Category: Homeowner Tips

Did you know that a robbery happens every 15 seconds somewhere in America?

No matter how safe of an area you live in, it’s crucial to take measures to ensure your home is protected in the event of a potential break-in. Many criminals target homes after already visiting the area to identify patterns, such as when people are away from home, which homes have outdoor lighting, and other potential weaknesses.

The first step to protecting your home is to take a walk around the property. Are you able to identify those weaknesses? What steps can you take to deter criminal activity before it takes place?

In this post, we’ve identified 5 ways to help keep the outside of your home safe.

1. Fencing

While most people install fencing for privacy reasons, they’re also a great deterrent to would-be criminals. Consider fences that are tall and not easy to climb over or break through. Make sure to secure your fence gates, too. Make sure it has a lock or latch or that it self-closes.

2. Timed lighting at the front door

A popular home automation option for many homeowners is the ability to schedule your front door or porch light to automatically turn on at a certain time — whether you’re home or not. A potential burglar may be more inclined to target a home that doesn’t have any lighting because they’ll be better able to cloak their activities. A light that illuminates the front door — the most common entry point of home break-ins — could help to stop a burglar in their tracks.

3. Motion detector flood lighting

In addition to timed lighting at the front door, consider placing motion detector flood lights in a number of places around your home, including near the garage and the back and sides of your home — any place that might be easy for a person to hide.

4. Security cameras

It’s been reported that more home break-ins take place during the day. That old familiar image of an intruder lurking around in the middle of the night is actually the exception to the rule: Break-ins are 6% more likely to occur during the day between 6am-6pm while people are at work or running errands. Install a security camera so that you can keep an eye on things when you’re away from home. Video doorbells are a popular choice because you can see, hear and speak to anyone at your front door.

5. Store expensive items like grills, bikes and tools in the garage

When you leave valuables out in the open they become easy targets for criminals — especially since they won’t have to enter your home to get them.

EMC Security offers a number of ways to protect your home, from security cameras to motion detectors and home automation features.

To learn more about EMC’s home security options, give us a call today at 770.963.0305.

Have you ever heard the saying, “If Mom isn’t happy, no one’s happy?” Well it’s the same with your Wi-Fi. A slow or intermittent Wi-Fi signal can disrupt the entire household. Including your security system. There are many home security systems and cameras that connect via Wi-Fi so it’s important to ensure it’s working properly.

To ease your frustration and improve Wi-Fi performance, try these tips

1. Use Up-to-Date Equipment

Technology has changed rapidly over the last several years, so old technology doesn’t always work to full capacity. A simple replacement may do the trick.

2. Pick the Right Location for Your Router

For the best signal, place the router in an open area, free of any walls and obstructions. Elevate the router if you can. Distance is the most important factor. We have found that the center of the house will give the best coverage possible throughout your home.

3. Avoid Interference From Other Electronics

Have you ever sat right next to your router but still don’t get good connection? This is because a wireless signal can be blocked by many different devices including cordless phones, microwaves, and televisions. Make sure your router is positioned away from any large electronics.

4. Use The Right Wireless Channel

If several routers in a close area are using the same wireless channel, they can easily reduce the speeds of your Wi-Fi. Choose a channel that has as little signal interference as possible. Your router will include instructions on how to change your wireless channel if you do not know how to change it.

5. Control Bandwidth Hogs

If someone in your house regularly plays online games or streams movies from Netflix, they may be hogging the bandwidth. To get around this, set up QoS (Quality of Service) rules to prioritize certain applications over others so the most important applications get the bandwidth they need.

6. Install A Wi-Fi Extender

A Wi-Fi extender is captures the Wi-Fi signal and allows it to reach further. This is especially helpful in a home with brick walls or other blockers to the Wi-Fi signal.

7. Restart Your Wi-Fi On A Regular Basis

It is important for your Wi-Fi to be rebooted on a regular basis. This will allow it to update. To avoid the annoyance of rebooting every day, set it on an outlet timer to reboot once a day when it’s not in use.

8. Turn Off Power-Saving Mode

Turn off the power saving, or eco mode, to restore the proper speeds to your router. These may be on by default and do not save a significant amount of power.

9. Try a Better Antenna

Quality matters. Think of all the TV antennas on the market: the bigger and more powerful the antenna, the clearer the picture. Router antennas follow a similar principle. A good rule of thumb is to point the antenna towards the device. If you have multiple antennas, point them all in the same direction.

10. Wi-Fi Security

A great way to protect your Wi-Fi connection is to use “cloaking”. This is done by hiding the SSID(the name of the network), which forces anyone that wants to connect to type in the name of the network manually. Always set-up your Wi-Fi as a security connection with password protection. For further protection, enable WPA2 password protection on your WiFi network. It’s encrypted, making it more secure than the older WPA or WEP security protocols.

According to the US Fire Administration, over 10,000 attic fires a year are reported to US Fire Departments.

The majority of these fires are caused by electrical malfunction (created by faulty wires and ignition sources) and natural causes (such as lightning, which we reported last summer.) How do you take steps to mitigate the possibility of a dangerous fire in your home’s attic? We’ve got some tips here:

Don’t Store Flammable Liquids in the Attic

Volatile solvents such as paint, turpentine, cleaning products, gasoline, propane, kerosene or other hazardous chemicals don’t belong in an attic. Due to variances in insulation, extreme temperature swings occur in attics, which causes expansion and contraction of objects and liquids. This can cause combustion. All hazardous chemical liquids should be properly discarded—see the bottle label for exact details—or stored somewhere away from an ignition source.

Don’t Trust Your Treasures to the Attic Space

Valuable or sentimental papers, clothes and toys are hard to toss, but they’re highly combustible fuel for a fire–especially if it’s a lightning strike, which is common in Georgia during thunderstorm season. All too often these items are stored in cardboard boxes, which not only burn faster, but also attract insects such as termites or silverfish. If you can’t reduce, reuse or recycle, take a picture of the items as a keepsake.

Clothing Storage Is Fine, with a Few Precautions

Never store fur or leather in an attic; the heat will damage the leather, and the fur will attract other furry creatures. Store other clothing in vacuum-sealed storage bags, and then place the bags in a plastic trunk, tote or portable closet. Plastic will burn, but it has a higher flash point than cardboard and provides some protection against smoke and water damage.

What Else Is Ok for the Attic?

Your empty suitcases are safe to store in the attic; they’re lightweight and not likely to combust. Lightweight holiday decorations are fine if they’re stored in plastic tubs, with one caveat; don’t store candles in the attic, unless you want to become the “House of Wax.” Off-season athletic equipment, if it’s not heavy, is fine too. Remember to store items only on step-secure flooring, or you could end up in the living room.

Want to make sure your entire home is covered for fire and smoke monitoring? At EMC Security,fire monitoring is part of our basic services. With alarm monitoring rates beginning at $16.95, you can protect against intrusion and fire at one low price.