Burglars attempted to enter my house

MountainDave2

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I will think more about the suggestions about securing the door better. 

1- I bought the Yale alarm, suggested here, last week.
2- I bought a Eufy doorbell camera as well.
3- The outside of the house has good lighting even before the attempted burglary. 

4- Since the burglary, we have been leaving the main hallway light on, all night.  We will continue to do that.

5-There is a small guest bedroom that faces the street (on the ground level). In the past, we would close the curtains at night. Since this incident, we are not closing the curtains. 

6- From now on, we will close the curtains about 80 percent (in the guest bedroom) and keep the light on all night. So potential burglars can see the light on, and think someone is up all night in that bedroom.

7- Our driveway can fit 2 cars. We don't own a car. We have family and friends who visit us during the day and evenings, but they rarely stay overnight. 
So most nights our driveway is empty late at night. 
Any ideas about this?

ThisIsWeird

LED bulbs?

Eldi_Dos

At end of driveway but in sight, leave a dog bowl full of water might make any creeps a bit wary.

diveunderthebonnet

I would put the lights that you leave lit on a timer and set them for random times during the night ,fixed lights fool no one BUT if they think someone is up and moving round the house they will go to an easier target and leave you alone.

Mr.Generous

ThisIsWeird said:

FreeBear said:

From what I've seen of filler panels, they just have a foam core, so there is nothing for screws to bite in to. Unless you can get screws long enough to span the full width of the door, I wouldn't bother. But then the locking bar for the multipoint system would get in the way.

The screws would still bite into the inner panel's PVC skin, which must be a few mm thick. To push out the door panel would require some serious wrecking of the panel - the screws themselves are unlikely to shear.

Having seen a few infill panels I would say the screws would not bite into anything more than polystyrene. As the landlord has just purchased a new pvcu door and had it fitted I'd leave it alone.

On the empty driveway front see if any neighbour with 2 cars would like to park one on your drive.

Grumpy_chap

I wonder whether the OP can fit a stair gate in the recess on the inside of the door.  It does not have any inherent strength or security but, should someone trying to push through the central panel of the door again, they will find an obstacle they are not expecting, they will make extra noise and may well be simply minded to leave and go elsewhere.

ThisIsWeird

Mr.Generous said:

ThisIsWeird said:

FreeBear said:

From what I've seen of filler panels, they just have a foam core, so there is nothing for screws to bite in to. Unless you can get screws long enough to span the full width of the door, I wouldn't bother. But then the locking bar for the multipoint system would get in the way.

The screws would still bite into the inner panel's PVC skin, which must be a few mm thick. To push out the door panel would require some serious wrecking of the panel - the screws themselves are unlikely to shear.

Having seen a few infill panels I would say the screws would not bite into anything more than polystyrene. As the landlord has just purchased a new pvcu door and had it fitted I'd leave it alone.

I'm not suggesting the OP actually does this, as it's not their door. I was just pointing out that Ecto's idea was most likely very sound.
Two skins of PVC, screwed through, will be very hard to rip apart in a shearing - sliding - direction, so should significantly help secure the panel if they did this. On the other hand, two such skins pulled directly apart from eachother would, yes, be relatively easy to do.
This does assume that the inner panel has a PVC skin around it's perimeter. If it doesn't - if it's just exposed foam - then fair do's.
Imagine a typical opening window; you could secure it closed using screws in two ways. The first is screwing straight through from its face - that screw could be pulled out relatively easily if the opener is prised open, as it just has to rip the plastic immediately around the screw thread. Now screw through from the side, from the fixed frame into the opener. To open the section now would require the frame to be ripped through sideways, or the screw to be snapped - much stronger.

Mr.Generous

This is what they look like edge on, that image is 3 infill panels. Theseare the reinforced more expensive ones, the cheap ones are purely polystyrene infills. As you can see the material to screw into is very thin, usually 4mm mdf,  and would not work as any kind of security. By the time you put a 2mm screw in - assuming you hit dead center with a pilot hole still only 1mm either side to take any strain.

ThisIsWeird

Mr.Generous said:

This is what they look like edge on, that image is 3 infill panels. Theseare the reinforced more expensive ones, the cheap ones are purely polystyrene infills. As you can see the material to screw into is very thin, usually 4mm mdf,  and would not work as any kind of security. By the time you put a 2mm screw in - assuming you hit dead center with a pilot hole still only 1mm either side to take any strain.

Ah - in that case, nope! Thanks.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

Eurolocks need to have the right length and split (front/back) as the door. Whilst the OP could switch it back the chances of a future door needing the identical size is fairly slim. 

OP said they rent so would need to put the original barrel back if thy left  

DullGreyGuy said:

Stronger lock won't stop them popping the panel out plus being a thumbscrew its easy for them to unlock via the letterbox or by breaking the glass. Always bemuses me people paying for high security locks with zero security because of the thumbscrew which is even quicker to do than snapping off the lock. 

UPVC doors are not great from a security perspective, some have panels that are held in my little more than beading, though others will have reinforcements. They are easy to cut, melt or kick in. Composite are normally a decent step up but are also much more expensive. Ultimately if someone wants in they can get in, most composites won't last more than a minute or two against someone with a large cement cutter (according to a former policeman who used to use them to gain access) 

Yes I agree but it is very easy to bump a door lock, easier than ripping the door apart.