A reminder to run through your personal safety plans

[craigr]

When I was in college I worked for a locksmith and installed alarms. All the advice about kicking in doors is true. If you can reinforce the door jamb that helps. The floor mounted brace someone posted looks interesting and simple, plus you can remove it easily in the event of a fire to get out (it's at ground level where you'll be crawling). This is a better idea than double cylinder bolts for instance (key on both sides) that can lock you inside in an emergency if you can't work the key.

Kicked in doors are very common. Some sliding glass doors can be lifted and removed from the outside as well without breaking anything. You can pin them and that helps. Another trick we did was to look at the top track in install a series of drywall screws about 6" apart that hung down about 1/2" or so. The idea is the door could still slide over them when you set them to the right depth, but you can't lift the door out as the screws keep the door from going higher into the frame track. It's simple and works well.

Another solution is to prevent breaking glass. We used to install a security film on lower level windows (http://www.shattergard.com). The stuff was designed to hold glass together in the event of a blast or to prevent smash and grab attacks. The film works by either keeping the glass from breaking, or holding it in place after it breaks so it is still in the frame. It is very tough to get through it and someone looking for an easy entry is going to be really discouraged when they throw a rock at the window and it a) doesn't break or b) breaks but leaves razor sharp glass hanging in the frame that they still need to beat the living heck out of to get in.

That kind of film works best on annealed glass, not tempered. Annealed glass is usually in windows. It is the kind that breaks into razor sharp edges. Unfortunately most sliding glass doors are tempered glass for safety reasons. If you install the film on them it doesn't work as well as the glass will shatter into small pieces and fall out in one lump. However, you can install the film using a special glass adhesive to the frame and it will remain in place. But this is so specialized I'd hire someone to do it.

The basic film can be DIY if you are handy, but you need to be careful about cleaning the windows well because you are basically overlaying a film (think car tint but without the tint) and you don't want to trap dirt under it. If you are not handy, then hire a pro and it will be done right and provide a very strong deterrent.

Here are some security film references:

http://www.shattergard.com/home.html
Demo:

http://www.shattergard.com/demo.html

(do a search on security window film for more)

When we installed alarm/security systems we took these approaches:

1) Don't let the person easily into the house.
2) Make sure they make a lot of noise if they do try to get in.
3) Stall the entry so homeowners can respond if needed.

So in terms of security:

1) Install a high quality lock on the doors that can't be "bumped" open as many locks can. Medeco as Tex said is top notch. There are other brands like Abloy which are also quite secure. Also reinforce the door jamb with either frame enhancements or very deep set metal pocket deadbolt strikes that are screwed into the wood studs and not just the door frame which is common.

2) Install secondary window and sliding glass door locks to prevent easily prying open windows and doors.

3) Install an alarm that features perimeter protection at all major doors. Windows are fine, but usually it is quite expensive to do all the windows unless the house is pre-wired.

4) Install glass break sensors in each ground level floor minimum. When the burglar can't pry the window open, they will try to break it and that will set off the glass breaks.

5) Last defense are some motion detectors in case they get in. But these won't be useful if you have the alarm set when at home.

6) Internal and exterior sirens along with alarm monitoring.

7) Monitored smoke alarms in all major areas which are active 24/7 in case of fire.

Thing is there is a balance between security and convenience. Try to make your security as "passive" as possible so you don't have to worry about it. So security film on all the windows, good locks on doors and windows, etc. are all great passive things. Alarms are fine, but people tend to get lazy and not set them, or if they go too paranoid they are plagued with false alarms.

But also as MachineGhost says, my main line of defense really is to not live in bad areas. It may not always solve problems, but I find that losers tend to congregate in certain places. If you put distance between you and them it helps.

Finally there are some really interesting metrics as well that I found when interning for police departments. In particular, I'd never buy a house near a subway station or bus stop. Burglars are losers and losers can't afford cars in many cases. So when you put your house near public transport you provide a easy conduit for people from bad areas to get to good areas and make a quick anonymous escape with your stuff. In Washington D.C. for instance we'd go to burglaries and find that they'd often take a pillow case from the bed. Why? Because that was the loot bag! They'd take the pillow, shove it full of valuables, stuff it into their backpacks and go back to the subway to get out of dodge.

[Coffee]

When I first moved to Costa Rica (they told me it was the "Switzerland of Latin America") I was surprised to find that everyone lived behind razor wire fences, gates and iron doors.  Every window had bars.  Every door had deadbolts.

I rented a small townhouse in a middle class neighborhood.  I had virtually no furniture, except for a cheap (cheap!) sofa, a mattress that was on the floor (I didn't even have a bed, yet!), a camping chair, a TV and a card table.  I wasn't sure if I was going to stay there, so I didn't want to invest a lot of money in furniture and then have to leave.

When I brought the TV home, it worked for about an hour and then shorted out.  (Probably more a fault of the crap electrical system in CR than the TV).  But anyway-- I took it back to the store for a repair, but still had the empty box sitting in the middle of my empty living room.

I also bought a bad ass Rottweiler named Einstein.  But even as a professional dog-man, Einstein was more hassle than he was worth, so after a week I returned him to the breeder.

Two days later I was upstairs lying on my mattress, doped out of my head on migraine meds.  I had every light in the house on, and Einstein's giant dinosaur bone was still on the welcome mat out front.  (Out front was an enclosed patio behind iron bars and a deadbolted gate door with razor wire up top). 

It was 7 pm and across the street some neighbors were having a childrens party.

In my half-awake stupor, I heard a car pull up, fast.  It sounded like maybe they bumped into the gate out front, or perhaps the neighbor's gate.  I continued my migraine trip on the mattress, figuring I'd check it out in the morning.

Then I hard another, "Bang!" and this time I knew somebody was in my house!!

I hadn't been in-country long enough to get a gun permit, but I did have the forsense to buy a machete.  I grabbed the machete and started to run downstairs.  Then I stopped, realizing that if they saw a crazy gringo running at them with a machete, they'd just shoot me. 

I ran back upstairs and hid behind the door, ready to chop anybody in half with my machete before they could shoot me.

As it turns out, they were cowards and when they first heard me running down the stairs, they turned and ran out.  Or perhaps they saw the empty TV box and ran, I'm not sure.

Neighbors called the police for me but it took them 3 1/2 hours to show up. 

Turns out the crooks pulled up fast in front of the gate door, drilled out the lock and kicked it open.  Then they drilled out the lock of my front door and kicked that one open.

I was kicking myself for getting rid of Old Einstein.

The next day I moved to an upper class neighborhood that had a gated complex with a 24/7 armed guard.  Eventually I moved from the "Switzerland of Latin America" because it was too dangerous.  And I later found out that some crooks paid off the guard and robbed my neighbors at that place, too. 

Hopefully the U.S. won't get as bad as Costa Rica.  The Ticos pretty much won't leave the house unless somebody (like a maid or an uncle) is at the house all the time.

Makes you want to vacation in Costa Rica, doesn't it??

[frugal]

One of the best things of my country - SECURITY

wine is also good 

[MachineGhost]

What's your tip on a walkout basement patio door?  I'm reiterating my prior concern because it's by far my house's most vulnerable entry point.

Won't this work?

http://www.nightlock.com/nightlockpatio.html

[moda0306]

MG,

Sure for opening the door.  I'm still a little nervous about glass break in.

[Coffee]

I've never heard of somebody coming through a sliding glass door.  Has anybody else?
Removing one from the track, yes.  But breaking it and coming through it?  You'd have to be a pretty high-value target to do that, I'd imagine.

Just stick a piece of paper on the glass that says, "Jamie: Radioactive snakes from the lab got loose in the house.  I'm at the neighbors waiting for the Hazmat team."