5 Safety Tips to Protect Your Home This Holiday Season
The holiday season gives the feeling of joy and is oftentimes spent with close family or friends. Even though the season is usually festive, things can unfortunately turn sour fairly quickly. Thieves and criminals are usually watching homes that get a lot of packages and are even willing to break into homes and steal if they think you are buying a lot of expensive gifts.
Disasters such as broken pipes or an electrical fire are also scenarios that do not go away during the holiday season. As a result, make sure to take the time to be careful and take all available safeguards to protect your home against loss and damage or get yourself into trouble.
Here are five different safety tips to protect your home this holiday season.
1) Be careful about gifts you are buying and shipping.
Many people leave expensive gifts in their living room, presenting an inviting target for criminals who break through a door or window to steal. Many police forces have a hard time tracking down these types of criminals due to a lack of other witnesses and evidence. Make sure to keep any pricey gifts hidden in your house and away from windows until they are gifted.
2) Take care of your Christmas tree.
Many fires start inside homes during the holiday season because of a dry Christmas tree that catches fire. Be sure to water your tree everyday and purchase one that is still fresh. Trees that have dry needles, look brittle, and have wrinkled bark should not be purchased. Once your tree is inside your home, keep any electrical items and fire away from the area it is in.
3) Take the time to purchase high quality Christmas lights.
Older lights usually take up more power and are a major fire risk, especially if they have frays and breaks in the cord. The best Christmas lights are ones that emit low heat and have the proper certifications. Before putting up lights, study the cords closely to see if there are any broken sockets and be sure to turn everything off once you leave the home.
4) Protect your pipes once the weather gets really cold.
Colder nights can cause pipes inside of your house to break, which can be a repair that totals in the thousands of dollars. You can take steps to prevent this risk. Drain any water from your sprinkler lines before it freezes and remove any outside hoses so you can shut off the inside valves. If you have a basement or garage, spend the money to get pipes in these types of areas properly insulated with sleeves or heat tape. Just make sure any insulation is properly certified to work for the particular pipe.
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5) Keep watch over food in the kitchen.
Cooking fires and mishaps often lead to a large amount of the fires seen on Thanksgiving, and the same story continues on Christmas if people are not careful. Never leave anything cooking unattended and keep kids away from the kitchen if you are working. Smoke alarms should be in good working order at this point in the year as well.
Do you have a question about how to protect your home this holiday season? Click here to contact Partners Direct Insurance Services today!
Courtesy of Cuselleration
