Posted: 4/12/2005 1:26:13 PM EDT
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Is it possible to secure an exterior door to prevent a home invasion, even a battering ram. When my wife and I are out of the house everything is just stuff. But when I am at work and she is home, my whole life is there. Thanks, Tim |
| If someone wants to get in, their going to. You can make your door as strong as possible, but what about your windows? Still not fool proof, but have you considered a monitored alarm system that covers all doors/windows and motion sensors inside and motion lights outside your home? |
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Build a door out of oak, and make it about 3" thick. It'll dress up real nice and be super functional as well. Then you can adapt any hinge and locking mechanisms you desire. I have a friend back in St. Louis and the cops came to his parent's house for his brother while they were away. The house was kinda old and had this big, thick oak door. His brother was a biker and was wanted on a failure to appear for a weapons charge. The cops tried a no-knock and had one of those battering rams that looks like a fence post hammer with long handles. The lock was nothing special at all. But the door and the hinges were REAL beefy. They kinda beat the shit out of the door, but NEVER got in. They ended up going around back and caught him trying to leave that way. And guess what? THE COPS DIDN'T SHOOT THIER DOGS!! |
They missed? |
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Have a look at ProtecDoor from Webb Security. I bought mine a few years ago. It's an alluminum alloy pipe that has a U shapped fitting on one end that sinches up under the door knob and a flat semi-triangular fitting on the other end. You just wedged it up under the door knob and give the bottom a gentle nudge with your foot effectively barricading the door. Now I realize it may not stop a determine group of people with a battering ram but atleast it will give you enough time to get to a firearm and dial 911. Of cours this only works if the door opens inward. |
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A lot of good ideas have been presented so far. When re-enforcing a door, remember that it's only as strong as it's weakest point. This means that you can throw up a solid oak, metal, etc. door, but it'll come crashing down if it's secured with weak hinges and locks. Stop by Lowes or Home Depot. Troy posted a thread recently on a set of security screen doors that he purchased. I liked the idea so much that I'm adding a set to my own place. They'll make a great addition to a re-enforced main door (and rear door, too). Make sure that the windows are secured. Unless you're going to spring for the latest and greatest in bullet-resistant glass, you're just going to have to resign yourself to the fact that windows are going to remain a weak link. However, steel shutters that are closed and locked each evening can help "plug the hole". Motion-sensitive flood lights are a must. Pretty self-explanitory. Add an intercom system to the front door. You should definitely have a peep hole in the front door, covered from the inside with a swinging "block" so that no one can see in. If you can afford it, add at least two security cameras to the home: one at the front door and one at the rear. Have a small television set near the door, hardwired to the camera so that when someone knocks you can make visual confirmation and ask what they want via the intercom. Get a dog. You don't need to buy Cujo: just a little yapper not much larger than a cat. The mouthier the better. It'll keep your wife's lap warm at night/during the day and bark like crazy when someone enters your property. The little bastards have great hearing. Get a dedicated wife gun that she picks out and is comfortable with. It doesn't matter if it's a Kel Tec .32, a .500 Magnum or a phase plasma rifle as long as it is something she picks out and is comfrotable with. If she's the one to pick it out she's much more likely to think of it as "hers". That way, she's much more likely to actually train with it. Spendy? Yup. I've covered most of tthat and more. ...but what's your family worth? |
I thought my wife would have an "Aaaaaw!That's so sweet!" moment and make me feel like a turd when I read this to her. To my absolute surprise, she said,"Aaaw, my wife is my everything and I'm so pussywhipped." and then she stuck her finger in her mouth and made some gagging noises.. I told her that I would make THAT into a Hallmark card for her..dang I wasn't expecting that reaction at all! Sorry, dude! |
That's pretty lame that your wife views timoshea's desire to protect hearth and home as being "pussywhipped". |
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As pointed out, the house is only as strong as its weekest link. I would bet the weekest link will be ground floor windos - on brick and your in. I think security windows with reinforced mutons might be available (since bars are very frowned upon in most neighborhoods. Next is probably doors, then door hinges and frames. That said, a couple minutes and a sawall will get through quite a few walls. Good Luch, personal I would start with reinforcing the windows, door frame hinges and doors. Another idea is the safe room. On the unreasonable side. I knew a property that came for sale that basically was a 5 acre lake. Always joked that building a house in the center of it would be pretty secure - 100 yard wide mote might slow burglars down. |