home exterior door security

[rjacobs]

Been trying to think through exterior door security on the new house my wife and I are building.

I have 3 doors I am thinking through: front, rear patio, garage. The garage isnt REALLY an exterior door, but the garage will have a window in it.

I was thinking I wanted to swap the dead bolts out to Abloy Protec2's... but I am running into an aesthetic problem in that we are doing 100% matte black fixturing throughout the house and the Abloy stuff isnt available in matte black. Not sure how to solve that as IMO paint is a shit way to do that on something like a deadbolt and will get worn way to quickly. Not sure if you can disassemble an Abloy lock and get all the bits powder coated. My other thought on deadbolts is Schlage Encode wifi electronic deadbolts, but I dont think it gets me anything really except a lighter wallet. The house comes with some flavor of Schlage dead bolts, which from what I can read are actually pretty well regarded.

These upgraded dead bolts would be paired with a setup like the door devil kits, but their current kit doesnt look great compared to their original kit. I think I have seen a few other kits online, but not sure what is good and what isnt.

Most of this is for the front door which is an 8' solid wood with glass window in it with a wrought iron overlay, which IMO really adds no security since the screws are external and could be removed in like 30 seconds.

My other thought for the front door is to skip all the security bull shit for it and get a Larson security storm door(my wife wants a storm door). Has laminated glass, triple frame lock, and reinforced frame. But part of me thinks that with this, all a thief would do is go to a window near the front door and bust it in... or one of the other windows around the house...

The rear patio door is out swinging glass door. Im not REAL sure how much I want to spend on this door as any thief is likely to just break the glass vs. removing the hinge pins. I will likely do security hinges though as they are cheap.

As far as the garage door to the house, I am getting it drilled for a dead bolt and will likely install a "door devil" type kit into it and be done with it. Its a steel door for fire code, so only really worried about the wood frame giving way, so I will reinforce that.


So as you can see I have "thoughts" on beefing up security, but then I have other "thoughts" thats its all a waste anyway since there are so many other access points at ground level. I have a plan for cameras already so thats covered. Will have an alarm with motion. Im not doing window frame sensors as I feel nobody pries windows, they just break them. And doing glass break sensors on every window was stupid money. Im doing extra motion detectors to get extra coverage as I feel thats a better way(and I may be completely wrong in my thought process on that).

 

[hankpac]

Just a couple of random thoughts pointed at your question.
Motion detectors in all rooms not occupied during "sleep" mode are a fine method, unless you have indoor animals. A bigger insect or anole (we have them in Texas) can set them off. A kid looking for a glass of juice in the middle of the night, is a potential false alarm problem too.
Break-ins are of two types (at least): 1. burglary seeking to steal something while you are gone, and 2. Forcible entry while you are home (either by stealth or not).
Almost any modern lock and alarm system is adequate, for the weak points (windows and doors) but the doors require some hardening, to prevent kick-ins (which are described with some frequency in police blotters and the NRA Armed Citizen pages. A brace or cross-bar helps immensely. The windows being obvious weak points, need to be fully exposed to the street to avoid stealthy break -ins under cover of things such as foliage, or other view blockers. Cam coverage here is a good second layer.
The garage door is a weak spot, too, a dead bolt, at each side, with an actual lock improves things vastly. I secure that way when on vacation.
Choice of neighborhood is important, as is a healthy neighborhood watch (formal or informal), with people reporting suspicious vehicles or door knockers or porch pirates, rapidly (door to Door activity is pretty slow around here, but the city requires them to wear a neck tag, with a permit showing, so any without are reported to the PD immediately. This can be faked, too, but we only speak to strangers via a door cam).
Good luck with your fortifying.

 

[rjacobs]

To be honest, we dont set the alarm when we are home... but if we did we would bypass the motion which also sets the doors to instant. We need to be more vigilant about that honestly.

When we are gone our dog is locked in his cage in a room with no motion access, so not a problem there of wandering dogs. No kids, as of yet.

As far as the kick ins, like I pointed out, I have thought through that, but with 2 of my 3 doors being glass, im just not sure how far I want to go with reinforcing for a threat that I dont know exists on an almost full glass door vs. just breaking the glass and being done with it.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

Add glass break detectors.

 

[oneshot86]

Where ever in the house that your wife hangs alot, bedroom, den, whatever, hardline it w an exterior door, that in an a emergency, she could take safe haven.
Put the same energy that you are using for security, also in fire prevention.
Like, not putting cheap furniture in your house that would burn down an otherwise fire safe home.
Keep up the good work.

 

[rjacobs]

Add glass break detectors.

Ive got ~15 double hung windows on the 1st floor plus 3 single pain I would need to cover(so like 33 pieces of glass). Glass break sensors are $130 a piece installed by the low volt contractor...fuck that.. I "think" I can do them after the fact for $50 a piece... They are RF and I am getting the upgraded RF keypad for the smoke detectors I optioned in although it will only do 16 RF sensors total(ive got 2 smokes optioned in). Plus they look fucking terrible. And what do they REALLY do that the motion wont...

Like I said, im trying to think through whats practical vs. whats throwing money down a hole...

 

[myronman3]

plant decorative thorn bushes around the accessable windows outside. the kind that cleave 1/2 pound of flesh at a time. VERY effective for deterring uninvited “guests”.

ensure the door entering the house from the garage is re-enforced as well.

 

[rjacobs]

Where ever in the house that your wife hangs alot, bedroom, den, whatever, hardline it w an exterior door, that in an a emergency, she could take safe haven.

I hadnt thought about that honestly. I dont know. The bedroom has two access points: bedroom door and there is a door from the laundry to the masterbath. The laundry is accessible from a door just inside the garage entrance to the house. So I would have to secure both doors. The pantry is a single door and easily accessible from a few different areas and one of the master closets is a single door(the second master closet is a double door, so not easy to secure). Both of those are probably good places to secure.

 

[rjacobs]

ensure the door entering the house from the garage is re-enforced as well.

thats on the list. its getting drilled for a deadbolt and then im not sure beyond that what I will use. Like I said in my OP, I saw the door devil kits a few years ago, but their current kit looks like shit and a waste of money. So im not sure where to go on that.

 

[Ken Burton]

If you have all that worrying about break-ins you live in the wrong City or State!!!

 

[bornhunter04]

The glass break sensors is have do an area not individual windows. 1 covers multiple windows. Just keep then away from the kitchen where glass could actually break.

 

[riverside jeep]

Most of that stuff is a waste of $$ in reality, If some badass wants in , they will. My money would be on a nice sized , well trained big German Shepherd. THATS a motion detector you can count on.

 

[oneshot86]

If you have all that worrying about break-ins you live in the wrong City or State!!!

Point understood, dude.
But
The methheads are so much more mobile these days, all it takes is their car to breakdown and the stroke of bad luck that they come to your place.
I'm on 5 acres, now the city, but I am locked behind a six ft chain link fence
And 2 German Sheppard locked on the upstairs deck by my door. Still, give your lady a place to easily lock herself into, to by some time.
Here, I pity the fool who tries to get into the house and hurt someone, my ole lady is fucking ruthless and I'll put my money on her, lol

 

[rjacobs]

If you have all that worrying about break-ins you live in the wrong City or State!!!

I travel for a living and my wife is home alone a lot. Its more for her piece of mind than mine. I honestly could care less if somebody breaks in. Im VERY well insured...and if I am home I am always armed. We live in a nice area, but shit happens and shit heads are mobile.

The glass break sensors is have do an area not individual windows. 1 covers multiple windows. Just keep then away from the kitchen where glass could actually break.

Ill have to see how these are setup. I know they detect a frequency. Just a quick glance on the website looked like they installed on the window, but maybe thats not the case. Honeywell RF5800 series something or other.

Most of that stuff is a waste of $$ in reality, If some badass wants in , they will.

Thats kind of where I am at. I have "ideas" but then I think through the reality of the overall security situation and think its money not spent well.

We have a pit bull, but like almost all pits that you raise to be submissive vs. aggressive, he's a shit guard dog...big fucking marshmallow. Although we have never been in a no shit situation to see how he would REALLY react.

 

[Maggot]

Several of these:

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Outside cameras fall into the same category as borescopes, IMHO.

When you see whats been going on all along, you shit yer pants.

I have to wonder just what kid of a favor I'd be doing myself by installing outside cameras.

I'd probably die still wondering..., from a heart attack.

 

[chevy_man]

Glass breaks will cover an entire room normally.

Hardwire everything. RF is too easy to forget batteries, and I've seen all sorts of odd interference issues over the years.

It does nothing if you don't turn it on, which is 99% of the problem with the systems I've delt with.

 

[rjacobs]

Outside cameras fall into the same category as borescopes, IMHO.

When you see whats been going on all along, you shit yer pants.

I have to wonder just what kid of a favor I'd be doing myself by installing outside cameras.

I'd probably die still wondering..., from a heart attack.

I dont plan to constantly watch my cameras. Most will be setup for motion only. I think 2 will be setup for constant recording(because they will see the main road, so motion on would be constant and get annoying), but will only save like a few hours due to HD size limitations(I think I will be running a 5tb drive). I know the UI cameras will do motion only and I THINK you can setup an alert when they do capture.

Glass breaks will cover an entire room normally.

Hardwire everything. RF is too easy to forget batteries, and I've seen all sorts of odd interference issues over the years.

It does nothing if you don't turn it on, which is 99% of the problem with the systems I've delt with.

The honeywell ones say 3-5 year battery life. I dont know what the builder offers, it doesnt say, but they want $130... the RF ones are $50 and I can install myself. The wired ones are also $50 and I should be able to do 90% of the install. I will have to chat with my alarm monitoring company and see what they say.

Like I said, I THINK I feel good with the 3 zones of motion which will capture movement just about everywhere on the main floor. 2nd floor only has 1 window so not worried about anything up there(and one of the motion zones captures the stairs should anybody come down them).

 

[Maxduty]

If you have all that worrying about break-ins you live in the wrong City or State!!!

This. I live in a neighborhood where the only person they wont steal from is me. I've left car trailers in my side yard with no tongue locks and they remain here. The neighbors trailers have been stolen on multiple accounts. I guess word got around to not trespass on my place. I will bury the body and not call the cops. Put a bug out, it gets around.

 

[chevy_man]

I dont plan to constantly watch my cameras. Most will be setup for motion only. I think 2 will be setup for constant recording(because they will see the main road, so motion on would be constant and get annoying), but will only save like a few hours due to HD size limitations(I think I will be running a 5tb drive). I know the UI cameras will do motion only and I THINK you can setup an alert when they do capture.



The honeywell ones say 3-5 year battery life. I dont know what the builder offers, it doesnt say, but they want $130... the RF ones are $50 and I can install myself. The wired ones are also $50 and I should be able to do 90% of the install. I will have to chat with my alarm monitoring company and see what they say.

Like I said, I THINK I feel good with the 3 zones of motion which will capture movement just about everywhere on the main floor. 2nd floor only has 1 window so not worried about anything up there(and one of the motion zones captures the stairs should anybody come down them).

If you're building it's silly not to hardwire everything. Less problems for the entire life of the system.

This also includes cameras. POE 1080p cameras are ready to plug into a cat5/6 and you never have to worry about them. There is zero reason to do WiFi or coax cameras with today's technology.

Glass breaks are nice because you can activate the system without the motions while you're home. Having door contacts and glass break will alert you before they are fully inside to get picked up by motions.

It's your house. I'm just throwing this out there because I've seen people fight with wireless tech, and hire me to pull wire and retrofit a wired system in the end.

 

[kenny1773]

If you're building it's silly not to hardwire everything. Less problems for the entire life of the system.

This also includes cameras. POE 1080p cameras are ready to plug into a cat5/6 and you never have to worry about them. There is zero reason to do WiFi or coax cameras with today's technology.

Agree here 100% I ran my own cat 5e and installed two POE cameras, one facing the main street (i live on a short cul-de-sac and that cam gets 90% of the front of my property and the entire cul de sac) and then I recently installed one on the side covering my driveway up to the garage.

I have been having some late night mischief going on and I believe whomever is doing it is walking up the back of my property as they know I have a camera on the front. The new side camera should catch them, but I need to get off my butt and put another out the back of my house as well.

WIFI cams are nothing but trouble, and the last thing you want is to view your recordings to try and find out what happened, only find out the cam didn't record. Also check you archive and overwrite settings, I keep about 1 TB of video before the system starts to delete files.

I have been using these cams, they work great, don't let the low cost fool you

https://www.amazon.com/IPC-HFW4431R-Z-2-7mm-12mm-Surveillance-Waterproof-Compatible/dp/B07PWCGPDP/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Dahua+IPC-HFW4431R-Z&qid=1574051433&sr=8-3

Edited to add, I am not entirely sure if this feature is named out in the feature set for this camera, but this camera records everything to an internal buffer, the software I am using can tap into this buffer.

I have it set so that when it detects motion, it backs up 15 seconds (tapping into the buffer) to start recording.
This works perfectly every time. You can see everything that happens up to like 60 seconds BEFORE a motion alert is triggered.

 

[BytorJr]

Security cameras are great, visible ones are quite the deterrent. When my father passed, I scrambled (knowing I'd have to sell the house) to figure out a way to increase security. COSTCO had a sale on a 5 camera ARLO system. It's not perfect, but there one only two real access points to the back where it was most exposed for break-in. (it'd been alarmed for a while, so no problems there). I couldn't mount one up front so I stuck that on in the house.

Simply put, I was pleasantly surprised. I only had ONE WTF moment and that was that I didn't recognize my father's neighbor peering into the camera.

Now the system resides with me, and covers all sides of the house and it's caught the kids running over my shrubs a few times, the cable guy, solicitors, and such. Seems the Post Office was first to see the camera and put the packages in direct line of sight of the camera (since there's an option for package notification). I've been a bit surprised how much stuff I get on the front porch and it's disconcerting to hear the alert (especially since my office had crap cell reception). I'd imagine the 4k is a heck of a lot better than 1080p, so if you can regardless of brand or wired/wireless get the high resolution.

I'd like to reinforce my doors as well, but figure...if they want in, the back windows are where it will happen. Despite being behind a fence. My personal main concern is the garage doors. That's an area that one has a lot of value and probably the least amount of security.

I appreciate all the ideas being discussed. If I ever build... I'll consider these!

ps...I would agree with Kenny, that wifi can be troublesome; but it's better than nothing. The main problem I've had is the delay factor at work and the tuning the sensitivity to alert. The upside is the data recording is not in your house, so unless your disks are in a safe the criminal can destroy that. If I had my druthers, I'd upgrade to a wired solution.

 

[rjacobs]

If you're building it's silly not to hardwire everything. Less problems for the entire life of the system.

This also includes cameras. POE 1080p cameras are ready to plug into a cat5/6 and you never have to worry about them. There is zero reason to do WiFi or coax cameras with today's technology.

Glass breaks are nice because you can activate the system without the motions while you're home. Having door contacts and glass break will alert you before they are fully inside to get picked up by motions.

It's your house. I'm just throwing this out there because I've seen people fight with wireless tech, and hire me to pull wire and retrofit a wired system in the end.

Where did I say I was doing wireless anything? Only thing might be RF glass break sensors and that would only really be in one room that wont be accessible to me for wiring(game room/theater room will be located above living room and kitchen, so no access from above).

All cameras will be hard wired, Ubiquiti has no wifi camera option. I'm not having the builder do shit because their low voltage price is a 300-400% markup. I am paying almost 300 bucks for 2 runs of Cat6 to areas that will be inaccessible to me after the build, beyond that I will run all my own(I have 10 or so runs of Cat6 planned). I will get it all done with a $150 1000ft spool of Cat6 and a few hours of my time.

Ive never installed or run alarm stuff before so thats new to me, but wont be out of the realm of my abilities.

 

[eca7891]

Replace all door jam and strike plates with 3-3 1/2” screws.

 

[rjacobs]

Replace all door jam and strike plates with 3-3 1/2” screws.

I know this is common practice, but on doors with glass windows, im not sure it really makes any sense. While I wont give criminals any awards for their intelligence, it would take a real dumb meth head to kick a door in vs. breaking the huge pain of glass and simply stepping inside...

 

[eca7891]

While true. It’s one very inexpensive barrier.

I would do the interior doors as well.

if they are hollow core either replace with solid or don’t bother. A foot or shoulder will go right through them.

As stated earlier, safe rooms are not a bad idea either.

 

[riverside jeep]

Replace all door jam and strike plates with 3-3 1/2” screws.

Being a building contractor for 30 years I will say that a u shaped sheet metal plate that surrounds the dead bolt/door knob area and the back of the jamb along with some good 4" screws into the king stud goes a long way in keeping your door intact. ( Along with replacing 1 screw in each hinge with a 4" screw into the framework)

 

[brianf]

Being a building contractor for 30 years I will say that a u shaped sheet metal plate that surrounds the dead bolt/door knob area and the back of the jamb along with some good 4" screws into the king stud goes a long way in keeping your door intact. ( Along with replacing 1 screw in each hinge with a 4" screw into the framework)

as said above the door is nothing without a strong jamb.

try to breach a metal door with a deadbolt in a METAL FRAME.

youll bang so much youll knock your fillings out

all security systems are just a deterrent

they make your place "seem" harder to get in

hopefully they move on to the next house

light the property, alarm company signs etc

if MS13 is coming to kill you in your home, doors, window locks and alike will only slow them down

one thing you should have is a cellular back up for the alarm.

some crooks cut the cable wire to the house because alarms use the phone line to call etc

 

[rjacobs]

I cant argue those reinforcing plates and what not on solid(wood or steel) exterior doors, but I guess they seem ineffective to me on a glass door that can just be smashed and stepped through. Like I said it would take a special kind of stupid criminal to kick a door by the frame when they could just smash the glass and step through. Maybe I am naive to criminals way of thinking though...

 

[rjacobs]

as said above the door is nothing without a strong jamb.

try to breach a metal door with a deadbolt in a METAL FRAME.



one thing you should have is a cellular back up for the alarm.

some crooks cut the cable wire to the house because alarms use the phone line to call etc

I dont disagree, but I could have a vault door with 18 1" lock cylinders, etc... but with a big pain of glass in the middle, all of that goes out the window so to speak...

The alarm will only be cellular. There wont even be phone line run to the house.

 

[eca7891]

Being a building contractor for 30 years I will say that a u shaped sheet metal plate that surrounds the dead bolt/door knob area and the back of the jamb along with some good 4" screws into the king stud goes a long way in keeping your door intact. ( Along with replacing 1 screw in each hinge with a 4" screw into the framework)

Good call out on the sheet metal. That’s a bitch to tear out.

Anything you can do to create a hostile or uncooperative environment or the illusion thereof is one more thing.

cameras, ( real or fake) bars on the glass areas ( even with exterior screws ), thorny bushes under windows, motion activated lights, ect.. It all adds up. Eventually it may be enough of a deterrent that they may say,” This isn’t worth it.”

In the end though, it someone is determined to get in then they are getting in. At that point it’s safe rooms and self defense.

Btw don’t forget about a cell phone or other communications inside your safe rooms.

A bit extreme but if you are going to go there then try to have your bases covered.

 

[eca7891]

Bah...

Someone beat me to it.

 

[oneshot86]

I cant argue those reinforcing plates and what not on solid(wood or steel) exterior doors, but I guess they seem ineffective to me on a glass door that can just be smashed and stepped through. Like I said it would take a special kind of stupid criminal to kick a door by the frame when they could just smash the glass and step through. Maybe I am naive to criminals way of thinking though...

if you put a glass windowed door for a hardline, which, i wouldnt do, have you dead bolt lock keyed on both the inside as well as the outside.

asshole gets arm in thru porthole and twists knob of deadbolt, door flys open and he carries shit off easy.
let him take your tv thru the porthole he came thru, you cant stop a determined theif but you can make it hard on them

 

[rjacobs]

if you put a glass windowed door for a hardline, which, i wouldnt do, have you dead bolt lock keyed on both the inside as well as the outside.

asshole gets arm in thru porthole and twists knob of deadbolt, door flys open and he carries shit off easy.
let him take your tv thru the porthole he came thru, you cant stop a determined theif but you can make it hard on them

That is on my list to swap to a keyed internal deadbolt. That was going to be part of my swap to Abloy Protec2's, although im not so sure I need to go so high end.

I dont think the Schlage deadbolts that are included are "bad" per say...they are Grade 1, but swapping them to something a bit better is definitely on my list...

 

[oneshot86]

just dont keep the key in the lock, its nothing more than the handled lock then
i have a key on a nail convenient to the door but, crook is fucked from outside

 

[acudaowner]

corrugated steel shutters with a remote activation not just for zombies you could always dig a moat and have a drall bridge everyone loves swimming pools with diving boards .

 

[kl3309]

Although there is always more work in the house, I would still choose the house. Especially the situation with the blocking showed that it is very important to have a courtyard or a balcony. Especially if you live with your family.

Thanks spammer.

 

[hankpac]

I hadnt thought about that honestly. I dont know. The bedroom has two access points: bedroom door and there is a door from the laundry to the masterbath. The laundry is accessible from a door just inside the garage entrance to the house. So I would have to secure both doors. The pantry is a single door and easily accessible from a few different areas and one of the master closets is a single door(the second master closet is a double door, so not easy to secure). Both of those are probably good places to secure.

Any door that you want to harden to slow ingress, can be swapped for a steel outside door and outside lockset. I have that in our bedroom and Man Cave. A stout door can be up graded by drilling holes in the cement pad (assuming you have one, and dropping steel pins into the holes for extra security. Slows Kick-ins. Just depends on how hard you wan to have your portals. Any portal is a weak point.

 

[tomcatmv]

Also think about reversing the door swing so the door swings out instead of in. That way the whole door is supported by the stop boards as well as any dead bolt/knob. We did this on a cabin we once had.
Kind of a pain to do if already constructed but if you are building new all you have to do is rotate the door and the hinges(so the hinge pins are still inside).

 

[nikonNUT]

I was thinking I wanted to swap the dead bolts out to Abloy Protec2's... but I am running into an aesthetic problem in that we are doing 100% matte black fixturing throughout the house and the Abloy stuff isnt available in matte black.

This is the hide my friend! Somebody can cerakote them for you!

 

[aprocast]

I cant argue those reinforcing plates and what not on solid(wood or steel) exterior doors, but I guess they seem ineffective to me on a glass door that can just be smashed and stepped through. Like I said it would take a special kind of stupid criminal to kick a door by the frame when they could just smash the glass and step through. Maybe I am naive to criminals way of thinking though..

Not all glass breaks easily, decent laminated glass needs a big hammer to smash, kicking that stuff will just wreck your feet

 

[norcalAF]

I went with a Yale smart lock for our front door. Solves the issue of my MIL leaving the door unlocked when she visits and she doesn't have to remember to bring a key. I just set up a protocol in the smart hub to automatically lock the front door after 5 minutes of it being unlocked. Did the same with the garage door.

 

[Average guy]

I run Schlage electronic locks. I invested in Ring cameras for the house. After we busted 2 kids that were car hopping I’m sold on them. If nothing else they are a great deterrent. Not much bullshit going on around here anymore.

 

[OldSalty2]

Iron bars...

 

[Jim Out]

If you have all that worrying about break-ins you live in the wrong City or State!!!

^^^^ this right here

Last year: 1 burglary, later that day...home invasion

shot offender

Tucson PD got a warrant, my firearm the 3 empty cases and......

.... the offender in the hospital vamoosed.....skedaddled.....took off.

believe it or not, the warrant and the DNA samples taken at the hospital did not prevent the offender from departing the premises, despite assurances from Detective Leikem......the offender did not attend his follow-up appointment allowing the TPD to arrest him.

Go figure.

Round 3 was the offenders attempting to locate the weapons dropped at the scene.


Fast forward to this year's 4th of July celebrations here in the land of misfit toys....

I have a shop <s>with all the tooling</s> to build racecars for the desert.....

If you have a garage with tools they will be used against you.

I now have a garage.


Fuck Tucson

We are the shithole of the Sonoran Desert, after 30 years....up until 2013 I hadn't had to shoot anyone, now 2 in 7 years.

Didn't even lock the doors until my pastor buddy started walking in on my GF (now wife) and I

I back-up about 250Gb daily of 4k video.


Our Queef of Police will certainly improve the US Border Patrol (if confirmed as President Cho Chi-Den's pick) just as he "improved" policing here in "Baja Arizona".

 

[rjacobs]

Man this thread came back from the dead...

So the front door "glass" isnt really glass I dont think, it feels like plastic to me because it has this bubbly look to it for privacy. Has metal decorative bars on the outside, but like I said before hardware is outside so easy to remove...

I basically "havent done shit" as far as physical barrier security goes. The back door(outswing) was supposed to have security hinges on it from the builder...shocker...it didnt...so I put some nice ball bearing commercial security hinges on it... Besides that its got a big ass window in the door, so I didnt do anything else. Was going the have a buddy of mine with a CNC waterjet cut me a piece of 1/4" stainless plate to cover the deadbolt and knob bolt against a cutting or prying attack, but again, huge glass window in the door. Front door, same issue plus have multiple large glass windows at ground level near front door.

So what have I done...

Camera's. All of my camera's are from Ubiquiti. All have constant recording. All are saved locally on a 14tb HD. I have an overhead camera at the front and back doors. I have an overhead camera in my garage at the garage to house door. I have a front door doorbell camera. I have a 4k, wide angle camera on the front corner of the house that records the driveway, street, walkway to the front door, etc... I will eventually put another 4k wide angle camera on the back of the house.

This picture was shortly after we moved in last year. I added the other 2(back door and front wide angle) later when it wasnt 100+ degrees outside since I needed to access 2 areas in the attic that arent insulated(130+ degrees)... I also added the doorbell camera since then because they hadnt been released yet when we moved in.


I also have installed multiple glass break sensors when we had the alarm system activated. I think I bought 4, but the alarm guy only thought we needed 3 because of where our motion sensor was.

So there is my "circle back" to what I actually did to attempt to add some security to the house... I didnt really go that hard core since the locksmith I had talked to basically said most of it is useless with all the glass windows around on the ground floor.

 

[Jim Out]

Man this thread came back from the dead...

......most of it is useless

^^^ too true, at least I didn't have a dog for them to kill


I guess it was 'thoughtful' of the spammer to necro this thread just in time for me to vent.

My take away:

Home invasions and armed robberies are better than burglaries, at least you get to shoot them.

The cops were nice and sympathetic, though ultimately sort of useless with a 33% conviction rate.....

....66% if you consider the second armed robber was on Federal probation at the time he was field released by a TPD Lieutenant who believed "his car called the offender's Federal Probation Officer when the number appeared on the screen"....just like David Hasselhoff...

He released the offender because "he was too drunk to interrogate"....

Ultimately, my wife tracked the offender to the Federal Prosecutor, who directed us to the Federal Probation Officer who violated offender #2 after TPD failed to arrest him during an interaction for an "open container" at a local park or his appearance in Tucson City Court for the citation for the "open container" offence (yes, we informed TPD of his citation, the appearance and his probation status prior to the hearing).

TPD Sgt. Wheeler said, "there seems to have been some confusion."

Shortly thereafter I was informed by Capt. Carla Johnson that I was to liaise only with her thenceforth, apparently those members of the force below the rank of Captain were too candid and truthful in their statements and answers to my questions during interview.

(Carla is now Deputy Chief Johnson to Chief Magnus, Chris Magnus was the only applicant for the TPD Chief of Police position who did not withdraw their application during the hiring process to replace Chief Villasenor.)

The armed robber had very good "customer service skills", he very politely and professionally informed me that he "would have to 'stick me' if I didn't give him money......

......when he brought a knife to a gunfight....

.....actually it was a screwdriver as it turned out.....

He didn't even wish me a Merry Christmas however......aahh the holidays.