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Five Letters Re: Home Invasion Robbery Countermeasures--Your Mindset and Architecture
Dear Jim,
Just one caution amid all the excellent advice on hardening a house against
intruders--be sure it's possible to get out from the inside easily in event
of a fire or other disaster. Shutters, or latchable
bars are better for this than those mounted solidly into the structure. Alternately,
consider paying for ballistic glass. - Michael
Z. Williamson
Mr. Rawles,
Thanks for your time and efforts - SurvivalBlog has been a great help to me
and I am planning to mail a 10
Cent Challenge contribution to support your
work.
In the meantime, I thought I would comment on a recent series of postings about "Home
Invasion Robbery Countermeasures" with some of the changes I've recently
made.
The home we recently purchased was a brick ranch, but it had a number of architectural
weaknesses: Double-hung windows with standard weak latches, doors with weak strike
plates, no deadbolts, a flimsy garage door,and two sliding-glass doors. Although
we are in a rural, peaceful location, I have taken several measures to increase
the home security that may be helpful to others.
The flimsy garage door has been replaced by a windowless insulated door with
internal and exterior steel panels.
Each of the exterior doors have had a security storm door with laminated glass
and a 3-point latching system installed (Larson brand from Lowe's). The storm
doors allow opening the entry door and being able to view the surroundings before
unlocking and opening the security door.
I've purchased "Strikemaster II" door strike's to install on the exterior
doors along with good locks and deadbolts so that even if the security storm
doors are breached the steel entry doors are reinforced. I'm also adding a "Strikemaster
II" and deadbolt for the door leading from the garage to the house.
To reinforce the windows, I've had them laminated with an 8mil security laminate
film and an attachment glazing system to anchor the laminated glass to the
window frame. I've also purchased window pins to install so that the window
cannot be
forced even if the sash lock were somehow broken. The sliding glass doors are
also laminated and security bars are being installed. An added bonus is that
the laminated windows have a solar tint to cut summer heat gain by 40% and
with the insulated garage door and the storm doors I anticipate
much lower energy costs.
I am also planning to install a wireless Dakota driveway alarm and gate as
you have recommended. My other plan to increase security is to begin keeping
guinea
hens since they offer a number of benefits to a rural home or retreat - they
are fantastic guards that sound the alarm whenever anything is amiss, they
feed themselves on bugs, ticks, etc. which is great for organic farming, and
they
supply both meat and eggs.
Hopefully some of the ideas I am implementing will be of help to others.
I also recommend getting used heating oil tanks (often available for free
or nominal
cost on Craigslist) and using them to stock up on fuel. Clean the tank, install
a battery operated fuel pump, and buy a supply of fuel while it is cheap
before war breaks out and the price of oil soars again. Thanks again for
all of your help, and Happy New Year. - SteelerFan
Dear. Editor:
In all the talk about using high tech electronic gadgets to protect
against home invasion robberies I am surprised no one has yet mentioned the
tried and
true dog. My choices are Akitas and Great Pyrenees, but just about any medium
to large sized dog will do. Attack and protection training is nice if one
can afford it and is willing to accept the responsibility of such a trained
dog,
but from personal experience, I haven't had a dog yet that would not unhesitatingly
lay it's life down to protect it's family and home.
Do I expect my dogs to stop a home invasion by several armed and determined
thugs? No, I don't. But I do expect them to buy me the necessary seconds
to grab my weapon so that I may. And thank you for a great site, - James
G.
Mr. Rawles,
Many years ago when I worked in security we use to install security window
laminates to the inside of high-risk structures. This laminate bonds to the
glass and works much like the laminated windshield in a car. It is virtually
invisible once installed but can repel ferocious attacks. We used the products
on retail stores and high-end homes that didn't want security bars or shutters
due to aesthetic reasons.
The other nice part of these products are they are always protecting you. You
don't need to shut them like window shutters and they aren't ugly like bars.
They are also very deceptive to intruders who think the window will be an easy
entry point only to find that they can't get through it with a baseball bat
and crowbar. It also provides minor ballistic protection and protection against
blast by limiting glass shrapnel.
There are sites that can install it professionally or do-it-yourself (DIY).
Here are some:
http://www.diywindowsecurity.com/
http://www.shattergard.com/home.html
http://www.armorcoatfilms.com/
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/WF/3MWindowFilms/
Here is a demo
of a DIY window film installation.
Here is another demo of a different
product under more severe conditions.
These products work well on annealed glass (typical glass that breaks into
sharp shards when broken). For use on tempered glass (which is usually a
sliding glass door, as required by most building codes), you will need to
do a special
install to anchor the film to the frame with a specialized caulking.
These products work very well as an alternative to more conventional window
protection. - Craig R.
Dear Mr. Rawles,
It is easy to become an avid reader of your site.
One simple means to beef up home security is simply to reverse entry door opening.
Like commercial code doors, mine open "out" so any attempt to force "in" my
doors has one working against the entire door jamb structure. I prefer steel
1 3/4" thick
doors with any [small] window design at the top, if at all.
I live upstairs in my shop. The access to my apartment is up a stairs and through
a outward opening door as mentioned. Before one intruder gets that far, I am
aware through an old but simple means of alarm. Being that a fine fishing line
trip line is strung each evening across the downstairs floors that is attached
to electric switches. Intruders will trip one or another once inside the building
and I will know by my apartment alarm where they are there long before they
know I am waiting with the pump. - Jon C.
JWR Replies: That does have its merits, but I've always believed
that it is important to have at least one door to a house open inward,
especially in snow country. Someday it might be more than just embarrassing
to get trapped in
your own home.
