Monday, February 23, 2015

DIY Castle

Your home is your castle.  Castles are fortified.  Is yours?  Home invaders can breach most homes in seconds with a strong kick to the door near the latch.  A home security system is a good idea, but they have serious limitations.  They will call 911 for you.  They will make a loud noise to alert you that someone is already in your house.  This also lets the criminal know that the police are on the way.  This still gives them plenty of time to kill or maim you and steal your stuff.  Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away!  Fortifying you home will either keep the invader from getting in, or at a minimum buy you time to arm yourself and gather your family.

When fortifying your home, you have to consider the weak points, and address those first.  The weakest point is typically the door jamb of your entry doors.  You should have a deadbolt (preferably ANSI grade I).  However, the wood around the throw bolt is flimsy and will not stand up to a strong kick.  You can reinforce the jamb with a kit from Strikemaster (asafehome.net) or EZ Armor (armor concepts.com).  These kits run about $70 and can be purchased from Lowes or Home Depot.  They typically include a long reinforced strike plate that spreads out the force of a kick over and larger area and long screws that go all the way into the studs, not just the trim.


You can also make your own strike plate if you are handy and have the right tools.  You can buy a 1.5" x 36" x 1/8" piece of steel from your Lowes or Home Depot.  You will need a drill (drill press is better) and a die grinder.  A Dremel will work, but it will take a long time and you will go through several grinding stones.  The holes for the latch and throw bolt don't have to be perfect, because you can put your existing latch plates back over them.  Notice that the screws are off center so they are closer to the center of the stud.



The next weak points are the hinges and the door material around the deadbolt.  You can replace the hinge screws with 3" long screws.  You really only need to replace 2 on each side of each hinge, the ones closer to the center of the door or door frame.  You can use deck screws, or better yet, you can buy case hardened  screws from grainger.com, item# 4VYK3.  You can buy fingernail polish in a color that matches your hardware to touch up the screw heads.  Be careful not to screw them in to tight, as you can warp your door frame.



You can reinforce the door around the deadbolt with a door reinforcer from Lowes or Home Depot.  Some strike plate kits like the ones mentioned above come with door reinforcing hardware.


Double doors are trickier to reinforce.  Strikemaster makes a french door kit that runs about $90.  You can also add a Nightlock device from nightlock.com for about $40.  These work on double or single doors, but they are a form of passive security - they only work if you remember to slide it into place.


Another consideration is the garage.  Do you have a car parked outside with a garage door opener on the visor?  You might want to do something about that.  Also, the emergency release pull rope on your garage door should be removed.  Thieves have been known to use a coat hanger to fish out this rope at the the top of the door and then pull it to gain access to your garage.  You can make your own tool from a coat hanger to pull the emergency release if you ever have a power outage.

Sliding glass doors are another weak point.  Older sliding doors can be lifted up and removed from the track.  You can prevent this buy putting a few screws in the top of the track with the heads exposed enough to prevent the door from being lifted.

If your front door has glass in it or if you have sidelights, a criminal can easily break the glass and reach in to unlock your door.  One option is to install a double cylinder deadbolt that requires a key on both sides.  If you do this you will want to have a extra key handy somewhere nearby in case of fire.  If you replace your deadbolt (preferably ANSI grade I) your local Lowes or Home Depot can rekey it to match your existing house key for free or a minimal charge.  Or you can apply a plastic laminate to the glass.  I'll let you do your own research on that one.

Windows are probably your last concern (as long as you keep them locked).  The sound of breaking glass would alert you to an intruder, and the time it takes to clear the broken shards, open the window, and crawl through will buy you some time.  You could laminate all your windows, or all your first floor windows, for an extra measure of protection, but this is expensive.

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