Security Preparations for Spring

At Northeast Security Solutions, we strive to provide an effective security plan that addresses all of your security needs. If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know that each season presents unique security concerns. As a complete security integrator, we always aim to secure our customers throughout the year. Doing so effectively requires taking a proactive approach to addressing these seasonal security issues.  In this post, we share some of our most important security preparations for spring.

To start, we’ll discuss why spring presents challenges not seen during the rest of the year. From there, we’ll share how we address these specific security threats. For starters, we’ll show you how we add sensors that create environmental security to your existing burglar alarm. Then, we’ll look at a couple ways to prepare for any warm-weather trips you may take this year. This section will include ideas for controlling your alarm and receiving alerts remotely. Additionally, we’ll also explain how smart devices can add security to your home this spring. Now, let’s dive in with a look at some unique spring security threats.

Unique Spring Security Threats

With the coming of spring comes both warmer weather and extended hours of daylight. This can lead to increased security risk for a few reasons. For starters. the spring thaw brings about potential weather-related threats to your home. The melting of snow can lead to flooding, especially in basements of homes in cold-weather climates. Moreover, the arrival of regular spring rains and even thunderstorms can compound this danger. Therefore, we need to create a security plan to combat these issues.

Furthermore, warmer weather and longer days create more comfortable and effective conditions for burglars to plan and execute break-ins. At the same time, spring brings about the prospect of empty homes as families start planning on warm-weather day trips, or even extended trips and vacations, as seasonal activities ramp up and traveling conditions improve. Traditionally, this combination of comfortable temperatures and vacant houses spells security danger. Of course, we have ways to help fight these issues as well. Now, let’s get started with a look at how environmental sensors fit into our security preparations for spring.

Adding Environmental Security

Most alarm customers think of their security system as a tool to lower the risks posed by break-ins and fires. Obviously, these threats deserve addressing when we design any alarm system. However, we surprise many people by offering alarm sensors that offer security above and beyond burglary and life safety equipment. We also offer sensors that create alerts for environmental disasters that have the potential to cause a home major damage. These sensors can help you detect and address these issues before they create a mess that takes a significant amount of time and money to repair.

For example, our “hi-lo temperature” detectors can create a central station response if your home experiences dangerously hot or cold conditions. This can help alert you to frozen pipes or HVAC equipment failures. Additionally, we offer flood sensors that can detect the presence of water wherever we install them.  As snow melts and we begin to see rainier, warmer weather on a regular basis, these sensors certainly increase in value. As an added bonus, some of our alarm manufacturers even create sensors that detect both extremely cold temperatures and the presence of water! These contacts, such as the one pictured, provide a huge amount of environmental security in one compact piece of equipment. While this equipment obviously adds year-round security, it comes in especially handy during the spring thaw season. Now, let’s turn our attention to securing your home in your absence this spring.

Preparing for Extended Absences from Home

As the weather heats up, so do the social and seasonal activity calendars. Spring sports begin, as well as beach trips, weekend warm weather-getaways, and even vacations over spring break. Obviously, getting out of the house as the warm weather rolls in feels great after the cold of the winter! However, these increased absences can also increase your chance of experiencing crime at home. In this section, we’ll check out a couple ways that we help customers address this danger. Let’s start with an explanation of our most effective and popular alarm monitoring service.

Interactive Security Monitoring

When we create alarm monitoring for our customers, we prefer to do so through our cellular dialer, powered by Alarm.com. This type of monitoring provides multiple benefits. For starters, cellular dialer-based monitoring stays active even when your phone service fails. This differs from traditional, phone-line based alarm monitoring, which gets interrupted during phone outages. Furthermore, your cellular dialer can add convenience and security above and beyond providing a reliable communication path.

In our post on Using Your Smartphone to Add Security to Your Alarm, we discussed the generational expectation that customers can control their electronics with their smartphones. Our interactive cell dialer powered by Alarm.com allows users to arm and disarm their security systems remotely using the Alarm.com smartphone app. This proves especially useful during trips you and your family take this spring. Forget to alarm the security system on the way out the door? Now you can fix this issue with the push of a button. Furthermore, interactive alarm monitoring also allows you to grant access to house sitters or contractors in your absence without giving them your alarm code. Next up, let’s take a look at one more of our security preparations for spring that can keep your home secure in your absence.

Smart Home Security Appliances

Although they represent one of the newer additions to the security industry, smart devices have quickly become a prevalent part of home security. Our Alarm.com customers can install smart devices that connect to our cellular dialer’s Z-Wave smart home receiver. The term “Z-Wave” refers to a mesh network providing communication between our Alarm.com cellular dialer and smart home devices that operate on this network. As one of the most popular smart home platforms, Z-Wave technology gives you many options to add smart security devices. Our customers control these smart home appliances with the same Alarm.com app that they use to control their security systems.

For starters, Alarm.com smart cameras allow you to check in on your property in real time on your phone. This gives you “eyes” on your yard and driveway at all times, without inetrruption. Moreover, these cameras also store a months’ worth of motion-based video clips in the cloud for future viewing. On a related note, our Alarm.com video doorbells provide a unique level of door security. These devices allow you to review both real time and recorded video, just like standard Alarm.com smart cameras. Additionally, they also allow you to have a 2-way conversation with anyone at the door.

In addition to exterior smart security, we also offer interior smart devices that add both security and convenience. For example, smart lights allow you to turn your lights on and off and even dim them remotely. This can add security by making your home look occupied in your absence, while also allowing you to always return to a well-lit home. Smart locks can also let you track access to your home, and even control your locks, remotely as well. These smart security appliances add both convenience and security in the springtime and all year round!

Putting Your Security Preparations for Spring Into Place

We hope that this post helps you create your own security preparations for spring. Additionally, we encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Moreover, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We offer complimentary security audits to both new and existing customers alike. While on site, we can address any security concerns you may have. Furthermore, we can also make suggestions of our own based on observations made during our visit.

Perhaps you have a solid security plan in place, but wish to add some additional security as the weather gets warmer. Or, maybe you have very little in the way of security now, but wish to get started with some of the tips from this post in mind. Either way, we are here to help. Over our 35 years in business, we’ve worked with over a thousand customers to deliver the most effective security available. Together, we can create a complete security plan to keep you and your family as safe and secure as possible!