What do you do for home security?

[W2R]

I'd vote for adding alligators to the moat, then manning the turrets would not be needed.

Excellent! Alligators or piranhas would be a great addition to this security system. Another possible improvement would be remote control operation of the drawbridge, so that it could be left raised when one is out of the house.

What if we don't have enough water for a moat? Maybe I could dig a moat around the house and put in motion detectors and a mine field.

That would work, for those who are determined not to live in southeast Louisiana (where we all have webbed feet). Actually, that might be a good idea in any case for the area immediately outside the moat.

 

[Brat]

Securing a single family dwelling in a community with seasonal occupancy can be a challenge. Our home on Bainbridge Island had monitored security with alarms but we did have one break in on a door we had forgotten to secure. There was a delay in the horn because when it was set up the programmer's intent was to give the resident an opportunity to disarm the system. As a result the intruder was inside when the alarm went off and hid until the police and neighbors left thinking it was a false alarm. When he left, empty handed to blend in with neighborhood walkers, he set off the alarm system again.

When we returned we talked to the alarm company who could identify when doors the perp entered and exited and we found the foot prints. After telling our local police what happened they erased 'false alarm' from their books (we get fined for too many false alarms).

I don't think a monitored alarm system is a high priority but a parameter and motion alarm system that IS SET can be. The other thing is to make the house look occupied. Have lights that go on and off as if they were being used by an occupant with some variation in the timing. We didn't have them but lights that turn on by motion sensor can startle & discourage an intruder might be a good idea however if they are set off by the wind moving bushes - not good.

Like others we have moved to a building staffed 24/7. Our attack dog has a first and last name, we complain about her because she is a PITA but we have no problems with security.

 

[Moemg]

The only way into my house is either to use the elevator which only we can access or walk up two long flights of stairs and then drag their loot down two flights of stairs . That combined with motion detectors and noisy neighbors takes care of it .

 

[freebird5825]

Our approach to keeping the house looked occupied for short and long term absences...
- 2 of 3 cars in the driveway with constantly changed positions, keep auto doors locked (at least I do) in the driveway,
- several indoor lamps on timers all year, often changing the time of day sequence,
- 2 barking dogs in the garage (day absences),
- golf putter right next to bed in master bedroom,
- inside locks on gates on 6 foot wood stockade style fence,
- 2 outdoor dusk-to-dawn lights,
- plowing service and a friend who will pull in and leave fresh tire tracks and footsteps in the winter while away,
- mowing the lawn the day before leaving,
- stopping mail delivery, no newspaper delivery service ever, do not order anything online for delivery while away,
- notifying state troopers and security system company for longer absences.

Full security/fire sensors and alarm system, which is only as good as the skill or lack thereof of any potential burgular or arsonist. Panic buttons on 2 control panels for 911 auto-call, located somewhere inside the house.
No alarm system stickers on exterior of house. SURPRISE!

 

[rescueme]

I think we are missing a bet by not thinking outside the box.

A moat works nicely, and if thugs get across the drawbridge when it is down then try shooting at them with crossbows from the turrets.

Château de Chambord? (we have been there - a beautiful ediface in the Lorie Valley)...

 

[FIREd]

Looks too small for Chambord. I think it is Chenonceau.

 

[rescueme]

Looks too small for Chambord. I think it is Chenonceau.

We have also been to Chenonceau. What gave it away was the "black turrents" on the original picture (which has since been deleted)...

 

[W2R]

It's Chenanceau, my favorite of the Loire valley castles. But any photo of a castle with a moat will do as a starting point....

Deleted original photo? Don't know what you mean - - I just checked at the site where I obtained it, and it is still there just as it is still there as the original and only photo in my post. Perhaps you have a computer problem.

 

[MichaelB]

A word about loud alarms. If you are not there to turn them off and they are battery powered, they can stay on for quite a long time, and that does tend to bother the neighbors. That has happened to us 3 times. Once it was our apartment (company installed alarm system) and we were traveling. The alarm blared for over 12 hours and the entire building (12 floors, 25 units) was really pi$$ed at us. Happened twice with neighbors in S Florida when they were away traveling. A few minutes is easy. An entire day is enough to make someone want to break in the house and steal the alarm. And there is nothing the police can do.

I think the moat with 'gators is a better idea. It probably gets a bit damp, but that's just an opportunity to enjoy a fireplace - which is much more romantic anyway.

 

[calmloki]

Something that we learned after getting word of our break-in is that our next-door neighbor down south had died in the last couple weeks - guess she'd been fighting cancer, which fact she hadn't shared with us during the 6 months we were there. She had been in her house about 15 years and she had a very active German Shepherd that I'd been bribing with single cat food morsels - had gotten VERY tired of the dog barking at me every time I went around our house. I understand that her house had had an estate sale and had signs and an overflowing garbage container. Makes me think that we may have been hit by thieves attracted to the neighbor's detritus. Scavenger attack. I didn't care for the dog barking at me , but it probably kept thieves at bay while it was there.

Looks like alarm company signage is worthwhile, and I like Brat's motion sensor light idea - we have outdoor CFL lights on all night, but I've rigged motion sensor lights in our closet and garage up here for convenience - I could sure rig some down there as burglar scares - OOOO! maybe rig a flashing red light to come on when motion is detected. Don't think any audible alarm - if it goes off I don't want the good neighbors torching our house to shut the damn alarm down if we aren't there.

Heh. just read MichaelB's story above..

 

[Dimsumkid]

Calmloki,
I setup a portable radio to turn on at night at my 2nd home that I was remodeling for sale. Had it loud enough to hear if you were outside the house. You could also setup a small tv in a bedroom on timer, people seem to assume you're home when they see the flickering of the tv when you're outside the home.

 

[Brat]

Consider giving a trusted neighbor a key to your house and instructions on how to turn the alarm system off and then re-arm it. We had a house in our old neighborhood with a problem alarm and neighbors cornered him for keys and instructions. Problem solved.

The other solution to the problem is that his teenagers grew up and moved away from home. I think at least one alarm issue was the kids trying to sneak back into their bedrooms after hours or when intoxicated.

 

[wmackey]

Honestly, it's just stuff. If someone wants it that bad, I'm not going to try to stop them. On the other hand, if they come at the wife or kids, they'll be staring down the business end of a short barrel 12 gauge, and thanks to uncle Sam, I know how to use it.

 

[calmloki]

Friends do have keys and have checked in on the place now and again - hate to burden them unduly. Maybe an alarm sign outside the fence and a few strobes like this inside the house with a motion sensor outside in the courtyard:
DJ Disco Party Police Mini Strobe Light w/ 5 color lens | eBay

Idea is that if someone hopped the fence the inside of the house would start flashing for 5 minutes or so. Might prevent broken glass. If a bird set off the lights, well, it would be weird and if I were checking the place out over time I'd give it a pass, not wanting to see what happened after smashing the glass.

 

[unclemick]

No guns, knives, alarms, deadbolts here, just my combo motion alarm / defense systems :

The little one thinks he is the toughest - at least at my house. Post Katrina I hardly lock my house - let alone own any 'stuff'' I can't afford to have stolen. Do lock my income tax records in a heavy FireKing file.

Pre Katrina - 'in the Louisiana swamp' big dog and a 12 guage pump. Usually someone was always home.

heh heh heh -

 

[GregLee]

Our neighborhood is quite safe, and it's a good thing, because our house is insecure. We have a dog that barks (but doesn't bite), but other than that, it's wide open. To get in through one of our windows would just require a slight push on the screen. We don't lock our doors, except the back one, which has a broken lock, anyway. That idea of using stickers to lie about the security firms protecting us sounds good, to me -- just about my speed.

 

[LOL!]

For home security we do practically nothing except not have anything of value in the house. We often leave the house unlocked because we don't know if the kids or spouse left the house without keys.

In 17 years, the only incident is that someone looked inside our car in the garage and left the car door open. This caused the battery to go dead, but a jump start fixed that. The reason I know it was someone and not me accidently leaving the door open is that the glove compartment was open and a few days later the neighbor mentioned calling the cops for someone in their garage. The cops did catch a person a couple days after that doing the same thing, so I suspect it was the same person in our garage.

Our dog would not even bother to get up from his nap if a stranger came into the house whether we were home or not. If he did get up, he would not bark, but would show the perp where the dog food was in an attempt to get a handout. That is, CyclingInvestor's photo would match the before, during, and after burglary time points.

 

[harley]

Calmloki,
I setup a portable radio to turn on at night at my 2nd home that I was remodeling for sale. Had it loud enough to hear if you were outside the house. You could also setup a small tv in a bedroom on timer, people seem to assume you're home when they see the flickering of the tv when you're outside the home.

Most TVs these days don't come on automatically if the electricity goes off, as in when they are on a timer. It takes an older TV with an actual on/off switch to do that. If the TV is on all the time, burglers will pick up on that when they case the place. I did see a device that simulates the flicker of a TV, but I don't remember where and doubt it is worth much.

We've got the monitored security system with motion detectors for when we're away. Double keyed deadbolts, outdoor lighting, yappy dogs. I stop the mail when we're away. I also have a number of inside lights on timers. They go on and off the same time every night, whether we're there or not. I think that should make it harder for a burgler to detect a different pattern. I don't know if that's a valid theory, but it makes sense to me.

We've only had one break in in our neighborhood, and it was a seldom used second home and the crook was the lawn guy (and his girlfriend) who knew the place was vulnerable. They broke the side glass, turned the single side deadbolt knob, pulled a truck into the garage, painted the windows black so no one would see lights, and emptied the place over a period of 6 nights. Took everything down to the refigerator and beds. Then, when no one had noticed the break in after a week or so, the lawn guy told the neighbor he thought he'd noticed a broken window. If he hadn't done that the robbery still might not be detected. I think that's what made him the prime suspect too.

 

[freebird5825]

...I also have a number of inside lights on timers. They go on and off the same time every night, whether we're there or not. I think that should make it harder for a burgler to detect a different pattern. I don't know if that's a valid theory, but it makes sense to me.

This type of timer is great for simulating people at home, moving between rooms, turning the lights on and off at intervals.
Amazon.com: Intermatic TN311C 120 Volt Heavy Duty Grounded Timer: Home Improvement

Consider the effect of 1 timer attached to a lamp in 1 room, and another timer in another room attached to another lamp, each with completely different and multiple ON/OFF time settings.
A third timer could be set for dusk to 10 PM in the main living room.
Using time offset lighting settings assumes that there are blinds turned at a steep angle or solid curtains to block a peek in at ground level.

Turning off your land line ringer volume while away is another method to disguise an empty house.

 

[Lsbcal]

I looked up "dog barking alarm" but didn't find any with really good reviews.

A few months ago I installed a front porch light switch that automatically tracks sunset times and knows about daylight savings. It also has a small replaceable battery backup. Easy to install and has worked like a charm so far. Available from Amazon.

Also those solar cell pathway lights together with a porch light make the place look a bit more occupied -- am counting on criminals to be not too observant.

P.S. Amusing story on your neighbor's break in Harley and good out come too.

 

[akck]

When I was going to graduate school, we lived about a block off a drug trafficking main drag. We had a German Shepherd who "trained" the neighborhood to cross the street before reaching the hose and then cross back once past. She would sit on the deck and when someone was coming up the hill, she'd run down to the fence corner, hidden by bushes. When the person got to the corner, she'd rear up barking, all a game to her. The result was, we were never broken into while our neighbors were burglarized 2-3 times each while we lived there.

 

[brewer12345]

We used to live in a cul de sac where people's heads turned to follow strange cars coming in and the mayor's relations, a couple cops, and several gun nuts lived. Now we live on a slightly busier street with a public trail backing the yard (albeit on the other side of a 6 foot fence with no gate). I don't think we have significantly increased risk, especially with my crack security guard (a 50 pound bear-hunting dog who sounds like he is 100 pounds when he barks, seen below on mobile patrol). DW is home a lot and since we are now in a state where I can feasibly acquire such things, we have a taser and will be adding a firearm or two soon.

We do have a specific weakness that I need to correct: really crappy doors/locks/frames. What do I need to get (besides new doors and locks) to make it tough to just open one of the doors with a kick? There is the front door and a flimsy back door in a pretty private backyard where I imagine someone could get in without anyone noticing.

 

[Sue J]

In 2003 some neighborhood teenage pre-felons kicked in the door to the back of the garage and broke a kitchen window but did not enter the house. We were home, cars in the garage, lights on, etc. It made a lot of noise, loud enough for a neighbor to come outside, see people running and notice what they were wearing and where they were going. The police picked them up within 20 minutes.

We lock all the doors and windows when we leave and before going to bed. No alarm system or firearms, but I'm another one who sleeps with a golf club behind the bedroom chair.

At the juvenile hearing for one of them I told him (and his parents) that he was incredibly stupid, we could have grabbed a kitchen knife or the crowbar in the garage and confronted them. Maybe his next victim will have a gun.

 

[aldo]

We installed exterior rolling shutters (aka hurricane shutters) on all ground-level windows. They insulate as well during winter and offer protection during storms.

Also, a friend likes his "fake TV burglar deterrent" http://www.amazon.com/opto-electronic-design-inc-ftv-10-us-deterrent/dp/B001G3RGKM

 

[Lisa99]

We do a few things, but none extraordinary.

When we're home:
1. All exterior doors stay locked at all times (including the garage door and sliding patio door to the backyard).
2. No soliciting sign - I will only open the door for UPS, FedEx, etc. If you look like you're selling something, so sorry, door isn't answered (soliciting is a no-no in our gated community so we don't get many of those).
3. TRUMAN - our 110 lb Newfoundland/Akita cross looks like a small black bear and barks like he means it. Our front door is leaded glass so you can see his outline through the door.

When we're away:
We're in a gated community and many of our neighbors are retired and stay home all day, so not much happens that they don't know about. We watch each other's houses but beyond that we don't have have anything specific (like alarms). We've had alarms before and they were more trouble than they were worth....it's just stuff and it's insured so we'll deal with it if there is ever a break-in. And heaven help them if the break-in happens on Truman's watch!