Do-It-Yourself DIY Home Security Tips and Home Protection Techniques

Defending one's dwelling from external threats, such as burglers, looters, and other home invaders, is an important task everyone should understand, especially home owners. There are approximately 3.8 million home invasions each year in the United States, or about 1 in every 5. There are simple, low-cost things that can be done to deter or prevent it from happening to you.

The easiest way for an intruder to enter your home is by either a door or window. A broken or low-quality access point is what they are looking for. Not to mention unlocked and unsecured. Let's go over locks first. Each external door should have, at a minimum, two locks. The knob lock, and a deadbolt lock. For added security, you can add a chain or bar lock, like the kind you see in hotel rooms. Each additional lock adds time that the intruder must take to defeat the security measure. Every second counts when you need time to escape, run to a safe room, or grab a weapon. The balance you strike here between too many locks and effective security will determine whether you are deemed to be a crazy person by your friends. Sixteen locks on a door is just excessive!

Your windows should also be locked, especially on ground floors. If your windows do not have locks, you still have a few options. You can buy inexpensive lock kits to install on them, but some require keys that can get lost. A better option is to buy small wood dowels, cut them down to size, and place them in the channel the window travels up when opening. The rule of thumb here is a mechanical solution may be better than a simple lock. Or do both, why not?

Burglars and intruders HATE light sources. Like rats, this gives away their position and exposes them to the world. Installing lights in simple, and widely varied in types. The goal is to cover the most accessible and darkest areas of the outdoor, to ensure there are NO hiding places. A mixture of motion-activated, standard, and ambient lighting is ideal. Taking that one step farther, investing in solar-powered, motion-activated lights is a great way to ensure that you still have security during a power outage at night.

If this is something you'd like to do, go for it. There are many options to get a managed alarm system company to install a solution for you. An alternative is to buy window and door alarms, that activate if a door or window is opened. These are very useful also if you have children and can monitor if they attempt to leave the house. Of course, this still leaves it on you to call 911 in the event of an emergency.

Of course, you can have a gun. While laws are varied in the United States on how this works, some people may simply choose to not own a gun. Let's discuss what else can be used. Pretty much anything can be a weapon, but lets take stuff commonly found around the home. Wasp spray is designed to shoot a stream of nasty stuff about 20 feet. We like this, since it provides a weapon that can be used in a stand off mode. Always take the weapon that prevents you from having to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Long-handled garden tools are great for this too. No one is going to enjoy getting hit in the head with a spade shovel a few times. Tire irons, crowbars, and baseball bats all fit into this category.

Stairs. Remember, you have the tactical advantage of knowing your home better than the intruder. If you have no other choice, hiding at the top of the stairs and pushing the intruder back down will ruin their day. That's probably a good 30ft fall and could provide you enough time to escape to a neighbor or call 911.

Your ultimate goal when using a weapon is NOT to stay and fight until they leave. It is to incapacitate them enough so YOU can escape and get to safety, and get the law rolling on in. Don't try to be a hero, unless your life is imminently in danger. In that case, defend yourself and your family as you see fit.

One last, and relatively new weapon to use is an LED or laser flashlight. You can seriously blind someone with one of these (including yourself), and this is a great non-lethal weapon. Point it directly at their eyes and they will not be able to see well.