44 Tips to protecting your home from danger

There are enough tips on how to protect your home to make a professional burglar dizzy. In no particular order, check them out:

• Get a peephole.
• If you don't have a large dog, make it look like you do, but don't be obvious. A worn, large leash draped over an outdoor chair would be more convincing than a large food bowl near your door.
• Put a beware of dog sign in the back (front is too obvious a ploy).
• If there's not a man in the house, leave out an old pair of men's work boots or tool box on the front stoop.
• Keep doors locked at all times.
• Never leave the garage door open unless you must pass under it.
• Never leave a ladder outside.
• Place a real or fake video surveillance camera above the front door where anyone can easily see it.
• Get a security system that includes motion detecting lights at all entry points.
• Make sure no shrubs conceal windows. Plant thorny bushes by windows.
• Stash what valuables you can in a sock inside your child's bureau (burglars rarely check children's rooms).
• For other valuables, store in a fireproof safe.
• Use Charlie bars or stoppers on the tracks of your windows.
• Cover your windows with penetration-proof film.
• Use deadbolts.
• Keep your shades down and curtains drawn at night.
• Make sure no valuables are visible through any windows.
• Before you leave for vacation, arrange to have someone mow your lawn and park their car in your driveway.
• Before you leave for travel, put a vacation hold on your mail and newspaper delivery.
• Use an automatic timed lighting system for when you're away.
• Make sure all the screens in your windows are in excellent condition.
• Make sure all the locks on your windows work—and keep your windows locked ove ight!
• Have a smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector on each floor.
• Conduct staged fire escape drills for the entire family.
• Never post vacation plans or even evening plans on social media.
• Put your home security's sign in the front and back yards.
• Put their decals on your front door and windows.
• Don't allow dried-up leaves or brush to collect on your property.
• Have a "secret room" built.
• Don't answer the door unless you're expecting someone.
• Always check your windows after a service person has left the house (they may have unlocked one as an entry point for a later burglary).
• Never reveal to service people, salespeople, survey takers, preachers or anyone else at your door of your travel plans.
• Make sure your voice mail recording doesn't say, "We're not home now…"
• Make sure your house's address numbers are big and easily viewable.
• If you can't quit smoking, then rinse the butts before discarding.
• Keep all flammable material away from the house.
• Give a spare house key to a trusted neighbor; never leave it under a welcome mat, flower pot or plastic rock.
• Never step outside the house while the fireplace or a candle is burning.
• Never leave hot things plugged in unless you're using them.
• Install high-grade door reinforcement technology. Door Devil, is the door jamb reinforcement I use.
• Before leaving the house, turn your phone's ringer to silent so prowlers don't hear unanswered ringing.
• Never have packages sitting outside your door; use a sign-for service.
• Keep a phone at your bedside.
• Assume the man at your door claiming to represent your alarm company, whom you're not expecting, wants to rob you.