Contemplating home security setups

It is likely that I will be purchasing my first home in the next year, and been contemplating home security. There is a good chance I will be purchasing a home in a new subdivision, but might be able to make some minor modifications during construction. The area I would be living in has a moderate level of crime, mostly theft. For what it is worth, I have been around THR for a long time, but only registered today.

It seems that there are three common scenarios: Home invasion/burglary while the resident is home, burglary while the resident is not home, and end of the world scenarios. I am only thinking of the first two.

Assume that the house is a new 3 bedroom house constructed using traditional American construction techniques.

Exterior Entry Doors - Solid core doors for front, rear, and garage doors. Reinforced frames (4 inch screws, heavy strike plates, etc). Ultimate Lock or something similar.

Exterior Garage Door - My only thought on this is to have one of the pre-braced hurricane doors put in. These weigh several times what a normal door does and do not buckle very easily. This seems unrealistic and unnecessary though.

Exterior Windows - Something like shattersafe on the glass, including either a semi-reflective or tinted look (more to discourage "window shopping").

Master Bedroom - Steel core door similar to the front door, reinforced frame, etc.

Master Bedroom Closet - I had the idea to make this into a safe room/gun storage room. It is also the room I am the most uncertain about. It seems like it would be a good idea to have the room wall made out of brick, steel, etc. The door would also be along the same lines as the other heavier doors. I imagine this room to be more for disaster shelter and secure storage (a safe place to leave valuables when on vacation).

Electronic Security - Security cameras (mostly inside, a few outside if I can completely conceal them) tied into a DVR in the master closet. This is more for monitoring strange noises and whatnot and catching anyone that does break in.

Some kind of actual security system of motion sensors, etc. It would be great if I could find a way to tie this into an alert to my cell phone, allowing me to remotely log in while at work.

Further Thoughts - The security plan is to discourage attempts to break in and give me sufficient time to wake up, arm myself, and assess the situation. There are other techniques I could use such reinforcing the walls with plywood or similar material, but this seems a bit extreme when the goal is to buy 30 seconds of time. Some of these ideas would be a higher priority as finances permit, such as the front and rear doors and security system. Others, such as the garage door would be a low priority.

Anyone have any other ideas?

iiibdsiil,

All but the reinforced walls of the master closet could be done with a couple hours work on the weekend and with minimal expense. Another thread gave me the idea to put heavily anchored wire mesh behind the drywall of the master closet. That would at least mean that someone would spend at least five minutes trying to get in.

I do plan on having an inspector or three out before closing regardless of what I get.

Smaller cities and towns (<15000 in this case) that are isolated from major metropolitan areas in the West often have widespread low-level property crime. Unlike larger cities it is not possible to move a couple of blocks and be in the "good" neighborhood.

In my case I am a single guy, so it is not really a major problem. I worry more about the things which are important to me (not the least of which is a sense of safety in my home) being taken away from me.

The experience of living in half a dozen states and about 15 different locations in the past 25 years have taught me this.

I don't think you understand what I was getting at. A smaller town does not have any areas that are protected from crime by DISTANCE as you see in larger cities. Larger cities tend to have buffer zones of several miles around the bad neighborhoods where they gradually get better and crime rates drop. In smaller cities even the good neighborhoods are buffer zones due to their proximity to bad neighborhoods.

I am well aware of exactly what my wants and needs are in home buying. Every house has pros and cons. Neighborhood is only one aspect.

Anyway, all of this is irrelevant to the topic here.

> Garage

Very true. A lot of this depends on which place I would end up getting.

> Recorder and monitor

I plan on that. In additional, I would like to set the recorder to upload stills to an offsite server I already have. Something like 1 frame every 30 seconds from each view with images rotated out every X days as a last chance backup.

> Mesh

I ran across a link somewhere here that goes to a company that makes a mesh specifically for this purpose (though the fasteners are probably more important). Unless something like that is ridiculously expensive I would probably just go with it. One house I am looking at is adobe, which would not require any.

> Inspectors

I plan on it. I will probably use two, one for the official inspection and might see about flying a friend of mine out as well (who knows windows, flooring, and roofs better than most inspectors).

Things are just not built for that level of assault. Typically buildings are built to withstand mother nature and "normal" loads / forces....they are not typically constructed to prevent disassembly. Constructing a house to prevent disassembly would be very costly.

Click to expand...

Correct. In my first post I mentioned that I did not intend to reinforce the bedroom walls or other areas as it is both expensive and does not stop an assault. There are two scenerios I am considering.

When I am not home: My hope is to create a security system that will in some way provide an alert and photo to my cell phone if someone does get in. This way it is only a matter of calling the police. Hopefully they would never even make it into the house.

When I am home: These improvements are designed to buy me enough time to wake up, assess the situation, get my glasses, and arm myself. Nothing more.

One of the houses I am looking at is made of adobe, which actually is strong enough to prevent quick disassembly.

9MMare,

I assume that was not directed at me, the OP?

Clay,

The one I am looking at* is solid adobe. It was built by hand about 15 years ago by an individual (yes, if I got it there would be some serious inspections done). One of the positive aspects of it is its durability. Not having to worry as much about rounds going through walls (even interior walls are adobe brick), solid walls, etc is a pretty nice feature. I am quite fascinated by it as I had never seen an adobe house before.


*I should hear back if I got the job in the area in the next week at which point I will be looking more seriously at specific houses.