Protecting your Home

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

angie_nrs

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Dec 8, 2017
Messages
7,943
I stumbled across this article (more of a sales pitch) regarding home protection. I agree with some and would add some. Below I listed the 10 things they mention but will add some of my own thoughts on those.
https://www.safewise.com/blog/10-simple-ways-to-secure-your-new-home/
10 ways to secure your home:

1. Secure the Doors - This seems like a no-brainer to me, but I can't tell you how many years we have lived (feeling safe) and have not locked our doors until recently when we saw and were told about some strangers wandering down the road. We now lock up when we leave and when we go to bed. It's a pretty easy thing to do since we always keep our non-main doors locked, so we only need to remember to lock the main door. The locked doors may not keep an intruder out for long, but it will give you a chance to prepare for that intruder to enter. Just the thought of someone being able to sneak in at night and kill me in my sleep is enough of an incentive to lock that door at night. I'm sure most people who have been murdered at night never thought it would happen to them.

2. Lock the windows - Again, an easy thing to do. Any time I close my windows, I lock them so that I don't have to remember to do it all the time. Even when we have an air conditioner in the window, we keep a wooden brace between the top of the window and where the AC sits. Otherwise, someone could just pull the window up from the AC and enter your home. At least with the brace in place, they would have to make a lot of noise and break the window to enter. It also helps to have your bedroom windows non-accessible to someone outdoors such as on a second story. When a family member recently designed his home, I mentioned this to him and now the bedroom windows are high enough off the ground that it makes it very difficult for entry from the outside. Having a roll up ladder close to that window on the inside makes it safe for a quick exit from the room if needed.

3. Light up the Landscape - I just recently bought some solar lights, not for the exterior of my home, but to light up old glory at night. Still, these lights would work well to keep outdoor areas lit. If you had enough of them, it would be hard for someone to extinguish them all. It's just another obstacle for a theif that might convince them to move along.

4. Dont forget the Garage - We almost always keep our garage doors closed so that prying eyes can't take inventory. Thankfully folks can't see much anyways b/c we are far enough from the road. We don't always keep the garage doors locked, so we make a habit of not keeping car keys in the ignition. Typically they are not far away, but a theif doesn't know that. We also keep a couple of fire extinguishers in the garage, especially since our garage is attached to the house. I think a fire would be more apt to start in the garage than the house, so I also keep extinguishers in the house close to the garage and in the kitchen. Having an extinguisher in the bedroom would also be smart. I don't have extinguishers in our cars, but I think I might look into that as it seems like a wonderful idea! Having several extra extinguishers on hand (should looters/rioters arrive) could also save your home from arson.

5. Set up a Security System - Even if you are not a tech savvy person, it seems like it is fairly inexpensive these days to get a decent system. I'm not an expert in this rhelm, but you can get a closed system that does not require the internet. I also have several inexpensive deer cams on the property. We have caught neighbors and their dogs on our property using these cams, so we use them all year round....not just deer season. The batteries last a looooong time so it's just a quick set it and forget it measure that would come in handy if anyone decided to raid our property. We use rechargeable batteries and large capacity SD cards. I like that the batteries, SD cards, and cams are the only initial expense and then no montly fees from then on out. The article also points out that some systems have temperature, smoke, and CO2 detection. Clealy if you don't have a system to monitor those, get individual smoke and CO2 detectors.

6. Lock down your Wifi network - And don't use 'password' as your password. LOL! Again, I'm not a techie, but this is easy to do.

7. Eliminate hiding places - We don't have hiding places close to the house mostly to keep critters from camping out there. Even though we don't have hiding places outdoors, we DO have hiding places indoors. We don't lock up our home security guns, we hide them. That way they are always accessible in time of need and are in the places where we'd most likely need them. There's lots of neat ideas online of clever hiding places for guns. That said, we don't have to worry about children in our home, so it works for us. Also, don't leave boxes of expensive items out at the curb for the garbage man.....unless you want to leave a sign out for theives saying 'rob me.'

8. Add Security Cameras - I'd also add cameras to your vehicles. They are really inexpensive and it gives you an extra layer of proof should you need it in an accident that wasn't your fault. If it was your fault......maybe take that cam off the dash if something bad happens? However, I'm a confident enough driver to want to have that camera there.

9. Get a Safe - Make sure it's not one a theif can't just walk away with. Those safes are only good for papers and such that you don't want exposed to a fire. I've seen on Storage Wars how easy it is to open those small safes. Why bother, unless to protect against fire? A very heavy and large safe will make a theif use up valuable time trying to get to the goods. Also, don't keep all of your valuables in one safe. I think it's more preferable to hide valuables than to keep them in a single locked safe. Several safes in several places will lessen the chance that you'll get totally cleaned out if a theif targets you. If you have more cash than what your insurance company will insure against, you'll be out that cash. Put it in fireproof safes with your name and contact info. on the inside and hide in places that a theif won't look. If you have several of them, keep a list of where you put them with your important paperwork. Typically theifs won't go thru and read your paperwork, so your locations (which you should leave vague) should be secure.

10. Use Home Automation - This one isn't for me. I prefer to have friends and family keep an eye on our place while we're gone.

Some other things that the article didn't mention was dogs. Dogs are a great security feature even if they aren't necessarily 'security' dogs. Just the barking of a dog can scare away intruders. Plus, I have been surprised at how my non-aggressive dogs will step up and protect us if they feel we are being threatened. Even though they are more likely to wag a tail at stangers, they serve as exceptional alert dogs. It would be very hard for anyone to sneak into our home as their hearing is impeccable.

I also believe that 'humorous' gun signs provide a degree of deterrent. Even theives know that folks who post those kinds of signs are typically not really kidding.

It's also interesting that the article neglected to mention GUNS. Duh! We have several guns throughout our home hidden in strategic places where we think they would be needed the most. Clearly guns won't do you much good without a good supply of ammo. Having both in an area where you can access them quickly is a must. Having extra clips/magazines loaded and ready to go is also advisable. I have moon clips with my revolver that can be tricky to load up, especially in a hurry. I always make sure I have at least 10 of those ready to roll.

Even though I'm not in a flood area, I have sandbags stocked. Theses bags are old dog food or deer feed bags so they didn't cost me anything and saved the landfill from more garbage. I keep these bags on hand in case there is some kind of localized flooding we would need to contain such as a pipe breakage or something like that. We also have a pile of sand with many shovels that we could fill them with. They could also serve as a decent gun cover spots in a pinch, although I'm not sure I would trust that completely when not knowing what kind of gun might be shooting at me. I don't know if we will ever need or use them, but it doesn't cost us anything to keep them around, so we do. Plus, they've also come in handy for collecting acorns and apples for the critters too, and reusable to boot.

We also have equipment that can readily take soil from one area of the property and pile it in the driveway in a hurry if we should ever need to block our driveway from entry. With that equipment, we could also unblock the driveway in a quick hurry as well.

I'd love to hear what threats I have not thought of. Please add.......
 
Last edited:
Doors are easy to breach. They open in to the building so a good kick to the lock-set and the door opens. If there are side lights - those windows that accent the door and look so nice... yep, they are easy to break and they give access to the lock and deadbolt.
The best way to secure a door is to place timbers, like 2x6's, anchored to the wall completely across the door. You can use a wedge to block the door but it only stops the bottom of the door from moving and doors are rarely strong enough to keep from breaking in half when forced. Using steel doors can help.
 
We have most of the things on the list. We have minimum of two locks on all doors and windows, and in some cases three, and we always have dogs.

Putting dowels or some kind of brace in the track of windows and sliding glass doors if you have them is helpful. Sliding glass doors are notoriously insecure.
 
Sliding glass doors can be secured better with a drill and a steel pin. Drill a hole the size of your pin through the door frame and into the support behind it. Slide the pin into the hole and the door can't be slid or lifted out. The dowel in the track only keeps it from sliding not being lifted out.
 
In the housing development where I do most of my house and dog sitting, sliding glass doors come with a bar, about half way up, that flips up to allow the door to open. When it is down, the other end rests in a bracket and the doors cannot be moved. One time, I went out on the patio and decided to close the door from the outside to keep the dogs out. The bar flipped down and I wasn't going to get back in that way. Good thing I could go out a gate on the patio and using a code for the garage, come back in through the

garage.
Charley bar.JPG
 
We started locking doors and windows awhile back. Mostly because we want to know if someone came and went. When we get home and let the Rottie in she searches the house. It is a fun thing we do. Unless of course she was already in there.
 
1. Secure the Doors - This seems like a no-brainer to me, but I can't tell you how many years we have lived (feeling safe) and have not locked our doors until recently when we saw and were told about some strangers wandering down the road. We now lock up when we leave and when we go to bed. It's a pretty easy thing to do since we always keep our non-main doors locked, so we only need to remember to lock the main door. The locked doors may not keep an intruder out for long, but it will give you a chance to prepare for that intruder to enter. Just the thought of someone being able to sneak in at night and kill me in my sleep is enough of an incentive to lock that door at night. I'm sure most people who have been murdered at night never thought it would happen to them.
My doors are rarely unlocked. It is a habit to lock my doors when I come in or go out. If I am in the yard, it depends. If I know I am going to be in the back, I take my keys and lock up. If I am going to be out front, I leave the door unlocked, but closed.
Not only covering whether you are going to have an invader at night or not, there was a home in my area where a couple went to bed, upstairs in their home. When they got up and came downstairs in the morning, their phones, purse and wallets, and key fobs were all gone. They left them downstairs, probably so they would have a better rest. The discussion after that was that these things should go with us to our bedroom at night for more than one reason. You know it is less likely to be stolen. I've known of more than one person whose purse was stolen in the middle of the night. The other is if you have a key fob with an alarm setting, you can set that off and that can be effective to draw attention to a problem where someone needs help, even if it is the middle of the night.
 
Last edited:
I stumbled across this article (more of a sales pitch) regarding home protection. I agree with some and would add some. Below I listed the 10 things they mention but will add some of my own thoughts on those.
https://www.safewise.com/blog/10-simple-ways-to-secure-your-new-home/
10 ways to secure your home:

1. Secure the Doors - This seems like a no-brainer to me, but I can't tell you how many years we have lived (feeling safe) and have not locked our doors until recently when we saw and were told about some strangers wandering down the road. We now lock up when we leave and when we go to bed. It's a pretty easy thing to do since we always keep our non-main doors locked, so we only need to remember to lock the main door. The locked doors may not keep an intruder out for long, but it will give you a chance to prepare for that intruder to enter. Just the thought of someone being able to sneak in at night and kill me in my sleep is enough of an incentive to lock that door at night. I'm sure most people who have been murdered at night never thought it would happen to them.

2. Lock the windows - Again, an easy thing to do. Any time I close my windows, I lock them so that I don't have to remember to do it all the time. Even when we have an air conditioner in the window, we keep a wooden brace between the top of the window and where the AC sits. Otherwise, someone could just pull the window up from the AC and enter your home. At least with the brace in place, they would have to make a lot of noise and break the window to enter. It also helps to have your bedroom windows non-accessible to someone outdoors such as on a second story. When a family member recently designed his home, I mentioned this to him and now the bedroom windows are high enough off the ground that it makes it very difficult for entry from the outside. Having a roll up ladder close to that window on the inside makes it safe for a quick exit from the room if needed.

3. Light up the Landscape - I just recently bought some solar lights, not for the exterior of my home, but to light up old glory at night. Still, these lights would work well to keep outdoor areas lit. If you had enough of them, it would be hard for someone to extinguish them all. It's just another obstacle for a theif that might convince them to move along.

4. Dont forget the Garage - We almost always keep our garage doors closed so that prying eyes can't take inventory. Thankfully folks can't see much anyways b/c we are far enough from the road. We don't always keep the garage doors locked, so we make a habit of not keeping car keys in the ignition. Typically they are not far away, but a theif doesn't know that. We also keep a couple of fire extinguishers in the garage, especially since our garage is attached to the house. I think a fire would be more apt to start in the garage than the house, so I also keep extinguishers in the house close to the garage and in the kitchen. Having an extinguisher in the bedroom would also be smart. I don't have extinguishers in our cars, but I think I might look into that as it seems like a wonderful idea! Having several extra extinguishers on hand (should looters/rioters arrive) could also save your home from arson.

5. Set up a Security System - Even if you are not a tech savvy person, it seems like it is fairly inexpensive these days to get a decent system. I'm not an expert in this rhelm, but you can get a closed system that does not require the internet. I also have several inexpensive deer cams on the property. We have caught neighbors and their dogs on our property using these cams, so we use them all year round....not just deer season. The batteries last a looooong time so it's just a quick set it and forget it measure that would come in handy if anyone decided to raid our property. We use rechargeable batteries and large capacity SD cards. I like that the batteries, SD cards, and cams are the only initial expense and then no montly fees from then on out. The article also points out that some systems have temperature, smoke, and CO2 detection. Clealy if you don't have a system to monitor those, get individual smoke and CO2 detectors.

6. Lock down your Wifi network - And don't use 'password' as your password. LOL! Again, I'm not a techie, but this is easy to do.

7. Eliminate hiding places - We don't have hiding places close to the house mostly to keep critters from camping out there. Even though we don't have hiding places outdoors, we DO have hiding places indoors. We don't lock up our home security guns, we hide them. That way they are always accessible in time of need and are in the places where we'd most likely need them. There's lots of neat ideas online of clever hiding places for guns. That said, we don't have to worry about children in our home, so it works for us. Also, don't leave boxes of expensive items out at the curb for the garbage man.....unless you want to leave a sign out for theives saying 'rob me.'

8. Add Security Cameras - I'd also add cameras to your vehicles. They are really inexpensive and it gives you an extra layer of proof should you need it in an accident that wasn't your fault. If it was your fault......maybe take that cam off the dash if something bad happens? However, I'm a confident enough driver to want to have that camera there.

9. Get a Safe - Make sure it's not one a theif can't just walk away with. Those safes are only good for papers and such that you don't want exposed to a fire. I've seen on Storage Wars how easy it is to open those small safes. Why bother, unless to protect against fire? A very heavy and large safe will make a theif use up valuable time trying to get to the goods. Also, don't keep all of your valuables in one safe. I think it's more preferable to hide valuables than to keep them in a single locked safe. Several safes in several places will lessen the chance that you'll get totally cleaned out if a theif targets you. If you have more cash than what your insurance company will insure against, you'll be out that cash. Put it in fireproof safes with your name and contact info. on the inside and hide in places that a theif won't look. If you have several of them, keep a list of where you put them with your important paperwork. Typically theifs won't go thru and read your paperwork, so your locations (which you should leave vague) should be secure.

10. Use Home Automation - This one isn't for me. I prefer to have friends and family keep an eye on our place while we're gone.

Some other things that the article didn't mention was dogs. Dogs are a great security feature even if they aren't necessarily 'security' dogs. Just the barking of a dog can scare away intruders. Plus, I have been surprised at how my non-aggressive dogs will step up and protect us if they feel we are being threatened. Even though they are more likely to wag a tail at stangers, they serve as exceptional alert dogs. It would be very hard for anyone to sneak into our home as their hearing is impeccable.

I also believe that 'humorous' gun signs provide a degree of deterrent. Even theives know that folks who post those kinds of signs are typically not really kidding.

It's also interesting that the article neglected to mention GUNS. Duh! We have several guns throughout our home hidden in strategic places where we think they would be needed the most. Clearly guns won't do you much good without a good supply of ammo. Having both in an area where you can access them quickly is a must. Having extra clips/magazines loaded and ready to go is also advisable. I have moon clips with my revolver that can be tricky to load up, especially in a hurry. I always make sure I have at least 10 of those ready to roll.

Even though I'm not in a flood area, I have sandbags stocked. Theses bags are old dog food or deer feed bags so they didn't cost me anything and saved the landfill from more garbage. I keep these bags on hand in case there is some kind of localized flooding we would need to contain such as a pipe breakage or something like that. We also have a pile of sand with many shovels that we could fill them with. They could also serve as a decent gun cover spots in a pinch, although I'm not sure I would trust that completely when not knowing what kind of gun might be shooting at me. I don't know if we will ever need or use them, but it doesn't cost us anything to keep them around, so we do. Plus, they've also come in handy for collecting acorns and apples for the critters too, and reusable to boot.

We also have equipment that can readily take soil from one area of the property and pile it in the driveway in a hurry if we should ever need to block our driveway from entry. With that equipment, we could also unblock the driveway in a quick hurry as well.

I'd love to hear what threats I have not thought of. Please add.......

My shotgun is loaded with slugs and I'm told that sometimes if an intruder hears that RACK-RACK they will wet their pants and leave.
 
Maybe it's cuz I grew up in a not great neighborhood but I ALWAYS lock my door, even if we're sitting in the living room. It is only unlocked if I'm out in the front yard actively working, if I'm in the back, only the back door is unlocked. Any window that is not open is locked. The moment I get in my car, I lock the doors and as soon as I get out, I lock them.

We had a rash of car break-ins around here a couple years ago, we found out that some people leave their purses/wallets in their cars overnight. Sometimes with the car unlocked. I just cannot understand that mentality, if I park somewhere for the day, any valuables are hidden. And when I park for the night, all valuables go in the house with me. It would never occur to me to not do that. :confused:
 
My neighbor was out back taking care of his goats when someone went in his house and took a lot of stuff.
It's his fault because he allows known felons to stay with him.
His exSIL wears an ankle monitor and he lives there when he's not in jail.

Sounds like someone was watching for the right moment. And yep, the situation screens, "Rob me!"
 
I might add, we also have several pistols in the house and we know what to do with them. We all agree...if they're in the yard, call the police, but if they're in the house judicious marksmanship is appropriate.
 
These "tags" are about $30 each so probably not what most thieves will be using unless of course they steal them too - which is possible but I'm imagining they are under lock and key at stores.
 
bed time locked , other than that i can't remember the last time i locked my doors , the keys to my jeep are in it all the time
 
We still have a manhunt here for a convict who murdered someone with a pickaxe. He escaped the TDCJ bus outside of town 2 -3 weeks ago. The TDCJ COs are still driving around on 12 hour shifts and are up and down all the county roads. Also stopping and doing well checks. Had 3 come down my road a mile from my driveway on Sunday morning on my way to church. Was hopeful they had a valid tip. I now take my keys out of truck and lock it at night. I have a 22 pistol in truck. I am sleeping with my 9mm these days as husband staying at his camphouse on other side of county. We live in a double wide. little security other than dogs barking but they do that anyway. 1 mile from anyone else. I put stuff in front of doors to make noise if opened. took a picture of my license plate for reference.
 
Back
Top