Top Tips for Home Security This Summer: Advice from Your Local West Sussex Locksmith

Keep your home secure as the warmer months arrive

Summer in West Sussex is great, more time in the garden, longer days, and for many people, a holiday or two. But it is also the time of year when a few easy habits can slip, and opportunistic break-ins tend to rise. The good news is that most of it comes down to simple, practical steps that take very little time.

Here are Geoff’s top tips for keeping your home secure this summer.

1. Keep your locks in good working order

It sounds obvious, but worn or stiff locks are one of the most common things I come across on callouts. If a key is getting harder to turn, or a door does not sit quite right in its frame, it is worth getting it looked at. A lock that is struggling is easier to force than one that is properly maintained.

2. Check your windows

Windows are the most overlooked entry point in a home, ground floor windows especially, but also accessible first floor ones. Most modern UPVC windows are actually very secure when properly locked, the locking mechanism makes them extremely difficult to open without breaking the glass. The key word is locked. It sounds simple, but making sure every window is actually in the locked position before you go out or go to bed is a habit worth building. An unlocked UPVC window is a very different proposition to a locked one.

3. Do not advertise that you are going away

Social media is brilliant, but posting “off to Tenerife for two weeks, so excited!” before you leave is effectively an open invitation. Save the holiday photos until you are back.

4. Make sure outbuildings and gates are properly secured

Sheds and garages often contain expensive tools, bikes, and garden equipment, but get much less attention than the house itself. A padlock on a shed hasp is only as good as the hasp it is fitted to.

We recently upgraded a garden gate and shed door for a local customer, fitting higher security Gatemate locks, keyed alike for convenience and operated by a key from both sides. At the same time, we worked with a trusted local electrician to add motion activated security lights front and rear. The combination of a solid lock and good lighting makes a real difference to the deterrence factor.

5. Think about what is visible from outside

Bikes in the front garden, a laptop on a table near a window, a parcel left on the doorstep. Opportunistic thieves are looking for easy targets. A few small habits, bringing things in, drawing blinds in the evening, can make a real difference.

6. Have a trusted local locksmith’s number to hand

If you do get locked out, or come home to find something wrong, the last thing you want is to be searching Google in a panic. Save a number you trust. There are a lot of companies advertising locally that are not local at all, and charge accordingly. And here’s a post that will help: Locked Out in West Sussex

7. Get your locks checked if you have moved recently

A new house means previous owners, previous tenants, and potentially keys you do not know about. Rekeying or replacing the locks on a new property is one of the most practical things you can do and it does not cost much.

Geoff Naylor is the locksmith behind GRN Locksmith Services, covering Bognor Regis and a 25-mile radius across West Sussex including Worthing, Chichester, Littlehampton, and Arundel. DBS checked, Checkatrade registered, no call-out fee. Call 07889 325487.