I Hate Not Being Safe Anymore

[blue edge]

The link does not work????

[Chills1994]

there are also lockpicking forums. so I suppose any would be thug can go peruse what the experts say, figure out where to buy tools or how to make them, and head out picking locks and robbing people blind.

BUT, I think most crooks are too lazy or not sophisticated enough to do something like that. A landscape brick or rock thrown through a window, or a door's pane is a lot easier, and like somebody else said here already, more fun to do.

It probably is a lot easier to just kick in a door or to jimmy it with a prying tool or long screwdriver.

Just some tips for added protection:

1. Install 3" long shiney steel screws through the strike plates of both the latch and deadbolt. These longer screws should go through the jamb, some shims and then at least into the jack stud.

2. Install at least one 3" long shiney steel screw into each jamb half of the door hinges. Again through the hinge leaf, the jamb, shims, and then into the jack stud.

3. Do not use (black) drywall screws. That's why I said shiney above. Drywayll screws have been heat treated and are more brittle.

4. If you are having a house built, or retrofitting a new door frame, up size the the width of the jack studs on either side of the door jamb. If you have 2 X 4 walls (3.5" wide really), take 2, 2 X 6's and rip it down to 4" wide, then butt the drywall up to these beefier jack studs. The door's casing will cover the unsightly gap, the new jack studs, and the exposed drywall edge. That extra 1/2" gives more meat for those 3" long screws to be backed up by. If an intruder tries to kick in the door, it will require more effort and make more noise. Southern yellow pine might be better for this than the typical whitewood or SPF 2 X's used for framing. Better yet, might be the newer engineered wood products, glue lam, LVL? Regular wood likes to split along the grain.

5. Before installing new door jamb, mortise out the back side of the jamb for a 1/8" thick steel or aluminum plate, which has been drilled out for the latch and deadbolt. Most jambs nowadays are made out of (finger jointed) pine or poplar. Reinforcing the back of the jamb with the metal plate helps keep the whole jamb from letting go when the door gets kicked.

6. There are other door and door locking mechanisms out there. One is a "blade" about 2 to 3 foot long. When the lock is activated the blade slides into a slot milled into the door jamb. This blade has more surface area to distribute and resist the kicking forces than a deadbolt does.

7. Nothing is stronger than a commercial steel door in a steel jamb. While ugly, they might be the best option for doors that are in less visible areas of the house. Or if you are building a safe room.

+1 on getting a dog, or at least adding the appearances of having a dog (e.g. food and water bowls, dog toys, chain or cable)

Also, camera systems have becom so inexpensive now and so easy to install. I would suggest little stickers or signs saying that a web based surveillance system is in use, even though it might not actually sending video to some website. The nice idea about that whole web based thing is you could be anywhere in the world and watch your house(if you have the correct URL, password and username entered that is).

Edited October 24, 2006 by Chills1994

[Scooter]

One of the first, I believe, widely distributed information on the internet was the MIT lockpicking paper and that was back in the mid 90's. Almost everyone read through that. So the information is out there.

No matter what you do, there will always be a way to get in. Just watch the Discovery Channel show. Last week they showed them yanking a skylight off with almost no effort.

[bierman]

In 11 years in law enforcement, I never saw a lock picked to make entry. They either kick in the door, break a window, go through the roof/wall or find an unlocked door or window. Most of the burglars we dealt with were concerned with speed and nothing else. The bottom line is make your house harder to get into than your neighbors and the bad guys will most likely pass you by.