Protecting house from break-ins

[lovemachine]

So I installed a dead bolt into my front door this past weekend. Did a pretty good job at it too. I also have an attached 2 car garage. The door to it is in the kitchen. The kitchen door, leading into the garage, is one of those old doors that has the privacy glass. It has the crank handle to open the glass, and theres a screen on the other side. You get a real good breeze thru it with the garage doors open. Anyway, I like the door a lot, so don't want to replace it. I'm going to install a dead bolt there too.

So I'm looking at the garage. There's a back door and a side door. I don't have the money to replace the wooden doors, which I'd like to, because of the large windows in the doors. I plan on putting dead bolts in, but someone just has to break thru the window, and unlock the dead bolt and the door and come right in. So is there anything I can get to where I can cover the glass to protect it from break ins? But make it still look good at least? I don't want to screw in a piece of steel and cover the whole thing up.

Also, in the summer I put in a window a/c because that's where my gym is at too. I'd like to find a way to lock the window in place when I have the a/c in. Don't want anyone to knock the unit out and climb thru the window.

Any ideas?

 

[HandK]

Just cut you a 1x3 strip of wood that is the length of the distance from the top of the bottom window to the top of the window frame make it a smidgen longer than the actual distance and force it in next to the window frame, presto your window is locked with the air conditioner in !!!

 

[MrsGungho]

How about a keyed dead bolt. Take the key out and keep it away from the door.

 

[Mr. Habib]

There are dead bolts that take a key on both sides. Some even come with a key for the inside that looks like a standard dead bolt knob. With one of these even if somebody breaks the window, they can't unlock the door without the key.

 

[EvilleDoug]

Yep the Keyed dead bolt sounds like the plan. You can also put up a couple NRA stickers, they seem to work pretty good.

 

[bigg cheese]

I just use pictures of Chuck Norris

 

[Mike_Indy]

I just use pictures of Chuck Norris

This works... But I'm adding a photo of Liam Neeson from Taken.
If you have not seen it, one of my favorite parts of the movie:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y_Wu36wIEM]YouTube - Best scene from movie TAKEN with Liam neeson.[/ame]

 

[ISHOOTHST'S]

Good Luck!

 

[perminator]

How about a keyed dead bolt. Take the key out and keep it away from the door.

Those double keyed deadbolts are great for security but keep in mind they keep you trapped in incase of a fire especially in the kitchen.

 

[MrsGungho]

Those double keyed deadbolts are great for security but keep in mind they keep you trapped in incase of a fire especially in the kitchen.

We keep ours hung on a nail close to the door. If you don't know it is there, you won't find it.
We have windows in our doors so a keyed dead bolt is the best for us.

 

[DragonGunner]

What if your not home an they break in...?...Have you thought about
alarms...I have some simple ones called a Door Stop Alarm, they sell on
ebay for around 10.00....also if you have a garage or shed away from
the house, not only alarms, but I use a baby monitor...the microphone
is plugged in out at the shed, the reciever is dialed down next to my bed.

 

[glockman23]

I think the keyed deadbolt would be the way to go but remember, if a BG wants your stuff bad enough he will get in your house one way or another. I like the NRA stickers idea also. They look better than the security stickers :P

 

[evansvillethompsongunner]

One very neat trick that a friend gave me the idea for involves those annoying, automated motion-activated floodlights.... one opens the housing of the unit, separates the motion-detecting part from the light part and cut the wires to the light-bulb circuitry and installs the motion detector where one wants it, externally, solders in a length of wire sufficient to lead to an internal area of the house where one spends most of one's time and installs the light portion there and inserts a low-wattage or colored bulb. This will alert you whenever a person (or neighborhood cat) traipses by, but will leave the area unlit to trespassers so as not to give away the fact that you know they're there and to keep them in the dark. Why bother to give them light they could use to better case your place?

And, as my friend suggested to me, one can even use colored bulbs to indicate which sensor goes to which side/area/part of the perimeter of the house to tell them apart (red, north; blue, south; yellow, east; green, west, so on, so forth). The only trick would be having the wife let you install four random light bulbs in some area inside the house. This wouldn't help while you're asleep or if small animals accidentally trigger them, but combined with a decent external home surveillance system and some good self-preparation, it might be useful to you. Not sure. Just something to consider.

Credit goes to my ingenious friend P.G.R.

 

[JDonhardt]

How about that big dog in your av? It barks, yes?

I personally believe that a dog with a "big sounding" bark is the best anti break in defense one can have. If the dog has a big bite, also, all the better.

Of course, I take my dog a lot of places with me, I'm sure the OP does too, so this defense has its limits.

 

[Lex Concord]

I think the keyed deadbolt would be the way to go but remember, if a BG wants your stuff bad enough he will get in your house one way or another. I like the NRA stickers idea also. They look better than the security stickers :P

I don't know, I would think a criminal might read that as "Nobody Home? Free Guns Inside"

 

[caddywhompus]

Lots of good suggestions and I like evansville's idea as well. The NRA sticker would definitely be an advertisement to me though. (if I were into stealin udder peeples stuff) You could always dig a moat and stick your least favorite relative in there as the moat monster.

 

[oldfb]

A simple solution to securing most windows and sliding doors is to drill a hole into the frame of the window where you want them limited at. Say one for lockked and a second for partial open. Just drill 3\4 through the inner and outer frame and insert nail to secure.

Just don't drill all the way through or they can just poke the nail out.

Also a self contained motion alarm that plugs into an outlet is great for garages nd storage units.
When the alarm triggers in an enclosed space it scares the bejesus outta dark crawlers. They make some that look like a bookshelf speaker. Anything over 110db's should shock their senses in a small space. The secret is to neveer tell anyone about it since unplugging them defeats the protection.

Goodluck
C

 

[The Keymaster]

Double cylinder deadbolts are a good idea on all doors in your home. This forces the BG to go out the same way they came in. If you have children you really need to give this a lot of thought from a life safety standpoint. Our kids are gone so it is not as big an issue. I have located a Gun Vault near the doors with the key inside. We also keep all our extra car keys inside, as there was a burglary in our neighborhood last year, and they stole the people's cars to carry away the loot from the house.

As far as the windows in the doors go, you can buy a clear laminate sheeting that adheres to the windows. It is similar to the material that they use to create bullet poof glass. If they try to break the glass the whole piece stays in tact.

Double hing windows are easy...screw the 2 sashes together at the height that holds the A/C unit in place. I use a screw so it comes out easily.

 

[Militarypol21]

Just an idea...

I bought one of these for each of my grandparents windows from Home Depot. They are battery opperated and have a pretty strong adhesive on the back side of them to attacth to the window. The adhesive part is also a security sticker that can be seen from the outside. If someone opens, breaks, or even knocks on the window it sets off a pretty loud alarm that would scary anyone away.

For the record they do seem to work. The area they lived seems to be going to hell with a lot of break-ins and home invasions. Two days after I installed them at about 2 am one of the alarms sounded, my grandpa grabbed his gun and walked to the window and didn't see anyone around. But later that morning when the sun came up there were footprints in the snow walking up to the window in one direction and footprints running from the window in the opposite direction.

Here is what I installed (took no more than 1 minute):
Cost is between $9 - $14/per alarm if I remember right.

These here are also door alarms I installed to go along with their dead bolts. They are also battery operated (3-watch batteries included) that have either a loud alarm or chime depending on what setting you put it at when the door opens. They also have adhesive and does not require any hardware for installation:

Also can be found at Home Depot:

 

[herby31]

my older brother bought a house with glass in the person-sized garage door. since it is on the back of the house away from all the neighbors in the subdivision, he put a piece of steel grating over the glass on the inside of the door and screwed it into the door. it feels pretty secure to me, and it would make quite a bit of noise to dislodge the steel from the outside. even if his 9 pound dog wouldn't deter home invaders, his remington 870 going into battery probly would!