Our homes are our haven from the broader public – our slices of happiness and peacefulness away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. 

They’re places where we feel safe, so understandably, it’s going to be upsetting and traumatising if your home is broken into or vandalised.

It’s common for homeowners to simply bury their heads in the sand and choose to ignore the problem. However, if it happens to you, you want to be prepared. Read on to learn our top 4 tips for protecting your home against any unfortunate instances of vandalism.

1) Speak with Your Home Insurance Provider

Your first job should be to check your home insurance and speak with your provider to make sure you’re covered for any malicious attempts at destruction of your property. If you aren’t, it could be well worth upgrading your policy to boost your coverage.

2) Put Vandals Off Attacking Your Property

There are a couple of simple tricks you can employ, not to make your property vandalism-proof, but to deter budding vandals from targeting your home in the first place. These include:

• Motion-activated lighting – these are relatively inexpensive, and vandals will be put-off by not being able to conceal their identities at night.
• Cut back any bushes and trees – this will mean any vandals have less coverage, making it easier for them to be spotted by you or your neighbours.
• External video cameras – if you’ve been targeted multiple times, it could be worth investing in an exterior video surveillance camera. Once again, this will make it harder for vandals to conceal their identities.

3) Take Action Quickly

If you’ve been the victim of vandalism, don’t wait around. Have the damage cleaned up as quickly as possible.

Vandals are likely to feed off their work being left on display, so if they can walk past every day and see their graffiti on your wall, they’re going to think you don’t care. This could potentially lead to repeated instances of vandalism.

4) Shatter-Proof Your Home

This might seem a little futuristic, but it’s possible. By installing security film on windows and doors and adding in shatter-resistant lighting, you’ll make vandalism harder.

If you’re targeted frequently by vandals in your area, you can invest in anti-graffiti exterior paint, which will enable you to clean off graffiti with water. This will help you say goodbye to unpleasant graffiti, as well as unwanted clean-up bills from professional painters.

Report any Cases of Vandalism to the Authorities

Cracking down on vandalism is no doubt a high priority for authorities in your area. As a result, if you witness any acts of vandalism – on your property or others – be sure to call the police as soon as possible. Making the police aware of multiple instances will help them to crack down and having police patrols through your neighbourhood is likely the best vandalism deterrent you can get.