Hardening Your Home Against Home Invasions (Vanity)

FR ^ | Jan. 9, 2012 | FR

[fightinJAG]

If you missed this thread of a few days ago on a 14-year-old boy shooting an intruder in N.C., or if you didn't see all the responses, it's definitely worth checking out. The thread is also linked at the "read more" button below.

On that thread, I asked for freepers' thoughts on whether there were things that made some homes more vulnerable to home invasion than others. (It seems like it would be obvious that a more rural or remote home would be more vulnerable, but news reports in my area do not substantiate that assumption at all. Homes in crowded suburban neighbors get hit, too.)

Also, it's clear that, for various reasons, not every person in a household is going to be able to use a gun, even if one is available. I asked about ideas and discussion on ways that might deter invasions in the first place, although it goes without saying that nothing is foolproof and no one wants to live in a total fortress environment.

A poster suggested I make my questions into a stand-alone thread, and I decided to do so. Reading reports of several local home invasions in today's news, as well as a rash of "smash and grab" buglaries, had nothing to do with reminding me of the topic. Right.

So, yes, we know about guns and dogs (and tips regarding those are always still welcome). But what other things might be unobtrusively effective in deterring home invasions or allowing them to have a "happy" ending (dead perp)?

In the comments on our local crime stories, I saw that some people were using baby monitors to be alerted to noises around their back doors, etc. Thus, allowing them more time to investigate or prepare if a break-in developed.

[Travis McGee]

Especially with a boot on your head for a hat.

[Travis McGee]

Yeah, sounds like they were running a recon on your place, pretext “instant conversations” like gas money are one of the usuals. It used to be borrow your telephone in the old days.

[Travis McGee]

They were just two stainless steel cutoff scraps I put together with a SS rod. The “blade” was left after cutting out a few SS discs. I looked at it and said, “Hmmmm, cool...”

It's perfect for the type of throwing I do now, where you trail your index finger downward along the shaft on the release to counter the spin. For this method, the shaft needs to be uniform and smooth, no pommels etc. So it was just luck I had welded a smooth pipe to the “blade.”

(The beauty of this throwing method is it's ease and intuitiveness in learning. You start by perfecting the throw at nearly point blank, and working your way back with proficiency.)

[Travis McGee]

RR tracks are great “suppressors” for urban and suburban target practice.

Brings back college memories. Down under the trestles, the train roaring overhead, “the range” is now open for the next minute.

[Travis McGee]

Not many naturally fortified homesteads like that back in Jolly England, I’ll wager.

Won’t the concertina eventually climb up with the ceders they intertwine?

[Poser]

1. I put in a security system that has door and window sensors and motion detectors, including the garage. It dials out on cellular service if the alarm is triggered. I can disable the in-house motion detectors when I am home.

2. Remington 870 tactical shotgun.
3. Downstairs handgun.
4. No signs to indicate to potential thieves that I own anything of value including guns.
5. Good blinds, closed when I’m not home. Peeking in won’t work.
6. Motion sensing lights in back yard and near entry doors.
7. Never invite neighbor’s kids into my house to see what they can steal.
8. Do most of my own interior repairs, minimizing workmen in the house who will see what they can steal.
9. Good car and motorcycles locked in the garage. S**t box car in the driveway with veteran’s plates and no stickers to give crooks a hint about where they can steal guns.

In short, I try to make myself and my home invisible to crooks looking for something valuable and easy to steal. In my area, the most likely thieves are local teenagers. They haven’t seen what is in my house or garage and I don’t make it easy for them to see it.

[DCBryan1]

I posted a while back of my back door security apparatus:

100,000 Russian Hybrid honeybees in a bee box!

I have 2 doors on my house, with the back door being the one that the theives woudl break into first...NO ONE can see that back door, including me! There is a deck under the door, and I placed my bee hives there, and put 100lbs test STREN fishing wire through the deck and tied it to the bottom of the door.

If someone were to kick open, or hell, open that back door, it pulls off the entire top super, inner cover, and top cover instantly. I also have a motion sensor light that pops off when the lids fly.

Anyways.....I'll raise your snakes, call 60,000 bees defending their hive ;) . The russians are really mean and i get stung ALL THE TIME with them. My other girls are italians....and I can work them with a t-shirt and a puff of smoke. WHen I work the Russians, I'm im MOPP level 5 and TONS of smoke. I had them tested once because I just knew that they had been africanized or hybrid africans....but DNA said that they were pissed off Russian bees ;)

Anyways, bees are an unconventional and suprisingly effective deterrant.....in fact, when my meter reader changed to a middle aged white guy, I asked where the regular meter reader was, (a 20 something black guy), and he said that he just hated bees and let the foreman take my house.

Oh...and get a sign :)

[who knows what evil?]

...another reason to consider bee keeping...fresh honey AND security system...

[MrB]

How about dogs who shoot bees out of their mouths?

[DCBryan1]

ROFLMAO!

Almost as good as sharks with friggin laser beams on their heads!

[CodeToad]

I was going t make some kind of suggestion about fire, but pissed-off Russian bees will do it. You simply cannot defend against the little sh*ts.

[Squantos]

Your a SEAL an I’m EOD..... I can’t recall ever meeting a crazy person ......have you ?

Stay Safe .....:o)

[Squantos]

I hunt over bait..... 20$ bills all over the living room. Lights on door open ......etc.

Not really just bumpin yer suggestions. Good post !

Stay Safe !

[naxetevitan]

Finally before buying or renting a property check out it’s history;drug dealing, domestic violence, abandoned,richest guy in town, lets you know of possible threats. Most of our local home invasions recently have been former drug dealer homes or victims that were once in the trade. Remember someone gets out of jail and may not have up to date street knowledge, so goes to old haunts.

Good advice. For some reason this reminded me of how Charles Manson chose Sharon Tate's house to begin his carnage. If i'm remembering right, Manson thought record producer Terry Melcher still lived there and was mad at him for ruining his dreams of stardom. ..... < /useless trivia > ;)

[fightinJAG]

I was thinking about (1) those things you walk by and they start singing, such as a plastic garden frog, and (2) those motion-activated recorders that play witchy sounds, used on Halloween.

Seems like both of those types of gadgets could be adapted to play a loud, large dog bark and growl upon motion activation.

[cycjec]

Becoming confrontational isn’t the best approach, but
but Mr. Wasilchen may have had good reasons to not want
the weed patrol to scope out his property. I’m not sure
what I’d do in those circumstances. I also am not
accepting *as yet* the government officials story. One
does meet obnoxious confrontational ppl going door to
door in any capacity.

[cycjec]

They like warm flat rocks. (the snakes).

[cycjec]

Two years ago now, I saved a comment by “Spktyr” in
a thread on a “wrong door” police raid. The homeowner
had installed a airlock double door in the front,
with a 90 degree turn preventing the ram from opening
the second door. Polycarbonate sheeting instead of glass
on the first floor windows. Home invasions come in several
varieties nowadays.

[Sawdring]

1/3 of the AC problems I run across are electrical, 1/3 are refrigerant, and 1/3 are airflow issues. Misdiagnosis can be costly and the average homeowner can get into a lot of trouble if they dig into these machines. More efficient machines with two speed compressors, hard start kits, low and high pressure switches, etc with wires going everywhere can really stump a homeowner, especially when they don't know the function of the majority of parts and how to follow the flow of electricity. Just my two cents.

[BobL]

“1/3 of the AC problems I run across are electrical, 1/3 are refrigerant, and 1/3 are airflow issues. Misdiagnosis can be costly and the average homeowner can get into a lot of trouble if they dig into these machines. More efficient machines with two speed compressors, hard start kits, low and high pressure switches, etc with wires going everywhere can really stump a homeowner, especially when they don’t know the function of the majority of parts and how to follow the flow of electricity. Just my two cents. “

You have a point. I didn’t mean to imply that any Tom, Dick, or Harry could necessarily troubleshoot an AC system. You do have to have a basic understanding. But it’s still worth getting to that level, and it’s not too much - providing you don’t have a (much more complicated) heat pump...or you don’t have add-ons, like a hard-start kit.