By Robert Jones
Image by takomabibelot
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).
By Robert Jones
Image by Svadilfari
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.
By Robert Jones
Image by naz66
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).
By Robert Jones
Image by Jennifurr-Jinx
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.