Your home away from home should be considered safe and secure no matter if it is a cabin in the woods or a high-end waterfront chalet with all the amenities. If anything, it may be more important to protect your cottage, chalet or mobile home. Let’s face it, this is your piece of paradise that you can only enjoy for a short amount of time every year. This makes it more vulnerable and an open game for predators (burglars) looking to cash in on stealing some electronics or common items found in cottages like fishing gear, personal watercraft, ATV’s or even expensive entertainment systems.
Most vacation properties, even the ones that hold value over a million dollars tend to be vacant for a majority part of the year. As frustrating as it might be, the unfortunate part is most people work and the simple fact is they have a place to live and commute to and from work so they can only go to their other property when they have vacation or free time.
As you may have expected I will be giving as much information regarding the protection of your property as I can, most importantly setting up an alarm system for the best possible protection while your not there.
However, let’s start with the basics and list some great tips, maintenance and precautionary measures that will help reduce the risk from theft in and around your cottage or property:
- Keep Doors Locked. Anytime you leave the property or go to bed in the evenings be sure to lock up and take away the simple risk of people trying your door for easy entry.
- Always ensure that items of value are not easily seen. Before leaving the property take a quick look through a window or two and make sure there are no items of value that would entice a burglar to break in irrationally.
- Keep The Maintenance Up To Date. A well-maintained property such as cut grass and clean surroundings will give off the impression to intruders that someone is at your property on a regular basis. This would reduce or make someone think twice before breaking in.
- Don’t Make It Easy For Intruders. Never leave ladders or lawn furniture outside or easily accessible so they cannot be used to enter the building through a window.
- Put Your Lights On A Timer. Give the appearance that someone is home even though you are away. Be sure to randomly have the lights inside turn on at different times of the day and night.
- Light It Up. Help your neighbours see if there is any suspicious activity inside or outside your property by having it bright around your vacation home.
- Use Sensor Activated Motion Lights. These are a great deterrent and scare off people as they will turn on when someone walks by.
- Signage And More Signage. Let thieves think twice about entering your place, and to scare them off if they do enter. Clear signs of “Do Not Enter” or “Trespassing”
- CCTV Cameras Or Motion Cameras. This will help document anyone or anything who comes on your property when you’re not there. Cameras will come in handy to help you get a shot of license plates and people’s faces so that it can be used as evidence if something does happen.
Many of us will go through life believing it will never happen to us, that’s why when it finally happens, we go into shock and the feeling of being violated overcomes us. Many of us have an overwhelming intent to fight back or get even but the truth of the matter is that we cannot take away what has already happened, but we can definitely plan for safer and better protection in the future.
Simply because we don’t know for sure if we will be a victim of burglary, we can certainly do our part to protect our cottage by taking the necessary precautions mentioned above to discourage would-be criminals from breaking and entering. After all, your home away from home is meant to be a place of relaxation, and for creating memories with your family, friends, and guests. Do your best to protect it. Do yourself a favor and contact DIYPROTECTION where they can help you sleep at night knowing your vacation home is protected and deterring people from taking away what you have worked so hard to achieve in your life.
