4 Tips to Secure Sliding Glass Doors in Your Home

An experienced burglar can get into your home through your sliding glass door in less than a minute. With more than 8 million property crimes happening every year, you should be aware of the entry points a burglar can get in through.

Securing your sliding glass doors will help to ensure your home is harder to break into. Of course, this should be just one of the steps you take in your full home security plan.

While your front door and your windows may be very secure, your sliding glass door may be lacking in this area. Here are four great tips to secure your sliding glass doors.

Install Additional Locks

Having a professional locksmith install additional locks is one of the best ways to secure your sliding glass doors. Yes, they do come with locks, but they are usually very simple latches that burglars can easily bypass. A heavy-duty latch guard made with hardened steel can be installed on both the bottom and the top of the sliding glass door to ensure it’s secure.

Add Window Film

Another way burglars get in through the sliding glass door is by breaking it. It's usually not too difficult to break, but it can also be easily secured with window film. Sure, you want to let in the natural light, but you also want to keep thing safe. Having a professional install the film means you can get the performance you want while letting in plenty of light.

With the right window film, you can make your sliding glass door shatterproof. This makes it much more difficult for a burglar to get in.

Add a Rod in the Tracks

Maybe the easiest way to add security to your sliding glass doors is with a rod in the tracks. A metal rod adds security and makes it harder to open the door. If you have a door with a metal rod, use it and the door will become far more secure.

If your sliding glass door doesn't already have a metal rod, you can add a wooden dowel from a local hardware store. This is a great way to keep your door secure.

Add Door Sensors

Another easy way to add protection to your sliding glass door is by using a glass break sensor on your door. This can be installed as a part of your home security system and the alarm will sound if the door is broken.

You can also add a door sensor to the actual door that will trigger the alarm if it's opened. With two sensors, you will have plenty of protection for your sliding glass door. You need both sensors to fully protect the door as one will sense the sound of broken glass, while the other will sense the door actually opening.

Use these four tips to make sure your sliding glass doors are all secured properly. Hiring the help of a professional locksmith and a home security professional will help to ensure you don't have to worry about burglars getting in through your sliding glass door.

Top 3 Benefits of Using a Mobile Locksmith Service

It's not uncommon for people to never think about a locksmith until they need one. Usually, this happens when you're stranded on the side of the road or in a parking long and your keys are dangling in the ignition of your car, but the doors are locked. This is the time when you start thinking about your locksmith needs.

When there's an emergency and you cannot get into your car, home or office, you need the best mobile locksmith service in Chicago. There are several significant benefits to a mobile locksmith service that you gain. Not only will they be able to help you any time of the day, but they also tend to respond very fast when you need them the most.

If you're in need of a locksmith, or you're just planning for the possibility of needing one in the future, it's important to understand the benefits of a mobile locksmith service. Here are three of the best benefits.

24/7 Availability

Emergencies happen at the wrong time of day. Maybe you don't normally stay out late, but you decided to one night. Of course, this would be the once in a blue moon time that you locked your keys in your car and you can't get home.

Mobile locksmith services in Chicago are available 24/7 making it possible to get the help you need, no matter the time of day or day of the week. You get the immediate help you need without any need to panic.

Fast Response Time

One of the biggest benefits of a mobile locksmith service is the fast response time. Since they are mobile, they are usually out and about on other jobs. This means they can quickly get to you without any issue. In fact, you may get lucky and they could be right down the road from you when you call.

A mobile locksmith can respond very quickly when you have an issue with your office keys, home keys or car keys. They will arrive as fast as possible to get your life back to normal.

Service All Locations

Since these locksmiths are mobile, they can service any location in Chicago. It doesn't matter where you're stranded, a mobile locksmith can help. With the ability to go wherever they are needed, these locksmiths are a bit like superheroes.

Along with these three major benefits, mobile locksmiths come with the right tools and they provide incredible professionalism. They have every tool they need to help you right in the vehicle they are driving. This means they don't have to go back to an office to make a key or to get the right part or tool.

When you call the right mobile locksmith service, you'll get a trained professional ready to handle your issue immediately. These are just a few of the many benefits you gain from a mobile locksmith. With the fast response times, 24/7 availability and ability to service all locations, you'll be back to normal in no time.

Why You Shouldn’t Break Into Your Own Car or Home

You've locked your keys in your car or lost the key to your house. You feel a bit desperate and you just want to get into your car or home. When this happens, call a Chicago locksmith before you try to break into your car or home.

Breaking into your car or home is dangerous. It can cause suspicion, damage and many other issues. Here are some of the main reasons you should never try to break into your own car or home.

Injury

If you try to break into your car, it could lead to serious injury. Maybe you think a broken window isn't that big of a deal to fix and you really want into the car. However, when you break that window, the process backfires and you end up cut badly. Even if you don't decide to break the window, trying to break into your own car could lead to injury.

The same goes for your home. Often, breaking into your own home means you're trying to climb into a window, which can be dangerous. You could fall on something inside or outside or hurt yourself in the process. Or, even if you think it goes smoothly you could later cut yourself on the glass you didn’t see in the creases of your car seat.

Damage your Car or Home

One of the main reasons you should never try to break into your own car or home is the damage you can cause. Often, calling a Chicago locksmith is cheaper than replacing a window or other damage you could cause. You may bend a door the wrong way; break a lock on a home window or something else. If you damage the mechanism that locks the window or door, you could spend much more to fix it instead of just calling a locksmith to help you into your vehicle or home.

Cause Legal Issues

If a police vehicle drives by during your attempted break-in, they won't know you own the home or car. They will likely suspect you are a thief and could arrest you for trying to break into your own car or home. Worst case scenario, they question you and the stress of the situation gets to you. This causes you to fight with the police, which could lead to legal issues.

You Could Make Yourself a Target of Crime

When you're desperate to get into your vehicle or home, you may not notice the person that has been watching you and comes up behind you with a gun. The next thing you know, you've become a victim of a crime because you were too busy trying to break into your car or home. Even worse, the thief could break into your car for you and take off with it.

If you're in an unsafe area or it's late at night, don't risk it. Call a Chicago locksmith instead and let a professional handle the job.

There are many things that could happen if you try to break into your own car or home. Most of them are not good. It's better to trust a professional locksmith and it will cost much less than the damage or injury you could cause trying to do it yourself.

What to Consider When Setting a Security Budget for Your Business

The security of your business is vital in preventing break-ins to protecting the building from fire to protecting your computers. You must take measures to protect your business on all fronts or you could see it all go down in flames faster than you could have ever imagined.

When it's time to set up your security budget for your business, you need to know what the most important factors are. You cannot just protect yourself on one front and avoid another. It's important to have full protection as this is your livelihood and the livelihood of all your employees.

How Big Should Your Security Budget Be?

On average, small businesses will spend about 6% to 7% of their annual budget on security. The number is a bit higher in the financial industry and a bit lower in the education industry. It will vary depending on the industry from 1% to 12%.

When considering your security budget, it's important to focus on prevention first and response second. You want to be proactive and protect your business on all fronts. However, it's also important to have a plan in place to deal with a potential incident.

Prevention and Protection Come First

Protecting your business from break-ins, fire, environmental disasters, employee theft, cyber-attacks and any other possible attack is the first step. If you can prevent an issue from happening, you won't have to deal with the consequences.

Make sure you consider all the possible prevention methods in your budget. You don't want to simply install a security system with cameras and call it a day. Instead, you want a full business security system complete with fire protection, environmental disaster protection (carbon monoxide, leak detectors, etc.) and security cameras. Of course, you also want a system to protect your computers and sensitive data. You may want to install a safe too for the most important documents.

Consider the Entry Points

If a break-in is one of the major concerns, consider beefing up your entry points. Installing locks and other hardware making it much more difficult for a criminal to enter your business will go a very long way. You can also use controlled entry to ensure the only people getting in and out of the business or at least certain areas of the business have to have a code or a swipe card.

Ongoing Expenses

Along with protecting your business from threats, you need to consider the ongoing expenses of security in your budget. Some forms of security will only need to be paid for once, but others require a monthly fee to keep them current. Make sure you consider these expenses in your business security budget.

Response Plan

How will you deal with a break-in or someone attacking your computers? What if a fire happens or environmental disaster strikes your business? Make sure you consider the necessary insurances and protections you will need to carry to protect your business from the worst case scenario.

When setting up your business security budget, there are several things to consider. You have to protect your business on all fronts. Having an expert assess the risks of your business is a good place to start when trying to figure out how much security will cost each year.

Common Times When You Need a Car Locksmith

Calling a car locksmith in Chicago isn't the most pleasant thing to have to do. Usually, it means you're locked out or you're having another type of problem you need to be solved fast. A car locksmith with 24/7 emergency service is best, but when do you need to make this call.

Key Won't Go into the Ignition

If your key simply won't go into the ignition, you won't be able to start your car. This is a big issue, especially considering it will likely happen at the worst time. A car locksmith in Chicago can come out and get you back on the road fast. By replacing your key, if the key is the issue, you'll be able to get your car started and get on your way.

Locked your Keys in Your Car

The sinking feeling of realizing your car is locked and your keys are hanging from the ignition is never a fun feeling. Maybe you have a spare, but it's all the way across town and you don't have time to go get it. This is a very common instance where you need a car locksmith.

A locksmith will get you into your car and help you recover your keys fast. With quick response, you'll be back on the road fast and you won't have to worry about spending hours going across town and back to get your spare key.

Lost Keys

Maybe you were having fun at an amusement park or doing something else and you lost your keys. If this is the case, you need a car locksmith in Chicago to come out and create a new key for you. Key replacement is a very common service provided by good locksmiths and will help you get back on the road fast.

Why You Should Hire a Professional Car Locksmith

Whenever you think you need an auto locksmith, you should hire a professional. If you locked your keys in your car, it may be cheaper to break into it yourself, but you could do damage and cost yourself even more money in the long run. A professional locksmith will have the tools needed to do the job without damaging your vehicle.

Hiring a professional locksmith also means you will have access to multiple services. Maybe you didn't lock your keys in your car, but you cannot get the key into the ignition or there's another issue with the key. A locksmith will be able to assess the situation and provide multiple services to get you back on the road.

This includes dealing with a broken key stuck in the ignition, unlocking a locked car, creating new keys and more.

Fast Service

With the right car locksmith in Chicago, you'll get fast service to get you out of your jam as soon as possible. With access to your locksmith 24/7, it won't matter when you need help, someone will respond quickly.

When you have an issue with your vehicle or your vehicle's key and you think you need a locksmith, you probably do. These are just a few of the common times you should call a car locksmith in Chicago.