Protecting Your Home During Your Vacation
When you’re getting ready for vacation, what comes to mind? Packing? Who will watch the pets? Water the plants? What most people tend to consider when getting ready for vacation is prepping your home for your vacation.
Vacations are a perfect time for burglars to break in and have the opportunity to take anything from your home. The last thing you want to deal with when you return from that amazing vacation is dealing with a robbery. Below are a list of tips we created to help you prep your home for your vacation.
Top Tips for Prepping Your Home for a Vacation:
Discretion
A full mailbox, the newspaper at the front door, Facebook and social media updates from the airport, and a trash can that stays parked next to the garage on trash day all promote “nobody is home!” While you’re away, ask for help. Ask a neighbor, a friend who lives near you, etc. to help with mail, trash, and anything that is visible at first glance. This person can also do quick visual checks. And as hard as it is, stay hush about your travel on social media…at least until you’re back home. We know it’s hard. We all struggle with it, but even with strict privacy settings, any information you put online can spread beyond your inner circle.
Fake It Until Your Home
Think about the little things you can do to make it look like you’re at your house. Use timers for your exterior and interior lights. It’s a great way to have minor lights go on at night while you’re away, giving it the appearance of someone being home. Leave a radio or TV on the timer, for noise. One thing most don’t think to do is turning down the volume on the home phones (if you have one) so no one can hear it ring from the outside. Lastly, leave a car in the driveway.
What about curtains? Closed or open? Open gives people the opportunity to look in. Closed curtains can stop those who aim to help — police, neighbors, friends, etc. from seeing inside your house. So what’s the best bet? Leave your curtains exactly as you usually keep them when you’re home, since noticeable changes could hint that you’re not around anymore, especially if your curtains are oddly left closed for two weeks.
Extra Security Measures
Remove your spare key! That plastic rock isn’t fooling anyone. If a criminal figures out you’re away on vacation, it’s likely that he or she will check your porch for a spare key. So reach under the mat, into the mailbox, above the door frame or into the flower pot and remove your spare key before you leave on your vacation.
There is no better way to secure your home while you are away on vacation than a home alarm system. With the technology available, at minimum you will be able to have a system with a control panel, door and window sensors, motion sensors, glass break sensors and often times these features can be monitored using your cell phone. Alert your alarm company that you will be away. This is especially needed if you are going on an extended trip.
Consider notifying the police if you’re going on vacation. No need to let the cops know about a weekend getaway, but do call them if you’re leaving town for longer than a week. It’s possible the police may go out of their way to drive by your house while on patrol, especially if you live in a small town.
Putting some level of trust into the person watching your home is a given. However, this does not mean you should leave your valuables out in front of someone you do not know very well. Do not show the house sitter the location of any secret safes or stash spots, and lock away all valuables. If you have weapons, lock them up unloaded and lock the ammunition away in a completely separate secret location. Do not grant a house sitter access to weapons under any circumstances.
Protect Your Home
Prevent damage from power surges. It would really be bad if you come home and find many of your valuable electronic appliances and items damaged or destroyed due to a power surge. Consider unplugging the computer, TV, stereo and other electronics.You could connect such items to a good surge protector. If the power goes out and electronics and appliances don’t turn back on, it will tip off a burglar.
Protect your pipes! Especially if you live in an area where cold weather is a possibility, make sure that your pipes are protected. In vulnerable areas like the attic, basement and crawl spaces, make sure the pipes are well insulated. Also, you do not want to turn the thermostat off completely. In the winter, about 55 degrees seems to be the cut off point and 80 degrees is a good setting during the summer.
And lastly, don’t forget the water heater! Almost no one remembers to turn down the temperature on their water heater. This can be an excellent way to save on your energy bills as well.
We love to make sure that our customers take preventative actions while they are away. We are always flexible to schedule appointments around our customer’s schedules. If you have any questions, contact us today!
