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Home security basics come down to four things: doors and windows that resist being forced, locks that reach the framing behind the jamb, lighting that removes the dark corners, and the habits of the people with keys. None of these needs a subscription. A monitored system adds a response after an alarm; the basics are what make the alarm unlikely in the first place, and they are a weekend's work with a screwdriver and a trip to the hardware store.
The list below is the same whether the house is new or forty years old. New construction usually arrives with builder-grade strike plates and short screws, so the door work applies there too.
What are intruders actually looking for?
In practice, someone breaking into a house is looking for a way in that is quick, quiet, and unseen, and they move on when a house is none of those. That is why the hardware matters more than the alarm: a door that does not give to a shoulder, a window that does not slide open, and a porch that is lit make the house slow and visible, which is the whole game.
The pattern we see in police reports and in neighbors' stories is the same: an unlocked door or an open garage, a back door with a hollow core or a glass panel next to the deadbolt, a ground-floor window left cracked for air, or a spare key under the mat. The forced entries usually come through a door whose strike plate was held by short screws in trim, not framing.
How should you secure the doors and windows?
Secure the doors first: every exterior door should be solid core or metal, with a deadbolt that throws fully into a strike plate screwed through the jamb into the framing behind it. Then the sliding door, which needs a bar or a pin because its latch is the weakest lock in the house. Then the windows, which need working locks and a pin or stop on any ground-floor sash you leave open for air. The garage door and the door from the garage to the house count as exterior doors.
Door and window check, one afternoon
- Every exterior door is solid core or metal, not hollow
- Each deadbolt throws fully and the strike plate screws reach the framing, not just the trim
- A door with glass within reach of the thumb turn has a double-cylinder lock or laminated glass, and everyone knows where the key is kept for fire escape
- The sliding door has a bar in the track or a pin through the frame, and the rollers are adjusted so the door cannot be lifted out
- Every window lock works, and ground-floor sashes have a stop so they cannot open far enough to climb through
- The door from the garage into the house locks like a front door
- The garage opener has its emergency release cord shortened or shielded so it cannot be fished from outside
- No spare key outside; a lockbox with a code, or a trusted neighbor, instead
Replacing the short screws in a strike plate with long ones that bite into the stud is the highest return item on that list. It takes ten minutes per door. For the garage, the monthly safety reverse test doubles as a check that the door closes fully every time.
What does lighting do?
Lighting removes the dark approach that makes a house attractive: a motion light at each entry and over the driveway, a porch light on a dusk-to-dawn sensor, and shrubs trimmed below the windows so nobody can work unseen. The goal is not a floodlit yard, which annoys neighbors and gets switched off; it is no dark path to a door. Plug-in timers on a lamp or two make an empty house look lived in, and the same timers are what you set when you leave the house for a season.
Motion lights that plug into an outdoor outlet need a weatherproof cover on the outlet and a cord rated for outdoor use, so check the cords and outlets you are relying on before winter. Lighting at the entries and steps is also one of the first changes worth making when planning a house for aging in place; the two lists overlap more than people expect.
Do you need cameras or a monitored system?
You do not need a monitored system to have cameras, and you do not need cameras to have a secure house. A camera that records to a local card or a hub gives you a live view and clips on your phone with no monthly fee. A monitored system adds a person who calls the police when a sensor trips while you are unreachable; whether that is worth a fee depends on how often you are away and how fast the police respond where you live.
No subscription
- Deadbolts, strike plates, sliding door bar, window stops
- Motion lights and timers
- Cameras and doorbell with local recording
- Contact sensors that alert your phone
- You respond, or a neighbor does
Monitored service
- Same hardware, plus sensors tied to a panel
- A monitoring center calls you, then the police, on an alarm
- Cloud storage of clips, usually with smarter alerts
- Ongoing fee, and sometimes a contract
- Useful when you travel often or nobody nearby can check
If you add a monitored plan later, the door and lighting work is still what makes the alarm rare. If you rent the house out for short stays, cameras belong outside only, and guests must be told; the short-term rental checklist covers where the lockbox and the cameras go.
What habits matter more than the hardware?
Habits matter more than hardware because most entries are through a door that was not locked. Lock the doors every time you leave, including the garage and the door from the garage. Rekey or replace the locks the week you move in, before anything else on the moving checklist, because you cannot know who has copies of the old keys. Do not announce travel on public accounts. Hold the mail or have a neighbor take it in. Know the neighbors well enough to ask them to watch the house; that is still the best monitoring there is.
Keys are the weak point. Count the people who have one (cleaner, dog walker, contractor, family), write the list down, and change the code on the lockbox or keypad when someone leaves the list. A house that sits empty, whether during a long trip or after it is inherited, needs a named person who visits on a schedule, because an unwatched house is the one that gets tried.
What should you record and put on a schedule?
Record the lock brands and key codes, the keypad and lockbox codes and when they were last changed, who holds keys, the camera models and where the recordings live, and the location of the garage opener's lock switch. Security hardware also needs maintenance: keypad locks and cameras run on batteries, motion lights burn out, and door closers drift. A few recurring tasks keep the hardware doing its job.
In Property Station, the codes and the key holders go under Shutoffs & Key Locations and Emergency Contacts, and the battery swaps, the light checks, and the garage door test become tasks on the Maintenance page with a Frequency (months) that brings them back on their own. See the maintenance features for how the reminders work.
Common questions
Do I need to rekey the locks when I move in?
Yes, or replace them. You have no way to know how many copies of the old keys exist, and the previous owner's contractor, cleaner, and neighbor may each have one. Rekeying is a locksmith visit or a kit, and it is the first security task in a new house.
Are doorbell cameras worth it without a plan?
A camera that records to a local card or a hub gives you the same live view and the same clips, without a monthly fee. What you lose is cloud backup if the camera itself is taken, and sometimes the smarter alerts. For most houses the local option is enough.
What about the garage?
Treat the garage door as a front door. Keep the opener remote out of a parked car, lock the door between the garage and the house, and test the opener's safety reverse once a month so the door closes reliably. If you leave for a trip, unplug the opener or use its lock setting.
Is a sign or a fake camera enough?
A sign costs nothing and may send an opportunist to the next house, but it does nothing once someone has decided to try. Spend on the door hardware and the lighting first, then on real cameras if you want them. A fake camera that is obviously fake advertises that nothing is watching.
What should you do next?
Walk the outside of the house tonight after dark and note every door you cannot see from the street and every path that is unlit. Then do the strike plate screws this weekend. Fire is the other half of keeping a house safe, and the monthly detector test belongs on the same schedule as the locks.