The world is getting more dangerous all the time. According to the latest FBI statistics, a burglary happens somewhere in the United States every 15 seconds. Even more shocking than that, more and more of these burglaries are actual home invasions, where the criminals are forcibly entering the home while people are there. When that happens, the possibility for violence is extremely high.

 

Conventional wisdom says that putting a deadbolt on your door and locking your windows is enough to keep those criminals out. But that same conventional wisdom believes that locks only keep honest people honest. If all you’re worried about is honest people, then by all means follow that conventional wisdom. But if you’re worried about hardened criminals, you need to harden your home.

 

The truth is that any average-sized man can kick his way through a dead-bolted door fairly easily. The weak point isn’t the deadbolt itself or even the door; it’s the door frame. Most entry doors have wood frames, which are ¾-inch thick pine. The deadbolt is mounted with only half an inch of material between it and the edge of the door frame. So that nice, solid deadbolt breaks right through the door frame when a boot is applied to the door, giving the criminals access to your home. Windows are even more vulnerable. So much for keeping the honest people honest...

 

Again, according to the FBI, criminals gain access to homes through the doors and windows, particularly ones on the front of the house:

• up to 85% enter through the front door.

• some 23% enter through first floor windows.

• approximately 22% enter through a back door.

• a growing number enter through the garage, and it's gaining popularity.

• 6% enter through unlocked storage areas.

• 2% enter through a second floor window.

 

With that in mind, fortifying your home means making it hard for the criminals to get through those most-common entry areas. That’s actually not all that hard or expensive.

 

- Fortifying Your Entry Doors

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We know from the statistics, that the front entry door is the most common entrance used by thieves. We can securely automate that door and make it almost impossible for them to kick their way in by just adding a few simple items to your door. 

 

To start with, an automated August dead bolt is a must and you can be sure that it’s locked because only August comes with DoorSense™ and Auto-Lock technologies, so that you’ll know that your door is both closed and locked. It locks and unlocks automatically to ensure that your front door is always secure.

 

Also on the lock side of your door, we will replace the standard striker plate with the 3-piece Door Armor MAX security striker plate / hinge / jam reinforcement kit that makes even an ordinary door into a barrier that can’t simply be breached even using battering rams and other tools. This significantly more secure locking plate is much longer, measuring nearly four feet long compared to the less than 3" standard. That allows for more mounting screws, spreading the force of any strike or kick farther. It combines the contact area of both the door lock and deadbolt into one unified front. Screw mounting is provided above, below and between the two lock bolts.  

 

We mount this door armor and hinge gaurds with 3-1/2 inch case-hardened screws, so that the screws go through the frame and well into the 2″x 4″ structural stud behind it. That way, the stud is what’s absorbing the force, not just the door frame.

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- Fortifying Your Windows

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Glass windows don’t provide much security - again, except against those honest people who don’t want to break them. However, there are two different ways that you can secure them, eliminating them as an access point for criminals.

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The surest way to burglar proof your windows is to install burglar bars. These are metal bars which are mounted over the window either outside or inside and attached to the wall. Even if an intruder breaks the glass, they can’t get through the metal bars. For most areas and most families, their appearance makes them a non-starter.

 

The more aesthetically pleasing option for securing windows is window security film. This plastic film adheres to the inside of the window pane. Like a laminated windscreen on a car, the window film prevents the window from breaking out of the frame, even if it shatters. To break out a window with security film on it requires breaking the glass all the way around the window, a time consuming operation.

These window films come in various thicknesses, ranging from two milliliters thick up to 12 milliliters thick. The thicker the film, the stronger it is. Don’t mistake tinting film for security film; while they look similar, the tinting film adds almost no strength to the glass for security. Security film installation usually has no UV / heat block benefit, but that can be added as an option.

 

- Other Entrance Points

 

Garage doors aren’t as common an entry point, but are often overlooked when making a home more secure. This leaves them as an easy way into the home. We add LiftMaster MyQ technology to most modern brands or garage door openers. Just like the doors, you'll know if your garage door is closed and secure.

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Thieves have recently come up with a way to gain easy access into your home and it's fast gaining in popularity, the trick is to push a wedge up between the garage door and the door frame, then reaching in with a wire to release the red safety release cord. Since a great majority of us who enter & exit our homes never lock the door between the house and the garage, at the very minimum, we will install the Garage Shield GS1000 Garage Guard plate to block that vulnerable access point.

 

In reality, each exterior door should be treated the same way, including putting a peep hole in the door so you can look outside before opening it. The door between the garage and the house should be treated as equal to the front exterior door. It should aways be locked, but that's not as convenient and sometimes it's easy to forget. We will add the convenience back into the equation with the same August automated dead bolt as you will have on your front door. Safe, secure and convenient.

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- How About the Walls?

 

Hardening walls is a little more difficult. Fortunately, most criminals won’t try to gain access through a wall. However, considering Arizona construction techniques, it's unfortunately very simple to kick or cut through a stucco framed wall and gain access. We can install steel plates in between the drywall and the wall studs in strategic areas of you home to stop them in their tracks. For even more protection, we have access to special military specification ballistic plates that we can install in the more critical areas of your home (see more about this below).

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- Finally, you will want to consider hardening yourself.

 

The measures discussed here will stop almost everyone, but if an attacker is determined, they can make their way through any passive defenses that we can create. If they actually succeed in breaking into your home through these defenses, the time for planning and talking is over.

 

If it comes right down to it, the choice is fight or flight. It’s time to take action protect and defend your family no matter what it takes, or escape to a safe room. We can provide another level of hardening, a "more" secure room or area built with hidden ballistic panels. While it is very difficult and expensive to provide a true safe room, the value here is to add some additional time for the first responders to come to your assistance and / or give the bad guys reason to give up and flee.

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If the choice is to step into the breach and put everything on the line, we can also refer you to professional trainers who can offer various levels of personal protection training including hand-to-hand, tactical firearms & CCW classes. These professionals can provide any and all services to get you to the place above fear and ready for almost any threat that may present itself in this ever changing world that we live in.