Hardened Security: They Can’t Get In – But Can You Get Out?

Survival Mom ^ | 5/31/13 | Thomas Bryant

[Kartographer]

It is imperative to harden the security of your home or business. We all want to keep the bad guys away from our families and our stuff – But, you should NEVER add any security measure to a door or window without thinking about how to get out. This is a big LIFE SAFETY concern.

For example, installing a deadbolt lock is one of the most effective ways to harden a door. What if the deadbolt you installed has a keyhole on the inside and outside of the door (double-cylinder)? Do you know where the key is and is it accessible in an emergency? Are you confident you or you children can grab the key, unlock the door and get out of burning house safely? I’m not. ALWAYS install single-cylinder deadbolt locks with a keyhole on the outside and a turn button on the inside to allow for quick egress.

[X-spurt]

Thank you for that bit of common sense, which seems to be in short supply with many preppers.

[Marcella]

“What kind of hedge is it?”

There are two hedges under that window that are tall enough to come up to the bottom of the window. One is a Holly and one an Azalea. They are very deep from front to back and are like walls due to being so thick inside with limbs/branches. One would have to fight like hell to get through them and his whole body would have grooves dug into it by those concrete immovable hard branches inside. If you saw them you would know you couldn’t get through them. The rest of the townhouses here don’t have those hedges so their window is not guarded.

From the outside of my townhouse, the red wording ALARM on the bar alarm is obvious from the outside. Just that one bar tells a thief he’s going to set off an alarm if he raises that window.

[Marcella]

“They just kicked in the front door.”

The FBI says this is the main way a bad guy gets in a house. I have a heavy duty BuddyBar that sits under the inside door knob to reinforce that area so kicks won't tear out the door frame. It would take a while kicking to defeat the bar. There are cheap bars to put there and those do not work. The bar has to be heavy duty and that's about $60 or more. I also have an alarm that fits under the door and if the door vibrates that alarm is set off.

A new metal frame in the kick area can be installed to reinforce that area but that takes woodworking/metal skills I don't have.

[Kartographer]

A gang of 'yutes' was doing this in my neighborhood during the day while people were at work a few years ago. I ordered a metal barred security door, but because of the size it had to be custom made. So in the mean while I brought and installed one of these.

The strike plate is the curved metal piece that sits in the door jamb. The latch hits this and closes. The problem is that the strike is usually installed with ¾” screws into the jamb. When the door gets kicked open, the jamb usually splits from the force of the impact, and the door swings open.

A fast fix is to replace these short screws with longer deck screws so that they sink all the way into the house framing. The door can still be kicked in, mind you, but it will take more than one kick.

I installed what they call an armored strike plate. It has a larger surface area to spread out more of the impact, but more importantly you are installing it into the solid door frame of the house itself, which is usually constructed of double or triple layers of 2X4's. You will most likely need to actually make a hole for it into the the house's framing so it will set flush. Once installed flush the plate ends up sunk into the the much studier house framing about 3/8". I chose not to use the screws that came with mine, but instead got the heaviest and the longest screws that I could fine that would fit through the plate's pre-drill holes.

I got mine at the Home Depot.

[Kartographer]

Your patio doors are often the weakes point in your preimeter. Many people don’t know that even locked a thief can often just use a pry bar and lift the door right out of it’s track.

They make the sliding door and access to your deck or patio not near as convient, but do yourself a favor and get yourself a metel security door installed over your sliding glass door. You’ll sleep better.

[Kartographer]

I got one set of three windows that do not have security bars, but right in fron of them are three beautiful rose bushes. They are about 4’ wide and 6’ tall and have the thorns that will eat you up! When I go to clean out the trash and leaves under them I always end up with scatchers galore and more than a few thorns I have to dig out with a needle.

[driftdiver]

Yeah I found my deadbolt and strike plate with 2 inch screws laying on the floor about 5 feet inside the house. The frame was made of pine and split like it wasnt even there.

[Marcella]

“Your patio doors are often the weakes point in your preimeter. Many people don’t know that even locked a thief can often just use a pry bar and lift the door right out of it’s track.”

I have sliding glass doors on the back, however, the back decks and small garden area has a thick 8 ft. tall brick wall around it and it is connected to the rest of the townhomes which each have that 8 ft. tall wall. No one can get to my high brick walls because they would have to climb over many to the right and left of me to get to mine and they need a ladder to get over one brick wall, then carry the ladder to the next brick wall, etc., etc.

If you made it over one of my walls, the motion sensor would pick you up and start screaming as well as a strobe light would be in your face. If you made it through that and touched my glass door enough to make it vibrate, another alarm starts screaming. It would be better if you gave it up before you started climbing that tall brick wall.

Now, if you climbed it at a certain place, you would find yourself in the sharpest rose thorns on the planet on a climbing rose on one of those walls. You see, that happened one time. The termite man had a ladder and went from garden to garden over the walls to check for termites. He came over my wall where the rose thorns are, then went back up and repositioned the ladder to miss that mass of thorns. I saw him from inside and went out to tell him I was sorry he got in the thorns - he had bloody arms.

He told me never to get rid of that strong vine with terrible thorns, that no one is going to continue over that wall when they get in those thorns - they will not continue to come over. I don't think anyone would try it in daytime, so if someone had made it over those many walls and got to mine in the dark, he would be torn to pieces.

It would be better for a zombie to leave my house and yard alone unless they want a second death really fast.

[driftdiver]

You can put two screws in the top of the sliding door. It keeps someone from being able to lift it out of the tracks. Of course they can still break it.

[Stonewall Jackson]

If anyone needs some bottled water to put away for emergencies, Lowe’s has 32-packs of 1/2 liter distilled water on sale two for $7. That’s cheaper than Walmart, Sam’s, and Kroger. The sale ends on Monday, June 3rd.

[FreedomPoster]

Does anyone have any experience with the security films you add to glass? Or really, film plus adhesive to attach the edge of the film to the window frame.

[Titan Magroyne]

>>> “My added security was a large eyebolt at the top of the door frames with a corresponding hole in the floor at the bottom of the door frame. A steel rod the lenght of the door is pushed up through the eye bolt and dropped down into the brass lined hole in the floor as a barricade rod. Two of these on each door.”

That’s a great idea that even I can afford. I’ve been paranoid since coming home from a weekend out to find someone had stolen deck furniture right from the front of the house. (Yes, plastic chairs!) What if they’d decided to kick in the door while they were at it? *shudder*

There’s no keeping out someone determined to get in, but one can certainly make for more effort & time than a thief wishes to invest.

[Squantos]

Works well .... Hardware stores even have the little bronze and or brass long cups to dress up said hole in floor so it looks better. Also keeps the door jam from being spread with a car jack, allowing the door to just be opened....

One other cheap option is a simple rubber wedge style door stop... Put it down when the door is closed. It will also stop and or slow down any dynamic entry attempts buy a door kicker.

And last but not least ......

http://www.winoben.com/Pages/Home/Master_Lock_Door_Security_Bar.php

These little babies have worked well for us also.... They have em at Home Depot and Lowes style stores. Ace hardware has em also I believe.

We also made a small recess in the floor for the foot f that bar to sit in.

Hope yer well...

Stay safe !

[Titan Magroyne]

I have several door wedge alarms, but much prefer prevention, for obvious reasons.

Unconventional - and thereby unknown to thieves - methods are my favorites.