From finding the right flooring and finishes to picking a
contractor who will work within your budget, completing a home renovation
project requires a lot of considerations, choices, and decisions. However,
while you are busy making sure your renovation is perfect, you must also make
sure that your renovation is safe, secure, and protected from burglary.
Discover a few tips to help you protect your home and
belongings during a renovation.
Research Your Contractors
Contractors, subcontractors, and their employees have access
to your home throughout the renovation process, including while you are at
work. Learn a few ways you can check out any potential contractors to ensure
only respectable, safe individuals enter your home:
- Check out online reviews. Look for a general contractor with a great
reputation that includes no complaints of missing items or questionable
employees.
- Get a referral from friends and family. Ask for the name of a contractor and
subcontractors your loved ones have used in the past and are pleased with
not only the contractor's results, but their performance during the
renovation.
- Perform a background check. Several online sites allow you to check your
contractor's criminal background.
Contact your local residential builders' association and the
city's building inspector's office and ask if any complaints have been lodged against
the contractor, especially allegations of burglary.
Remove Valuables From the Home
During a renovation, a lot of people enter and leave your
home and doors are left open, and if the remodel is extensive, you might not
have an exterior wall or windows in your home for a few hours or days. Don't
take chances that your valuables will be stolen. Instead, remove anything you
don't want stolen during the renovation.
For example, ask a friend or family member to store valuable
jewelry in their home or safe. Remove valuable paintings and family heirlooms
as well.
Upgrade Your Home's Security Features
You already plan to upgrade the look of your home, so why
not take the time to protect your beautiful new remodel with some new home
security features? For example, consider installing additional cameras
throughout the interior and exterior of your home. This allows you to monitor
your home and the contractors while you are at work.
If a portion or all of your home will be without power for
an extended period of time during the renovation, ask about a wireless
monitoring system. These systems do not require electricity to run, and you can
monitor your home for suspicious activity from the comfort of your smartphone
or tablet.
Install motion detectors near the windows and doors of your
home. If you leave building materials outside during the remodel, place
motion-detecting sensors near the supplies too. When motion is detected near
the sensor, a light will go on alerting you to the presence of an unwanted
person on your property.
A home under a major renovation, such as a room addition or
another remodel that requires removing a wall, windows, or doors, is an ideal
spot for burglars to get in and out quickly. Point floodlights at the areas of
your home that are most vulnerable, which makes them much less enticing to a
burglar who won't be able to hide while entering your home.
Change the Locks
Your contractor needs access to your home when you aren't
there, which is why you gave the contractor a spare key. Once the job is over,
even if you didn’t have issues with the contractor, change all the locks in
your home and garage.
From upgrading security features to performing a thorough
background check, you have several ways you can protect your home during a
renovation. Contact the professionals at All Pro Security, Inc.,
with all your residential and commercial security needs.
