Welcome to the final post in our “What You Need Vs. What You Got” series. Thanks for reading along. Hopefully you’ve found some practical hints and tricks you can use. Our final topic for this series is alarm systems.
The main purpose of an alarm system is to protect you and your family while you are home. Protecting you “stuff” while you are away from home comes in a distant second place. As I have said before: “Property can be replaced. Lives cannot!”
You should have a professional alarm system that covers all outside windows and doors. The alarm should alert a central dispatcher (either the alarm company or the police department), and have a panic- button.
The alarm should also be set-up so that you can freely move around the inside of your home, with the alarm turned-on. If you cannot have this kind of alarm system (finances, restrictive landlord, etc.) you will have to improvise.
Many stores sell small individual alarms. These little battery powered alarms fit on your door or window and give off a shrill noise if someone sets them-off. Many are designed to be used in motels when you are traveling. They alert you should someone attempt to break in and give you a few moments warning so you can react.
They are most useful when you are sleeping. Some people are such heavy sleepers that the sound of breaking glass will not wake them-up. Some people snore loud enough to drown-out the sound of breaking glass. A “good” portable security alarm is as loud as a smoke detector. (Check the package. The alarm should be 85 decibels or louder).
We’re almost finished with our series on making the most of the gear you have and can afford. We’ve finished discussing doors, so that brings us to windows.
Most windows are either double hung (slide up and down in their frame), or horizontal sliders (slide side to side). Both styles are about equal when it comes to security.
I of course recommend that you install bars over the windows and the 3M plastic film over the glass. I also recommend replacing as many windows as possible with glass block (especially the basement windows).
Now to the alternate solutions. Most brands of windows have very cheap latches that can be pried open with a butter knife. The simple solution to these weak latches is to do what you did for your sliding patio door. Cut a broomstick to length, and put it snugly into the window track.
For your double hung windows, you want to glue a piece of Velcro to the top end of the window track, and to the top edge of the broomstick. The Velcro prevents the broomstick from falling out of the window track should the criminal be able to shake the window in its frame.
Although some brands of windows can be lifted out of their frame for easy cleaning, I have never seen one that does not require the window to be opened part way in order to do this. If you can keep your window closed, you do not have to worry about it being lifted out of its frame. (If any of you do find a window that can be lifted out of its’ track while closed please let me know the make and style so I can warn the other readers of this problem. Thanks).
As with your sliding patio door there is no cheap simple way to keep the criminal from breaking your window glass. You want the criminal to have to break the glass to get in. The sound of breaking glass will give you a few moments of warning so you can react to protect yourself and your family.
Last week we finally finished talking about your FRONT door. We’re not quite done with doors though… There’s one more area we need to cover.
Many people have sliding glass patios doors. Criminals just love these doors.
The locks are so flimsy they can be pried open with a butter knife. The door can also be lifted up and out of its track and simply set to one side. Finally, the criminal can smash the glass with something lying around the yard (wooden lawn chair, flower pot, concrete goose, etc.) and walk right into the house.
My previous entries recommended the 3-M film to make the glass shatter resistant or a folding security gate. If you are not going to do this, then the next best solution is very cheap and easy.
To solve your lock problem, take a broomstick and cut it to length to fit snugly into the floor track of the sliding door. If the door has no place to slide to, it can’t open.
You can also prevent the door from being lifted out of its track. Slide the door open and drill a line of holes in the top track about 1 ½” apart. Put flathead screws into these holes. Adjust each screw in and out of its hole so that it “almost” (but not quite) touches the top of the door. This eliminates the gap at the top of the door and still permits the door to slide open and shut. Should you ever need to lift the patio door out of its track (repair or replacement, etc.) just remove the screws.
That just leaves the option of smashing out the glass. Unfortunately, I know of NO cheap, simple, easy, solution to keep the criminal from smashing-out your glass patio door. However, you DO want to use the broomstick and screw techniques to make sure the criminal DOES smash out your glass door. The reason for this is very simple.
If a criminal smashes out a glass door or window in a house when people are at home, that criminal is a wolf (a predator who wants to do harm to you and your family). The sound of shattering glass should alert you, and give you a few moments to react to protect yourself and your family.
On the other hand, if the criminal can just break the latch or lift the door out of its track. Then, he can enter your home quietly. You may wake-up in your bed with a hand over your mouth and a knife at your throat, completely helpless. You may also wake-up to find that you child was kidnapped from her bed in the middle of the night (as was Polly Klaas).
Remember, if you can’t keep the criminal out of your house, you want as much time as possible to react to him (call for help, get your family into the safe room, pick-up a weapon and prepare to defend yourself).
If you’ve been reading along this series, you probably think we’ve discussed everything we possibly can about your front door. You’re wrong. Today we’re (finally) going to finish talking about it.
The last piece of hardware on your door is the hinges. If the door opens inward, you have nothing to worry about. If the door opens outward, you must find a way of preventing the criminal from removing the hinge pins and lifting the door out of its frame.
You can buy tamper resistant hinges and install them on your door or you can modify the hinges you already have.
There are several ways to modify a door hinge. The method that I prefer is to replace a few screws. First you remove one screw from each hinge (only one side of the hinge, not both sides). Choose a screw closest to the center of each hinge. Take a “headless” screw, about ½ inch longer than the screw you removed, and place it in the empty screw-hole. Leave the last ½ inch of the screw sticking-out of the hinge plate. Place a tiny drop of something easy to see (paint, nail polish, etc.) on the screw head.
Then, gently close the door until the screw head touches the other side of the hinge. The drop of wet paint will leave a spot on the other side of the door hinge. This spot marks where you are to drill a hole about ¾ inches deep. When the door is closed, these screws act like tiny deadbolts. They prevent the door from being removed from its frame after the hinge pins are removed.
Although these screws are small, they work because it is much more difficult to pull a door out of its frame than it is to kick the door in.
Your front door is now as secure as you can make it. Go do the same thing to every outside door of the house, and don’t forget the door to your safe room.
We’ve spent the last few posts talking about updating your home with security that you can actually afford! Today we’re continuing our discussion on doors.
If you have glass windows in your door, you have a problem. All the locks in the world are useless if the criminal can simply break a window, and reach in and unlock your door.
How much of a problem you have, depends on how big the windows are and where they are located. Take an average build adult male. Have them stand against the inside of the door with their fingertips touching the lock, and see where their shoulder touches the door.
If his shoulder touches the glass, you have a serious problem. If he is about six inches short of reaching the glass, you have a problem that most people can live with. If there is 40 inches or more from the lock and the glass, your only problem is if the window is big enough for the criminal to crawl through. When I am talking about windows in doors, I am including the decorative sidelights on either side of the door.
The best method is of course to replace the door. Otherwise, you must replace or protect the glass.
The 3M Company makes a clear plastic security film that goes over regular window glass and will hold the glass together under repeated blows from a baseball bat. You could also replace the glass with heavy-duty Plexiglas or Lexan.
Another alternative is bars or a grill. This can be as plain or as fancy as you wish. I saw one example of a hobbyist who made a Spanish style iron- works grill complete with his family coat of arms, which he mounted on the outside of his door.
Another individual took a much less expensive route. He bought some translucent contact paper from Wal-Mart and covered the inside of the glass with it so no one could see into the house. Then he bolted a couple of metal oven racks to the inside of the door, completely covering the window glass. He hung some curtains on a curtain rod over the door glass, so no one could see the metal grills from the inside of the house.
I do not recommend putting security chains on doors. The idea of these chains is to allow you to open your door a couple of inches to sign for a package or talk to someone, while insuring the individual on the other side of the door can’t push his way into your home.
Great idea!
Unfortunately, I have never seen a door chain designed as well as a dead bolt lock. The average chain is fastened to the door with two or four small screws. One hard kick and the thing breaks. Then you are face to face with a predator who is intent on doing you harm. Instead of protecting you, the chain gave you a false sense of security, which made you vulnerable.
My problem with the door chain is not the chain, but how the chain is mounted to the door and the doorframe. You would think that some bright engineer would design some mounting brackets for the chain that would actually survive a brute force attack. Perhaps a DIY’er out there could come up with something and sell it to a manufacturer. Until that happens, don’t waste the money you would have spent on a door chain.
I do recommend that you install a peephole in your door. They are very inexpensive and let you see who is outside of your door before you open it. You simply drill one hole, at eye level. Slide the peephole assembly in place, and screw on the retaining nut. That’s all there is to it.
We’ve been discussing simple ways improve your home security with gear you can actually afford. Over the last couple posts we reinforced your door and doorframe. Today we’re going to move on to your next project, installing a dead bolt lock on your front door.
At this point you have re-enforced your front door so the average 98 lb weakling can’t kick it in. The next most likely thing for the criminal to do is to get a hammer or a brick and break the doorknob off.
Once the outside doorknob (and its front plate) is broken off of the door the criminal can reach into the lock mechanism and open it. A good deadbolt lock has a flat (or semi-flat) outside plate so it is pretty much immune to a hammer attack. Also, if the 98 lb weakling gets his 300 lb linebacker friend to try kicking in your door the dead bolt offers additional resistance.
If you have a wood door in a wood frame, you must re-enforce the door and doorframe for the dead bolt lock the same way you did for your doorknob lock (be sure to check out the previous posts for more information).
For some strange reason people tend to put their deadbolt lock as close as possible to their doorknob lock. DO NOT DO THIS!
If someone is trying to break down your front door you want your locks as far apart as possible. The idea is to spread out the force of their blows!
The deadbolt should be at least 12 inches from the doorknob lock and even farther if you can do so and still comfortably reach the lock.
You need to use a little common sense here. If you are 6 foot 4 inches tall and your spouse is 5 foot 2 inches tall you have to put the lock where he/she can comfortably reach it. If it is not comfortable for them it won’t get used and it was a waste of your time to install it.
When you buy your dead bolt lock, make sure you get the type that opens from the inside with a knob. NEVER INSTALL A DEAD BOLT LOCK WHICH REQUIRES A KEY TO OPEN THE DOOR FROM THE INSIDE!
People have burned to death in their own homes because they couldn’t find the key to unlock their own front door and escape the fire.
If your door does not have a deadbolt lock, you will have to drill two new holes in the door. The deadbolt lock will come with a template (paper which outlines on the door where the holes should be drilled). Using the template, you mark the spots to be drilled.
The large hole through the door will hold the lock. Use a “Hole saw” which fits in your electric drill like a drill bit. The bolt hole in the side of the door requires a large drill bit. Both can be bought at the same hardware store you bought your locks from and are relatively inexpensive. The lock instructions will tell you the size of the holes you need to drill so you will know the size of drill bits to buy. After the holes are drilled, the installation of the dead bolt lock is the same as for the door knob lock.
It’s time for another installment in our latest series, “What You Need VS What You Got”. We know that you might not be able to afford “Fort Knox” level security. We’re showing you how to make the most out of the gear you’ve got and can afford.
Last week we talked about securing your door. Today we’re moving on to the doorframe.
The doorframe has a tiny piece of metal called a strike plate. It is held in place by two screws. The bolt from the door lock slides into the strike plate in the doorframe. The strike plate prevents the spring-loaded door bolt from wearing away the wood doorframe. The metal bolt hits the wood frame (strike plate) each time you close the door.
The strike plate with its’ two screws and 5/16 inch piece of wood door frame, is the only thing the door bolt has to hold onto to keep the door closed.
To re-enforce the wood doorframe you simply install a longer strike plate. These strike plates come in different sizes, up to about 10 inches long. They have multiple screw holes in a zigzag pattern to help keep the wood frame from splitting.
When the criminal tries to kick-in your front door, the longer strike plate spreads the force of each blow over a wider area, thus reducing his chances of breaking the doorframe. Install the longest strike plate you can find.
Your old strike plate was probably inlet into the wood doorframe. If so, you will have to cut into the door frame a little to install your new strike plate.
Simply hold your new strike plate against the doorframe so the holes for the door bolt line-up. Draw around the strike plate with a pencil or marker (whichever you can see the most clearly). Then, using a wood chisel and a hammer or a Dremel style grinder, remove the wood inside that line until the strike plate fits flush with the doorframe.
You are only removing a layer of wood about 1/32 to 1/16 inch deep (the thickness of the strike plate). Any really serious mistakes can be fixed with a tube of wood filler. Next, you put the strike plate in place, drill the screw holes, and install the screws.
TIP: By trial and error I have learned to line-up the strike plate with the door bolt holes and drill ONE screw hole. This hole is closest to the bolt hole. Then I install the screw in this hole, so it holds the strike plate exactly in place. I close the door and check that everything lines-up correctly. Then starting at the bolt hole and working my way outward I drill the screw holes one at a time and install the screw after each hole is drilled.
This way if I make a mistake it shows up immediately. I simply fill the screw hole with the tube of wood filler, re-align the strike plate, and try again. I find it much less frustrating to repair one screw hole rather than re-doing 8 to 10 holes.
CONGRATUATIONS! You have just completed your first security project. You have just re-enforced your front door and its’ doorframe. And all it cost you was a little patience, a little effort, and a couple of bucks. As I said in one of my previous blog entries. I look at security as a pile of Leggo blocks. You take one block at a time, and build something that suits your needs.
Don’t have a lot of money to buy “The Right Stuff” to give your home “ultimate security”? No problem! This series is about making the most of the gear you have and can actually afford. Today we’re going to move on from locks to the actual door itself.
I have stated (over and over and over) that you need a steel door, with no glass windows, set in a steel frame, with a good quality door lock, and a dead-bolt lock.
Why?
The average front door is wood, between 1 3/8 inch to 1 ¾ inch thick, set in a wood frame. A hole about 3/4″ of an inch in diameter is drilled in the side of the door. This hole lets the bolt from the door lock slide from the door into the door frame.
That means that a tiny piece of wood, about 5/16 of an inch thick is all that is holding your door lock in place and keeping the criminals out of your house. Your average eight year old child can break a 5/16 inch thick stick in two with his bare hands.
There is a very good reason why the number one tool used for breaking and entering, is a size 11 shoe. The wood door frame has the same problem as the wood door. Too little material!
If you can’t replace the wood door, the next best thing to do is to re-enforce the door. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to do.
Your average door lock is held in place by four screws. Two hold the lock in the door. The other two hold the plate on the side of the door (where the door bolt slides out of the door and into the door frame).
At your local hardware store (or Lowes, or Home Depot), you will find metal plates designed specifically to re-enforce wood doors. The plate looks like a large taco shell only square with square edges. For those not into Mexican food, it is the size and shape of a paperback novel. Three sides are open so the plate slides neatly over the side of the door.
There is a large hole, front and back, for the lock mechanism and a small hole in the side for the door bolt. All screw holes are already in place. Installation is straightforward.
Undo four screws.
Slide out your lock and door bolt (two different parts which slide out in two different directions).
Slide the metal re-enforcing plate onto the door.
Re-install your lock.
How difficult is this? It is so simple that anyone with a little patience and a screwdriver can do it. I have done it several times myself. I have talked to other people who said that the hard part was getting the product out of the sealed plastic package!
In this series, we’re talking about how to make the most out of the security gear you have and can actually afford. Last week we talked about the locks on your front door. There is an additional piece of information that we didn’t cover last week. I felt it was important enough to give its own post.
There is a tool available on the internet called a “Bump Key”. The “Bump Key” will open 90% of the locks in use today. This tool sells for as little as $2.00, and can be purchased by ANYONE! Newer, better quality locks are designed so the “Bump Key” will NOT open them. The packaging will tell you if the lock has “Anti-Bump Key” features. Make sure the locks you buy have the Anti-Bump Key features.
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