Making a house 'lock up & leave' ?
Discussion
If you have a regular semi' or detached house on your average, generic village / town street... what could be done to make such a place truly, lock and leave?
In France, houses have massive shutters and because everyone has them, it doesn't look odd. It's just accepted. In England, a house with massive shutters closed would stand out like a sore thumb.
Does anyone know of any companies that do tasteful / perhaps, even hidden; shutter solutions. Like electric shutters that emerge from some subtle box and form a barrier to anyone outside. I wonder if there are any clever solutions to home security that basically make it like Fort Knox in a way that is not too obvious...
In France, houses have massive shutters and because everyone has them, it doesn't look odd. It's just accepted. In England, a house with massive shutters closed would stand out like a sore thumb.
Does anyone know of any companies that do tasteful / perhaps, even hidden; shutter solutions. Like electric shutters that emerge from some subtle box and form a barrier to anyone outside. I wonder if there are any clever solutions to home security that basically make it like Fort Knox in a way that is not too obvious...
Depending on how much mess and expense you're prepared to have, you could have shutters put on the inside of the doors and windows. Can't be seen from the outside and good design and curtains will hide them on the inside.
We went on holiday to Kefalonia once and the apartment had this. The shutters had little slits in which meant you could even leave the patio doors open at night for airflow, but we're still totally secure.
We went on holiday to Kefalonia once and the apartment had this. The shutters had little slits in which meant you could even leave the patio doors open at night for airflow, but we're still totally secure.
Edited by Vroom101 on Tuesday 1st November 06:19
mgtony said:
Wow! I love it... bit extreme though hah!Thanks for the tips so far, internal shutters; I'll check them out for a start. Thanks
http://iglintels.com/lintels/standard-lintels/exte...
for a new build,
retro fit, no idea, id speak to a specialist company see what they can do.
for a new build,
retro fit, no idea, id speak to a specialist company see what they can do.
LDN said:
mgtony said:
Wow! I love it... bit extreme though hah!Thanks for the tips so far, internal shutters; I'll check them out for a start. Thanks
I suppose we are not used to this because we live in fairly nice areas.
Living in a nice area does not stop break-ins. Especially when you leave a place for a couple of months at a time. We bought an apartment for its lock and leave qualities, it's 1700 sq ft and in a large old conversion with gates etc. Perfect we thought... as large as a house but complete secure... but it's funny how you just can't get on with a place; we have a small dog also, and whilst she makes no noise; some of the busy bodies have been giving us aggro... so a house it is. I want the same feeling of lock and leave: or as near as I can get. This is in the Cheshire 'golden triangle', so about as good an area as you can get; but there are still break-ins. I'm the sort that would rather get it all sorted straight away rather than wait for a break-in and then decide to get the walls up, as it were. The house can be empty for two months at a time you see.
I think the interior shutters are worth looking at and will investigate further. I have seen this new doorbel that has a camera in it so I wonder if it's any good; it calls your phone when someone presses the bell, and give you a live feed. You can then talk to them; so if it's anyone trying the door to see if there's anyone in; it can put them off.
I think the interior shutters are worth looking at and will investigate further. I have seen this new doorbel that has a camera in it so I wonder if it's any good; it calls your phone when someone presses the bell, and give you a live feed. You can then talk to them; so if it's anyone trying the door to see if there's anyone in; it can put them off.
mgtony said:
You'd have to keep a Stihl saw inside the house incase you locked yourself in. And maybe one outside the front door so the fire brigade can get in if needed :-)LDN said:
I have seen this new doorbell that has a camera in it so I wonder if it's any good; it calls your phone when someone presses the bell, and give you a live feed. You can then talk to them; so if it's anyone trying the door to see if there's anyone in; it can put them off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VvTzmp08OE is probably all you need to know about that sort of thing.If you live in a concrete box with steel doors if someone is determined to get in they will. All you can do is make your physical security as good and then back it up with a decent alarm system with remote signalling to a central station so you guarantee as far as possible a response..
If you are loaded fit a CCTV system linked to remote monitoring so you get an intervention by a live operator backed by a police response.
If you are loaded fit a CCTV system linked to remote monitoring so you get an intervention by a live operator backed by a police response.
To seal windows you could have a very thick piece of laminated/security glass put up on the inside of the windows. When I lived in London most people had bars on the Lower Ground Floor/Basement windows. One of the neighbours had a very thick piece of glass put up on the outside instead which served the same purpose.
Made from something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2wdTd8PWk8
Given how it resists a sledge hammer I would imagine they'd give up and start going at the brick walls!
Only problem is it'd be permanent so not great if god forbid you have a fire.
YOu could also do shutters on the inside like some shops do....they have shutters behind the window display so you can still see it at night but the rest of the shop is secure.
Made from something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2wdTd8PWk8
Given how it resists a sledge hammer I would imagine they'd give up and start going at the brick walls!
Only problem is it'd be permanent so not great if god forbid you have a fire.
YOu could also do shutters on the inside like some shops do....they have shutters behind the window display so you can still see it at night but the rest of the shop is secure.
Just a thought but are you not advertising to everyone that you are not home for long periods of time?
I'm not saying it won't work...far from it but for me, personally, I'd have lights and TV's on timers. Modern doors and windows and a decent and obvious alarm set up. So long as your house looks and IS secure this should be enough in most cases but potentially telling the neighbourhood that you are away for extended periods and won't be home anytime soon is..imo..Not ideal. Especially as shutters are not the norm here.
Just food for thought.
I'm not saying it won't work...far from it but for me, personally, I'd have lights and TV's on timers. Modern doors and windows and a decent and obvious alarm set up. So long as your house looks and IS secure this should be enough in most cases but potentially telling the neighbourhood that you are away for extended periods and won't be home anytime soon is..imo..Not ideal. Especially as shutters are not the norm here.
Just food for thought.
Foliage said:
http://iglintels.com/lintels/standard-lintels/exte...
for a new build,
retro fit, no idea, id speak to a specialist company see what they can do.
Very clever.for a new build,
retro fit, no idea, id speak to a specialist company see what they can do.
Op the most affordable way is to install hurricane film (that'll be on all the time) but should slow people down a fair bit.
Hurricane fabric works too, you could install some steeel channels on the inside frame and have these slide in as necessary. Have some frames made up etc.
Shutters are the best imo - but very expensive to retrofit discretely.
Hurricane fabric works too, you could install some steeel channels on the inside frame and have these slide in as necessary. Have some frames made up etc.
Shutters are the best imo - but very expensive to retrofit discretely.
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