Home Safety   

Your home is your castle. Whether you own a thirty room mansion on acreage in the country or rent a studio apartment in the city, your residence is the one place where you can be yourself without having to worry about anyone or anything else if you don�t want to. And that should never change.

No one has the right to enter your home. Even the government has to get the OK of a judge to enter your place of residence without your permission. And in most places across America, you can use force to eject someone who will not voluntarily leave your home. Without turning this into an editorial, I say �in most places� because of some recent decisions by city attorneys to prosecute citizens in defense of their home. Remember to always learn and follow the laws in your local jurisdiction. Do not break these laws. It is better to leave that jurisdiction for a more friendly one than to go to jail for defending yourself. Sometimes all you need to do is cross over to the next township.

The first thing you want to do to make your home safer is to secure its entry points. There is an entire industry out there that produces items to help you do this. In fact, there are so many items out there that I doubt that I can name them all here. Some items work better than others and it is always a good idea to get a couple of opinions before choosing.

 We�ll start with doors.

Doors come in many different types and designs, in wood, aluminum and steel. You want something solid with sturdy hinges. Doors with four or five hinges are better than those with three. Make sure that it either comes with a peephole or viewing door or that one can be installed.

A good first step to securing your door is to make it difficult for a potential burglar to access it. Security screen doors, while not cheap, offer a good amount of security for the money. They generally lock with a deadbolt lock and basically need to be pried off before the thief can get to the door itself. They also come in many designs and colors to go with the exterior d�cor of your home.

The locks that secure the door are very important. What you want to look for in a lock in how well does it secure the door to the doorframe. A deadbolt lock bolt that goes 2 inches into the doorframe is more secure than one that only goes in an inch. You can also put a deadbolt in an unconventional location such as the top or the bottom of the door on the opening side. But keep in mind that locking and unlocking these will be more difficult.

Now, while installing a large number of locks does make it more secure, it may not be considered safer. You want to remember that you may need to get out of the house in case of fire. It also lends to a �prison� feeling.

You should never open the door to anyone you don�t know. But unfortunately, there are deliveries, neighbors and girl scouts that require the opening of the door to talk to someone. You can install an intercom to enable you to speak to and identify those outside the door before you open it. Latchable viewing windows are also manufactured for this. Door chains and sliding latches allow you to open the door a couple of inches to speak to someone outside but they don�t hold well under pressure as they are only held to the door frame with a couple of screws. If you do have a door chain and want to make it more secure, remember, the longer the screw, the deeper it will go into the doorframe. A newer item that can be used to hold an open door is a type of doorstop that recesses into the floor in the entryway. But the installation costs of something like this might be prohibitive.

While being the anchor of the entryway, the doorframe can also have its weaknesses. The doorframe is made out of wood and wood can be broken with pressure. If you have the means and feel that you need it, you can install pieces of steel at key points in the frame as reinforcement. The portion of the inside of the frame where the bolts of your locks go into can be lined with a metal strip that has had holes cut into it for the bolts. Or you can install a metal strip underneath the door trim inside of the home.

Now onto windows.

Windows are nearly impossible to secure because if a thief gets frustrated with the lock, they can just break they window. It all depends on how badly they want to get in. Noise is their enemy, but they have �tricks of the trade� that they pass along to each other on how to break a window quietly. Today�s windows are built with multiple panes of glass for energy conservation reasons, but they are also more secure as the more panes of glass that are built in, the harder they are to break.

You can get swinging latches, sliding latches and window frame locks to keep criminals from opening your windows. You can also buy or make window frame jams that work just as well. Never, never, never nail a window shut. You�ll be the one breaking the window if you need to get out in case of a fire.

Bars on the windows work moderately well, but again, they are not safe in case of fire. They can also be an eyesore and give a �prison� feeling to your home.

Sliding glass doors are really only big windows. And because of their size, it would be impossible to break one quietly. Again though, it all depends on how badly someone wants to get inside your home. Sliding glass doors can be built with a specially designed deadbolt lock built in or you can get them installed later.

French doors or double doors can be a very weak point of entry to your home. Most of them contain large amounts of glass either in large pieces or smaller sectional windows. If you can secure the doors with a bolting system to the top of the door frame and the floor it will make them more secure.

Alarm Systems

Alarm systems are a good idea. They can be configured to fit the home and the needs of the user. You can even have them set to call the police directly if there is trouble. But the trouble with alarms is that they are mechanical. If you forget to set the alarm or the power goes down, they do nothing. Or, if you do set the alarm and accidentally set it off yourself, you could be stuck with fees from your alarm company and fines from the police. Most police agencies limit the number of false alarms you are allowed to have before they will stop responding or start fining the homeowner.

A pet can be helpful in this respect. Most dogs are protective of their owners and their turf. They don�t like strangers who might possibly hurt their food source. But you must train them to not take food from strangers. Poisoned food is just food to a dog.

No matter what method you decide to use to secure your residence, make sure that in an emergency, you can still get out. Always remember to keep a phone near your bed as the bedroom is your last sanctuary in case of home invasion, especially at night. If you choose to arm yourself keep it near you at all times when you are home. A gun left unattended in another room can be had by someone who enters your home unwanted or by a child. Your gun is your responsibility.

One final word about securing your home. Boobytraps are illegal in every state and in every town and city in the union. Mounting a firearm, pointing it at an entryway and building a devise that will fire that firearm when the point of entry is crossed is a boobytrap. In case of fire, that shot will injure or kill the emergency personnel. There have even been cases where the trap killed the homeowner. Do not try this method.