As many of you might already know, my neighbour was burgled yesterday and it’s really put the wind up me thinking how close to my home it happened.
It has prompted me into getting quotes for a new side fence and gate and I’m also thinking of getting CCTV.
I’ve been thinking even if we get a new fence, even though its quite high, what’s to stop them climbing over it. Perhaps I should get an electric fence!!!
So my question is, how safe is your home, what safety measures have you gone to to keep it safe.
My door has double locks on it and we have fencing but this isn’t enough in this day and age is it.
Be careful Queenie, you’d do best to explore the legalities on electric fencing on a domestic property before you go any further.
I hesitate to worry your further, but I’m afraid I always think if some buggers want to get in - they will.
Don’t forget, some of these people do it every day for a living! They are skilled and know what they’re doing. I am not talking about the opportunist kids here, but the repeat offenders.
They are always telling us to padlock our sheds for example, but they just cut the padlocks off, or break a window and still get in anyway.
This is what my Neighbourhood Watch alerts tell me round here anyway.
I used to feel a whole lot safer when I had several German Shepherds looking after me - and they didn’t stop working when there was a power cut either.
Awww mups I was only joking about the electric fence, but i know what you are saying, the pigs will get in if they really want to especially the ‘professionals’
My Kodi is a good little guard dog, he is only small but his bark is big so I hope that he is some deterrent for potential burglers.
Isn’t it horrible how people can make us feel vulnerable, even in our own homes
I could do with a couple of german shepherds, great guard dogs. x
Our home is a corner property which has a brick wall along one side where I grow Pyracantha alongside the wall which is nice to look at and very, very prickly if anyone should attempt to scale the wall - I know that to my cost when I have occasionally pruned it back a bit!
I also have a mortice lock and bottom bolt on my gate which is set into the wall by the garage. The thinking is that even if anyone picked the lock they wouldn’t be able to reach the bottom bolt. The gate is set into the wall so they would need a ladder to get over the gate because the wall at that point is quite high.
We have the usual locks and double locks on doors and windows with shatterproof glass too. Plus a burglar alarm. However, I fear that if someone was really determined they would still be able to get in - I live in hopes though that they would not see our home as easy to access and might move on.
Exactly Mups, doesn’t matter what we do it’s never really enough if they are determined. Someone here in the village was burgled, they had CCTV and a two-metre high fence all round the garden (good for the burglars as they couldn’t be seen forcing the patio doors) but guess what they did to get past the fence – lifted a panel up in the post slots, propped it up and crawled underneath!
Even the CCTV was not a lot of good. The thieves were not known to police so all they had from CCTV were more videos of people who are burglars – nobody knows who they are until caught and convicted!
German Shepherds
I had a German Shepherd, she was kennelled but loose to roam outside in the enclosed back garden. A local company serviced a lawnmower for me but wanted to deliver it at a time I was out. I explained about the German Shepherd, the chap said he had them too and was well-used to them. I did warn him it was at his own risk but with the gate unlocked but bolted at the top he delivered the lawnmower OK and left it in the back garden. I telephoned him just to check, he said my German Shepherd was no problem as he knew how to treat them!
All any of us can realistically do is to take all the measures required then ensure we are adequately insured against theft and the damage it can cause!
Mups is right - watch the legalities of electric fencing. One place I know that has it is an oil refinery. The electrified part was installed at the top of their 9ft (almost 3 metre) tall double chain link perimeter fence.
Or get a dog. Mups is right about that to. Our hairy burglar alarm is always on duty. And his danger signal bark would wake the dead.
Reminds me, I need to fit the Beware of the Dog sign on our new front door.
Funny you should say that because i.ve just been thinking how ridiculous it is that if someone enters our home we aren’t allowed to batter 'em coz WE’D be the ones locked up. Wrong, just wrong
Personally, I would prefer to batter them then worry about it afterwards. there’s no way I could stand there and watch some ( I can’t think of a word horrible enough) nick stuff and get away with it. At least if you crushed his skull with a baseball bat, you would know that he would never do it again. That would make me feel very happy.
A bit off topic but slightly related.
I grew up on a farm in Scotland. Occasionally, we had an area fenced off with a single strand electric fence. This used to isolate a single cattle beast when/if it needed to be isolated.
The bravado in me - I used to grab it to show that I could. One day my dog nuzzled my hand. The shock went straight through me, into the dog’s nose, and through his paws into the wet grass. I had rubber boots on, he didn’t. It was a terrifying jolt, the worst I ever had.
I have to say that a burglar alarm is only as good as your neighbours. If no-one takes a blind bit of notice of the alarm going off all it is is a loud noise.
I used to install intruder alarms including my own and six in homes around me. If one goes off (very few false alarms), one of us goes to investigate.
Any neighbourhood watches where you are LQ?
CCTV isn’t a bad option and basic wireless battery operated systems are dirt cheap compared to what they were. You can see the pictures via PC, tablet and phone although recording can be a bit limited by dint of the on-board SD cards.
The whole object of home security is make it difficult for burglars. A determined burglar will get in regardless. The opportunistic thief wants to get into your home quickly and with little effort. Anything that makes it difficult for your average toe rag is worth considering.
Your outer defence, ie fencing around your property, thorny bush’s under windows, locking up garden tools and ladders.
Consider lighting, solar although not the brightest will lighten shadowed areas, sensor activated lighting similar to the Ring and Hive products
All of the above are not worth a damn if you have crap locks on your doors and windows, so they should be first on your list if not up to standard
Indoor sensors, having your ground floor on an alarm system if you haven’t a dog or vicious cat.
Of course you can go the whole hog and have a system set up and monitored by an alarm company.
It all depends on your budget, but I would certainly look at door and window locks first followed by fencing.
I have a dog and a shotgun and a monitored alarm system…I haven’t had to use them, make some sensible decisions, don’t over worry.
Maybe but I’m not sure if a warning sign just gives them time to plan something better, for instance if they know there is CCTV, they might come back wearing a mask.
I suspect that might only happen if they know that you have something substantial worth nicking…
A cctv system might make the opportunist thief think, ’is it worth the risk, ?
Yes, I suppose the real advantage of CCTV is that hopefully you can identify them yourself or with the help of social media, I mean the police are not interested in that sort of thing. Social media is quite good at identifying the thieves though.
