Going away on a holiday increases the chances of your home getting broken into, so you need to take proper safety precautions in order to keep your home and belongings intact. Burglarproofing is probably the first measure that springs to mind, but there are other dangers such as motor vehicle theft and malicious property damage. Luckily, there are strategies you can use to prevent each of these dangers.

Creating the Illusion of Being Home

Besides programming the timer switches for both indoor and outdoor lighting to go on and off at certain intervals, you can also set the television and radio on a timer to create the usual noise and glimmering lights of a typical family home at night. You can also leave your car in the driveway, ask a friend to mow your lawn and arrange for snow removal during the winter. A pile of mail in your mailbox is an invitation for burglars, so you should go to the post office and place a hold on your mail and a daily paper. If you do not have time to do that, ask a friend to collect your mail daily.

Social Media is a Dead Giveaway

A survey carried out by the UK home security experts,  unveils that 78% of burglars use social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, to target properties, and that 54% of people post their locations on these social media, basically tipping off burglars, as the information you post is visible to people other than your friends and family. Another thing that you can do is to notify the police about your vacation, so it is possible that they will check up on your house when on patrol, especially if you live in a smaller town.

Locked Safety

According to another research, conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology, as much as 66.2% of burglars enter the property through unlocked doors and windows.  The most effective way to protect your house from burglars is investing in a solid door lock. You can choose from a variety of options locks such as deadbolts, knob locks, mortise locks, cam locks, wall mounted locks, etc.

They also recommend using a deadbolt for gates, because the gate can be a factor in a burglar’s decision to break into. A smart thing to do, when going away for a period of time, is to remove your spare key from its usual hiding spot as burglars might check common hiding places, under a fake rock, under the mat or in the mailbox, for instance. If you still fear that burgers might somehow manage to enter your home despite all these measures, however, you should simply buy a safe to protect all your valuables inside the house. 

Malicious Property Damage

If your pipes are in danger of freezing because you live in a cold region,  you should give your spare key to a friend so they can stop by and check your faucets. Your friend should know the location of the water main shut-off in order to properly react in case a pipe breaks. Another thing you should do is unplug all unnecessary appliances to protect your home from an electrical fire or power surge. By doing this you will also save power. You should also put your valuables, like jewelry, wills or sensitive documents in a fire-proof safe.

Mixing all of these strategies before you go away on a vacation will minimize the chance of your home getting broken and protect it from malicious property damage. Money should not be an issue for you, when buying a door lock, for example, as it can be much more costly if you leave your home unprotected.  Coming back from a vacation and realizing that your house was broken into or burnt down is an extremely stressful experience, but by applying these security measures you will significantly lower the chances of such occurrences happening to you.