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Bob Crager
Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 26 year veteran in the glass business. Lewis Street Glass is a leading Wichita Glass company, serving the entire Wichita/Sedgwick County area since 1919. They do anything and everything having to do with glass, both residential and commercial. They also do Auto glass. They are located at 743 South Market, facing Kellogg on the South, and you can reach them by phone at (316) 263-8259. You can email Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com
Glass
2012-08-02 08:51:46
How can I have home security with all these windows?
Q- We love our home with so many beautiful windows and lots of glass, but we’re a little worried about bad people seeing an easy way to get inside our home unannounced. Other than moving, or losing all of that great outside light, how can we keep all those great windows and make things a little more secure?
A- Your question reminds me of a wonderful story about two fellows being chased by a bear through the woods. The bear was winning the race, gaining on them with every step they took…and one of the men quickly sat down on a big rock, opened his backpack, and put on some of the finest running shoes ever made. He got back up, and the other guy said, “that bear is running too fast for us…you don’t think them running shoes are gonna let you outrun that bear, do you?” The first guy said, “I don’t have to outrun that bear! All I have to do is what I’m fixin’ to do…and that’s to outrun you!” Now that I’ve stopped laughing…again, I’ll get to the point of the story. You don’t have to make your home, and/or your home’s windows the most secure home with windows in your neighborhood. You see, burglars aren’t necessarily looking to break into “your” specific home…they’re just trying to break into “anybody’s” home. And the more you can make your home appear to be way more trouble to break into than the others in the area, the less likely a break-in artist is to choose your home as his target. There are a lot of ways to make your home appear to be a bad choice for the thief. Installing a high quality alarm system is one way to accomplish some security. Anyone in the security business will tell you, however, that a wood-be burglar who is determined to get into a particular house will probably get it done, one way or another. The security alarm sound decibel level is to make it unbearable for him to stay inside that home for any length of time, and the monitored alarm also can summon the police to your house in pretty short order. Even then, sometimes they’re too late to catch the snatch and grab burglar! Alarm company signs and stickers also work well to notify a potential burglar that he might be encountering more trouble with this house than it’s worth. Particularly if there are other homes in the neighborhood that look easier to him…hence the story about “all I have to do is outrun you”. If there are easier looking homes in the area, chances are he’ll make them his target, leaving your home alone. Most of the break-ins involved kicking in the front or back doors. The reason this is the choice of most burglars is that most homeowners haven’t taken the precautions of replacing the original locks on their doors with upgrades. Good dead bolt locks have a "throw", which is a metal finger that sticks out and into the door frame when it’s in the locked position. It’s just about an inch long, so it actually goes into the 2 X 4 door frame, not just into the light wooden casing around the door. Upgrading your deadbolt locks are a great place to start, but don't forget the screws holding the lock and door hinges in place. The striker plate on your door jamb and the hinges on your door are probably held in place with screws that are about an inch long, which is just long enough to fasten into the casing lumber. You can upgrade that inadequate strike plate with a much longer strike plate ten or twelve inches long, and install it with 3" heavy duty screws. These screws are long enough to go right through the door casing and into the 2x4 or 2x6 framing lumber around your door. The longer strike plate will also accommodate 6 or 8 screws for fastening it. Remove those short screws fastening your hinges on as well and replace them with the 3" screws. Now your door will be firmly fastened into the door frame. Not many kick and grab burglars are going to kick that door out of its frame. Now let’s talk about your windows and sliding doors. Many folks don’t know it, but patio doors and sliding windows are relatively easy to get out of their frames. A thief could do it by just lifting them up out of their frames or tracks (this works just as well from the outside as it does when you lift them out for cleaning from the inside). The way to fix this problem is to drive a few screws into the top track above where the door or window sits when it's closed. The trick is, don't drive the screws all the way in, but leave the screw heads protruding about 1/4". The protruding heads make it impossible to lift the door or window up high enough to lift the bottom out of the frame when it's closed. You can still remove the door or window for cleaning by sliding it over to the open position (where there aren't any protruding screw heads) and just lift it out of the frame. Clever? You don't need to do anything very fancy to stop windows and doors from being slid open. The old reliable idea of a "stick in the track" when combined with the aforementioned “screws above the window or door”, effectively blocks them from being slid open and lifted out. Cut a piece of dowel (about 3/8" to 3/4” in diameter) to fit into the track. When you're inside, you can easily pick up the dowel in the track, but its round shape makes it hard for someone to dislodge it from the outside. Paint the dowel to match your window frame and it will go virtually unnoticed. With double hung windows, (up and down) you can prevent these from being raised from the outside by drilling a small hole through both the window casing and the window frame and sliding a nail painted to match the window into the hole. Simple to do, easy, and very effective at preventing raising that window, unless you’re inside the home and wish to raise it…then just slide that nail out and raise away. If you have casement and/or awning type windows, the securing of these designs requires the installation of specially designed locks, which are designed to keep these windows from being swung open. These locks will either prevent the handle from being turned, or fasten the window directly to the frame. The last suggestion seems to be more secure, in our opinion. Again these locks are available at your home store and are easy for a DIY'er to install themselves. Now, when you’re talking about securing basement windows, those are more of a challenge simply because of the fact that they’re down lower, compared to most other windows in your home. Break resistant glass, and pins or locks securing the window to the frame will definitely help, but security bars are probable the best defense. Decorative bars that can be painted to match your home's trim are available and if you use them, your home won't look as much like a branch office of a high level penal facility, which might seem vaguely familiar to that burglar. (g) Finally, today’s burglars don't like to be seen, so install some security type lights that will light up the outside of your home after the sun sets. Lights that come on at dusk, and go off at sunrise are especially good, as long as you check them occasionally to make sure that the bulbs are still good. Motion detecting fixtures are also a great idea, if you make sure to install them where a potential burglar can't reach up and remove or break the bulbs. Plants and shrubs growing around your home can provide a great place for a burglar to lurk unseen. Lurking burglars are not a good thing, so keep your bushes trimmed so that a burglar can't hide in them, and be basically out of sight. Also, don't advertise that there are things worth stealing in your home. If you get a new flat screen TV or computer, don't just put the box out by the curb on trash pick up day and let the bad guys know what’s inside your house. Break down that box or turn it inside out, so that no one passing by will be able to make out a shopping list! Make sure that your home has a lived-in appearance at all times. Plug interior lights and a television or radio into timers that turn on and off at different times so that when you’re gone, your house looks occupied. If you're going to be away for a while, then make arrangements to have your grass cut (or snow in your driveway cleared away…not something to think about with the run of 100+ degree days), stop mail and newspaper deliveries, and have someone pick up those flyers that seemingly show up every single day. Getting a neighbor to park a vehicle in your driveway also helps make it look like someone is there. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that if you do everything suggested here that your home won’t ever get broken into. However, following these suggestions will definitely make it way more difficult for a burglar to get into your home in a short time span, (which is what they like) and often that's just enough to get him to try to find a slower bear! Our business philosophy has always been to stay way out front of the nearest competitor…and let the bears pick and choose amongst all of them. (g) More next month!
 
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