Deterring would be Intruders

Tygermoth

We live in a row of six semi detached cottages on a rural lane.

We are the only ones not been done over. It worries me.

The windows here are large paned leadlights where all you would need to do is break the pane nearest the handle and 'bobs yer unkle' your in to the house. Sadly the way the frame is engineered means you cant put a lock on it. The back doors are old wood and glass doors. These things cant be changed.

Just to confirm what the last poster two of the six we re-burgled 3 months later after the insurance paid out.

We have a further problem that one of the houses on the end had a home buisness. As such our private lane will have trannie vans coming and going all the time. The police said that the burgarlars had used this as cover to watch the houses - that freaked me out.

When we had that little spat of snow i went out to check the chickens and there was footprints walking round the house to peep through the gap in the front window, then the side then the larder window. I was in and no one knocked on the door.

As me and the OH work its a case of when, not if.

We dont have anything, and I mean anything on show in the living room. There is no tv/radio/hifi in there at all. We have photos of every room of the house showing what we have for the insurer (not that we have much at all!) and it stored off site so it could be accessed of the pc is stolen.

CH27

*Lucky* wrote: »

You may wonder why I am posting in the middle of the night.

I can't sleep. I live on my own and came home last night to a burglary. Every single room is ransacked.

The police have been here. Forensics are coming tomorrow. I was told there was no chance of getting any of my property back.

3 years ago I came out of a long term relationship and have spent the time getting a place of my own and fixing it up myself. I don't have many valuables or even much furniture yet and I didn't have contents insurance cover.

I have some of the security measures that have been mentioned. The police advised I get an alarm.

Oh hun how awful for you.

FatVonD

Don't leave anything in your shed that could be used to gain access. Our burglar attempted to punch his way through our PVC back door with our garden shears. Luckily we came home and disturbed him but it cost a fortune to get the door replaced.

Next door's teenager had heard the commotion and armed her self with a knife in case it was someone breaking into their house but didn't think to call the Police :mad:

cherub1965

its really quiet where i am situated, ideal for somebody to watch as there is a park with a dog area situated right by mine, am on a corner of a row so access to back is easy.
i have 6' fences, the concrete base,wooden panel type,very sturdy. along the top of it we have put strips of carpet grip,with all the tacks in and a few extra nails ,one every foot or so,also have it along top of the 6' wooden gate,just creosote them when doing the fence and you cant see them reaqlly.police were here looking for an escaped car thief and i thought they might tell us off for it because you arent supposed top have stuff like that i believe. they didnt say a word. we have trellis with a spikey plant growing up it on top of a small concrete wall which is a small shed from adjacent property,anti vandal paint mixed with oil on top of that.
am on my own a lot due to hubbys job but i never turn every light in the house off. i leave a lamp on in the living room some nights, other times i leave the spare bedroom light on,or the kitchen light. i also have a jack russell and encourage him to bark at the slightest noise. he wouldnt bite somebody but he makes a hell of a racket.
i've heard venetian blinds, not vertical are a deterent aswell. i have them on all downstairs windows and drop and close them at night.i just have nets during the day.old house, vertical blinds lok awful. nobody could see into mine day or night to tell if there is anyone in or not.
we do use the garage for storage, all the gardening gear aswell. car doesnt fit in it so we got dad to stop the up and over door from opening and blanking it off inside and we have a steel plate on the side door but painted so it doesnt look out the ordinary to attract attention.

*Lucky*

Cherub,
What do you mean by a steel plate on the side door? Do you mean the gate to a side passageway? What kind of steel plate? How big and what does it do?
The burglars broke my latch off with the padlock still locked. When they applied a wrench the screws gave way in the softwood fence post. I'm looking to make it more secure but not sure how.
I'm not sleeping well since it happened.

*Lucky*

I am thinking of your carpet grippers idea or barbed wire at the top.
But I don't want to harm wildlife. I suppose if it is 6ft high then the foxes won't jump it but what about domestic cats?

yvonne13_2

OP do you get animals in the garden as the motion lights and camera might go of regular during the night, this kept happening to me as a blinking hedgehog kept walking up and down all night, tee hee

tidus

Those who have been broken into, how was entry achieved?

We have a new build, so up to date upvc windows kept locked downstairs all the time, and metal skin doors with 3 point locks front and back. I assume they would be difficult to get past and haven't so far bothered with an alarm or any other security features except motion sensor lights. Am I being complacent?

1886

My Dad has got a rotweiller/german shepherd cross. He never has any problems, even the door to door sellers don`t come down the drive anymore


:rotfl: