How to Burglarproof Your Home

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Having your home burglarized is a wrenching experience. Take these precautions to help prevent a burglary.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Motion-detecting Lights
Home Alarm Systems
Electric Timers
Dogs
Cameras
Electric Engravers
One-inch Deadbolt Locks
Safes
Solid Doors

Step1

Keep windows closed and doors locked - don't take chances for even a few minutes. Use a 1-inch dead bolt for each exterior door. Secure sliding glass doors by inserting a broomstick or dowel in the inside track.

Step2

Consider installing an alarm system or motion-detecting lights.

Step3

Suggest that someone is home by using electric timers to turn on the radio and house lights at certain hours. Vary the lights that you turn on.

Step4

Make sure that outside doors are made of metal or a sturdy wood.

Step5

Check to ensure that doors fit tightly in their frames. If they don't, install weather-stripping around them.

Step6

Etch valuables with your driver's license number and state abbreviation in visible places. If you don't want to ruin valuables by marking them, photograph them instead. Keep an inventory of your property.

Step7

Keep jewelry and other valuables in a safe.

Step8

Consider getting a dog - many kinds of dogs will make enough noise to discourage burglars (see 'eHow to Select a Dog Breed').

Step9

Leave spare keys with a neighbor rather than hidden outside your house.

Step10

Keep shrubs and bushes trimmed so that they can't conceal prowlers.

Tips & Warnings

If you install an alarm system, learn how to use it properly to avoid false alarms.

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Comments

Anonymous said

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on 8/8/2006 I am not a big fan of alarms because in my city of 2.5 million people 90% of all alarms are false alarms. This is not very comforting. Police do not rush to a monitored alarm knowing that of the 36,000 that were triggered last year 33,000 of them were false alarms.

I prefer to harden the target. I bought a new product called the Door Safe System. You can get it on eBay.

The Door Safe reinforces a door weakened by a lock and reinforces the door frame. According to the FBI 80% of break-ins are through a door. I recently learned that the weakest part of a door is the lock. The lock weakens the door and the deadbolt acts like a crowbar inside your door when a crook kicks it.

If you research the real stats, an alarm doesn't stop a break and enter, it just tells you one has happened.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 It is better to leave a spare key with a relative (such as your parents), even if you have to drive a couple miles to pick it up. If you choose a neighbor, who later becomes upset with you or isn't as trustworthy as you thought, your home could be robbed without any signs of a break in. While you are gone, they have all day to rummage and take what they want. It may take you days or weeks to notice things are missing. This has happened to me. It is costly to change your door locks.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 This is a very cheap way to prevent intruders from climbing over standard wood fences surrounding your yard.
Buy a box of brass phillips head deck screws, 1.5 inches long. From the outside of the fence, drill one screw through each 3-4 inch wide fence slat, about 1-2 inches down from the top. Each screw will be tight from the outside of the fence, with the sharp remainder of the screw length protruding out toward the inside of the fence. Anybody attempting to climb over the fence will quickly change their mind.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Have a working cell phone inside the home to call for help in case a prowler disconnects the regular phone line. You can also telephone the phone company from the safety of your home to order repair service for the regular telephone.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Your phone system should have a main box where the incoming lines connect to your house. If this box is outside the house, the burglars could cut your phone and even the alarm. Have this box moved inside and leave the one outside as is, as a decoy.

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