Enhance your interior lighting for added security

If you leave your house without electricity, you are asking for it to be stolen. A house without light tells a would-be criminal that no one is home and that he will be able to come in, take what he wants and leave undetected. Even if he has a home security system installed, he could still be a target if he doesn’t take the proper steps to make his house look less attractive to burglars. Here are some basic interior lighting tips that can improve your safety.

First, make sure you have a light in your main living room that is programmed to turn on as soon as it gets dark and turn off when you go to bed. This will provide a feeling of being occupied, even if you are not at home. You should also have an outside light that turns on at dusk so that you and your family members always arrive at a well-lit home.

Then, when you go on vacation, you want to make sure you don’t just have a light that comes on at the same time every day. This will not be enough to fool an experienced thief. There are multi-day timers that allow you to program the lights to come on at different times each night. You can also find timers that will turn lights on randomly, which is even better. This will not allow a thief to plan an entry based on routines.

Finally, turn on your lights and go outside to see what kind of effect your lights are creating. She wants her house to appear occupied, but even certain lighting patterns can emphasize the emptiness of a room if she’s not careful. Value your home as if you were looking for a place to break into. Thinking like a thief will allow you to identify vulnerabilities in your home.

As you can see, timers are going to be an essential component to any home security system. There are several types of timers available, including standard plug-in timers, heavy-duty timers, and wall switch timers. Plug-in timers are cheap, but they only allow you to program one or two settings each day. Since they are easy to use, they are perfect for bedroom lamps. Heavy duty timers will give you more options and controls. Certain models can provide random settings and have a battery backup in case the power goes out. Wall switch timers can control both exterior and interior lights at the same time. These are perfect for a full house lighting program.