Post by Tumbleweed on Sept 7, 2009 10:27:49 GMT -6
When I first moved here I wasn't sure about how safe it was in this neighborhood. It is slightly on the edge of a bit of a rough neighborhood so I had ADT come install the basics and signed a contract for 2 years. Then the contract ran out and I didn't renew it because it turned out to be a nice neighborhood until this last year. We had a neighbor's garage burn down because of some arson. My car got painted with graffiti and at the same time these punks spray painted garbage cans, fences, garages with their gang graffiti, a neighbor teen was mad at her mom and broke my front car window.
Then something very scary happened, which I won't get into here, but we knew we had to beef up security. The total bill came to about $1,000 dollars with $300 of it for the years service.
So this is what we have thus far. Door alerts (two are from the previous ADT installation), window glass break sensors in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. A motion detector (from my previous set-up from ADT) in the basement. A heat sensor in the garage. We will be installing two outdoor wireless cameras this week that are hooked up to our computers so we can monitor anyone hanging around our house plus it will be recording all the time. We really wanted window alerts as well but just on the first floor I have somewhere around 16 windows and each window alert is $100 dollars a pop and that would be $1600! That is outrageous! We are instead looking for a do-it-yourself window alert system or at the very least I think I may add a second lock on each downstairs window just to be safe.
This coming weekend I plan on taking a close look at all the old storm windows. On the front and back of the house there is a mixture of brand new and old but same type storm window that you can open for fresh air with a screen...you know..just normal storms. On the sides of the house remains the really old storms that are all in one piece and just glass. You can swing the whole apparatus open at the bottom for fresh air but there is no screen so we don't use them. I need to make sure all the latches are working on the storms. I need to re-glaze all the window pane glass on the first floor as some of that glass could be removed pretty easily, if they could get by the storm windows, since the glaze has fallen off some of the panes. Overall, the glaze is in bad shape.
One does not realize just how venerable you are until you really feel threatened. I am now wondering why all houses don't have bars on the windows or unbreakable glass. What seems like good sturdy doors now seem flimsy even with dead bolts.
So anyway, if anyone happens to read this I am curious to know what you have done in the direction of making your home secure. Have you ever really taken a close look as where your home may be venerable to burglars? Do you have any kind of a security system in place and do you use it? Did you specifically choose to live in a gated community or a apartment building with security guard?
Then something very scary happened, which I won't get into here, but we knew we had to beef up security. The total bill came to about $1,000 dollars with $300 of it for the years service.
So this is what we have thus far. Door alerts (two are from the previous ADT installation), window glass break sensors in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. A motion detector (from my previous set-up from ADT) in the basement. A heat sensor in the garage. We will be installing two outdoor wireless cameras this week that are hooked up to our computers so we can monitor anyone hanging around our house plus it will be recording all the time. We really wanted window alerts as well but just on the first floor I have somewhere around 16 windows and each window alert is $100 dollars a pop and that would be $1600! That is outrageous! We are instead looking for a do-it-yourself window alert system or at the very least I think I may add a second lock on each downstairs window just to be safe.
This coming weekend I plan on taking a close look at all the old storm windows. On the front and back of the house there is a mixture of brand new and old but same type storm window that you can open for fresh air with a screen...you know..just normal storms. On the sides of the house remains the really old storms that are all in one piece and just glass. You can swing the whole apparatus open at the bottom for fresh air but there is no screen so we don't use them. I need to make sure all the latches are working on the storms. I need to re-glaze all the window pane glass on the first floor as some of that glass could be removed pretty easily, if they could get by the storm windows, since the glaze has fallen off some of the panes. Overall, the glaze is in bad shape.
One does not realize just how venerable you are until you really feel threatened. I am now wondering why all houses don't have bars on the windows or unbreakable glass. What seems like good sturdy doors now seem flimsy even with dead bolts.
So anyway, if anyone happens to read this I am curious to know what you have done in the direction of making your home secure. Have you ever really taken a close look as where your home may be venerable to burglars? Do you have any kind of a security system in place and do you use it? Did you specifically choose to live in a gated community or a apartment building with security guard?