Apex

Holidays and Home Safety

Will you be away from home on the holidays?

If you’re planning to travel this holiday season, your empty home could be a target for burglars. While break-ins can happen in any neighborhood, the good news is that you can protect your family and belongings from the possibility of a home invasion.

Thieves like easy targets – they are likely to look for:

  • Mail or newspapers piling up. Remember to stop your mail at the post office or arrange for a neighbor to pick it up.
  • Overgrown or shrubs that obscure the home from the street. Check around your home to see if there are good sight lines to windows and doors. If not, prune them or hire a service that can do this.
  • Weak doors or windows. It’s essential to keep entry points into your home (doors and windows) locked. Also check it to see if these openings are structurally vulnerable to break-ins, as weak doors and windows are easy targets for forced entry. Strong, sturdy doors with deadbolt locks and reinforced metal frames are optimal.
  • No indoor or outdoor lights. Darkness around your home can provide cover for a burglar. Avoid this by strategically placing automatic outdoor or motion sensor lights around your home and property. Light bulbs set on a timer inside also help give the illusion that the home is occupied.

Thieves tend to avoid:

  • Homes with security systems – especially with cameras. An alarm system can be an essential step in protecting your home and valuables. In fact, the FBI says 83% of would-be burglars check for the presence of an alarm system before attempting a break-in.
  • And with remote monitoring, you have the convenience of checking on your home from anywhere.

If you’re interested in a security system that fits your needs, give us a call at (919) 387-1800.  We’d be happy to answer all your questions and provide you with a complimentary quote.

Secur-Tek offers customers the best in home security –  a personal touch, industry knowledge, and connections built on 35+ yrs in the industry. On top of that, we hand-select reliable name-brand suppliers to accommodate changes in the technological landscape.

Our service area includes Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Chapel Hill, Clayton, Garner, Holly Springs, Durham, Raleigh, Morrisville, and Pittsboro in North Carolina.

 

 

 

Back-to-School Safety Quiz

Are your kids heading back to school?  It’s a good time to think about safety. It’s not a fun topic to discuss, so we developed a short quiz you can try as a conversation starter.

See how many of these safety tips you and your family know!

The Back-to-School Safety Quiz 

1) What is a safe way to react if the doorbell rings unexpectedly?

2) Who do you call if there is an emergency?

3) If the power goes out – where would you find a flashlight?

4) When you arrive home, how do you make sure you are safe?

5) When you are home alone, are you allowed to post on TikTok and other social media?

6) If social media is allowed, what topics should you avoid mentioning?

 

Answers:

1) Look through the peephole, a window where they can’t see you, or use your video doorbell to see who or what is there. Check with your parents to see if someone is expected and if it’s okay to let them in.

2) It’s a good idea to have an emergency plan for each situation type and discuss this with the family. Resources for emergency planning.

3) Ensure a flashlight and emergency supplies are in accessible locations around the house and that the family knows where they are (and that the batteries are fresh).

4) Lock the door behind you and if you have a security system, re-arm it, then check in with one of your parents. With a smart home security system, parents can know at a glance if a family member has arrived home or left the premises.

5) This depends on the parent’s discretion, the age of the student, and other factors. Here is a resource article that may be helpful for parents.

6) Don’t broadcast personal topics – like being home alone, age, location, or upcoming trips or vacations.

 

Whether your student is going to school in Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Chapel Hill, Clayton, Garner, Holly Springs, Durham, Raleigh, Morrisville, or Pittsboro, Secur-Tek, Inc. wishes your family a safe and productive school year!

Seven Handy Home Automation Features

A security system with home automation features—like cameras, smart locks, and lighting control—can add convenience and increase your peace of mind. To see how, check out these seven handy home automation features:

1) See what’s going on at home while you’re away.

  • Know immediately if a family member has arrived home or left the premises.
  • Speak to babysitters or your children through the Total Connect® app for reassurance and to let them know you are watching.
  • Get push notifications, email, and video alerts when events occur, like when you have a delivery or a stranger is at the door.
  • Monitor key hallways, staircases, and doors with live, look-in video.
  • Receive a notification of selected events – for example, if a bathtub or toilet overflows or when an extreme temperature has been sensed.

2) Check if the garage door is closed. Have you ever driven away and wondered if you left the garage door open? If you have kids (or another forgetful family member), it can be worrisome when they leave the garage door open. A great solution to this is the MyQ app, which works well with Resideo Total Connect.

With the MyQ app, you can not only check if the door is closed, you can even accept home deliveries safely even when you’re at work – with the deliveryman on the phone, you can open the door, watch him put your package inside, then shut the door to keep everything safe until you return home.

3) Garage/Outbuilding Monitoring. In addition to monitoring the door of your garage or other building, if needed, you can keep tabs on the temperature inside. This can be important if you store items in your garage that can be harmed by extreme heat or cold –  and can be achieved by adding a temperature sensor to your Total Connect system.

4) Vacation Home Alerts. If you are away on vacation or own a vacation home, a “hard freeze” alert can let you know if special measures need to be taken to prevent burst pipes and flooding. In addition, water sensors can detect leaks and send warnings before they become a flood.

5) Power-saving “Mockupancy”. When you’re on vacation, your home automation system can turn lights on and off at random intervals when your house is in “vacation” mode, saving energy while creating the illusion that someone is home and moving from room to room.

6) Lock Programming. The Total Connect app scenes and schedules feature can keep everyone safe and comfortable and free you from having to remember to adjust the thermostats, turn lights on or off, or lock the doors at night, so If you sometimes wonder if you locked the door(s), don’t lose sleep worrying. If your teens are old enough to come home by themselves after school or late at night, you can have a text message or e-mail notification sent to you to let you know exactly what time they arrived home.

7) Warning Alert Lights. The lights can be programmed to flash all over the house or in certain areas when a smoke detector goes off or the security alarm is activated. It’s sometimes hard to hear all of your various bells and buzzers when you’re watching TV or listening to music in another room, but these events are hard to miss when the overhead lights let you know what’s happening.

Interested in learning more?

Call Secur-Tek at 919.387.1800 (or fill out the form below) and ask about customizing a monitored security and automation system for your home.

 

Are you on Facebook?  If so, you can follow our page for safety tips and events in Raleigh, Apex, Cary and Garner North Carolina.  https://www.facebook.com/SecurTekNC

 

 

 

Is Monitoring Your Security System Worthwhile?

Whether you’re fast asleep in your bed in Raleigh or traveling away from home, knowing your home security system will work the way you expect is important.

One expectation most people have for home or business security systems is a response to the alarm — no matter what time it occurs. 24-hour security monitoring means authorities will be notified as needed when the alarm is activated at your home or office.

Monitoring isn’t just to alert the police or fire departments. There are other advantages to including 24-hour monitoring as part of your security system:

True Protection — Some homeowners assume a burglar alarm making a lot of noise is enough protection. But actually, home alarms are often ignored by people nearby, who assume it is going off by accident.

Fires — Because they provide automatic response, monitored smoke detectors and heat sensors can save lives and limit property damage. This is especially important if you use many Lithium-ion batteries; some insurance companies now require homeowners to have a monitored security system with a smoke/heat sensor in the garage if an EV charger is installed. Read more about sensors here.

Leaks — While not as urgent as a fire or break-in, a gas or water leak can cause serious problems in your home. Monitoring systems can be set up to alert you in these instances – or even to let you know if there is a power outage and your freezer is no longer on.

Assistance — Monitoring systems can also be used to send notifications to people if you need help – in case of a fall or other personal accident.

Insurance —Most insurance companies will offer a discount when a customer’s home security system is monitored.

Peace of mind — Monitoring means someone is always keeping watch over your home or business. Many security system clients say that monitoring offers peace of mind, making it easier to sleep, both at home and while away.

 

How Monitoring Works

Secur-Tek, Inc. works with Affiliated Central to monitor your home or business. The team at Affiliated Central is CSAA Five Diamond Certified and uses the most up-to-date technologies. The company has installed a redundancy system for its telephone and automation, ensuring dependability.

When contacting a security company to keep your home or business safe, be sure to check their terms and confirm that you are receiving the service you deserve.

Secur-Tek’s North Carolina service area includes Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Chapel Hill, Clayton, Garner, Holly Springs, Durham, Raleigh, Morrisville, Pittsboro, and Wake Forest.  If you are interested in a home security system or would like to add monitoring to your current system, please give us a call at 919-387-1800.

Are You Wasting Money on an Alarm System?

wasting money on alarm system

Safety statistics show that having an alarm system can be an effective tool for protecting your family and property from home invasions.

According to the National Council for Home Safety:

When Do They Happen? Burglaries most often occur during the day between 6 am and 6 pm while people are at work or running errands. The seasonality is quite simple as well, with snow and cold being principal deterrents, the lowest number of burglaries happen in February while burglary rates are higher in the summer.

How? Intruders are most attracted to houses that do not have home alarm systems.

  • The national average indicates that homes without a security system are 300% more likely to be burglarized.
  • 85% of convicted burglars said that they specifically look to see if there’s an alarm and that they would leave and target another property where no security system is installed.
  • The F.B.I also reports that 90% of all intrusions occur through doors; 6% occur through windows; 3% occur through the roof and 1% occur through the walls.

Who? Over 85% of thieves are amateurs with 41% saying break-ins are an impulsive decision.

The bottom line is that utilizing a security system on your property will offer an increased level of protection and peace of mind.

HOWEVER – you might be wasting your money on that home alarm system if:

1) You don’t set the alarm. This is understandable — but it can be impacted by the ease and convenience of doing this simple act. Therefore, thinking through your daily routines and researching which system is most compatible with your personality and lifestyle is an important part of choosing the best system for you and your family.

2) You don’t thoroughly understand and learn the proper usage or programming of the alarm system you have purchased. At Secur-Tek, our systems are easy to use, and we take the time to ensure you understand the system’s functionality.

3) You don’t have your installer use windows stickers and signs as a warning. We at Secur-Tek ensure that warning stickers and signs are placed in the optimal locations for good visibility and thus function as a key deterrent.

4) You don’t test the system on a regular basis. At Secur-Tek we only install high-quality security systems and recommend testing every month. It only takes a few minutes to ensure everything is functioning properly. You can find the steps here.

5) Your system isn’t monitored. You may have purchased a home with the alarm system already installed or installed one yourself. Although the noise of an alarm may scare off those who enter your home, it’s vital that you have a company monitor your alarm so that the police can investigate for forced entry. Monitoring is also critical in case of a fire or carbon monoxide leak, especially when your family is sleeping or away.

6) You leave the house with the windows/doors open or unlocked. Windows and back doors are a favorite, especially those left open in the warmer months and obscured by bushes or buildings. Many alarm systems do not go off if someone enters through an open window. If you don’t have a motion detector installed or alarm sensors on the windows, be sure to at least close and lock your windows when you are not home.

When used properly, alarm systems can be a very effective tool in deterring crime and protecting your family and home. We at Secur-Tek, Inc. partner with you to ensure you get the right system for your situation.

Please give us a call at 919.387.1800 or contact us by using the form below for a complimentary in-home consultation.

Secur-Tek, Inc. is locally owned and operated in Apex, NC, offering home and business security and monitoring. Secur-Tek also provides automation, audio, and central vacuum systems to customers in the Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Chapel Hill, Clayton, Garner, Holly Springs, Durham, Raleigh, Morrisville, and Pittsboro areas.