Before you plan electrical and electronic side of home security, make sure you’ve covered the purely physical aspects. Install solid-wood or metal-clad doors equipped with dead-bolt locks-not just the key-in-the-handle type of lock. Equip exterior doors with a peephole (don’t bother with a door chain-it can easily be forced open.) if you have recently moved into your home, have the locks changed. Secure sliding doors with locks or thick dowel set in the track to prevent opening. Install key locks or slip-in pins on double-hung windows. Cover basement windows with grilles.

Secure the perimeter
Illuminate the outside of your house and any areas near the house where intruders could hide. Use a combination of switched lights, lights on timers, and lights triggered by photocells or motion sensors to make a protective buffer of illumination. A motion-sensor floodlight fixture can be installed as a complete unit, or you can equip a standard floodlight fixture with a single or dual retrofit motion sensor, or a screw-in or attachable photo cell switch or a screw-in motion sensor.
       Up-light trees with low-voltage floods to eliminate a hiding place while providing an attractive effect. Trim bushes and small trees to eliminate remaining hiding places. Be sure to trim off any tree limbs that might help someone climb in an upper-story window. (Lock in place any ladders that are stored out of doors.) A wireless motion sensor can be placed outdoors to detect an intruder. A receiver, placed up to 400 feet from the sensor, chimes when motion is detected.
       Provide illumination at each door so that your path is visible while walking in and, more importantly, so you can check out any visitors before opening the door. Have two single-bulb fixtures or one dual-bulb fixture in case a bulb burns out. For long pathways add mushroom fixtures or grazing lights to eliminate tripping hazards.
       Check that your house numbers can be seen at night, to speed the arrival of emergency personnel if they should ever be needed.

While you’re away
In addition to covering the essentials-stop your newspapers and mail or make sure a neighbor will gather them for you-do what you can to create a credible illusion that you are still home. Use plug-in photocell light controls so that lights switch on at dusk and off at dawn (such units must be exposed to natural lights). Better yet, use a plug-in timer to switch lights off and on in different areas of the house. Lights left on through the night are better than leaving the house dark, but still signal that the house might not be occupied. Don’t lower all the blinds and close all the curtains; make everything look occupied and as normal as possible.

Interior precautions
Window alarms can alert you to a break-in through a window. In the event of a power loss, battery-powered emergency backup lights in stairwell make an exit path less hazardous. Equip you home with adequate smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms. Or consider getting a professionally installed and maintained security system.

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