Fortifying your house

[expvideo]

Unless he is a convict, or is currently engaged in an illegal activity that would result in a conviction then it is his right as am American Citizen.

I am not trying to sound anti-LEO, but rather anti-Police state and brown shirts.

I'm anti police state also, but that doesn't mean I'm fortifying my door from battering rams. I'm not arguing that what he is asking to do is illegal, because it is within his rights. I am just pointing out that I think the OP is lieing about his intentions.

 

[coloradokevin]

I'm sure it is fun to talk about living in a bunker, but for most of us it represents a lot of unnecessary expense and trouble.

^I agree completely^

Every security measure can be defeated. Bank vaults can be breached given enough skill, time, and proper tools. Security measures simply buy you time, and there is a way around every piece of protection you could come up with. As such, you should seriously consider how much security your situation really requires!

Furthermore, doors don't always go down as easily as the movies might make you believe. I've kicked a number of doors in my career... A couple of them went with a few good kicks from me (175lbs), whereas others stood up to our bigger guys (250lbs+) kicking on them for several minutes. The doors that took the greatest beating were often just solid wood doors that were well-built. For that matter, even breaching equipment doesn't guarantee success on the first strike!

There is always a weak link in the chain, and a determined burglar will exploit that link. A large number of burglaries occur through windows, too. The odds of a home invasion robbery are much more slim than the odds of a burglary, and you need to ask yourself why the criminal would be so interested in getting into your house when you are there (the vast majority of home invasions that I've personally investigated had some sort of drug involvement).

If you want some additional security, consider a steel outside security door, as someone previously mentioned in this thread. Those doors are actually relatively tough to defeat without breaching tools, as they simply can't be kicked, and can easily be keyed on both sides of the door. But, you have to ask yourself if you'd also want "burglar bars" on all of your windows as well (because a window becomes a weak link when the door is reinforced)! Still, a steel security door like this will certainly buy you a bit of extra time if you are home.

And, remember, EVERY security measure can be defeated! I've personally seen burglar bars and security doors ripped right out of the wall by a couple of burglars we dealt with around here a couple of years ago... They'd just hook a tow chain around the bars, then pull with their truck. In one instance they even ripped out half of the wall! Seems like more effort than it is worth, given the number of unsecured homes in the area, but it can and does happen in rare instances!

 

[WardenWolf]

You underestimate the strength of a solid core wood exterior door

Well been that route. Takes 5 kicks, but they too come down. The steel frame held, deadbolt turned and split the door, and the deadbolt reinforcing plate. Only thing I have not attempted yet is a outward opening door. THAT would not be possible without a breaching tool.

My grandfather had an interesting solution. His front door is a double door, with the second door originally anchored with just 2 small latches. Of course, this is a rather weak arrangement in an otherwise strong wood door. What he did was put a metal reinforcing bar in, attached to the steel frame, running from top to bottom. The bar is positioned such that it would also prevent the deadbolt from breaking through the second door.

He also used epoxy in the screw heads on his deadbolts, and modified his hinges with pins going through the plate and into the frame that would hold the door in place if the main pins were removed. All his deadbolts were dual cylinder, too, and in some cases the same key that opened it from the inside wouldn't open it from the outside. He put wrought iron security bars on most windows, and the house itself was made of block. He even modified his sliding door so it couldn't be lifted off the track while locked.

Lesson learned: you've got NOTHING on a retired engineer.

Rest in peace, Grandfather.

 

[Zundfolge]

If you're going to go to the expense of 3 foot thick reinforced concrete walls, 12" thick polycarbonate for windows and bank vault doors for exterior doors you might as well spend the money to buy a remote piece of property and some electronic surveillance equipment. You'll be happier, more comfortable and spend less money.

Hell, old missile silos are available as homes. http://www.silohome.com/ http://www.missilebases.com/

My point being the effort and expense to seriously harden your home could be put to better use. Unless you really like living in a bunker (there's a fine line between a bunker and a prison).

If your fear is home invasion robberies then some reasonable reinforcement to the front door augmented with some electronic surveillance equipment will give you time to arm yourself and/or get to your saferoom. This should keep you safe until you save up and move the hell out of Beirut or Detroit or whatever sh*thole you live in.

 

[HeavenlySword]

The house I am currently living in has a metal door. I kicked it hard and while the door was unscratched, the frame was ripped out of the wall all the way.

Btw, I am a below-average height, stocky build ~150 pound guy, maybe more in shape than average.

Well, you can live in a house that looks normal from the outside, and then NOT live in the middle of nowhere.

Besides, most missile silos are damp and in need of some serious restoration work.

 

[qwert65]

For the money some of you are paying for security, a couple of well trained dogs would be a better bargain(unless you don't like animals/travel a lot)

You can take them with you on most trips, they act as alarms, are a huge deterrent factor, ppl don't think you are a nut(as long as you don't tell them they are trained to defend), and if you're worried about buying time 3 or more dogs can buy you a lot of time, they are too quick to shoot more then one(remember they are inside the house) if the perp is alone, further in the insanley remote chance you have multiple attackers they can spread out. also they are enjoyable companions

 

[Killian]

Doing a google search of "Home invasion" and "broke down the door" yields some pretty interesting stories.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

HeavenlySword: "The house I am currently living in has a metal door. I kicked it hard and while the door was unscratched, the frame was ripped out of the wall all the way."

Wow. Kudos for realistic testing to destruction.

For all those who consider dogs some sort of home defense item -- while they may, and probably will, alert you to the presence of a stealthy intruder, they add nothing to defense. I've yet to meet the dog that can fire a gun. Dogs discourage prowlers; they do not defeat armed assailants.

 

[Killian]

Doing a search for "home invasion" and "cut the phone lines" also yields interesting stories.

An excerpt from one:

According to Bartlett police reports, the family, who lives near Rivercrest Elementary, was awakened around 2:30 a.m. by the home security alarm.

Four men had pried open the security door and kicked in the back door to gain entry.
Taken from here: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/26/home-invasion-robbery-bartlett/

The alarm went off and yet these guys still kept coming. That's scary.

 

[LT1coupe]

We have the adjustable door braces on both exterior doors. They are Masterlock brand we bought at Lowes ~$16 each. I think they'd be very effective for a kick burgular. I don't think there is any way they'd get in with the 1st kick so they loose the element of suprise. There have been a few home invasions lately with as many as 5 perps storming through the front door. I wear of have something on the table beside me with at least 9 rounds.
A good alarm system is not very expensive & the wireless sytems are super easy to set up. I have a monitored system now, but the old system dialed our cellphones. No monitoring fee that way

 

[WardenWolf]

The alarm went off and yet these guys still kept coming. That's scary.

If someone remains in my house after the alarm goes off, I'm shooting them on sight unless they have their back to me and aren't yet threatening someone else. If they have ignored a very loud alarm and kept coming, they are obviously prepared for an encounter with the occupants. Therefore I have reason to believe they are armed and reason to feel threatened, which is all that is necessary under local law.

If I do catch someone with their back to me, the drill is:

"Freeze! Hands on your head! Hands on your head!" followed by "Get down on your knees. Lay flat on the ground with your hands on your head."

Note: depending on location, I may have them move some so they can lie flat down. Once flat down with hands on head, I will call police.

 

[qwert65]

Duke, plz reread my post, esp the part about if you're going to spend the money to turn your house into a bunker you can afford multiple, trained dogs. Then plz look up police dogs, MWD, and schutzhound

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Unless he is a convict, or is currently engaged in an illegal activity that would result in a conviction then it is his right as am American Citizen.

Right, but if someone is trying to keep the cops out, there could be a reason they are expecting the cops to show up at their door, that most likely has nothing to do with a police state.

Of course, at first I just thought it was normal internet over-preparedness.

 

[X-Rap]

I guess for me I don't care if they are cops or crack heads, I would just like to see anybody that wants to assult me and my house to have to work at it enough so I can try to determine who and why they are doing it before lead starts flying.
Most of what I have read sofar focuses on doors and little is said about windows, are they not breakable and easy to breach?

 

[csaws]

Most people trying to break into your house will only try for 1 minute or less. You do not need major fortification in most cases.

 

[El Hombre]

While I am always interested in ways to deter theft & better secure my home, the only thing I will add to this thread is this.

Make sure you can get out. Fast.

Double keyed deadbolts and various cross bars offer good security, but please make sure you, your kids, your wife, can get out of the house quickly in case of fire. In the middle of the night, in a smoke filled room, it can be difficult to find a key & operate a keyed deadbolt or a complicated bar system. Keep this in mind on any modifications you make.

Also think about the necessity of 911 responders such as medical personel to access your home if need be. One reason why alarms and "noisy" entry may be preferable to steel reienforced concrete "no entry" situations.

 

[MostlyHarmless]

In the OP a question is asked regarding the use of brackets and 2x4s to bar a door.

My family has a cabin in a remote area where burglary has been a problem for decades. We use just such an arrangement when we are gone for all the doors and windows except one. It has worked well and repelled several concerted efforts at burglary and redirected a couple to other means of entrance (a smoke door we thought was out of reach in one case, the one door that locks with a key in another).

It is possible to get the brackets to blend in by painting them and using some thought and care in the installation process. You may have to shim them out, doing so in an attractive way then becomes important. The bar, too, can be painted a matching or contrasting color.

This is one item in the bag of tricks and has its uses. People who go housebreaking are not a sophisticated bunch, by and large, and rarely devote much analysis or planning to their break-ins. They find a method that works quickly on a wide variety of houses and they use it.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

It is possible to fortify your house without making it look like a bunker.
The only catch is that it could end up costing a lot of money.

Bullet proof window film from 3M:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/...E3E02LECFTDQGGG7_nid=NCDJ14LQVPbeT4DCJBL6BVgl

Bullet proof fiberglas panels to armor your walls (goes under your drywall):

http://www.armorcore.com/

Steel security mesh to keep people from busting through walls (goes under your drywall):

http://amico-securityproducts.com/mesh.htm

Bullet resistant doors:

http://www.republicdoor.com/doors/bullet.htm

You could spend thousands on all of the above and all some bad guy would have to do is stick a gun to your head as you're standing outside unlocking your front door...

 

[evan price]

Interesting anecdote: When I bought my home, all it had were the 1/4 turn spring locks on the knobs, no deadbolts, and the seller didn't even know where any keys were. People usually left their keys in the ignition of their car. This was in 1998.

The back door was a hollow-core 1970's remodel door with the three little windows going diagonally downwards. It had been damaged and sloppily repaired and it was obviously crap. I did add a deadbolt and new hardware with keylocks.

A few years ago I bought one of those foam-filled prehung steel doors with a half-moon light window. When I went to remove the old door, I pulled off the interior and exterior trim- and the ENTIRE old door & frame literally fell out of the wall. Whoever had installed it years ago had set it in the wall and then "secured" it by nailing up the trim. NOTHING was holding the door and frame to the wall. NOTHING.

When I installed the new door I installed deadbolts with long bolts, and routed out the door frame to get to the studs and installed steel pockets for the deadbolts to strike into, secured to the studs with 4" #8 deck screws. I replaced all the hinge screws with 6" #8 deck screws to be sure they went into both of the 2x's that formed the door's rough opening. I use metal wraparound reinforcing plates on the door's lockset holes to resist the 2x2 frame from splitting out when kicked in.

Then I did the same for the front door. New doublepaned windows with security locks and night latches. An alarm system. Lots of motion lights. I know my neighbors and they know me. Plus I have dogs.

The thing to remember is this: If someone wants in, they will GET IN. The trick is to make them not WANT to get in.
Keep your valuables out of sight. Lock your windows. Lock your doors. Secure your ladders and gear left outside.
Those ADT yard signs really do work.
Even if you don't have an alarm system, if you take care to keep your place secure and stick one of those in a visible spot it will deter thieves.

 

[R3dundantC]

"I have a certain amount of paranoia..." - tigger2

Its not 'paranoia', you're just at a heighten state of alert. The zeitgeist of the United States right now certainly, in my mind, permits it.

 

[george29]

My home is basically hardened, but the house I am living in currently is not. It does have a good alarm system that I set at night on "Stay Mode" at night and my two dogs sleep with me and I hope will at the least growl giving me time to respond with either my SBH or Mossberg.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

The way I read it, the OP is concerned about civil unrest. To me, this means riots, looting, acquiring food, etc..... With the current economic/social issues, I don't think it is unreasonable at all to fill your walls with rebar and cement, use solid steel 1" thick doors, etc. I think the whole 2x4 and bracket thing is a minimalist plan, and by all means do it! I for one, at the first sign of this sort of trouble, will head for the hills so to speak. I can support MY family from what God gave us. My family has a large piece of land VERY secluded in northern MN. And I know how to preserve the foods I hunt and gather. While I may not have enough ammo to go into battle, I certainly have enough to provide meat for several lifetimes.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Just an additional thought: the tighter you make your home, the less it breathes. All sorts of fortifications tend to restrict air and moisture circulation, which can encourage mold. You also cannot easily move your fortifications to a new abode. It's like the old children's story of the garden snail who made his shell so tough and so beautiful that he could no longer carry it around. Said snail starved.

 

[drgrenthum]

"Also, many here have suggested an alarm system, magnetic locks, lighting systems etc. All fine ideas...as long as the criminals play by the rules. However, I will never forget the story I read in the paper about a guy living in the sticks in North Alabama who was home invaded. They didn't know he was home, but as a matter of course the crooks cut his electric line and phone line to the house before they did anything else. They then leisurely began to break in. That was when he realized he had a problem. Before then, he just thought the electricity had gone out, as often happens in rural areas. Tried to call the cops...no phone. (This was before widespread cellphones...back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.) He, being an Alabaman, grabbed his shotgun, confronted them at the door and shot one of them. The other surrendered and he made him lay down in the yard. They then waited for a couple of hours until a neighbor came home, saw him standing over a couple of men in the yard with a shotgun and called the police from their home.

So if your alarm or outside lights are based on electricity, or relies on using a phone system that is vulnerable to having lines cut, and if all this is accessible to someone standing outside your home, then you may not be as secure as you think."

Killian,

I do sales for ADT and everything you say here is true for the typical alarm system, but I sale and install products for just such these cases. In fact i can design something for about any situation, it all depends on how much money one can spend and how paranoid/prepared they are.

In the case you brought up for $199 he could have had a cell backup in side a lock box in his house. As soon as the line went down ADT would have been notified and as soon as the alarm went off the police would have been notified as well as his listed emergency contacts (bubba with is .50, maybe). While true the alarm systems do run off the house voltage all of the ADT products and probably most of our competitors have a battery backup that will last for at least 4hours with most of them having batteries that will last 8 hours. While 8 hours isnt long in this case it would have been enough and we can expand the battery capacity almost infinitely. Just depends on how much money and space you have.

As for what some have mentioned about popping out windows that have alarms on them it depends on the type of contact used. I'd say it is possible with a wireless contact but highly unlikely with a wired one. With a wireless one as long as it s in range of the system and it stays affixed to the window it isnt going off. With a wired contact more then likely the wire going from the panel to the contact will snap while trying to take out the window and trigger the alarm.

I am not saying ADT or other alarms are the end all in security. In fact i have never meet a more fun loving group of gun nuts then at ADT. However alarms have their place in an overall plan for home security. For $25 a month its nice to know when i am away from the house, if someone slips in i and the police will be notified.

 

[rbernie]

I do not yet have cell capability for my home alarm. However, when my phone line goes dead, my internal control panels go insane - lots of loud beeping designed to signal the loss of capability. It is an unmistakable clue that something is amiss.

The fact that the control panel beeping sets the dogs to barking doesn't hurt much, either.