SECURITY TIPS

To help protect your property

General security tips
Protecting your home when you're out
Front door security
Back door security
Mortice locks
Safe and security cabinet tips
How to fit a mortise lock
Selecting a Padlock

General security tips

1. Remember your property is only as secure as its weakest point. Ask yourself this question, if I was going to break into my property without concern for any breakage or damage how would I go about it

Write down your ideas, highlight any security weak points and do something to fix them. Very often all that may be needed to dramatically improve your properties security is the installation of the odd window lock or the fitting of a deadlock to a door

2. Always buy the best level of security you can afford, preferably to BS 3621. This level of security is strongly recommended by police and insurance companies across the United Kingdom

3. Property marking pens are available allowing you to secretly mark your property with your name and post/zip code. Place the discrete stickers that come with these pens on front and back doors so as to inform any thief that your property has been secretly marked.

Doing this once other security improvements have been made e.g. deadlocks and window locks fitted, will help deter all but the most determined of thieves

4. Always ask to see the identity of someone claiming to be from a utility firm, like the electricity or gas companies. A genuine caller will be pleased you asked and will pass you their card. Look at it carefully before letting them in

5. If there is a neighbourhood watch scheme operational in your area, you should consider joining it, if not you could consider forming one - see your local police for information

6. If you've just moved into the house consider changing all locks on your external doors

7. Remember, having great security is only effective if you use it. Get into a habit of always double locking front doors while away from the house as well as making sure all accessible windows are shut and locked. To fail to close and lock your front door properly, even if only left for a short time, could in the event of a burglary invalidate your house contents insurance on the grounds of owner negligence

Protecting your home when your out

1. If you are going away for an extended amount of time cancel the papers, the milk and the post well in advance. Tell your local police station you are away too. Also ask a friend or good neighbour to regularly check your house and remove any mail or free newspapers that may be accumulating

2. Use timer switches to enable lights to come on in your home while you are out during the evening. Some can be made to go on and off several times during the evening

3. If you have a telephone answering machine do not leave a message saying you're away on holiday. Instead record a message saying something along the lines of "Leave a message after the beep, we'll get back to you..."

A dog barking in the background of your message adds a nice touch (OK so we're going over the top). If you don't own a barking dog - then let our dog do the barking for you, or rather download our sound file (.wav format) and then play in the background while making your 'PHONY' answer message

Big dog barking in the background. Version 1
45KB .wav file downloads in 13 seconds at 28.8kbs

Front door security

1.Your front door should be protected by at least a cylinder rim lock with a lockable handle.
If the handle is not lockable you should consider fitting a deadlock as well

2. Is there glass near the lock which a thief could break to reach inside? if so this is a week spot, consider how you could improve this. Are both the door and frame strong and in good condition

Back door security

1. Needs to be more secure than the front door, this is due to the increased isolation and vulnerability that the rear of a property is generally subjected too. Fitting a mortice-lock here is extremely advisable

2. 62% of all burglaries take place from the back of a house, so any way you can make your back garden less easy to enter or less isolated is worth the effort e.g. repair fencing and install infra red security lighting. It's essential that your back door is as secure as possible

Mortice locks

1. Mortice 5 and 7 lever locks provide excellent security protection for front, side and rear doors. The main difference between the 5 and 7 lever locks are the number of key variations

The higher the number of key variations the harder the lock is to pick. A typical British Standard 5 lever lock offers 1 000 key variations while the 7 lever offers 6 000

2. There are two types of mortice lock

i. The deadlock has a single bolt which is operated by the key. This type of mortice lock is very popular for securing main entrance doors and is often used as a supplementary lock for a front door that has a cylinder rim lock fitted

ii. The 2 bolt lock has a key operated dead-bolt but also incorporates a separate handle operated latch-bolt. This lock is suitable for doors that are in frequent use yet which can be locked by key when required. 2 bolt mortice-locks will therefore require suitable handles which are purchased separately

Safe and security cabinet tips

1. We highly recommend freestanding secondhand safes for the fantastic value they offer, however secondhand floor safes are generally a different matter. The reason for this is in the installation process, which dictates that this type of safe is physically embedded or sealed into the floor, with no expectation of it ever being removed

To extract one of these safes from it's "permanent-dwelling", inevitably means putting the safe under distorting stresses and excessive pressures. The effect of this is that the floor safe may be weakened to the point were it no longer provides adequate protection or it may become hard to open due to misalignment of the operating parts