Your Home Defense Plan Should Start At Home Depot

Home Defense Is Easier With A Stronger Home

When a lot of people think of “home defense,” the first thoughts they go to are “muh gun.” In reality, the first steps in planning for a possible defense of your home should start at the hardware store.

After all, when the news reports someone broke into the wrong house and was shot for their pains…they usually were able to gain entry in the first place, and the only thing better than a clean shoot is not having to at all.

Bear in mind that nothing will stop someone who has the right tools and is determined enough, but you can severely impede or stop someone who isn’t desperate to gain entry…or slow them down. That buys you time, and – as Jon Correia likes to say – time buys you options.

So let’s talk about making a home harder to break into.

Upgrading And Reinforcing Doors

The first item to address for home defense is that all exterior doors should have a solid core. Even the door into your garage.

Eschew exterior doors with large windows close to the doorknob; the window can be broken to gain entry.

Not only are solid core doors harder to break down, but they also provide more insulation. After all, doors and windows tend to be where you lose heated or cooled air to the outside, so it’s just a smart practice, to begin with.

To further reinforce doors, the strike plate that your door knob and deadbolt – you should have both! – extend into should run the full vertical length of the door. This puts more material reinforcement into the lock and therefore makes the door harder to break down when locked.

When you or a contractor do the installation, the strike plate should be installed with 3-inch woodscrews.

That puts the hardware through the molding, through the door frame, and into the frame of your house…making it that much stronger.

Bear in mind even a solid core door reinforced in this manner can still be broken down. There aren’t too many things that are going to slow down a 10-lb sledgehammer for long. However, in the absolute worst-case scenario, it will be really loud, incredibly obvious, and will slow someone down if trying to gain entry.

Less-Breakable Windows

The best thing to do with windows is to apply shatter film to both sides of all windows.

Shatter film is basically a plastic sheet that you lay over the window. While it won’t keep a window from breaking, what it will do is keep the window together if it does break. In other words, a window can’t be shattered to gain access quickly. The entire window has to be broken and pushed or bent out of the way in order to reach inside.

Again, if someone is determined enough to get inside and has some common hand tools – like a sledgehammer – they will be able to get in eventually. However, they will be slowed down greatly, giving you additional time to recognize the threat, call emergency services and get into a defensible position.

If your home cannot be gotten into, that’s far more powerful home defense than any gun ever created.

Trimmers, Limb Saws, And Shovels

Visit the garden section if you don’t have any lawn tools, and pick some up, as landscaping can actually be to your benefit.

What you don’t want to have in your yard is an excess of vegetation blocking lines of sight.

The less you can see, the more cover is available for someone trying to make an approach. Keep bushes and trees trimmed, as this will prevent anyone from concealing an approach to exterior doors or windows.

Lights, Cameras…But Hopefully No Action!

Motion-sensing lights are a gimmick and, in truth, will do little more than annoy your neighbor who’s just trying to take the dog for their nightly walk. Home invasions are more common in daylight hours than at night in any case…when they do you no good anyhow.

If anything, exterior lights left on at night are more of a deterrent. If nothing else, they indicate that someone is probably home and, therefore, that a home is not a good potential target.

A camera system is a much better investment for obvious reasons than exterior floodlights, as it captures evidence. Doorbell cameras are now common and affordable. It’s up to you whether you want to get one on a subscription plan or not.

Any other exterior cameras should cover as much as possible, especially any points of approach.

Slow Them Down And Capture Evidence

If there was a way to wave a magic wand or broadcast an ultrasonic signal that made everyone not do evil things, then you’d never have to worry about these things. So far, we haven’t been able to breed evil and violence out of the human animal.

The gun is the tool of last resort. While effective at stopping something that’s already started, it’s arguably better not to have to resort to it in the first place. And what can we do to keep people from trying to break in? Make it harder to gain access in the first place. And if anyone does…make sure we capture evidence for the prosecution.

Stronger doors, windows that can’t shatter, and having no way to approach unseen can go a long way. It isn’t fun or titillating to talk about. Then again, nobody ever had to worry about explaining why they landscaped their home to a jury.