Your basement windows are a prime target for burglars to use to access your home. They are below ground and can provide cover from casual onlookers, making them a preferred entry point for break-ins.
Your house is home to your most valuable items. It’s where you keep your family, heirlooms, cars, electronics, and much more. Protecting these precious things from danger or theft is essential and many people’s number one priority.
Basements are a convenient part of your home but tend to invite intruders. Securing your basement windows will keep you, your loved ones, and your valuables safe.
Here are some ways to secure your basement windows and protect your home, family members, and belongings.
Keep Wells Visible
Window wells that are easily visible and not hidden by landscaping are less likely to be targeted by intruders. Burglars are looking for convenient and hidden places where they can break out, out of the eye of anyone who could sound an alarm.
To keep your window wells exposed, avoid planting large bushes and other flora around your wells. Instead, keep the landscaping around your window wells simple and small. If your home does have bushes near basement windows, keep them well-trimmed and maintained.
Limiting the cover someone could use to break into your home is an excellent way to deter home break-ins.
Utilize a Security System
Security systems are becoming much more affordable for the average homeowner. Security systems can include cameras observing crucial areas of your yard and door and window sensors that can alert you when the door or window opens.
You can use a security system to both deter and catch burglars. Just the sight of a security system, like a camera on the doorbell or other cameras observing the perimeter, can dissuade novice intruders from breaking into your home.
Modern security systems have smart capabilities; that is to say, new security systems normally have an app that allows you to monitor your home from your smartphone. In the event of a break-in, you can call the police to your home in no time.
Although security systems may seem like an expensive buy-in, if they prevent someone from breaking into your home or help you catch a burglar, the investment will be worth it.
Put Away Your Valuables
A thief considers valuables in plain sight their unofficial invitation to break into your home. Put away your essential belongings and expensive items, or use window coverings like curtains or blinds to block them from view.
Of course, hiding your TV and sound system isn’t so easy, but make sure you put away your family’s laptops, watches, jewelry, cash, and wallets.
Taking simple steps to keep valuable-looking items out of plain sight can save you from unintentionally inviting someone to break into your home.
Outdoor Lighting
Lighting is one of the simplest and most effective theft deterrents. Thieves who prefer working under cover of darkness won’t be able to hide their actions in the shadows if the place they are breaking into is well-lit.
Many night-time home invasions can be avoided by having adequate lighting installed around your home. Without the cover of darkness, thieves will feel less confident their clandestine operations will go in their favor.
If you don’t want to install floodlights that bathe your home in light every hour of the night, you may consider installing a motion-sensing lighting system. You can flood your yard and home with light if unwanted people wander too close. Lights can deter crime and alert you to the possibility of an intruder.
Install Window Well Covers
Although manufacturers do not typically design window well covers to deter forced entry, window well covers can play a role in slowing and deterring home robberies.
The security is not so much from the inability of a would-be burglar to circumvent your window well cover, but in the added inconvenience it makes when someone is trying to break into your home.
Most acts of burglary are about convenience. The less convenient you can make accessing your home, the less likely someone will want to try.
Window Well Lock
You can completely secure your window well from outside access by installing a locking mechanism on your window well cover.
Locks exist for window wells made from grates and polymers alike. Most require very little additional maintenance to secure your cover in place. You may have to do more work to secure your polymer covers, as these locks will probably require you to drill through the polymer to secure a pin or bar.
Many locks you can find for your window well can be quickly disabled from the inside. These locks protect your home from outside intruders and allow for a quick exit if circumstances call for it.
Window well locks nearly completely eliminate your basement windows as options for entry points for crooks.
Window Lock
A simple way to keep intruders out of your basement is by making sure your basement windows lock. Most windows have an internal locking mechanism that prevents them from opening whenever there’s a breeze.
If you want a more secure lock for your window, add a security bar to make it impossible to open your window from the outside. These are effective and inexpensive ways to upgrade the security of your basement windows.
Contact Windowell Expressions
Protect your home, loved ones, and belongings with window well covers from Windowell Expressions. Our well covers are made from quality materials that are strong, long-lasting, and look great!
Whether you need standard or custom-sized covers, we have exactly what you need. We sell both metal and Lexan. Either type of window well is designed to last. Regardless of your choice, you get a durable product that compliments your home’s exterior.
Contact the window well cover experts at Windowell Expressions today to schedule your complimentary in-home consultation.
