Houston Home Security Guide

Home security is a universal need for homeowners, but achieving this security is personalized and local matter. What home security means for an uptown Manhattan apartment is different from a farmhouse in the middle of Iowa is different from a suburban home in the Midwest. It's no different for Houston home security. The priorities and strategies for people with homes in Kingwood or The Woodlands are going to be a lot different than those in living in an apartment or home along Highway 59 in southwest Houston. Understanding Home Security in Houston While Dallas has a bigger reputation for crime, Houston is well above the national average for property crimes, which get less far publicity. Burglars who break into your home and steal $10,000 worth of family treasures aren't going to make headline news or count toward violent crime statistics, but they are a threat to the well-being of your home. Like any big city, Houston has problem areas in many different kinds of crime. This doesn't make Houston a bad place, but you should understand where you're living and what specific dangers your home may be facing. There are many different ways to provide home security. Few homeowners need them all, while almost everyone could use some. From Sugar Land to Baytown to The Woodlands Houston may be known as Space City, but the more prominent feature for home security is trees. Kingwood is known as the livable forest, and it's as great a community as any other, but all the trees make for excellent shields to hide burglars from the eyes of your neighborhood and police. It's not a coincidence that one of the lowest crime rates in the city is out by Hobby Airport where there are a ton of wide-open spaces. If you live in this type of secluded neighborhood house alarms, surveillance cameras, and/or home monitoring systems are needed to watch the nooks and crannies surrounding your home. More experienced burglars looking to make a big score are going to be scouting more affluent neighborhoods with these types of hiding places. They'll also try to identify which homes have security systems and move along to more vulnerable properties. Make sure your family is safe! Use this link to Install Security System Just north and southwest of downtown Houston, we see large numbers of apartment complexes and higher rates of violent crimes. These homes tend to be less affluent and require different kinds of home security measures. Opportunistic, desperate, or random home intruders are more likely to attack these areas and have different agendas. Installing security bars over your windows are going to send a clear signal to these intruders that your home is all but impenetrable. The Cost of Home Security Systems in Houston Every single project that comes through HomeAdvisor is tracked so that we can provide useful information to local homeowners. Based on our national average and the data we see coming out of our Houston home security, here's what you can expect to pay for different Houston home security installations. Before you figure total costs, check with your insurance company. Many of these installations may reduce your insurance premiums. None of these projects should take longer than a day or two to start protecting your home. Independent Security Systems: The national average is $900 and we rarely see a project in Houston go over this amount. If you happen to have pre-wiring already installed, it may be significantly less. Home Security Monitoring: You should to get an initial installation for about $100-$200. After that, you pay a monthly fee you can cancel anytime, much like a cell phone. If you sign on for an extended period of time, you might get a discounted installation. Security Safes, Bars, and Shutters: Safes-$500-$1000. Bars-range from $800-$2,500. Security/Storm Shutters-$1500-$3500. Surveillance Cameras: $800-$5000-depending on number and complexity. Can help you keep an eye on pets and children as well as intruders.

8 Steps to Better Home Security

Home security systems are only as strong as their weakest link, and if you set up equipment that's too complicated for household members to use, they are likely to ignore the equipment or work around it. Remember that the people in your home are part of any security arrangements you make, so you have to be realistic about how much hassle they are willing to accept in the name of security. 1. Be sure your home appears occupied. Most thieves are opportunistic. They come into a neighborhood and look for houses that seem undefended and unoccupied. An important part of home security is making your home look occupied at all times. One big clue that you are out of town is if your mail or newspapers are piling up. Never allow newspapers to accumulate in the front yard. Interior lights are also important in making a home look occupied. Not only should some lights be on, but the array of lights should change just as it would if the home were occupied. The easiest way to do this is with timers. Another very simple way to make a house appear occupied is to leave on a TV or radio with the volume turned up loud enough to be heard by someone approaching the doors or windows. Leaving a car in the garage or driveway can also be a deterrent. If you are going on a trip and not leaving a car at home, you might want to make arrangements with the next door neighbor to park one of their cars in your driveway while you are away. 2. Create perimeter defenses. Another important home security measure involves making it difficult to get near the home. This is most commonly accomplished by a high wall or fence. In many parts of the world, this is the primary home security tactic, but it does suffer from some shortcomings. Generally, it is easier to sneak undetected over or under a wall or fence than it is to force entry into a home. Yet perimeter defenses often give occupants of the home a false sense of security that may lead them to get sloppy about locking doors and windows. For this reason, perimeter defenses are most effective when they are either very difficult to penetrate or are augmented by cameras and/or motion detectors. 3. Be sure all entrances are well lit. For most homes, perimeter defenses like walls and fences are of little use. Most people assume that the next line of defense is doors and windows, but there is something that comes first. It's based on the simple fact that thieves want to do their work where no one can see them. This means you want to make sure the outside of your home is well lit - especially at any potential points of entry. An effective solution is motion detector lights. These inexpensive devices can be set up to turn on whenever something moves near it. 4. Install deadbolts and peepholes on doors. Most home security measures are concentrated on doors. With doors, the two main issues are structural integrity and locks. Recommended for exterior doors, deadbolt locks are substantial locks that lock the door into the frame. Deadbolts come in keyed versions, which always require a key, and levered versions that only require a key to open from the outside. If no glass is nearby, the lever version is best as it is more likely to get used. There are many facets to your ensuring your personal home security. Click this link if you want to use our free service to have any of our prescreened home security contractors install home security measures. Sliding glass doors present a special challenge. Most are vulnerable to breakage. The simplest security enhancement is to place a metal bar or broom handle in the inside floor track. Some sliding doors can simply be lifted out of their tracks. There are screws at the top and bottom of the inside of the door that control how it sits in the track. Adjust these so that the door cannot be lifted so high that the bottom comes free from the track. Every front door should be equipped with a peephole. This is a very inexpensive, easy to install device that allows you to check out a visitor before you open the door. For the same reason, an intercom can allow you to communicate with a caller before deciding whether to open the door or deactivate an alarm. 5. Secure your home's windows. While your home may only have two or three doors, it may have a dozen or more windows. Burglars know that if you systematically check all the windows in a house, there is a good chance that at least one will remain unlocked. Most standard window locks are very simple to jimmy or force. Heavier locks will improve your home security quite a bit. Another simple, inexpensive tactic that is effective for double hung windows (those with two sliding panels that go up and down or side to side) is window pins. There are specially made pins, or large nails can easily be used. 6. Remember your home's other points of access. Exterior doors and windows are not the only access points to most homes. Many thefts take place through garages. Besides having valuable items stolen from the garage, the door that goes from the garage to the house is often unsecured or not substantial enough to stop a burglar. Check also to see if skylights, crawl spaces, attic vents, and other openings may provide burglars with unrestricted access to your home. 7. Consider installing an alarm system. Alarm systems offer little in the way of physical obstacles to thieves. Instead they offer an important psychological one. In a neighborhood with an efficient police force, the alarm substantially increases the odds that the thief will get caught. Even in areas where police response times are slow, the noise and attention of an alarm may well dissuade the burglar from finishing his mission. The cost of alarm systems varies widely. A burglar easily can disable some of the simpler, less expensive detection devices. The more complex and unfamiliar the array of devices, the more likely the burglar is to trigger the alarm or give up trying to disable it. Response times to alarms are driven by several factors. First is the effectiveness of the monitoring service you're using. When considering a monitoring service, get the names of people who have had the opportunity to observe response times in the past. The second factor is the protocol you request that the monitoring service use. Who do you have them call in what order? In some cases, you might do better to alert a helpful neighbor than to alert an unresponsive police force. The third factor is the 911 services in your area. Most work well and a few don't. While you have no direct control over the 911 services, you may be able to draw attention to the problem and seek a solution through the political process. 8. Keep a record of your valuables. Most area police departments encourage homeowners to etch their social security number on the metal surfaces of valuables that are prone to theft. When police come across marked stolen merchandise, they can easily find the true owner and return it. Photographs of especially valuable items like artwork and antiques can help police recover goods.

Die Hard with Home Security Guide

Die Hard with Home Security Home Security Having taken on every bad guy in the civilized world, including international terrorists, ruthless bank robbers, and corrupt elite military units, it's safe to say that super cop John McClaine of Die Hard fame probably doesn't lose any sleep worrying what might happen if an intruder breaks into his home. For the rest of us, however, making sure that our homes, our families, and our belongings are protected is a much more pressing concern. What should the average Joe be looking for when it comes to home security? Here's a little home protection 101 to keep you in the know. From Die Hard to Die Hard with a Vengeance A lot has changed in home security in the 20 odd years between the first and last installments of the Die Hard series starring Bruce Willis. Deadbolts, barred windows, and a big dog have long since given way to motion sensors, glass break sensors, keyless entry pads, and wireless video monitoring—and that's just getting started. In fact, if money wasn't an issue, you could build yourself a home security system that would make even John McClaine feel safe enough to give up his gun. With all those options floating around, homeowners are often left wondering just what their options are when it comes to securing a residence and what it will cost. We did a little asking around to find out which systems are being installed the most. Wireless is King According to Mandy Gilbert of Highpoint Alarm Service in Arlington, TX, it's wireless security systems that are stealing the show (we're talking home security systems here, not C-4 detonation devices of the type that John McClaine would use). "Wireless systems are the most popular, by far, judging from the amount of them that we install," says Gilbert, noting that most wireless systems use a combination of two way communication systems and cell phone back-ups to make sure you'll never lose touch with your home monitoring service. That said, while wireless is the most common system that Highpoint installs to protect their customer's homes, other security features such as glass break sensors and keyless entry are popular as well, and wired systems haven't gone the way of the dinosaur just yet, either. Make sure you feel safe in your home! Use this link to Install a Security System Do Home Security Systems Really Work? When you set all the debates about wireless vs. wired systems, and video surveillance vs. simple audio alarms aside, you find that simply having a home security system is the single most important factor when it comes to deterring intruders, not the type of system you end up settling on. In fact, according to the national home security firm ADT, "nine out of ten convicted burglars agree that they'd avoid a house protected by a burglar alarm service"—no matter what type of system is installed. Read between the lines, and it's clear that not only is it wise to invest in a home security system, but you want to be sure and let people know that you've had it installed, as well. After that, you can rest easy and let the sticker on your front window do the talking. It sure is a lot easier than stocking up on bazookas, M-16s, and 9mm handguns John McClaine style! Choosing the Right Home Security System for You On a final note, it's really up to each individual homeowner to decide which type of security systems is going to make them feel the safest. Maybe the level of safety that a simple audio alarm system creates is security enough so you can sleep at night, or maybe, like John McClaine, you want to go the extra mile to make sure the bad guys get what they deserve, in which case a remote monitoring service is probably the best choice for you. Either way, we stresses that the most important factor is choosing a system that provides you with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you've done everything necessary to protect your home, your family, and your belongings from the unthinkable. There are many companies out there, both good and bad, so be sure to check ratings and reviews of home security services near you.