10 ways to keep your home safe while you're away

While many like to think of their homes as their castles, it can come as a shock when someone gets past the ramparts and simply leaves you feeling violated. As we mentioned in the "Locks are meant to keep honest people honest" there isn't much one can do about someone determined to get in but fortunately there are ways of strengthening some common issues & hopefully discouraging most hooligans from even trying or making them move onto an easier target.

1) First & foremost is always make sure your doors & windows are locked

2) Don't forget to lock the door between the house & your garage as many garage doors are easy targets

3) Attaching an angle iron to the top of your garage door can not only help strengthen but secure your garage door

4) Speaking of securing your doors, 3" screws, solid strike plates, & deadbolts are a great way help prevent brute force entries.

5) For sliding patio doors a pin lock or piece of wood dropped in the track will help prevent it from being removed from the trackWindows are another favorite target and can be secured with special window films to prevent breakage & dowels to help backstop the locks or allow for the windows to be left cracked open while preventing them from being open further.

6) Advertise your alarm company or an imaginary can be a great deterrent to those that are worried about the police showing up.

Bonus tip from Brian Campbell aka Basswood - if you live in snow country make sure you schedule to have your driveway cleaned of snow so people do not know you are on vacation. http://www.hometalk.com/briancampbell

For the rest of the 10 ways to keep your home safe while you are off visiting the family including our thoughts on the "Forget Dog" sign: http://blog.sls-construction.com/2012/safety-sunday-preventing-home-burglary