Boost Safety at Your Property

We all want to feel safe at home and, to achieve this, it’s important to take advantage of effective security measures. This is where specialist outdoor lights can prove useful. Thieves and vandals often prefer to operate under the cover of darkness when their activities are more likely to go unnoticed. It’s for this reason that many criminals choose to target properties at night.

So, by placing suitable outdoor lighting around your home, you stand a better chance of fending off intruders – stores like Tesco, or your local hardware store, will have everything you need.

Fortunately this is a budget friendly project that can be accomplished in an afternoon.

Home Security Lighting Tips to Deter Intruders

• // Interior lighting is necessary to show signs of activity inside.
• // Use timers (lights, radios and televisions). Make the home appears occupied.
• // Exterior lighting is very important.
• // Lights in front of the home should be on a timer.
• // If you are not an owner of a home security system, use timers or motion sensors for other exterior lighting, especially at the rear of the house.

Erin Raub states in her article 8 Burglar Deterrents to Consider (and 5 to avoid) that, “it’s estimated that a home burglary occurs every 15 seconds in the United States. That means that during the 10 minutes it takes you to read this post, approximately 40 homes will have been burglarized.”  Security lighting can help.

Of course, for the best results, you’ll need to know what you’re doing when you install these systems. To help you along the way, here’s a brief guide to the security lighting basics.

Choose the Right Type of Lights

You’ll need to decide what sort of lights to go for. The most common versions feature infra-red sensors, and are activated when someone passes their field of detection. These are effective for lighting driveways and other traffic areas around your home.

These products aren’t the only option though, an alternative is low pressure sodium lighting . Operated by photo-electric cells, they turn on at dusk and off at dawn. These lights tend to be less obtrusive than spotlights, and even though they remain on throughout the night, they can be cheaper to run than other forms of security illuminations.

Timer operated products are also available, and you can set these lights to come on whenever you want. Meanwhile, manually operated versions allow you to light up outside areas whenever you have a need.

Location is key

As well as choosing the most suitable light for your property, you’ll need to think carefully about how and where you position these devices. For instance, you should make sure they point down so that they illuminate your property and garden and not your neighbors. This will also help reduce glare. which can blind you and aid a burglar.

They should also be situated high up off the ground to reduce the risk that they’ll be tampered with. Try to make sure that all potential entryways to your home are protected by lights.

Ensure They Are Fitted Correctly

Then there is the fitting itself to consider. If you have experience in installing electrical equipment like this, you may be able to fit the lights yourself. However, if you’re at all unsure, you should get a qualified contractor (or trusted friend) to do it for you.

As long as you bear this advice in mind when you’re installing security lighting, you should be able to boost safety at your property and enhance your peace of mind.

This post was written in partnership with Tesco and there are affiliate links. Image by Florin Gorgan used under the Creative Commons license