Ways To Make A Home Secure?

[RobertNashville]

BryanP-That is what has always made me wonder about those bars on people's houses in rough parts of town when they have fires. Stuff can always be replaced, but your life can't. I wouldn't want to be a prisoner in my own house and not be able to bail out when I need to bail like in a fire or someone needs to help me if I'm sick or hurt. I'd be afraid even with a combination that takes time. Sometimes it's good to be able to 'break in' your own house if you have to!

If you can afford to feed and keep well managed German Shepherd, those make nice dogs and cut down on prowler problems. The burglar will have to kill the dog to mess with you. Most burglars would rather find another house than take on that sort of dog. There are other good dog breeds that prowlers don't like to tangle with. I think a good protective (not crazy mean) dog makes a great companion for a single lady living alone or anyone.

Insurance, safe places to keep things like a gun safe and safety deposit box at bank, gun, alarm, well lit, cut down shrubs, to me that is about the best you can do.

It's been a number of years ago but I once lived in a house with bars on the windows...they are actually quite attractive and the did make me feel more secure in the house (the fact that the house was all brick and had been standing since 1865 didn't hurt my feelings of security either!).

In the case of a fire the primary exits would either be the front door, the back door or, if one was in a bedroom, a bedroom window...those bars were actually hinged and could be released (and only be released) from a mechanism on the inside...you pushed in this rod and the bars would open much like a door. In other words, you can have bars on the windows and still have adequate fire escape routes.

[RobertNashville]

I appreciate all the responses to this thread! I think on my short list of things I can do fairly easily and with relatively low costs is...

1. I'm going to replace all my deadbolt door locks with those that require a key to enter or exit (I don't have multiple family/children to worry about). Of course I'll be replacing the doorknob locks too so they are all keyed alike.

2. Add reinforced strike plates to the front and rear doors - I'm going to look into the glass film that has been mentioned as well.

Moving forward, I'm going to add at least three IP cameras, one to cover the front of the house/front door and one to cover the back and one to cover the majority of the interior.

Beyond that I have ideas but I suspect they'll be fairly expensive to implement so I'll move forward on those fairly slowly.

[Guest DavTN]

I may be late to reply, but I bought a yard sign and 5 pack of ADT security stickers on eBay for cheap, that plus and NRA sticker on the door and an empty box of ammo on the front porch should take care of any problems.

Happy New Year!

[7dogguy]

Robert:___________

Been thinkin about the same thing. I have been looking at good hard wired nite vison capable surveillence cameras for the two entrance doors; but i havent figured out how to make them alarm and notify me when someone is at the door. A possible solution might be motion detectors with the cameras.

Leroy

Couldn't you simply wire in a chime to the motion sensor of a motion action light? But like the light, you would want it not to go off if a dog, raccoon, etc, is wandering around I'd think. One possible easy and inexpensive solution.

[Guest Guy N. Cognito]

My front door and door from the garage into the house are both steel but I worry about the frame and what I should do the strengthen it. My back door is another matter; it's steel but also has a large glass area and someone could break the glass and then easily unlock the door. My "storm doors" on both the front and back are also "glass doors"; they do open outward but getting by them would again be a simple matter of breaking the glass. Of course, making any entry at any of the doors or windows would instantly set off the alarm system but it wouldn't stop them from gaining entry.

As you can tell, my "doors" are my primary concern at this point but I"m unsure of what the best course of action is to make them more secure as well as how much of a headache/cost it's going to be!

Google "Larsen Secure Elegance". It's basically a security door that looks like a regular glass storm door. I'm sure they could be defeated by a BG, but they would at least slow him down a bit.

[Guest Jamie]

This is much more of a general “home defense†question than a “self defense†(i.e. gun related) question so if this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it.

In thinking about making a home “secureâ€, especially from the “home invasion†sort of burglary while the homeowner is home, I’m curious about what some of you have done or are considering doing to make your home safer against such things. In particular, one issue, raised in another thread is reinforcing the obvious points of entry (doors) against being kicked in/forced open.

If anyone has any thoughts on things to do; especially say on a scale from simple/inexpensive that doesn’t take much “mechanical ability†to complex/expensive and/or that require significant installation/construction I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.

I suspect that there are a lot of even simple things we can all do but may not have thought of.

For my own home, my guns (except the ones I have out for immediate use) are always locked in a good gun safe…I have a dog that, while not dangerous certainly sounds dangerous from behind a door…I also have a pretty good alarm system using a land line with a cell phone back-up (all windows and doors are individually alarmed and all open areas including back hall and garage have motion sensors). I also have back yard and front yard exterior lights that are on timers and one or more sets of lights are on during all hours of darkness…many inside lights are also on timers to give the appearance of occupancy for when I’m not home. In short, I’ve think I’ve done most of the “easier†stuff but I’m now looking for things I could do but haven’t thought of and/or what I should do “nextâ€.

Personally, I go with Dogs and Guns... And we have lizards who's tank lights are on timers, as well.

Other than that, plain old deadbolts and other locks are the extent of it, but if things got bad I suppose I could break out the window bars, barbed wire, search lights, etc.

But then you end up living in some sort of prison, or at very best, fortress. Not that that's a bad thing, but it could have the neighbors talking, depending on where you live.

[DaveTN]

Lot of good ideas in this thread.

I have a Doberman Pincher and a loaded gun within reach almost anywhere in my house.

My Doberman is not there to engage bad guys; he is there to let me know that there is a possibility someone needs to be shot.

I don’t get too carried away; I refuse to live in fear.

[RobertNashville]

I appreciate all the replies...I know there are more things I can do even without spending all that much money. I don't want to turn my home into a prison but I do want to do things to deter bad guys as much as possible and, if that doesn't work, to make it as difficult and time consuming as possible for them to get in and steel anything.

[Gun Smith]

but it could have the neighbors talking, depending on where you live.

You reminded me, good neighbors go a long, long way in making up a complete security system. Where I lived previously we had an elderly couple across the street. Between the two of them being up and down at all hours we had round the clock security eyes. They knew and saw everything. Sweet old couple. Very easy to like. We kept an eye on each other.

Now, where I'm at we are kinda out of town, our neighbors work round the clock, coming and going at different hours. We also look out for each other. Neither of us have set hours.

[ftncityfatboy]

most intruders dislike noise. So, as for storm doors, they have tempered glass. Tempered glass when broken explodes like a shotgun hit it and makes noise. Door glass should either be tempered or laminate. Either will make noise when broken. Window glass - noise. Kicking in the door makes a rather loud noise with the wood busting, etc - again noise. Try as you may, there is always someway to get in. I used to work on windows and you would not believe how many people didn't lock the 2nd floor windows. The key to a successful robbery is to get in quickly, quitely, and to leave in the same manner. I have not experienced this first hand of course, I'm just saying......

[RobertNashville]

A girl I used to date lived in a very nice, small apartment complex almost in the middle of a 1M population city...she took a lot of precautions against break-in and was pretty proficient with a firearm; especially since working in our corporate financed department, late evenings during some days of the month were almost inevitable.

Anyway...the apartment next door to here was being completely renovated and, as often seems to be the case during construction, the door was left unlocked...robbers simple opened the door and cut through the wall into her apartment...no noise (and no one was around to hear anyway).

Moral of the story is that you can do all you can reasonably do but sometimes the bad guys will get in anyway!

[Guest 73challenger]

Cameras are excessive. The cameras you can see from your phone require internet and networks which are easy to attack and get into. A good robber could sit in front of you house in a car and within a minute or two, get into your wireless camera network, they now have eyes on your property from the comfort of their own home and can pinpoint when you will be home and not be home. Closed systems are an option, but then you can only see those when you are home, which is pointless.

I disagree with this.I think camera's are a great addition to home security. The likelihood that a robber has the skills to break into your network is pretty slim. Wireless is very secure if WEP encryption is not used. Also, gaining access from the internet would be fairly difficult behind a router. IF they are bold enough to rob you they will not put that much effort into seeing your cameras. A VPN even could be used if one was really paranoid to gain access to the cameras.

[RobertNashville]

I disagree with this.I think camera's are a great addition to home security. The likelihood that a robber has the skills to break into your network is pretty slim. Wireless is very secure if WEP encryption is not used. Also, gaining access from the internet would be fairly difficult behind a router. IF they are bold enough to rob you they will not put that much effort into seeing your cameras. A VPN even could be used if one was really paranoid to gain access to the cameras.

I agree...despite the TV shows and movies that portray otherwise, a secured wireless network is simply not that easy to hack, especially for your average thug/robber on the street...plus, for cameras they would have to know the specific IP address of each one (at least I believe that would be the case...if I'm wrong on that someone please correct me!).

[Guest 73challenger]

I agree...despite the TV shows and movies that portray otherwise, a secured wireless network is simply not that easy to hack, especially for your average thug/robber on the street...plus, for cameras they would have to know the specific IP address of each one (at least I believe that would be the case...if I'm wrong on that someone please correct me!).

Umm there are a lot of variables there. THey would be pretty easy to find because there tools that can ping/scan a ip range. I.E. 192.168.1.1-255. WEP encryption is about as easy as on the movies though.

[RobertNashville]

Umm there are a lot of variables there. THey would be pretty easy to find because there tools that can ping/scan a ip range. I.E. 192.168.1.1-255. WEP encryption is about as easy as on the movies though.

Why would you use an outdated encryption like WEP? There are better levels of encryption than WEP which are much more difficult to hack. In any case, any cameras I mount will likely be weatherproof IR mounted outside (Front door, front yard, back door, ect) so even if someone were to hack one or more of my cameras they aren't going to see anything they can't already see when parked in front of my house.

I can be a bit paranoid but I'm not that paranoid...I just don't think most criminals are sophisticated enough to be that sort of a threat (and if they are they could probably make better money in a real job!).

[Guest 73challenger]

I wasn't very clear. I meant that WEP is as easy to crack as it movies show.

[RobertNashville]

I wasn't very clear. I meant that WEP is as easy to crack as it movies show.

Not according to Kim Komando and wile you may or may not be as knowledgeable as her you'll never be that good looking so all things considered, I'll trust her advice

[Guest 73challenger]

I think one of us is confused. I agree with you that wireless is secure. I was just suggesting people go away from using WEP encryption for their wireless thats all. I actually have two IP cameras at my home that are accessible through wifi. I mainly use them to see if anyone is in the driveway.

[TGO David]

Not according to Kim Komando and wile you may or may not be as knowledgeable as her you'll never be that good looking so all things considered, I'll trust her advice

Wow, you pretty much refuse to believe anyone who has more experience on something than you do no matter what the subject.

At least you're consistent.

[Guest kirkosaurus]

Not according to Kim Komando and wile you may or may not be as knowledgeable as her you'll never be that good looking so all things considered, I'll trust her advice

Actually Kim Komando says WEP sucks:

Secure your wireless network - USATODAY.com

And she's really not that good looking, all though she certainly thinks she is.

[Dolomite_supafly]

To secure your windows plant some "painful" plants in front of them. This would deter anyone who might want to use a window for access. Holly bushes and cactus are a few low maintenance but take a few years to get big enough to deter.

I am looking at cameras as well. The best way is to use IP cameras with POE (Power Over Ethernet). They use the network cable to power the camera as well as send the signal. It would require the use of a POE capable router but those are the same price as a standard router. You can make custom length cables or use off the shelf cabling and the generally accepted max is roughly 100 yards for a POE setup. The ethernet camears tend to have a better picture and all you need is some software to run them. The images can be stored directly on a computer without the need for a converter like lome of the analog cameras. Most software allow you to remote view and control your cameras over the internet as well. The expensive part is the POE cameras which run $75 and up depending on options. POE routers can be had for $100.

The best security system in the world is a dog. You don't need to arm or disarm it. You don't need to go find the hidden intruder as the dog will do it for you. Most criminals are going to pass on a house if they think they have to tangle with a dog, even a small dog.

Dolomite

[RobertNashville]

Wow, you pretty much refuse to believe anyone who has more experience on something than you do no matter what the subject.

At least you're consistent.

Actually, ...I hold a Master's in IT so I do know one or two things about this stuff (at least I did yesterday) and besides, David, I WAS MAKING A JOKE!

Edited January 5, 2011 by RobertNashville

[partypilot1]

I recommend the typical defensive alarm system with signs, stickers and sirens. reinforce the the door with plating around the bolts, larger strike-plate and two inch screws for the hinges also include an additional locking point to spread out the force imposed on the non-hinged side.

If you feel the need to have a "offensive" system I would include a few cheap curtain-side airbags from ebay in the wall in key locations at the six foot mark, separate arm/trigger, of-course. Run a 120vac out to the wood shed with "hot" on the lock and a "common" to the wire mesh floor mat (works every time). I would include large sign on the shed stating the high voltage defensive lock.

If you do setup the "offensive" system, I would retain the services of some good attorneys!!

[RobertNashville]

I think one of us is confused. I agree with you that wireless is secure. I was just suggesting people go away from using WEP encryption for their wireless thats all. I actually have two IP cameras at my home that are accessible through wifi. I mainly use them to see if anyone is in the driveway.

I see...said the blind man.

[RobertNashville]

I recommend the typical defensive alarm system with signs, stickers and sirens. reinforce the the door with plating around the bolts, larger strike-plate and two inch screws for the hinges also include an additional locking point to spread out the force imposed on the non-hinged side.

If you feel the need to have a "offensive" system I would include a few cheap curtain-side airbags from ebay in the wall in key locations at the six foot mark, separate arm/trigger, of-course. Run a 120vac out to the wood shed with "hot" on the lock and a "common" to the wire mesh floor mat (works every time). I would include large sign on the shed stating the high voltage defensive lock.

If you do setup the "offensive" system, I would retain the services of some good attorneys!!

Yeah...I don't think "offensive" systems would be very smart.

I think my weakest point is going to be my doors (mostly thinking about "home invasion" type entries here)...making that type of entry much more difficult is high on my "to do" list this year...I think I've got most other things covered about as well as is practical.