Holiday - leave lights on?

car0line123

I am not trying to scare you, just saying that being away is not always the problem: 2 of my friends have been burgled at night whilst they were sleeping upstairs! One even had dogs, but they were locked in the kitchen because of the kids (not dangerous dogs, but parents just careful), they barked but no-one came downstairs.

Having secure doors and away is a good idea! When I go on holiday and stay in a house with outside shutters, I feel so much safer.

good luck, hope your holiday is trouble free

pinkteapot

anamenottaken wrote: »

Not sure of the purpose of having a lamp in a hallway. How many people live in their halls or have a light there but not in a sitting room or bedroom when they are actually living there?

I've read that before on crime prevention information. Loads of people go out for the evening and leave a hall light on, but no others. It's a pretty obvious sign that no-one's home, as it's something you never do when you're at home!

OP - a few timer plugs and cheap table or floor lamps is the way to go. Dunelm, The Range, supermarkets all do cheap lamps. Put a few in key rooms - lounge, main bedrooms... And timer them to mimic a typical day.

AlexMac

The advice about making it look occupied, getting trusted keyholder to pop in, move piled up post & junkmail, etc is good....

But what matters is secure locks on all possible entry points! Our burglary, 3 years ago just after we moved in, was because although window locks looked secure, they were fixed to the timber window-frames with half-inch screws, so just popped when tackled with a crowbar! (1st floor rear windows too; the boogers found an unlocked ladder in a nearby garden and used it to get over the 6-foot garden walls and up to the windows and tried 3 before finding the weakest one!).
And we were only out for 2 hours; happened at 7pm. Easy to determine if anyone's in; ring the doorbell!

So beef up your locks too. I've doubled up and used 2 inch screws. They could still smash their way in with a hammer through a window, but that's noisy so they won't.

goggle

anamenottaken wrote: »

Not sure of the purpose of having a lamp in a hallway. How many people live in their halls or have a light there but not in a sitting room or bedroom when they are actually living there?

Hmm, I spend most of my evenings in the rear of my house - it would be easy to think nobody was in by your definition as the only light usually visible at the front is the hall!
My bathroom, bedroom & dining room are all at the back - I don't use my living room much in the evening at the moment, you'll find me at the dining room table on my computer
My Dad lives in a bungalow with the bedrooms at the front - again the hall light is often on, but you can't see the living room/kitchen lights from the road as those rooms are at the back overlooking the garden!

C.C.L.

Sash Jammers are brilliant for windows & doors, you can buy normal ones or lockable ones.Obviously you can't have them on the exit door, but great for everywhere else. Google them to see what they are.

System

I leave a timer switch on in the lounge from 5pm-10:30pm and in the bedroom, a timer switch on for the first hour of waking up and around an hour before going to bed.

Elfbert

What actually happens when your burglar alarm goes off? Who would check on it? Do you have a trusted keyholder nearby? If so, I'd ask them to pop around a couple of times. Or if it's a very close neighbour, even open/close some curtains. We used to do that for our old neighbours - feed the cat, open/close the curtains. They sorted their own lamps on timers.

So many burglar alarms just wail away whilst an alarm co. call a family on holiday the other side of the world

Hedgehog99

You can swap a normal wall light switch for a touch-panel and timer. Quite handy in the kitchen a) because you can operate the on/off with your elbow if you have messy hands and b) a kitchen light gets more on/off uses than e.g. lounge that stays on all evening.

Timer lights in bedrooms are tricky because of the curtains - it emphasises they're left the same all the time (unless your kind neighbour offers a "turn-down" service!

booksurr

a table lamp on a timer switch is pointless if the curtains are not drawn - if on the ground floor room it illuminates the fact no one is home and shows what is there to steal

if upstairs in what is likely to be a bedroom it raises the question why is someone apparently using a bedroom but has not drawn the curtain

I agree that a radio makes a place "feel" occupied but not if there are no lights on and the curtains are not drawn. Daytime obviously a radio is a good idea

the fact you have fitted a burglar alarm may deter a teenage opportunist, but in the game of bluff and double bluff deterrence it also indicates you may have something you value enough you want to "protect" it - ie you are a worthy target. The house with the alarm was the only one done so far in my street, remember it takes time to respond to alarms and most thieves are in and out in 3-4 minutes, barely enough time for the neighbour to hear the alarm and decide if its just another false activation or can they be bothered to look outside yet again in case it isn't. As you already have an alarm what is your history of falsies and what is the attitude of your neighbours? Who are your designated responders and what is their contracted response time ????

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/9627884/How-to-beat-the-burglars-this-winter.html

by all means get a timer for a radio and consider one for a table lamp, but don't use said light unless you have a neighbour happy to come in each day to close and open the curtains - or if no one available invest in timer controlled curtain motors to do it automatically.

topdaddy_2

If they want in they'll be in. Lights wont stop this. If they suspect some one is in they will just ring the doorbell and find out. The key is making as hard as possible for them to get in in the first place. Once they are in they'll trash the place looking for valubles so even if they dont get anything you come back to a mess and feel violated. Good locks, good alarm is the way to stop em.