How Do I Secure My House While I Am Away for the Winter?

Lock the house up as if someone still lives there. Before you go, find out exactly who has a key and rekey if you are not sure, make sure every outside door has a deadbolt that throws all the way into a solid strike, give whoever checks on the house a code instead of a copy of your key, bring in any hidden spare, and set things up so the house looks lived in. The doors come first, because a door is the easiest way into an empty house.

This is the time of year Metro Detroit snowbirds start leaving for Florida and Arizona, and Thanksgiving travel follows on November 26. The clocks go back on Sunday, November 1, so an empty house will sit dark from late afternoon. Break-ins have not stopped either: on October 14, Hoodline reported that Dearborn police used a drone to track a man who had entered one home and tried to get into a second near McMillan and Oak on October 7. He was charged with first-degree home invasion and possession of burglary tools.

Start With Who Has a Key

Make a list of everyone who could have a key to your house: a contractor from last summer, a former cleaner or dog walker, a relative who moved away, or the people who owned the house before you. If you cannot account for every copy, rekey before you leave. Rekeying changes the pins inside the locks you already have, so the old keys stop working and you keep your hardware. Our post on whether to rekey or change your locks explains when each one makes sense.

Ask for one key that works every outside door, including the side door and the door from the garage. Fewer keys means fewer copies to keep track of while you are gone.

Make Every Outside Door Hard to Force

• A deadbolt on every outside door. A spring latch in the knob can be slipped. A deadbolt with a full-length bolt cannot.
• A strike plate screwed into the frame, not just the trim. Most kicked-in doors fail at the frame. Long screws through the strike plate into the wall framing behind it make a big difference.
• A bolt that goes all the way out. Turn the deadbolt with the door shut. If you have to push or lift the door to make it turn, the bolt may not be fully thrown. Doors shift in the cold, and our guide to a deadbolt that is hard to lock in the cold covers the fix.
• The garage service door and the door into the house. These are often the weakest doors on the property and the ones people forget. Lock both, even if the overhead door is locked.
• Sliding patio doors. Put a bar or a cut dowel in the track and add a secondary lock. The latch on a slider is not much on its own.
• Do not count on a storm door. A storm door keeps the weather out. It is not a lock.

Give the House Checker a Code, Not a Key

Someone should look in on the house every week or so, both for break-ins and for frozen pipes. A keypad deadbolt or smart lock makes this easier: give that person their own code, see when it is used if your lock keeps a log, and delete the code when you get home. Nobody has to make a copy of your key, and nothing has to be handed back.

Put fresh batteries in before you leave, because cold drains them and nobody will be there to hear the low-battery beep. Make sure the person checking on the house also knows where a physical key is. If the lock depends on Wi-Fi for alerts, leave the router on. Our post on whether smart locks work when the power goes out covers what still works if the power drops while you are away. We do smart lock installation across Metro Detroit if you want one fitted before you go.

Bring In the Hidden Key

A key under the mat, above the door frame or in a fake rock is the first place anyone looks, and a house that sits empty for months gives them all the time they need to look. Bring it inside. If someone needs a key while you are gone, leave it with a neighbor you trust. If you use a lockbox, mount it out of sight and change the combination when you get home.

Make the House Look Lived In

• Lights on timers, inside and out. Set them for the evening, now that it gets dark early, and vary the rooms if your timers allow it.
• Mail and packages. Hold or forward your mail through the post office, and stop deliveries you will not be home for. A full mailbox and a stack of boxes on the porch tell everyone the house is empty.
• Snow. Arrange for someone to shovel the walk and the drive. A driveway with no tracks after a snowfall says the same thing a full mailbox does.
• Social media. Post the trip photos after you get home, not while you are away.
• Your local police department. Some departments will add your address to a vacation watch list while you are gone. Call the non-emergency line for your city and ask.

When You Get Home

Before you go in, walk around and look at each door. Fresh scratches around a lock, a bent strike plate or a door that is unlocked when it should not be are reasons to step back and call the police before going inside. If someone did get in, or a key went missing while you were gone, rekey before your first night back.

When to Call a Locksmith

Call us before you leave if you need the locks rekeyed, a deadbolt added to a door that only has a knob, a stronger strike plate fitted, or a keypad lock installed for the person checking on the house. We are a residential locksmith working across Detroit, Dearborn, Royal Oak, Troy, Warren and Southfield. Book a visit before your departure date so the work is done while you are still home to test every key and code.