Your Landscaping Is Your First Line of Security at Home

Burglars are very picky, they’re always looking for an easy score and when they pick a home to burglarize, it’s not done randomly. When a burglar considers breaking into someone’s home the first thing they do is scope out the neighborhood. For this reason your landscaping can play an important role in defending your home from a potential intruder.

When we contemplate home security, most of us consider security cameras, big dogs and deadbolt locks. All these aspects are valid and worth having. However, simple landscaping is often a home’s first line of defense which comes as a surprise for most of us who rarely give this potential security risk a second thought.

When scoping out a home to break into, potential burglars look for a few things:

  • Unkempt lawns: To a burglar, an un-mowed yard gives the impression that the homeowner is out-of-town and provides them with an open invitation.
  • Bushes or Trees: Any trees or shrubs that obscure your windows can allow a burglar to enter your home undetected
  • Privacy fences: Tall privacy fencing is a common way for you to create a little privacy for you and your family. However, it will also hide a burglar from your neighbors while they attempt to enter your home.

4 tips that will make a burglar think twice:

  • Trim your bushes regularly: Having tall and overgrown shrubbery right under the windows is unattractive. Moreover, it also makes great cover for a burglar. Therefore, it is best to keep hedges and bushes trimmed down in order to clear the view under windows.
  • Pay attention to the back of the house: Oftentimes, we tend neglect paying as much attention to detail to the back of our homes as we do the front. However, burglars typically attempt to gain entry to your home through the back of a house first due to the cover it provides them from being sighted.
  • Plant some type of thorn bush around windows: If the thought of trimming the hedges or bushes is undesirable, you can consider planting rose bushes or other types of thorn bushes around your home’s windows or doors as they can discourage potential burglars from using them as cover.
  • Ensure the entry points of your home are well lit: Thieves usually wait until homeowners are away in order to gain easy access to a house. Therefore, tricking burglars into thinking someone is home at all times is a good way to keep a thief away. A great way to accomplish this is by making sure your porch and other possible entry points are well lit. You can even place them on a timer to turn on as the sun sets and turn of as it rises.

While keeping landscape trimmed and neat is a first defense in deterring a burglar, the best defense is a security system. When a burglar sees a security system sign in a yard, they will likely move on to another more vulnerable target.

In addition to the above, replacing your front door with a security door, never placing empty boxes from a TV, stereo or other household item outside in plain sight, bolting window AC units to the wall, making sure all the windows are secure and covering them from the inside in order to keep out prying eyes, are also important aspects of keeping your home safe.

About the author:

Alex is a writer, husband, father and aspiring urban fantasy novelist. When he isn’t writing for HomeDaddys or completing chores from his honey- do list, he’s most likely spending quality time with his wife and kids or working on his novel.

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8 Comments

  1. Thanks, Rosetta, for adding to the conversation!

  2. I suggest putting a lot of plant pots up on the walls so thieves cannot climb up easily. That thorny plants are also useful for walls. I also have read a lot of tips for securing the house in https://www.getkuna.com/blogs/. By the way, thanks for the article above. Interesting ideas!

  3. Dale:

    That’s hilarious, obviously effective, and I greatly appreciate you sharing!

  4. I have holly bushes below windows on the side of my house where a fence hides the side from the view of the street and the neighbor’s home. I can attest that nobody in their right mind would try to go through those bushes to break into my house. They make rose bushes seem inviting by comparison!

  5. Hi Seth:

    Bummer.Hate you had to prove the point…

    So, no more privacy fences?

  6. Interesting – I didn’t know some of this. My old house had a privacy fence and guess what… we got burglarized! Thanks for sharing – I’ll keep these things in mind for my rental properties.

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