Summer security tips

You can follow these simple tips to help keep your home safe and secure this summer.

Your home
Don’t leave ground floor windows and doors open even if you are just nipping upstairs for a shower. If you live in a bungalow or a ground floor flat don’t leave windows open in unoccupied rooms open.

Check your doors and patio doors are locked before you go to bed.

If you are in the back garden gardening, barbecue, or sunbathing it's easy for someone to enter your house unobserved via insecure windows or door at the front of the house.

Your car
Unattended vehicles left unlocked or with windows or sun roofs open make an easy target for thieves even when parked on your drive. 

Your garden
Mark your property, tools, lawn mower with your house number/name and post code.

Don’t leave lawn mowers and other gardening equipment unattended in your front garden.

Don’t leave your tools, garden spades out after use because a burglar could use them to get into your property.

If you are planting expensive plants consider using a “rootball anchor” and where possible plant them within site of your house or neighbours, if they are pot plants make the pots as heavy as possible.

With garden statues - always photograph them with a scale and additional photographs of any identifying features or marks. Fix them securely to a base, where applicable have cordon of soft earth to prevent use of lifting equipment, consider security lighting and alarms.

In flower beds by fencing backing onto public areas consider some defensive planting (such as prickly shrubs) to deter entry.

Secure your gates to keep intruders out your rear garden.

In the rear garden fit some security lighting on your house on a movement detector or “dusk till dawn” sensor, this also helps with barbecues and parties.

Your garage/ shed
Don’t leave garage doors open for others to see the contents.

Make a note of the model and serial numbers of bikes, tools, electrical goods and lawn mowers.

If you are putting in a new shed try and site it in view of your house.

Put a lock on your shed/garage door and use it, a shed door can be further secured with a “shed bar” coach bolted through the frame (see Sold Secure or Secured by Design for approved products).
      
With larger tools and bikes consider fitting a shed shackle to the wall or “Eye” type anchor into a concrete floor and chain it to this.

Consider a shed alarm; they are quite reasonably priced from DIY stores or internet, and effective.

Going on holiday?
Speak to your neighbour – ask them to look out and listen out for anything suspicious while your away. And do the same for them.

Make your property look occupied.

Secure your garage, home and gates.