulnerable to thieves looking to take advantage of the situation.
The following points are tips for securing your home for your winter vacation, whether it’s a week or a few months:
1. Prevent Water Issues
Since you won’t be home using hot water, you can turn down your hot water heater to reduce the amount of energy it consumes. This will save you money. You can also turn off your main water supply so you don’t have to worry about unexpected leaks. The last thing you need is to come home to a flood or receive a very high water bill.
You can also keep your heat on to prevent the pipes from freezing, but keep it no higher or lower than 50 degrees. This is just warm enough to prevent the freezing of pipes and still save you money on energy costs.
2. Prevent Electrical Issues
When it comes to appliances and other electrical devices, there is one rule to follow: unplug it if you aren’t using it. There’s no need for the computer, blender, microwave, or even the television to be plugged in. All of these things have electricity moving through them even when they aren’t being used. You also reduce your chance of having an electrical fire.
3. Make the Empty House Less Obvious
Next, make sure the house doesn’t look empty. You can do the following to make the house look occupied:
- Keep a few key lights on in the home, preferably those that are on the most anyway. This is to ensure nothing looks out of place.
- Have a friend or neighbor pick up your mail and newspaper each day so the mail doesn’t accumulate in the mailbox.
- Have someone on standby to shovel your sidewalk, porch steps, and/or driveway if it snows.
- Keep on a radio so voices can be heard through windows or doors.
4. Properly Secure Your Home
The last area to consider is the security of your home. With a properly installed home security system, there are many things you can achieve:
- View your home while you’re away via an app on your phone that can see what your home video surveillance cameras see.
- Control the lights in the home so you can turn lights on and off no matter where you are. You can also control your thermostat. What better way to make a burglar believe someone is home than to turn your home into a smart home?
- If a pipe bursts, the alarm system can detect it and notify you of a problem so you can send someone to your home to see what is happening.
- If there is a fire, the fire department will be notified.
- If someone breaks in, the alarm will sound and the 24/7 monitoring center will be notified so the authorities can be called.
A home security system with all this functionality can help you manage parts of the other areas you need to do to make sure your home is secure while you’re gone.
An Experienced Rochester, Buffalo & Syracuse Home Security Company
At SPS Fire & Security, we want to help you protect everything that you have worked so hard for while you’re gone. If you don’t have a security system and you travel, now is the time to talk to us to see how you can better secure your home. Call us today at 585-770-0348 or complete the contact form below.
