Home Security and Safety for Older Homes

If you are living in or are considering moving into an older home, it is vital for your family safety and security to evaluate its safety features to prevent break-ins.

Seeing windows and doors that require urgent replacement is easy but hidden problems like outdated electrical wiring and mold growing in concealed, damp areas are harder to spot. Likewise, just because you can see an alarm system control panel, this doesn’t automatically mean good home security and family safety the day you move in. So, what can you do to ensure your immediate home security?

Your first thoughts when visiting older homes

You could ask a skilled professional to visit the home you will be buying so it can be assessed carefully. Or have a friend or family member join you and put on a burglar mindset and see your house from the “other side”.

The current home security and safety features may have been relevant when the home was built 10, 20 or 30 years ago, but how high-tech or useful are they in modern times?

• Can you see and talk to people who are at your door, whether you are at home or elsewhere?
• How can you benefit by using smart detection of visitors to your property?
• Are the systems that alert you to a problem, effective?
• Can you control your lights and sound an appropriate alarm?
• Are any changes easy to install and setup?

You or your expert will check:

• Locks, doors, windows and other safety features
• Consider a variety of older home vulnerabilities
• Inspect any outdated security hardware
• Outdoor lighting to analyze how to improve dark areas
• Analyze outdated safety features
• Make recommendations for updating and installing a modern security and alarm system.

Know what to look for

By understanding what you need to examine, it will be easier to know what it might cost you to update the security as you inspect older homes – and make comparisons to your budget planning.

For example, a property that requires all of the doors and windows to be replaced must be listed at a significant discount in comparison to another home where changes are not immediately required.

Whether you choose to complete the inspection yourself or employ a qualified company to update an old and neglected system, it is still essential to know what to look for and how to remedy older security and safety concerns.

Incompetent windows

Windows are designed to let fresh air in, keep warmth inside and to stop people from entering your property, uninvited. Old wood that has become damp and weak can easily be opened with simple tools. Even an older, yet efficient burglar alarm system, may be defeated by a quick smash and grab raid.

Poor locking systems

Windows and doors can easily be broken and opened by criminals who know a weak and inefficient lock when they see one. Compare this to a modern system which can warn you when individuals are close to your property. You may be far away and unable to stop easy access to your property when your locks cannot contain your property for more than a few seconds.

Although you may wish to keep original windows and doors in place, experts can help suggest the best locking mechanisms that will not affect the look and feel of a property’s old-style features.

Updating safety features

While you will automatically check foundation and structural issues on older properties, you may not understand the dangerous effects of lead paint and how lead poisoning can cause dramatic health issues to both adults and children.

Termites and bugs may have damaged the wood in walls, ceilings as well as the foundation of your property. The harm may not easily be seen and could cause structures to become weak and provide easy access for criminals.

An outdated heating system, while once being inefficient and expensive, may not have been maintained efficiently and could offer a serious fire hazard for your family in a new home. An assessment by an expert will be essential for your peace of mind and safety.

Do not rely on old smoke, fire and flood detectors

The latest detectors work far more efficiently to protect your home than models of 10 or 20 years ago. Smoldering fires are easier to detect with current models, before a fire takes over your property too quickly.

For the extra cost of just a few more dollars, update your carbon monoxide detectors at the same time, to provide you with a level of safety that your family deserves.

Depending upon the location of your potential purchase, flood detectors may be a sensible and practical purchase. They are easily forgotten, especially when you’re concentrating more on closed-circuit television monitoring and keyless entry to your property.

Outdated security systems and lighting

Should you keep the old system in place? Old control panels and sensors may not work the day they are required to warn you of potential illegal activity. Old wiring may lead to false alarms or even a failure to alert you to an imminent threat.

Do not rely on an old-fashioned landline to inform the authorities that your security has been breached. Well educated criminals will understand how to cut your landline and cut out essential warnings to security personnel. Modern systems use wireless technology to stop criminals bypassing your warning process.

Your wiring and security system may not meet the current local codes or meet the standards required in your state. Where this is highlighted during the property inspection, you will have to make upgrades, automatically.

Install a Kuna smart light at each entrance as soon your wiring has been updated and your wireless Internet is in place. That way you have outdoor lighting, a security camera, an alarm system immediately in place.

Is your garage door secure?

For garage doors to work efficiently, they must be maintained regularly. Garage doors that have become neglected may allow burglars an easy access to your property even when you have upgraded your doors, windows and locks elsewhere.

Older garage doors may be damaged or work inefficiently. It may not be possible to purchase the parts required to make good any repairs for your protection.

A current security system will warn you if your garage is being breached.

You should replace garage remote controls or at least change the codes as you will not know who else keeps a duplicate, from years gone by, for easy access to your home.

Consider your overall security planning

Instead of fixating on the current system that exists in the property you are about to purchase, talk to experts about what is possible so that you can draw up a wish list of the features that you require and then compare those to the property as it stands at present.

You may not need to replace every part that makes up the security and safety around your property, but you will know what needs updating and how to build that into your budget as you purchase an older property.

Many people live with outdated security and safety around their property and it is as simple as having Kuna and a smart phone to achieve proactive home security. Being able to see who is at any door or possible entrance of your home, whether you are at home or away and being able to do something about it brings modern home security to any older home.