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As you may know, I'm in the process of moving into my apt & security is at the top of the priority list. Which door security method would YOU choose? (There's videos showing how both work.) If anyone knows of any better ones, please post them here, thank you! I like how neither involves any tools/drilling.
I don't have either of those. All I have is my doorknob lock and my deadbolt. I open all my windows during the summer, and my cat loves it. I live in a small cottage with no one above or below me, a front door, a side door, my next door neighbors are four feet away, and my neighborhood isn't so great.
I'm a single female, I work a lot of night, come home late, and I'm not paranoid like you are.
I don't click onto websites for security reasons. If you have a sliding glass door in the back, we have found a broom handle that fits good placed at the bottom in the groove left from the door slide to be very secure. Girl I worked with said this saved her when she moved into her apartment. Her mother insisted that she use a broom handle like that and one night she was awoken by someone who had unlocked her door, but the broom handle kept him from opening it. The same thing can be done for some windows. Place a stick above the window ledge that will keep it from being opened even though someone gets it unlocked.
[SIZE=3]My apt complex has an alarm system & deadbolt, which mine seems kind of flimsy to me. In my parents' home now, besides the deadbolt, they have a metal dowel in the groove of the sliding glass door, which I will also put in my apt window frame & sliding glass door. I live on the 2nd floor by the way, but hey, on the news not so long ago, someone got into a lady's apt unit who lived on the 26th floor. Regarding a metal screen door, I had that when I lived in L.A., but no one really has them in the area I live.
I live in a pretty safe city. I don't want to live in fear, but I'm not naive to the point where I don't lock doors even in the daytime nor think nothing will ever happen nor do other precautions. If people think that's paranoid, so be it. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] BTW, deadbolts & especially those chain locks don't do squat. Here's a video about it's ineffectiveness. Now the security item on this video looks really good, but I doubt my apt complex will allow all this:
You can have the best lock in the world, but if your door is a wood veneer box filled with gypsum, it will break into pieces around the lock. To see what's inside your door, remove one of the locks and look into the hole. Apartment and Condo Door Lock and Security Basics ( also read the comments)
You can also install a latch guard and rebar door jamb.
Sorry, I don't think there is anything you can install without tools/drilling. You might just call a handyman to do it for you.
"The door best lock" works only when you are inside your apartment. I don't know how you could lock it from outside...
My doors are locked when I go out, but I don't keep them locked when I'm home, I don't find it necessary to lock myself in.
No matter how many locks and precautions you have on your place, if someone really wants to get in, they will.
I have two doors, both of them have locks on them (doorknob and deadbolt), but neither of them is a sliding glass door. I would never live in a place that had one, but since I won't live in an apartment, I don't have to worry about it. There are no keys to my deadbolts, and the doorknobs are mine - I have the only keys.
WIRELESS DOOR/WINDOW SENSORS, which are very easy to install and sound a screeching alert whenever the door/window is opened. You can buy them at a lot of places. I have them on all my windows -- not on my doors anymore because they're so loud (and I used to forget they were turned on in the mornings):
Local police departments usually will give you a "security review" for free -- they'll give you some advice as to what you can do.
The comment about the quality of the door itself -- not the door lock -- is true.
As is, if someone wants to get in...
But if you can do something to make a potential burglar pass your place and instead hit another...
One thing is good lighting -- I know a lot of people turn off their outside "night" lights -- even in apartment building hallways -- after a certain hour. I wouldn't. Burglars like darkness. Motion-sensor lights are good things, too -- on porches, even. Indoor lights that are on timers, so people think you're home when you're not. A dog that will bark when he/she senses someone at the door? A very good thing. (A relative's small dog has an incredibly big bark!)
The broom handle stuck in the bottom track of a sliding glass door sometimes works, but burglars have also been known to actually take the door off the track, if there is not a locking bolt that's drilled from the top of the door and into the window framing. So some solutions are heavy-duty "call in the handymen" jobs, as elnina wrote.
Also, any idea if there's a Neighborhood Watch there?
I certainly don't blame you one bit for being cautious!
My apt is on the second floor and the slider door/bedroom window are on the opposite side of the door leading into my apt (and there are no windows around/near the door). The only way one could try to enter through the slider door/bedroom window would be to shimmy up the side of the building.
As you may know, I'm in the process of moving into my apt & security is at the top of the priority list. Which door security method would YOU choose? (There's videos showing how both work.) If anyone knows of any better ones, please post them here, thank you! I like how neither involves any tools/drilling.
ALSO, does anyone know what can be done once you leave the house? After all, my little dog is still going to be in there!
Make sure you discuss these things with your landlord BEFORE you decide to have them installed.
I totally understand your need for security, but make sure they know exaclty what you're planning on doing and get their approval before you have someone come over and start drilling into things.
It's always a good idea to keep your doors locked, even if you're home.
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