How To Deter Burglars With Outdoor Lighting
Anybody who knows anything about deterring burglars and especially home security will inform you that lighting is a vital feature of protecting yourself and your property. Interior lighting is important, but outdoor lighting is essential. Despite that, there are still a great deal of people who do not pay enough attention to this vital feature of home security. They appear to believe that they can rely solely on the interior burglar alarm.
However, the best method of deterring burglars is stopping them getting into your property in the first place. It is a well-known fact that many people do not act in response to a neighbour’s security alarm ringing because there are so many false alarms. The difference with outdoor lighting is, that as the would be burglar enters your property, a spotlight will switch on, automatically framing the intruder in a powerful beam, which is the last thing that any burglar wants, particularly if there is a CCTV video camera there as well, even if it a fake one.
The stipulation is that the lights must be out of reach, in case the burglar sets your property up during the day time for a robbery later on that night. Therefore, if you notice that one or more of your outdoor lights is not operational, you should have it checked out straight away. Not tomorrow, right now, before it gets dark.
The most common point of entry into a house, even for burglars, is the doors. Therefore, you must place lighting at all external doors. If you have glass panels on the doors, the sensor could be outside and the light could be inside, shining out. That way it is more tamper-free.
If your house appears too secure, a burglar may come to a decision that your garage is an easier target. The means you can get around this is by linking a light to the opening of your garage door, so that when the garage door is opened the burglar will be caught in a pool of light.
The outside of your house should be protected by at least one outdoor light per exterior wall and these lights should be triggered by sensors: either a movement sensor or a passive infra red (PIR) sensor. The good ones will also be governed by a daylight sensor so that they only activate at night time.
In order to be doubly certain that you notice the outside lighting coming on, you could make the security light connected to your main burglar alarm system. If you are in the house at the time, a fairly quiet internal alarm should ring, but if you are out, then the lights should trigger the main external siren.
Following this advice will help keep your house and your family safe, but it is important to stay vigilant. You must keep your alarm system in first class condition. Light bulbs have to be replaced immediately and any problems with the system that you come across, must be attended to immediately too.
Lastly, in order to be serious about deterring burglars with outdoor lighting, you will need to have your system checked and brought up-to-date every five years or so.
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is at present concerned with outdoor accent lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.