I know that security is a bit of a show and its really more of a deterant, but I was wondering realistically how I could prevent someone breaking and entering a small-ish American home? What is actually effective?
Not really much, tbh.
Decent quality door locks
Clear line of sight from the street to likely entry points
Loud alarms so if they do break in they’re not likely to stay longIf someone wants to get into a house, there isn’t much you can do to stop them unless you’re rich and can afford exotic shit like bullet proof glass windows and thick metal reinforced doors.
All to can really do is discourage crimes of opportunity by making them seem like bad opportunities.Given unlimited time for whoever to break in undisturbed, nothing is secure.
The relevant measure is how quickly someone could break in, without preparation and then with. That’s kind of how they rate safes.
If you’re not Maduro and the goal is just to get away before they’re in, people have mentioned some good options to slow whoever down (alongside the silly suggestions). I’d also add trying to look unprepared, so they don’t come prepared for more than a door or window themselves, and having a non-obvious escape route to use in those critical seconds.
Of course, if it’s an authority, after you’ve run away you’re down a small-ish house.
The critical question is “who?”.
Most break-ins are targets of opportunity. Given that you can’t change to a less risky neighborhood, you could have no outward signs of profitability, no easy/quiet entrance, signs of people around, lights, cameras. And remember, they’re not coming in the front door: they’re looking for an Inconspicuous, weak point. You just need to be less of a target of opportunity than your neighbors.
Someone specifically targetting you will be much harder. Someone with skills will be much harder. At the extreme, no consumer lock is safe against lock picking and no consumer door is safe against police battering ram.
I have a side door with a broken jamb, and speculate that someone kicked it in at some point (before I moved here). One of the first things I did upon moving in, was add long screws to the latch and hinges so it’s anchored in the nearest joist rather than simply the jamb. Supposedly that makes it much more difficult to kick in - someone might give up when it is taking too much time and they are creating noise that could attract attention. I also have a light and a doorbell cam, so they would be visible and on camera doing it. And a dog
At one point I came across an article recommending steel supports behind the jamb, and would really like to do that when I replace the door. It looks like a normal door but the jam is no longer a weak point. Unfortunately no one seems to know what I’m talking about though
I have solid wood doors to enter my home, the front door doesn’t even have a peephole on it. If somebody wants in their coming through a window. U could put bars on ur windows, then the door returns as the weak point. If ur really worried u could step up and put a steel fire door in (like shops are required to have for fire safety) and one of those properly installed will make ur walls the weak point. At that point you probably should question if ur better off in an underground fort lol.
Lights, cameras, door armor kit, decent locks, and detergents near windows (bars work, but so does planting a rose bush under the windows. Lastly dogs that bark when one near your doors.
This will.help a lot. Statistically the best impact is a dog or two.
You can go hardest by adding electronic security shutters and a serious storm door over every exterior door…
Very general feedback. I’ve been slowly doing all of the above for years. Have it all except shutters (no need, windows too high) and storm doors.
But if they get through the door armor, security camera alarms and pitbulls ill have plenty of time to grab my shotgun.
God help them if they hurt my pitbulls.
It depends on whether your adversary is motivated and equipped, your resources, and what visibility you would like to permit.
Let’s suppose you have a poorly equipped adversary, a couple thousand to spend, and you want it to be invisible.
When a door is bashed, the wooden jamb breaks at the lock. So you could go bash resistant device, I believe there are inserts that make bashing significantly harder. Or you can go with a steel door and steel jamb.
For windows, a sheet of polycarbonate glued to the outside should make them resistant to rocks and small arms fire. You should be able to break the glass and kick out the polycarbonate in the event of a house fire.
Check your slider door that it can’t be levereged upward and removed while shut.
As a locksmith, I can tell you what I tell my paranoid customers. Buying the greatest lock in the world doesn’t do shit if you still have first floor windows.
I always thought that was funny. Same with cheap, stick-built apartments with only the wood studs and two layers of drywall between them, the hallway, and other units, but tenants massively fortifying only the door.
I always wondered why we don’t read about more robberies like that. In a stick built home, the wall is a weak point. With a modern battery powered reciprocating saw, it would take less than a minute even on a standard external wall
I’ve heard of that happening in context of thieves breaking into stores. Never heard of it used for home robbery
I had my windows replaced … Last year, I think? That detail doesn’t really matter.
I always knew that normal windows negate any attempt at security, but it was still unnerving to visually confirm that they are easily removed, fragile barriers filling what are just holes in my wall.
Build a moat.
It’s not impenetrable, but let’s be honest, who’s crazy enough to break into the house with a moat?
Own a musket for home defense, since that’s what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. “What the devil?” As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he’s dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it’s smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, “Tally ho lads” the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
Don’t forget about your French neighbors who have been looking to get one over on those ruffians.
I mean, building a moat does tell that you probably are rich enough to either pay someone to come over and do all that, or buy/rent a machine to dig & fill it, or are well-off that you have enough free time & energy to dig it without a machine… (might also need something to line the moat with so that the water isn’t just sucked up by the soil)
On the other hand, if someone dug up a moat around a whole house with a shovel all by themselves, it’d probably be wiser not to mess with them…
It also tells that you’re likely to have a vat of boiling oil dumped on you when attempting to breach the walls.
Pirates. You’ve just escalated things a degree.
No. They normally operated on open waters. You have to go back to medieval armies.
Vikings. Cold pirates.
All right I’ll give you a Vikings for that.
Lesson from South Africa: by the time they are at your door it’s too late. Perimeter fencing, preferably a 2m high wall with razor wire AND electric fence on top (including on gate). Garden: floodlights, motion sensing alarms, beams, AI cameras. All doors and windows: bars and security gates. Inside: separate living and sleeping area with lockable gate in the hall between. Panic buttons…
None of that is going to stop a legal intrusion, each just buys you time before the paid security company arrive with guns to chase away intruders. Given time, any determined attacker will get in eventually…
How big does that perimeter have to be for the lesson to apply? In ZA I know they do whole gated communities, but we’re talking about a single house.
My cousin had a beagle ridgeback mix (accidental breeding incident).
His neighbours from two doors down showed him security footage of burglars jumping back over the wall when they heard it barking! 😂
Alligators.
This is the only answer that makes sense.
Provide universal health care, low cost.of living to income ratio, free higher education, strong community building, and walkable cities.
I don’t really think OP can do that single-handedly.
Thank you. Now what can I do with the money left in my bank account after that
Buy a yacht
Those aren’t very secure from the modern super breakandentereptile, the buck toothed electric límpido snake eel dragon lizard.
Buy 2 in case one gets destroyed
As long as it’s over 150 feet it’s safe from orcas!
It would be nice. But not something I can provide right now :D. Let you know if I become a billionaire.
No, no. We want solutions to problems we don’t really have! Not something that would make life for 99.9% of Americans better…
Shotgun. Single best thing you can have.
Shotgun. Single best thing you can have.
Just make sure to stand guard at the front of your home all night every night with your shotgun so that anyone considering breaking and entering knows that you have a shotgun.
Home Alone has some solid ideas
If you asking how you secure your residence against ICE…good luck with that. They have legal access to an expansion of the Patriot Act for warrants, and they have toys they’d love to use against any home security. All that physical security is going to do is give them probable cause.
They’ll claim it gave them probable cause.
Yeap. They don’t care about the law…they just care about what sounds good to their people in clips.
Reinforce your doorframes and window frames, preferably with steel. The dinky pine wood frames of residential doors and windows are hilariously easy to kick in, and the thickest steel door and the meanest window bars in the world won’t mean much when an attacker can simply kick them out of the frame with a minimum of effort.
You will probably find that doing this is in fact deemed illegal by at least one entity in your local hierarchy of state/county/municipality. I’ll give everyone three guesses as to why.
Because it keeps law enforcement out?
And, we have a winner.
Any properly framed door or window won’t be the failure point. It’s usually the fasteners. Deadbolts usually only come with dinky little half inch screws for the strike plate. Replace those with some 2.5" deck screws and it’ll be much harder to kick open.
Why do people say this? When I moved into my current house and replaced all the deadbolts, every choice came with at least one long screw to anchor into the joist. And that was 20 years ago
When I replaced my deadbolts about 5 years ago, none of them had it. Maybe we got different brands?
Is it because it’d make us less safe?
I believe in some areas fire is a valid concern. But I also imagine if you do it right, it doesnt matter as much.
Is it because it might be harmful to the environment?
No its just harder to get out in case of a fire. But thats just spitballing. I know that’s why you cant put bars on all windows or totally obstruct exits. Fire is much MUCH more likely to happen than a break and entering. At least where I am at. People need to get out in case of a fire. But im pretty sure there are still ways of protecting yourself instead of just bars.
There are bars designed to let people out and not in.
See Quick release security bars:
I think for firefighters you’d have to install some “fire key” system and they’ll ok it.
LEO would be able to get the key themselves with a warrant though, but at that point they’re checking your cavities whether you want to or not.
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I’ll split my guesses into characters:
L
E
O
Have you seen the film Home Alone 2?
