When it comes to advice you might read about protecting your home, sometimes the little details aren't taken into account.
And as far as learning the best ways to keep criminals out and your family safe go, you're going to want those smaller details to be accounted for.
After all, if you're reading a bunch of advice that only covers what to do if you live in a one-story house, you're missing half of the information you need if you happen to live in a home with more than one floor.
And sometimes, so much of the focus in home security tips and tricks apply just to that first floor, so people make mistakes that can cost them big in protecting things up on the second one.
However, for all of the times that there is not the proper amount of information about what to do to better protect your two-story home, here are the solutions that will make all the difference in feeling safe and secure.
The first thing to remember is that all of the advice for protecting your home that doesn't cover that second story is still valid: you just are going to need to do a bit more as well.
Always making sure that you lock the front door of your home, that you don't leave every single light turned off when you leave the house, and that you securely shut the garage door are all important pieces of advice.
So don't feel as though you have to neglect these home security tips just to take care of that second floor.
But at the same time, there are a couple of additional steps that any homeowner or renter needs to be sure to take when there is a second story of a house to protect.
This might be the floor where you and your family members are sleeping, and it might be the floor where you are keeping your most valuable items, too.
For all homes with two floors, you should be sure first that you have the right sort of devices to help you in the event of any sort of non-burglar related danger.
For instance, if there is a house fire, be sure that you have some sort of ladder in each of the bedrooms that can quickly be unfolded.
After all, in the rush to make sure that you are not the victim of a robbery, sometimes other important elements of home security are not addressed.
Don't let this be one of them.
Another simple and important part of home safety and upstairs is remembering that all of the rules that apply downstairs apply upstairs as well.
If you are remembering to shut and lock all of the downstairs windows but leave something ajar upstairs, it is not going to be any more difficult for a burglar to break into your home without incident.
Likewise, when planning your lighting, whether with a timer or on your own, remember that you shouldn't neglect the top half of the house to make it appear realistic that people are home and bustling about.
A lot of homeowners with two-story houses unfortunately only have a home alarm system control panel on that first floor, and this leads to forgetting to set alarms before bed.
Get a second control panel installed upstairs.
It makes remembering to set your alarm easier, and if your alarm does more than just alert you as to when someone is breaking in, it can also mean the difference between hearing a crucial smoke or carbon monoxide detector--or not.