I broke into my own house last night.............
Discussion
Yesterday when I got home from work I realised I'd forgotten to pick up my house keys when I left in the morning. The Mrs was going to be home late and had her mobile turned off.....and it was bloody freezing so I didn't fancy sitting in the garden shed for 2 hours with the cat.....que impromptu house security assement.
Tried the downstairs windows...nope, tried with a screwdriver.....nope, tried reaching the latch by inserting my hand through the letter box...nope, tried the back door....nope. Bugger.
So off I slouched, cat under my arm to the shed ( which at least has 300 odd bottles of wines, various spirits etc to tide me over ).
I was sitting on an upturned bucket.....when I spied our extendable aluminium ladder
Aha I think.....the upstairs windows in our bedroom are large enough to get through!
So in the pitch dark, with a cold wind blowing, up the ladder I went.....now what I found was that although there's no external handle on the windows I was able to jiggle the bottom corner just enough to pry the whole thing open just enough for me to flip the internal catch. Open flew the window and with a bit of undiginified scambling and waving of legs ( I was in full work suit ) in I went
So I have found the security flaw in our house. The upstairs windows. I may have found a second career for myself in security risk assesment!
Oh and I was able to let the cat in.
Interesting though to see how a house you think is secure might actually be easy to break into......
>> Edited by timmy30 on Thursday 24th November 09:29
Tried the downstairs windows...nope, tried with a screwdriver.....nope, tried reaching the latch by inserting my hand through the letter box...nope, tried the back door....nope. Bugger.
So off I slouched, cat under my arm to the shed ( which at least has 300 odd bottles of wines, various spirits etc to tide me over ).
I was sitting on an upturned bucket.....when I spied our extendable aluminium ladder
Aha I think.....the upstairs windows in our bedroom are large enough to get through! So in the pitch dark, with a cold wind blowing, up the ladder I went.....now what I found was that although there's no external handle on the windows I was able to jiggle the bottom corner just enough to pry the whole thing open just enough for me to flip the internal catch. Open flew the window and with a bit of undiginified scambling and waving of legs ( I was in full work suit ) in I went
So I have found the security flaw in our house. The upstairs windows. I may have found a second career for myself in security risk assesment!
Oh and I was able to let the cat in.
Interesting though to see how a house you think is secure might actually be easy to break into......
>> Edited by timmy30 on Thursday 24th November 09:29
Its worth doing this sort of assessment yourself everyt now any then, before some lowlife does it for you!
I did a similar thing a while ago, when working away and renting a house. I went out to put something in the wheelie bin, and the door closed on the yale latch. I could see the keys through the kitchen window on the worktop, but there I was, 100 miles from home, knowing none of the neighbours, locked outside. Breaking a window was an option, but the were all double glazed units - I didn't wnat the mess, hassle or expense, and as I was alone in the house anyway I'd have had to take time of work until it was repaired and secure again.
In the end I discovered that I could just get my hand and wrist through the letterbox enough to be able to use the bamboo cane I took from the garden to push the yale latch up and open the door. I was in with no damage, other than a bit of skin off my wrist.
What is scary is how easy it would be to break in if you actually didn't care how much mess you made.
I did a similar thing a while ago, when working away and renting a house. I went out to put something in the wheelie bin, and the door closed on the yale latch. I could see the keys through the kitchen window on the worktop, but there I was, 100 miles from home, knowing none of the neighbours, locked outside. Breaking a window was an option, but the were all double glazed units - I didn't wnat the mess, hassle or expense, and as I was alone in the house anyway I'd have had to take time of work until it was repaired and secure again.
In the end I discovered that I could just get my hand and wrist through the letterbox enough to be able to use the bamboo cane I took from the garden to push the yale latch up and open the door. I was in with no damage, other than a bit of skin off my wrist.
What is scary is how easy it would be to break in if you actually didn't care how much mess you made.
Back of our house is woeful in it's security - poorly fitting frames, rotten wood and thin glass`. Fortunately the back garden (and all neighbouring ones) are difficult to get into.
Spent a day before we went on holiday recently making it more secure to the point where they'd need to break glass at least to get in!
Spent a day before we went on holiday recently making it more secure to the point where they'd need to break glass at least to get in!
though.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Agreed, I worked for a company that manufactured double-glasing one summer while I was at Uni. Even the 'High-Securty' windows I put together were ridiculously easy to break into if you knew how the window mechanisms worked. You NEED to add some decent window locks (especially to the top of the window if you can reach easily, if not then high up the sides).
Some of the 'less obvious' modern security is rubbish. I locked the only key to the garage in the car inside recently. Try as I may I couldn't get in. Then poppped an electric screwdriver in the garage door lock itself and 2 seconds later the lock was out and in my hand. I didn't bother to replace the lock as it was clearly useless and invested in a pair of lockable garage dooe bolts from Ebay.
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