Better Safe
If you are thinking about remodeling your home, you many want to consider a home security upgrade.
“Definitely, when you remodel, that's an ideal time to,” said Jim Bajuszik, co-owner of Butler/Cranberry Lock, Safe and Door.
One of the simplest ways to protect a house is a good door lock.
Bajuszik said that although a good quality lock in a doorknob is important, a deadbolt is the most important lock for a door.
“The best thing, security- wise, is a deadbolt,” Bajuszik said.
A good quality doorknob and deadbolt will usually cost about $80.
The best locks are made out of brass, he said, because it will not deteriorate as quickly as less expensive “pot metal.”
He said there are different grades of door locks.
Grade 3 is the least expensive and available in most big box stores. He said grade 2 locks are of better quality and are ideal for the average home. Grade 1 locks mostly are for heavy residential and light commercial use.
Some people now are interested in keyless entry methods where people can enter a code to gain access to a house. This type can run from $150 to $500.
Additionally, some people want biometric door locks, which can read fingerprints.
“It's fairly new,” Bajuszik said, but expensive.
Although heavily used locks may last 15 years before requiring replacement, Bajuszik said most locks will last longer.
“You can go 20, 30 years without having to replace it,” Bajuszik said.
Although making copies of keys is OK, he said that people should hold onto the original keys.
“Always keep an original key,” Bajuszik said.
He said owners should make copies from the original key and not from other copies. He compared it to making a photocopy of another photocopy; the quality will be worse than the first copy.
Fire protection safes also are popular. Bajuszik recommended getting a safe with a one-hour fire rating.“That will protect most documents in most house fires,” Bajuszik said.A one-hour fire rating means that the internal temperature of the safe will not exceed 350 degrees in a 1,200-degree fire for one hour.For containing documents that are truly irreplaceable, he recommended a safe with a two-hour fire rating.Items people typically put in home safes include insurance policies, birth certificates, photographs and negatives, jewelry, cash and, sometimes, guns.He recommended gathering what a person wants to put into a safe and then making sure that a third of the safe is empty, leaving room for additional items.“You're always going to find things to put in there,” Bajuszik said.He said any safe that weighs less than 400 pounds should be bolted to the floor.“If you can pick it up full, so can someone else,” Bajuszik said.Most safes use either a mechanical or electronic combination lock. Bajuszik recommended mechanical locks, since they have a lower failure rate.A good safe usually runs $300 to $500. Plastic safes can be less expensive, but usually do not protect as well as metal safes.“The value of the safe should reflect the value of the contents,” Bajuszik said.Brett Ligo, owner of Ligo Architects in Slippery Rock, said the main thing he would recommend to homeowners is to get a security system.“That's the obvious way to protect a house,” Ligo said.He said he sometimes suggests setting up a panic switch in the master bedroom next to the bed. If the homeowner believes there are intruders in the house, they can flip the switch to notify police and the security company.Homeowners also can install motion sensors in the house.He said that motion sensors on outdoor floodlights, which cause the lights to turn on if there is movement on the property, are popular.“Statistics probably will tell us that these keep away some intruders,” Ligo said.He also recommended minimizing landscaping surrounding a house. This gives potential intruders fewer places to hide.“You sort of have to think about these things with landscaping,” Ligo said.A simple way to help secure a home is a fence. However, Ligo said, that will not stop burglars absolutely determined to get in.“It helps your odds,” he said.
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