As a homeowner, keeping your home safe from theft and break-ins is important. Not only is this going to protect your family and your valuable belongings, but you will also see a decrease in your home insurance premiums when you have a security system installed in your home and take other measures to keep your home safe. Whether you are planning to install a new security system for your home or you already have one, you will want to know these four ways that you can ensure it is effective:

1. Replace Your Doors: If you have older exterior doors, you should consider replacing them so you can install stronger deadbolts. When you install a deadbolt that is weaker than the door itself, it becomes easy to manipulate since it can easily crack through the wood that is holding it in place. Solid wood doors are best for ensuring that they are strong enough to resist deadbolt manipulation. Sometimes, when you have a weak door and the deadbolt is not effective, it can trip up the security system since it won't register that the door has been opened. 
2. Place Sensors Properly: When you install the sensors to windows and doors, you want to do it in a way that the sensors are not directly in line with air vents. This is because the breeze that the vents let out when the air or heat in your home is turned on can trigger the sensor, sending off a false alarm. 
3. Get Yearly Check Ups: Once your security system is installed, it's important that you have a professional come out to test the system at least once a year. The professional is going to be sure that there are no problems that can trigger false alarms. They will also be sure that you have proper backup batteries, which is the most common reason people have false alarms.
4. Get Pet-Friendly Sensors: Instead of installing regular sensors, if you have pets or even if you have small animals that lurk outside of your home during all hours of the day and night, you should install pet-friendly sensors. These sensors will not trigger an alarm if they sense anything that weighs under a certain amount. This way, you won't be awoken in a panic in the middle of the night just because a small animal has walked by your home.

When you know these four ways to improve your security system's effectiveness, you can be sure you don't get false alarms and the alarm actually sounds when an actually emergency is taking place. Contact a company, like Schmidt Security Pro-Since 1976, for more help.