Living in a manufactured home has many great benefits. Yet, like any home, we need to take the steps to secure our home and its belongings. When most people think of security systems they think of a fairly expensive system with monitoring but you don’t have to go through a lot of money to secure your home. Mobile home security can be affordable and easy.
Related: Smart Home Security Options for Your Mobile Home.
The typical house burglar is a male teen in your neighborhood—not a professional. 60 seconds is the most burglars are willing to spend breaking into your home and an average of 8 to 12 minutes is all burglars spend in your home. Hindering them any way you can is your best bet. There’s plenty of affordable steps you can take to protect your home. Here’s just a few:
Dead bolts
As the name implies, deadbolts reinforce your doors. The harder you make it for a burglar to get the better off you’ll be.
Door and Window Jammers
Door and window jammers are much like deadbolts, they prohibit the window or door from opening.
Fake Home Security System
You can purchase the fake cameras for less than $10.00 and you can buy the signs for half that. If you make it look like your home is monitored, the burglars will pass right by and go to a target that doesn’t look protected. Homes without security systems are about 3 times more likely to be broken into so make it look like you have one.
Get an Affordable Safe
Making use of a home safe for a mobile or manufactured home is a smart investment. For a small cost, you have complete protection from burglary, fire, and flooding. They don’t have to be huge but the larger they are the more you can put in there!
Make It Look Like You’re Home
It’s a simple technique that works. Use timers on your lights, have a neighbor park their car in your driveway and if you are going out of town, have a friend pick up your mail and newspapers.
Neighborhood Watches Work
If you live in a mobile home community this should be your first move. Get as many neighbors as you can to join a neighborhood watch. The more eyes, the better for the whole community.
These suggestions will get you started. Of course, you can pay for a high-security system but if you use several different lower cost security techniques, your wallet won’t suffer as much.
I want to wire my trailer with cameras. How do you suggest I run the wires? The “attic” is inaccessible and I really don’t want the wires visibility running all over the place. Thanks!
Hi Ben,
In this case you probably will have to use the trim on the floor. That’s what I had to do in our 1978 single wide for the internet cable. They make a few shapes of trim that will work depending on the wiring thickness. Let me know what you end up doing.
We have double mobile house in Tennesee. We currently live in Dallas, Texas. Recently someone came and stole few items such as air conditioner compressor and few others. We don’t feel comfortable being away from our house. I bwas wondering what kind of house security is for mobile homes?
Hi Susan,
Sorry to hear about that. Any system available for site-built homes can be used in a mobile home. I use a system of cameras along with sensors that make a loud noise if windows or doors are opened. They are very affordable (around $3 a piece) but they are not networked to any security system. Cable companies like Time Warner and Suddenlink are offering security for around $30 a month – it may be worth checking into. Home insurance usually offers a discount when you have one of those systems.
Hope you can eventually feel safe leaving your home. It took me a while to get comfortable after we were robbed.