What Is The Best Place To Install A Home Security Camera?

While the number of home burglaries has been on the decline since 2020, it's still better to be safe than sorry when it comes to protecting your home. From adding and maximizing outdoor lights to improve home security to choosing the best home security system for your home, there are plenty of ways to make sure your home and property are marked safe from burglars and intruders. Among these common safeguards is installing home security cameras. Like any addition to homes, especially those regarding the safety and well-being of its occupants, security cameras require proper research when you add them to your home. Even after purchasing your security cameras, the decision on where to place them can be another feat worth researching.

So where is the best place to install a home security camera? You'll need to determine whether you want your camera to be placed outside or inside your home. For exterior placement, it's important to cover points of entry to your property. For interior coverage, high-traffic areas and spots that are hard to move about in without being detected are good candidates for security camera placement. If you can't decide on one, you can always buy multiple cameras to be installed both inside and outside of your home for increased coverage.

The most common placement for a home security camera is right at your front door. Installing a camera to record activity in the front of your house is ideal since it is a heavily trafficked area. The front door of your home is a place where people walk past, packages and mail are dropped off, and most occupants and guests enter. Because of this, placing a camera at the front door of your home is a perfect place to monitor and protect your property. Instead of the traditional home security camera, many homeowners are choosing to install a doorbell camera at their front door to keep an eye on anything happening in the high-traffic spot. Doorbell cameras come with the added bonus of being able to communicate with the people who ring it, even when you're not home. 

It's also important to place exterior cameras at back and side doors. While they're not typically used as main points of entry to your home, these hidden entrances can be seen as potential break-in spots to intruders. Installing a camera at or in an area that monitors these alternate entrances can help deter potential trespassers since they will be unable to sneak or break in undetected. Likewise, a camera placed on or near your garage can have the same effect since garages can potentially provide easy access to your home, especially if it's attached to the house. For these hidden spots, installing a camera with a wide lens and wide coverage is ideal to keep an eye on and deter suspicious activity.  

Just as it's important to monitor the exterior areas of your home, it's equally important to keep an eye on things going on inside of it. On the chance that intruders can bypass exterior cameras and security measures, installing cameras inside of your home can add an extra layer of protection and ease your mind. For the best benefit and coverage, install cameras in high-traffic, common areas like a living room or kitchen. Interior cameras can also be placed around or in rooms where there are a lot of windows, which can also be seen as entry points for interlopers. Interior cameras not only provide an additional way of monitoring your home, but they can also be used to keep an eye on pets or children when you're not home or in the same room.

Another prime spot to install an interior home security camera is in a hallway or stairwell. Adding cameras to these walkthrough areas can prevent potential intruders from running around undetected, even if they manage to break in sneakily through a window or secondary entrance. Cameras in the halls or stairwells provide sufficient coverage while maintaining a level of privacy inside of your home. The devices can record anything that happens outside or near a room without being inside of it. Wherever you decide to install a security camera, always be mindful of maintaining your own privacy as well as the privacy of your neighbors.