Secure Your Yard with the 5D’s of Home Security

For many homeowners, the front yard is a challenging area to keep secure.

By design, the front yard is a semi-public area between your home and the street. If you’re like most of us, you care about your home’s curb appeal and aren’t interested in extreme security measures, but there still are discreet steps you can take to make your front yard and ultimately your home more secure.

Using the 5 D’s of Home Security, here are some ways to achieve both increased security and friendly curb appeal.

Deter

• A professionally monitored smart home security system is perhaps the most powerful deterrent of all, and well-placed new yard signs are a great way to announce your security system. Do you need new yard signs or decals for windows? Let us know here, replacements are always free.
• While most of its technology will reside in your home, several elements will be noticeable from the outside. These include outdoor video cameras—or a video doorbell—and smart locks for your doors. 
• After dark, lighting is an excellent deterrent. Focus on a few key areas for lighting: your front door and porch, plus any potential hiding places in your hard.
• Motion activated smart lighting, with its power to suddenly and startlingly put an intruder in the spotlight, is best of all. Smart lights are easy to have installed on your front porch and around your whole property as part of a smart home security system, which can also schedule the lights to turn on automatically at sunset.

Detect 

• Your monitored security system is an important part of the detection of people up to no good. 
• Video cameras integrated into your security system are excellent detection devices as well. You can get a video clip sent right to your smartphone or peek in at any time. With recording on the cloud, there’s no worries about a bad guy destroying the DVR evidence in your home. You might be able to save on your video upgrade with our Customer Loyalty Rewards.

Deny

• Nothing radiates curb appeal like a traditional, white picket fence. Yet, it’s also a signal that says, loud and clear: “My property starts here.”
• Gates are easily climbed. However, bad guys typically go for the easiest target and don’t want to be seen climbing or even jumping a fence. They’ll also be aware that they’ll look suspicious on the other side, and that the slatted design of the fence leaves nowhere to hide from passers-by.

Delay

• A clear, well-maintained path to your front door—ideally bordered with shrubs or flowers—sends a message to stay on the path.
• It’s an example of ‘natural access control,’ where landscaping is used not to physically block people, but to subtly discourage certain behavior. Look at the front of any public building and you’ll see it in action.
• Another effective technique is to strategically plant roses, hawthorns and other thorny shrubs around ground-floor windows. Again, this won’t keep out a determined intruder, but it will discourage an opportunistic one from peering into your home. Plus, those roses will complement your picket fence.

Defend

• Sometimes referred to as the response layer, this is where the police come in, notified by your 24/7 monitored security system – they catch the bad guys (or more often, run them off).
• Make sure your monitored security system is working flawlessly by testing your system regularly.

About Alarm Engineering

Locally owned Alarm Engineering has been securing Delmarva since 1985. In that time, we have earned our reputation for integrity, reliability, and quality with our emphasis on superior service to our customers. We know you have choices when it comes to your security system, so here are some things you should know about our team.

Alarm Engineering is leading provider of electronic security systems and services in Delaware and the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia. From integrated home security systems with home automation and video to large enterprise-level integrated systems and small business solutions, our highly trained and professional staff will get the job done right. As an Authorized Alarm.com dealer, we offer exclusive Crash and Smash technology, Geo-Fencing and LiftMaster Garage Control, and the Doorbell Camera as part of our Home Automation offerings.

For more about what sets us apart from the crowd, click here or give us a call at 410-546-2210. But don’t just take our word for it: check out our five star Google Reviews.

 

Creating Your Own Home Control Scenes

The convenient Scenes buttons in the Alarm.com app let you control several smart home devices at once with the touch of a single button.

We’ve provided four Scenes to start with, each one tailored to make a specific moment of your day easier. They’re easy to edit and you can also create new Scenes from scratch for any situation. Here’s how.

1: Getting Started

You can create Scenes in both the desktop and mobile versions of your Alarm.com app. We’re going to use the desktop version. Log into your account, click the emPower tab, then click Scenes.

 

You’ll see four pre-set Scenes, which you can edit from this page.

To create a new one, click New Scene.

2: Create a button for your Scene. 

Let’s create a ‘Movie’ Scene so you can get ready for movie time with one touch once the kids are in bed. Enter your Scene name and click the three-arrow icon. You’ll see a drop-down menu of icons to choose from, along with a choice of colors.

3: Specify what your Scene will control.

After creating your button, you’ll see a list of all your system devices below. 

For example, you may want this Scene to set the security system to Arm Stay, with the front door locked.

If you like to stay cozy under a blanked, let’s turn the temperature down for this Scene too.

Of course the lights have to go off for the movie. 

4: Use your new Scene!

Congratulations, you’ve created your first custom Scene! The next time you log into your security system app, you’ll be able to use it. Swipe left on the Scenes bar to find the new button, and tap once. On the confirmation pop-up, you can see all of the commands you specified. Tap ‘Confirm’ and you’re done!

Get Started and Save

If you don’t have Alarm.com integrated into your security system yet, just let us know. You might qualify for big savings by using your Customer Loyalty Rewards.

If you’re with another alarm company now or don’t have any security equipment installed, tell us a little about yourself and remember to use FIRSTMONTHFREE promo code for extra savings.

About Alarm Engineering

Locally owned Alarm Engineering has been securing Delmarva since 1985. In that time, we have earned our reputation for integrity, reliability, and quality with our emphasis on superior service to our customers. We know you have choices when it comes to your security system, so here are some things you should know about our team.

Alarm Engineering is leading provider of electronic security systems and services in Delaware and the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia. From integrated home security systems with home automation and video to large enterprise-level integrated systems and small business solutions, our highly trained and professional staff will get the job done right. As an Authorized Alarm.com dealer, we offer exclusive Crash and Smash technology, Geo-Fencing and LiftMaster Garage Control, and the Doorbell Camera as part of our Home Automation offerings.

For more about what sets us apart from the crowd, click here or give us a call at 410-546-2210. But don’t just take our word for it: check out our five star Google Reviews.