Great Cheap Ways To Make Your House Safer Hunt

ramborai1987

You could mention that burglar alarms reduce your insurance premium so it should be able to offset the cost over a certain number of years. i think there is a certain type of standard that is better than others just cant remember the name.

One other top tip though is a PIR light on the front of your house. It should detect someone in range of a few metres from your house and light up. I can usually see it light up from my bedroom window.

Canucklehead

Good morning: Check out the home security advice on the Home Office website... http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/burglary/burglaryminisite08.htm

HTH

Canucklehead

Fred_Bear_2

When I had an ADT monitored alarm fitted I assumed I would get a good reduction on my (Halifax) buildings & contents insurance but they quoted me a reduction of only 50p per annum!

vivatifosi

I was burgled in my old house by an inept burglar who was last seen pushing his getaway car up my street.

He'd kicked in my front door before stealing nothing of any value. As the locking point on the wooden door frame was vulnerable, we were advised by the police to take a long metal strip, bend it around the locks and screw it into the wood at various points in the frame. Or alternatively hang the door so it opens outwards. Much harder to kick a door in that way, though I'm now out of Avon scented flowerpots so he may choose not to come back.

theoldmiser

I don't have one yet, but I'm planning on buying two steel doors for my house. I currently have PVC ones, which are half double glazed, and I'd feel more secure having proper steel doors with 13 point (or whatever it is) locking.
Has anybody here any experience with these doors? You can find them on Google, they are about £1,000 each. I know it sounds like a lot, but a PVC door is normally £500 odd, and steel ones are almost bomb proof.

I would also recommend getting window grilles - you can get sliding ones that slide back out of the way for when you want to look out of the window. I can't imagine any burglar will see a house with window grilles and a steel door, and waste their time trying it - their chances of getting caught are hundreds of times greater than with any other house. They'd have to break the glass just to get at the grilles.

Other than that, I always leave lights on when I'm out, (or in, for that matter) - my hallway light and upstairs bathroom light are always on, and I have a curtain behind the front door that prevents anybody seeing inside.
Plus I'm normally up till all hours, am an insomniac and wake up at the slightest noise, so generally I'm probably a burglar's worst nightmare...

I realise this thread is about CHEAP ways to make your house safer, but I look at it as an investment in the property, and I'd rather spend £1,000 a year, for five years, and have a house that is virtually burglar proof (meaning they won't even TRY to break in) than have the latest plasma TV and gadgets, etc. I'm not remotely worried about possessions being taken, it's feeling safe in my own home that counts more than anything, and insurance doesn't give you that.

theoldmiser

Another idea I've had, which IS cheap, is to buy garden railings from B&Q, I think they are about £30 each, and fit them to the inside of some of my windows, with some hinges, and then padlock the railing to a hasp on the wall, or for larger windows, just have two that swing shut and are padlocked in the middle. Dirt cheap, nigh on impossible for a burglar to get through, and easy-ish to remove when you move house. The important thing is that a potential burglar can see them from outside and simply won't bother.

Of course, there is a very simple answer to stopping 99.9% of burglaries: get a justice system that actually locks burglars up for ten years per offence, with no let out for good behaviour. The average burglar commits around 200 burglaries a year, and is only convicted for ONE normally, and those 200 burglaries cost US £300,000 in taxpayers' money - the cost of the police, the court system, judges, barristers, solicitors, etc. Prison is a bargain compared to that. I wonder why successive governments have been reducing sentences year upon year, and refusing to build new prisons, and making the ones we already have more like holiday camps?

brookhaven

Many of the pointers mentioned are all very good. The trick is to make your house look occupied when you are away. That means keeping the garden looking neat and tidy - so get someone to mow the lawn if you are away for an extended period.

When using timer lights - use the low energy bulbs - these are less likely to fail than ordinary bulbs (About the only use I can think of for these types of bulbs:-)

If you buy expensive toys (iPods/computers etc etc) dispose of the boxes properly - don't just put them out for the dustmen to collect - remove all your address labels and shred them. Christmas is a time we forget to do this.

Same for any bank statements/ credit card slips etc - shred these too.

Many of us have Smoke alarms - but when was the last time you changed the batteries? Change them every year when the clocks change or on your birthday. Or get the 10 year type - especially if you are not good standing on chairs:-)

HTH

nickweeb

May have already been mentioned but I don't have time to read all 6 pages so far!

http://www.prikka-strip.com/

This will stop someone climbing over a fence without any injury and comes with a little warning sign

Nick

grey_lady

Just bought my first place which is a ground floor flat, so this is all really useful, and im planning on buying timers and a dummy alarm straight away.

Can anyone tell me if there's anything specific i can do for a sliding patio door? its probably where a burgler would be most likely to try to gain access.

Thanks.

beedeedee

Try a piece of metal tube in the door track at the bottom.