Preparing your home for unwanted guests and burglaries should be one of your main concerns right now.
Since the pandemic is hitting people pretty hard currently and seeing that is only the beginning, preppers should have their homes protected. What you saw on the news is only a glimpse of what people are capable of doing when panic and desperation sets in.
The rotten apples of our society will not hesitate to break into your home during peaceful times, imagine what will happen when they have nothing to lose anymore. They will go after your valuables, and they won’t hesitate to kill you if you would stand in their way.
You should do everything in your power to avoid such tragedies from happening. Home defense is not only about stockpiling guns and ammo, and you need to have various strategies when it comes to defending your home and your loved ones.
Tips for preparing your home for burglaries and home invasions
Install metal doors and door frames
These types of doors with the proper, reinforced framing will be much harder to kick down. However, no metal door will be able to protect you if you don’t take basic precautions, such as locking your doors and keeping them locked at all times. This may sound like common sense, but you will be surprised how many people forget to lock their doors.
Analyze each and every possible entry point inside your home and take proper measures. The mind of a burglar is wired to find an entry point, and if they want to get inside your home, they will find a way to do so. If there’s even a small window, they might take a chance, especially if they know you’ve been hoarding stuff that is hard to get during a crisis.
In certain cases, they will use small children to fit through a window, and even a doggy door, to sneak into your home and open the door for them. It’s better to not leave anything out, so make sure to check:
- Basements windows
- Attic doors
- Garage door
- Door leading from your home to the garage
- Pet doors
- Any other windows and doors you may have, even those that seem hard to bypass
Some people are removing their pet doors right now or boarding them since there’s just no way to properly secure them for Fido to make its daily routes and, at the same time, keep noisy people outside.
Consider Plexiglas
Plexiglas is your friend if you have glass doors and although it may cost you quite a bit at first, it is less risky than having a glass patio door. If you want to up your defense strategy, you can forget about Plexiglas completely, and you can go straight to metal doors. Even if your home will look less attractive and won’t follow the latest house design trends, at least you will be protected. I advise you to consider installing Plexiglas windows everywhere if you can afford it.
Get a deadbolt lock
In today’s market, you can find various, well-constructed deadbolt locks. These are ideals to stop attackers from breaking your doors and will help you defend your home during a sticky situation. However, as stated before, you need a solid door if you want to install a deadbolt lock. I recommend installing a vertical deadbolt because it’s bolted to the inside face of the door, at the top. An intruder will not be able to pry your door open as it can happen with horizontal deadbolts.
Set up windows stops
This is perhaps the most basic home protection thing you can do, and it’s easy to be implemented. A window stop won’t allow your window to open more than 4 to 6 inches. This makes it impossible for a burglar to get inside, and it’s one of the cheapest things you can set up for your home.
Motion sensors lights, alarms, and security cameras
Motion sensors should be placed near windows and doors to create an alert when an intruder triggers them. To defend your home for possible intruders, you should install sensors that are designed to work even when you’re at home (at night). Most people install sensors that work when they are not home, or when they tell their security system they are not there. Even simple motion sensor lights will discourage burglars if installed correctly.
The front door is your main point of access, and you should be able to monitor it properly. Besides finding out who’s been stealing your Amazon packages, a front door camera can also be used to check what’s happening on your front porch. This becomes extremely useful in case of riots or flash mobs since it will provide you with a clear picture of what you would have to deal with.
Sometimes, the costs to defend your home is also a factor, so if you can’t surround your home with multiple security cameras, you can still be smart about it and improvise. Go with one or two wireless cameras that can be placed anywhere. You should consider the capacity for expansion based on your home defense budget.
Consider protective furniture
With an increase in home invasions, there are now companies specialized in making protective furniture. I’m not talking about heavy-duty furniture made from hardwood or something similar, but actually bulletproof furniture. That’s right; there are now pieces of furniture that conceal the means to protect yourself, both offensive and defensive.
These items may seem a bit eccentric for the average Joe, but if you think about it, protective furniture is quite a clever innovation. Would you like to be caught empty-handed when someone breaks in your home? Why wouldn’t you want to protect yourself using any means necessary?
Get a good safe
This will set you back at least 1,000 bucks, but you also have to consider that the technology behind these safes is obviously not cheap. Even if your house is visited by three or even four burglars, they probably won’t carry the whole thing out of your house, particularly since opening it will be a nightmare. The average burglar spends 8 to 12 minutes inside a home, and they target things that are easy to grab and easy to carry.
However, if they know you have valuables inside your home and they came specifically for your safety, they will use every means they have to open it. A sledgehammer and other tools will open a cheaper safe like a tuna can. Since we mentioned protective furniture above, you should know that this type of furniture goes even further, and now there are stylish beds, tables, cabinets, and other types of furniture that have a built-in safe hidden within. These items work much better than most conventional safes because only you know about their existence.
Install or make a safe room
If you don’t have the proper means to defend your home, having a safe room becomes a must. Some are having one included during the construction stage of their home, while others depend on aftermarket solutions that are just as good. There are many ways to include a panic room in almost all existing structures, so it all depends on your home layout and budget.
However, if none of the above are available, the best thing you can do is pick a solid room inside your home and barricade yourself inside, and fight off attempting intruders by any means necessary. Keep In mind to call for help as soon as you barricade yourself inside the “improvised” panic room.
Get a guard dog
Growing up, I had two German shepherds guard dogs, and they were more than any alarm system I could think of. Besides being well trained and somehow overprotective play palls, they were very loyal and saved my brother and me for getting into trouble. If you think about it, our ancestors were dependent on their four-legged companions to keep enemies at bay and help them with various survival tasks.
Although it may be a little too late to get a guard dog right now, in the current social climate, this is an option you should remember when all this blows out. If you decide to get a guard dog, I recommend getting a mountain cur since this breed is perhaps the best for preppers and survivalists. With adequate training, such a dog can be used for both home defense and hunting purposes.
Remove obstructive vegetation from doors and windows
Bushes and tree branches covering your doors and windows are ideal spots for burglars to conceal their presence. They can use them as cover to get inside your home or to prepare an ambush if they make noise or something else reveals their presence. However, there are more factors to be considered here… for example, it is recommended to plant bushes or plants that have nasty, flesh-ripping thorns as deterrents for home intruders.
The main rule to keep in mind here is to remove obstruction vegetation from entry points or any other points that can be used for cover and install natural deterrents to assure a protective perimeter for your home while at the same time provide a clean line of fire if it comes to that.
Concluding
I won’t go into the topic of firearms and ammunition since it’s not actually the subject of this article. Even more, if you haven’t purchased a gun by now and trained on using it, you’re probably too late to the party. However, all the above-listed tips can be implemented by anyone, and it will help you be prepared when our society surrenders to chaos.
