Alright, gentlemen, let's lock it down

[Walsingham]

I'm in the process of buying a new house, and the one I'm keen on has absolutely no security. I have my own ideas, obviously, but I thought it would be fun to kick the notion out to the forum and see what you come up with. We're talking victorian brick terraced house, two stories facing onto main road, and backed by a small alleyway.

 

Let's go!

[SteveThaiBinh]

I thought the general idea of security was to get something that looked slightly harder to crack than whatever your neighbours have. So you'd need to scout around the area a bit.

[WITHTEETH]

I heard Umbrella Corp has a pretty decent security system.

[Sand]

You would want a system that would make the would be intruder think twice before entering your lawn. Motion sensors hooked to lights are a good deterrent for most burglars would want to work in the dark. Also obvious video cameras at certain points of the property be hooked in similar sensors and wired to record in .AVI or some form of compressed video right on to a computer. Fake cameras could work to scare off intruders to. They tend to like an easy target, but if you have a too obvious of a system in place they might think your goodies might be worth the risk.

Of course if you are home at the time nothing beats a good old fashion 9mm handgun with hollow point bullets to eliminate an intruder. Just keep it out of reach of children.

Edited February 4, 2008 by Sand

[Walsingham]

Security lights would be highly antisocial, given it's a terraced street. I'd wake up the neighbours all the time. I'm thinking active IR cameras, and a motion triggered warning of some kind.

 

Handguns are out, Sando. There's nothing in my house I'd shoot anyone over. Between the cleaning bills, and the court case it just wouldn't be economical.

[Gfted1]

Unless your in the English equivalent of the ghetto, a sturdy deadbolt for the entry doors, keeping your windows locked and maybe a pole for any sliding doors should be sufficient.

[Sand]

Security lights would be highly antisocial, given it's a terraced street. I'd wake up the neighbours all the time. I'm thinking active IR cameras, and a motion triggered warning of some kind.

 

Handguns are out, Sando. There's nothing in my house I'd shoot anyone over. Between the cleaning bills, and the court case it just wouldn't be economical.

 

Terraced street? Excuse my ignorance but what is that exactly? IR cameras would work but wouldn't give details, just heat signatures. How about motion sensors on the outside, connected to the inside lights. Such as when you go to bed at night or when you are away you can toggle the control to the living room lights and when the motion detects movement it turns it on, then after a bit of time if there is no further movement it turns itself off. Also that could be helpful if you are coming home late and need the lights on to see as you enter for whatever reason.

 

As for the handgun, if you don't have anything overly valuable at the home or don't have a family to protect I can see why you wouldn't need a handgun. Especially if you don't live in a dangerous neighborhood. However in some cities in the US a weapon can become rather handy at times.

[Pidesco]

Well, for about ten years I lived in a place that was very near to what was the most dangerous neighborhood in Lisbon at the time. It was four different houses in one, with one family per home. Of those homes, only one had extensive burglary protection, with whatever was considered very good security at the time. Bear in mind that these families (including mine) had all similarly high incomes. Of these four houses only the one with all the security was robbed, and several times at that. The other places weren't ever touched, over a period of about 10 years.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Terrace houses tend to have flimsy back doors, from what Ive seen. You should probably get some good solid doors for yer house and maybe some sweet swedish 4-glass windows, hard to break through and keeps the heating costs down.

 

 

Alarm systems are kind of girlie, but a regular motions sensor in the hallway and another one towards the back of the house?

[WITHTEETH]

Just get a good ol fashion alarm system STICKER. Be a poser and advertise it right on your front and back winder by the door. If your still uneasy about it a hightech STICKER then you can always add a stuffed bear or grandparent to your living room, I would think twice breaking into that house!

[Azure79]

How about a big nasty looking dog or two or three.

[tarna]

I'm in the process of buying a new house, and the one I'm keen on has absolutely no security. I have my own ideas, obviously, but I thought it would be fun to kick the notion out to the forum and see what you come up with. We're talking victorian brick terraced house, two stories facing onto main road, and backed by a small alleyway.

 

Let's go!

If you want a system, make it an active one if you absolutely feel the need.

The question now is at what point do you want it to activate?

Systems that turn on by outside activity tend to false alarm due to wind blowing debris, passers by, et cet. Systems that read inside activity tent to be more stable. The point of security is to keep the maggots 'out' of your home though. Consider a well trained dog. Not as expensive as you might guess though. Does require some 'upkeep' though :wink: VERY effective as a deterent to entry. Another is adding visible cameras ( working or not ). Adding these might increase interest in your home though. An item to prevent some clown booting in your door would be to remove the strike plate in your door-jam and wood-chisel out some of the surface wood and place a piece of C-channel steel in it's place to strengthen the jam. Paint it like normal to prevent it's notice. Use very long screws to sink it into place and then chalk around the screws to hide them. Don't give the clowns something to pique their interest. If you have windows near the doors, they will provide the next best points of entry. I don't use good locks on my doors because I have large picture window next to them. No point since I have some large rocks as my landscaping. Reinforcing the windows becomes a never-ending task as you have to continually trace the next weakest point ( glass, frame, jamb, structure, et cet ). In this case, passive is better. Place a visible 'tinkle sensor' and label on each reachable window. Cheaper and more effective for what you want. Make it too 'hi-tech' though and you make yourself an interesting target.

For inside the home use motion sensors and a loud audible alarm. At least 100 Db to annoy the neighbors and bring them out to look. Won't work if you have pets though. Much of this can be built easily with cheap materials. Drop me an email for details as I have recently fixed my email issues.

Keep your curtains closed ( or obscured to prevent interest ). Change the boxes you carry your 50" plasma TV into your home to something that won't generate interest from the locals. Watch what you throw into your trash. Nothing interests a low-life like a Dell box in your trash. Take those empty boxes elsewhere to dispose of.

I had a college intructor that was robbed the first month of my electronics education. He was robbed again at the end of the semester after insurance had replaced most of his stuff. My offer ( for an A+ ) was to build him a 'booby-trapped' stereo for him home. The result of it being turned on would be both loud and messy. Were it to be stolen during the remainder of the semester, he was to give me an A. If he received proof of 'activation' during the remainder of the semester, I was to receive an A+. I think he seriously considered the offer .

[Walsingham]

Great thoughts, hgentlemen. I particularly like leaving a bobytrapped eldster in the front parlour, but sadly have no grandparents left besides my gradfather and since he already fought for six years for his country I think it would be churlish to make any further demands on his time.

 

I agree that strong doors are a high priority. I'm going to also go with new tough double-glazing on the windows. Active IR 7-12nm external, tinkle sensors on the windows, motion sensors and microphones internally feeding to a bayesian alarm controller, triggering an audible alarm and remote dialling of preset numbers. And a pig on a piece of string.

 

Boobytrapping stuff sounds quite interesting, although it would have to be plausibly deniable. I'm pretty sure a UK court would award damages to the thief!

[thepixiesrock]

Man, someone with a a system as good as that must have some pretty good stuff hiding in there.

[Enoch]

I'd avoid the deathtraps. English courts haven't looked very kindly on that sort of behavior.

[Walsingham]

Man, someone with a a system as good as that must have some pretty good stuff hiding in there.

 

Or knows several techies, and has access to fresh doughnuts and real ale.

[Gfted1]

Man, someone with a a system as good as that must have some pretty good stuff hiding in there.

 

Or knows several techies, and has access to fresh doughnuts and real ale.

 

I think he's wording what a potential thief would be thinking while gazing at the Fort Knox that your house became. Also see Pidesco's example.

[Gorgon]

I don't know what it's like in England, but here the best response times from a security firm or the police are never enough to stop determined professionals robbing the well off neighbourhoods.

 

Video surveilance might help identify the intruder after the fact, but advertising it might also make your house more attractive in the first place.

[Moatilliatta]

I don't know what it's like in England, but here the best response times from a security firm or the police are never enough to stop determined professionals robbing the well off neighbourhoods.

I remembering the TV having a program on those. The answer was that it was mostly to try and scare the thief away rather than actually stopping him.

I personally favor the idea of using good lock, since professionals will probably be able to get through anyway, and might very well, as Pidesco pointed out, be more attracted to the fort knox type of house.

 

Granted I have no experience with security as I have always lived in quiet neighbourhoods, but, I do remember that the people who get robbed a lot, are always the ones flaunting their wealth, just something to keep in mind.

[Walsingham]

I had already grasped the importance of not looking too snazzy. But thank you for pressing the point in case I hadn't. It is important. However the whole point is that with IR, tremblers, mics and motion sensors you don't really show much of a profile. Unless the burglars have IR themselves, in which case I say points for effort.

[Gorgon]

Heres something used to great effect by shops : upon triggering of the alarm a smoke machine is also automatically triggered, filling the air and making visibility nill. Now the robbers cant coordinate and make effective use of the time they have before the cops show up.

Edited February 7, 2008 by Gorgon

[Atreides]

A loud alarm that goes off usually would encourage burglars to leave, but not to break in in the first place. A katana does the latter.

[Tigranes]

A katana goes very well with a pipe.

[Reinoc]

Have you thought about hiring Macaulay Culkin?

[tarna]

Wals, what about adding a recorded sound of a BIG dog barking to a sound sensor? When someone knocks on your door or makes some other sound ( ie...attach recording to motion sensors on porch ), Big Dog goes into action. All the benefits without the need for a pooper-scooper!

If you are willing and able to 'High-Tech' it, don't go half way. :wink: Active yet 'passive' and the door-kickers don't even bother activating the rest of your system. You can even let Gramps stay home with his sherry. :wink: