Shelter Simple, inexpensive home safety precautions

[bluelady]

Reading about MzKitty's car being shot made me think. Civil unrest is an increasing issue, and moreso as we see election fallout. Unless you live waaay out, things can get crazy fast. I'd like to start a discussion about "hardening" our homes on a simple level. Nothing expensive or difficult, but an angle on prepping that I honestly haven't worried about much since we live fairly rural, though in town. I think the risk has suddenly become exponentially greater.

For example, our beds/sofa are all against the front wall of our stick house. The rooms are so small that there's no other way to arrange furniture. And our front yard is small. So if someone was shooting outside, we're pretty vulnerable. Is there a realistic way to add some protection...brick facade? Cement board? Bullet proof glass?

Just kind of thinking out loud here, and looking for input; things like fireproofing, security lights, etc. I've seen that you can fix the front door jamb so it's harder to kick in, but we've never done anything about it. Many of us here are older & limited income, so needs to be relatively simple & inexpensive.

(Not self defense; that's a different thread.)

 

[Betty_Rose]

Good neighborhood and good neighbors are probably your very best defense.

I knew an older woman who would lie down in her bathtub at night when the bullets started flying in her inner city neighborhood.

She reasoned that bullets couldn’t penetrate the cast-iron tub. I reasoned that I would do anything I had to do before I lived like that.

 

[mecoastie]

Have a good fire plan and some equipment. Fire extinguishers, sand buckets etc. Make sure you know how to use them.

Do things to reduce access to your property. A fence, rocks that would restrict vehicle access. Trim shrubs to reduce blind spots.

For cheap ballistic protection, sandbags. They are readily available and can be improvised by things like dirt filled boxes. Not practical for the whole house but could make a safe room or corner.

Make sure you have a way out in an emergency. Dont block your egress. Have stuff ready to go if you have to leave quickly.

There are a number of good books out there on the subject. Holding Your Ground and A Failure of Cvility are two that I have.

 

[bluelady]

Good neighborhood and good neighbors are probably your very best defense.

I knew an older woman who would lie down in her bathtub at night when the bullets started flying in her inner city neighborhood.

She reasoned that bullets couldn’t penetrate the cast-iron tub. I reasoned that I would do anything I had to do before I lived like that.

We're in a quiet neighborhood in a quiet town with good neighbors. Still, there have been a few murders and a couple of drive-bys (in our town, not neighborhood; so far always personal/domestic violence). We're pretty safe as things go, but people are getting crazier, and stuff can happen anywhere.

 

[bluelady]

Have a good fire plan and some equipment. Fire extinguishers, sand buckets etc. Make sure you know how to use them.

Do things to reduce access to your property. A fence, rocks that would restrict vehicle access. Trim shrubs to reduce blind spots.

For cheap ballistic protection, sandbags. They are readily available and can be improvised by things like dirt filled boxes. Not practical for the whole house but could make a safe room or corner.

Make sure you have a way out in an emergency. Dont block your egress. Have stuff ready to go if you have to leave quickly.

There are a number of good books out there on the subject. Holding Your Ground and A Failure of Cvility are two that I have.

Rocks are a great idea. Years ago (back in CA) a truck ran into our porch. There have been several instances here of people going out of control & driving into store fronts. We do have some big rocks dh dragged home from somewhere. We were going to use them in the back yard for landscaping, but I will tell him we're going to put them all along outside the fence line!

 

[cyberiot]

I installed a Door Bull (a bit under $50 on Amazon) on each exterior door and am very pleased:



Also have a couple Wyze cams pointed at entry doors. Very cheap, and easy to use. These replaced a Ring doorbell that was a cosmic PITA.

House has a perimeter alarm system. I'm not a fan of interior motion sensors--too many false alarms. My attitude is that, if you've breached the perimeter, you are officially and legally in the Toast Zone.

Would like to install intruder-unfriendly plants along my fence line, but that's a greater expense than I'm willing to absorb at the moment. Idea filed under Long-Term Plans. DD is urging me to improve my backyard lighting, but I haven't decided yet whether that's a good idea or a way to help The Bad Man see better.

 

[bluelady]

I installed a Door Bull (a bit under $50 on Amazon) on each exterior door and am very pleased:

View attachment 231023

Also have a couple Wyze cams pointed at entry doors. Very cheap, and easy to use. These replaced a Ring doorbell that was a cosmic PITA.

House has a perimeter alarm system. I'm not a fan of interior motion sensors--too many false alarms. My attitude is that, if you've breached the perimeter, you are officially and legally in the Toast Zone.

Would like to install intruder-unfriendly plants along my fence line, but that's a greater expense than I'm willing to absorb at the moment. Idea filed under Long-Term Plans. DD is urging me to improve my backyard lighting, but I haven't decided yet whether that's a good idea or a way to help The Bad Man see better.

The Door Bull looks interesting; reviews say the screws are no good, but dh can easily replace those. Kind of expensive, though. I wonder about installing what we used to call "rape locks" with long heavy screws? They are kind of flimsy, but it looks like they have stronger versions now. Also when looking at these I see "security strike plates" that are long & cover both lock & deadbolt holes. Again, would be put in with long, strong screws.

What did you not like about the Ring? We need a doorbell so are going to get one with a camera or something, also probably a couple of little solar lights. Ds installs security systems, so we're going to get his input. He's putting a good camera system in our business soon, but that means anything $$$ for home will have to wait quite a while. I think if we do have any civil unrest issues that businesses would be more vulnerable than homes, so we're doing that first.

 

[nomifyle]

After reading this I'm thinking cement board around the walls in our bedroom which is the front of the house. I am in the woods but you never know.

God is good all the time

 

[mecoastie]

After reading this I'm thinking cement board around the walls in our bedroom which is the front of the house. I am in the woods but you never know.

God is good all the time

For what? It wont stop rounds from going through it.

 

[cyberiot]

What did you not like about the Ring? We need a doorbell so are going to get one with a camera or something, also probably a couple of little solar lights. Ds installs security systems, so we're going to get his input. He's putting a good camera system in our business soon, but that means anything $$$ for home will have to wait quite a while. I think if we do have any civil unrest issues that businesses would be more vulnerable than homes, so we're doing that first.

I spent an inordinate amount of time troubleshooting network issues with the Ring. It had recurring problems connecting to my network and STAYING connected. And, the handyman who installed it messed up, so it wasn't wired properly to my indoor chime. I ultimately went back to my regular, old-fashioned doorbell and a stand-alone Wyze camera ($25), which works like a top. My old intercom system still functions and has a front-porch speaker, so I have voice capabilities. I am now certifiably happy.

In fairness, a lot of folks use the Ring and are thrilled with it.

 

[Illini Warrior]

takes a lot of dense material to stop a pistol round much less a rifle - not likely you can add enough material on the interior to do any good >>> and there are not many ways to add that kind of protection outside without altering the appearance - talking 2 feet plus of sandbags or 55g barrels filled with gravel/dirt ...

 

[vestige]

TANSTAAFL

 

[Voortrekker]

I don't know the cost, but an engineer back in the 1970's-1980's took fiberglass resin and hardener, fiberglass fabric and made a template (wood). A layer of fabric and the resin/hardener, cross weaved the next layer of fabric and added resin/hardener. H

He made it an inch thick on a 12" x 12" piece and tested it with a 30'06 round at less than 15 yards. The bullet did not penetrate. Interior this is doable for a piece 36" x the length of the room for the bedroom. YMMV.

 

[Voortrekker]

https://greenlightsurfsupply.com

fiberglass cloth

another source

 

[Millwright]

I don't know the cost, but an engineer back in the 1970's-1980's took fiberglass resin and hardener, fiberglass fabric and made a template (wood). A layer of fabric and the resin/hardener, cross weaved the next layer of fabric and added resin/hardener. H

He made it an inch thick on a 12" x 12" piece and tested it with a 30'06 round at less than 15 yards. The bullet did not penetrate. Interior this is doable for a piece 36" x the length of the room for the bedroom. YMMV.

More recently, I saw a video of a guy that made some plates with that method.

IIRC, he only laid them up to 1/2"

They did respectably well against pistol ammo and better with rifle than I would have expected.

Much lighter than steel plates.

My wandering thoughts were to put some kevlar and maybe a thin sheet of stainless in them.


For the OP, I'd look at planters on the exterior.

It's hard to do full ballistic protection on a house, at least after the fact....and economically.

 

[Voortrekker]

One would think that after putting 18" thick and 48" high across the front of the structure with ferro-cement on the outside of the house that it would improve property values.

 

[TBAR]

Ceramic floor tiles glued on both sides of a piece of plywood? Maybe one side with double tiles? Just thinking out loud, never tried it.

 

[Millwright]

It's generally accepted that gravel is equal to or better than concrete for ballistic protection.

 

[NCGirl]

We just installed a new camera system. It's a hikvision with colorvu cameras.

They are ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! Its like daytime at 2am. I can not say enough about how impressed I am with these cameras. BHPhoto has them for $199/each.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

takes a lot of dense material to stop a pistol round much less a rifle - not likely you can add enough material on the interior to do any good >>> and there are not many ways to add that kind of protection outside without altering the appearance - talking 2 feet plus of sandbags or 55g barrels filled with gravel/dirt ...

....or "landscape features" like flower boxes, stone, decorative block or brick faced flower boxes or similarly raised "landscape beds".

How about real working window shutters? They can be made out of metal.

I'm starting to look into a 3M window film product, possibly for both the outside and inside of the windows. The hope is to minimize damage from shattering glass. Also if the glass shatter either into shards or popcorn hopefully whatever is left will still remain as a barrier, maybe not much of one but still something.

Instead of a screen door how about a decorative steel one? The main door can look nice and still be made of metal and hung in a steel frame or at least have extra long screws attaching it to the frame. They aren't cheap.

 

[cyberiot]

Ring doorbell recall

A footnote to our earlier discussion on this thread about the Ring doorbell--Ring has recalled 350,000 second-generation models because some caught on fire. More at the link:

Ring recalls 350,000 smart doorbells after some of them caught fire

Amazon-subsidiary Ring is recalling hundreds of thousands of video doorbells after receiving reports of them catching fire.

www.cnn.com

 

[ComCamGuy]

takes a lot of dense material to stop a pistol round much less a rifle - not likely you can add enough material on the interior to do any good >>> and there are not many ways to add that kind of protection outside without altering the appearance - talking 2 feet plus of sandbags or 55g barrels filled with gravel/dirt ...

this is one of the things we looked for when we bought our house, a stone exterior . We have 8-12” limestone exterior.

 

[Cag3db1rd]

I live in a bad neighborhood with a flimsy 1950s house (it was what I could afford, and it is paid off). I am always looking at ways to increase security.

One thing we have added just a few months ago is an 8 camera security system. We are still tweaking out blind spots, but it is better. It has the gimmedats next door on higher alert, especially after we caught them throwing rocks at our house. I am still working on lighting every dark spot in our yard with solar security lights from HF. They last pretty well if no one smacks them with long pieces of lumber (glaring at hubby). I have my whole front porch lit with them, and when the power goes out in my hood, our porch is the only light around. Kinda eerie, really. If I can get away with it, I want to put a few layers of cement block filled with gravel just to give a little more security to Toot when he's playing on the living room floor. Hubby's chair is by the a/c unit, and my chair has his chair and the a/c in between me and the outside. Toot has a chair between us. But if he's in the middle of the floor, I'm kind of worried for him.maybe the bricks and gravel might help.

 

[EYW]

Books. Of course not as ballistic resistant as some of the other suggestion, if you have a lot of books and can make/get/modify bookcases to put against the walls that worry you or just stack them up along the walls behind the furniture, it will provide a little bit of security until you can get something more permanent and more ballistic proof.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

There's rose bush but they'd require maintenance. There's a wild rose I ran into in Maryland. It's pink with five petals. It grows fast, will tolerate shade or full sun and about any soil type. It vines up trees and on fences. It's like organic barbed wire and has been known to drag farmers off their tractor seats. But, it looks nice.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

A few other biological deterrents from It's a Southern Thing.
If Horror Films Really Took Place in the South
•Oct 30, 2018
It's a Southern Thing
You're gonna need more than a scary mask and a chainsaw down here.
Link to source.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po2RGPkXhIw

Run time 1:52

 

[bluelady]

There's rose bush but they'd require maintenance. There's a wild rose I ran into in Maryland. It's pink with five petals. It grows fast, will tolerate shade or full sun and about any soil type. It vines up trees and on fences. It's like organic barbed wire and has been known to drag farmers off their tractor seats. But, it looks nice.

Oh, I'd love that! Even if it wasn't for protection; I love pink and climbing and wild roses! Here is a discussion about the same thing, with lots of thorny rose suggestions (they wouldn't all fit in the post):

Rose with the Nastiest Thorns

I have had such a wonderful time pouring over these pages of late! So I was wondering if I could get your advice on a problem we've been having lately. We just moved to our new home last Fall and have planted like mad. We put in a pretty, though tallish fence out front (to keep the dogs safe)...

www.houzz.com

Antique Roses

Rose with the Nastiest Thorns
jinnypearce
9 years ago
I have had such a wonderful time pouring over these pages of late! So I was wondering if I could get your advice on a problem we've been having lately. We just moved to our new home last Fall and have planted like mad. We put in a pretty, though tallish fence out front (to keep the dogs safe), and planted in front of it a butterfly vine, some low growing cyanothus and, here is to the point-a lovely little manzanita tree. The thing is, someone has systematically snapped off all the branches. I felt like weeping every time I saw it, and today someone finally snapped off the last pretty branch. So I dug it up and have it potted now hopefully to recoup and live out its days in the relative safety of the inner sanctum. But I was thinking-and here is where I need your help-The old rose passion has been such a great source of joy, that I was thinking, what about that? A joyful response to a sad problem-with thorns!!!! So give me what cha got! What roses do you know that have the most unforgiving barbs? I love Mosses, really dark roses of any kind, but also Souvenir de la Malmaison types, Gallicas. . . OK, not much I don't love. Fragrance a real plus! We live in Berkeley, CA. Thank you in advance for any of your thoughts!
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• 
  onederw
  9 years ago
  Constance Spry, one of the first, if not THE first David Austin rose, is a once-blooming climber with a marvelous fragrance and copious, wicked, armor-piercing thorns.
  I vaguely remember a story about some burglars who tried to escape up and over a wall covered with Constance. Nothing doing. They were all impaled -- and apprehended. Where she's happy, she can easily and quickly become a 12 foot Kraken.
  Kay
  PS: I certainly hope your manzanita recovers, and that whoever is responsible for those acts of tree vandalism does battle with whatever new climber you choose -- and bears the consequences.
  Here is a link that might be useful: Constance Spry climber
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Comments (37)

• 
  jerijen
  9 years ago
  There is a lovely and floriferous lemon-white climbing rose -- a presumed Tea/Noisette found near Manchester, CA. It's fragrant, has great disease-resistance, blooms a lot, and can climb on your fence. It is viciously prickly.
  It is "Manchester Guardian Angel," named for the lovely marble angel in the old cemetery where it was collected by Joyce Demits.
  Vintage Guardens would be your source, tho it also grows in the Sacramento City Cemetery and the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden.
  Other nastily-prickly beauties include 'Mermaid,' and 'Lady Carolina' (which is almost never out of bloom).
  Jeri
  Here is a link that might be useful: Manchester Guardian Angel at HMF
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  ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
  9 years ago
  I like Jeri's suggestions since these roses are not the large hybrid-tea type that most people would be inclined to steal. In your place I would be so furious. Sad to think such people exist. I hope your manzanita makes a full recovery.
  Ingrid
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  It depends what zone you are in of course. I am in 6B but the past few winters have been very cold; we had a lot of damage with Super storm Sandy a while back and I now think a bit differently on what roses to plant. My Austin roses have not faired as well as most others in my seaside climate. Wanting disease resistance, fragrance and durability don’t always come on the same plant! New Dawn will grow very large but is hardy! If you want landscape roses that are very hardy my Meidiland roses( scarlet and carefree delight) have been wonderful. One of my favorites is Rosarium Uetersen; very hardy, lovely fragrance and beautiful color. Rosa Rugosa grow wild here and are the most fragrant of all! If you are in a more hospitable climate do try the Austin roses though; they are beautiful and many have a wonderful scent!
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• 
  hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
  9 years ago
  Security camera.
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  lisanti07028
  9 years ago
  Harison's Yellow will remove the flesh from their bones; only a once-bloomer, but so beautiful when covered with flowers.
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  roseseek
  9 years ago
  Back in the mid 1980s, while working as a volunteer at The Huntington Library at an Old Garden Rose Symposium, a very lovely lady asked me if I could propagate Waldtraut Nielsen, a moss in the Study Plot for her. I took a look at the rose and later asked her what I'd done to offend her! Talk about THORNY! It had layered itself, so she went home with what she wanted. She had a sixteen year old daughter, who, if as pretty as her mom was, NEEDED that security to prevent young men from using that window! LOL! Once flowering, not terribly fragrant, large pink flowers and enormous plant!
  Fakir's Delight is a Bracteata-Moss Ralph Moore created. It is fearfully thorned, yet can be handled carefully without damaging you as they are hooked downward and dense like a bed of nails. Relatively large flowers in shaded white reminiscent of Sombreuil with an unusual peach scent. Heavily repeat flowering on a large plant.
  I know there is one I'm forgetting. It will rip me as soon as I go out to the pot ghetto. Oh, well! LOL! Kim
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• 
  jinnypearce
  Original Author
  
  9 years ago
  I wish you all could see the grin on my face as I read about these roses you've mentioned that I get to go research now! You know, I just came under the old rose spell this year, and I honestly can't get enough, so this has turned into a thrilling opportunity to dwell on them even more. I am about to finish a job and go on vacation, so will spend delightful hours mulling over your suggestions, but a cursory look so far and I am thinking maybe I need one of everything. . . and a security camera. ; ) You've eclipsed my sadness for the Manzanita with your generosity, humor and bounty of ideas. You've really made my day-Thank You from the bottom of my heart! Jinny
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• 
  cziga
  9 years ago
  I'm not sure it falls into the "thorniest rose of all" category, but the most vicious one I grow is Celine Forrestier. Such innocent looking blooms, but the thorns on mine are awful!! I have to winter protect her up here, and getting mulch anywhere near the canes (on or off) is painful
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  cath41
  9 years ago
  Eglantine is formidable, pink flowers and once blooming only, but then you have the scented leaves.
  Cath
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• 
  zeffyrose
  9 years ago
  Albertine is a great, fragrant rambler--It is a once-bloomer but well worth the wait each year.
  The thorns are ( in the words of Penelope Hobhouse) "VICIOUS"
  Here it is covering one end of our home---
  {{gwi:205633}}
  Florence
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• 
  buffington22
  9 years ago
  Fisherman's Friend is wicked in my garden. But the blooms and fragrance are worth it!
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• 
  jovy1097
  9 years ago
  My vote goes to the David Austin rose, Gertrude Jekyll. It's a rebloomer, has the best fragrance of all roses (to my nose), and is the thorniest monster this side of Brer Rabbit's briar patch. If you have a slightly evil streak, you will plant this one because people will really want to steal blooms off of it, but will then be impaled.
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  roseseek
  9 years ago
  Make sure your homeowner's insurance is quite good. You're creating an "attractive nuisance". Huntington originally had the wrought iron fences around his mansion in San Marino covered with climbing roses. People waiting for the street cars stole his flowers continually, angering him to the point of replacing them with thorny, green plants. Don't blame him at all! Kim
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• 
  fogrose
  9 years ago
  rosa mulliganii is an amazingly vigorous thorny rose with NO disease, just beautiful shining leaves even in part shade in foggy pacifica. though once blooming it's an astonishing flush and the thorns are evil. great musky fragrance too.
  fogrose
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• 
  seil zone 6b MI
  9 years ago
  I don't have a lot of OGRs but my Rose de Rescht has some pretty nasty pickers! I know your not looking for HTs but the two thorniest ones of those I've ever seen are Snowfire and Falling in Love. I hate to have to do anything with them! Oh, BTW, don't get Reine des Violettes...she's thornless, lol!
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[bluelady]

A few other biological deterrents from It's a Southern Thing.
If Horror Films Really Took Place in the South
•Oct 30, 2018
It's a Southern Thing
You're gonna need more than a scary mask and a chainsaw down here.
Link to source.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po2RGPkXhIw

Run time 1:52

Here, they're goatheads!

 

[JMG91]

More recently, I saw a video of a guy that made some plates with that method.

IIRC, he only laid them up to 1/2"

They did respectably well against pistol ammo and better with rifle than I would have expected.

Much lighter than steel plates.

My wandering thoughts were to put some kevlar and maybe a thin sheet of stainless in them.


For the OP, I'd look at planters on the exterior.

It's hard to do full ballistic protection on a house, at least after the fact....and economically.

I also saw that video, and thought it was very interesting! I'd like to try it myself, but I don't have the machinery he does. There's another guy on YouTube that asked people to send him something that they thought would make the best body armor so that he could test it out against his weapons. The winning material was a simple steel plate with a piece of horse mat glued to it. It withstood EVERYTHING except some massive round that he fired at the end of the video--which I can't remember the name of at the moment. Regardless, he was shocked that nothing else went through it, and it actually outperformed professionally-made body armor!

 

[JMG91]

....or "landscape features" like flower boxes, stone, decorative block or brick faced flower boxes or similarly raised "landscape beds".

How about real working window shutters? They can be made out of metal.

I'm starting to look into a 3M window film product, possibly for both the outside and inside of the windows. The hope is to minimize damage from shattering glass. Also if the glass shatter either into shards or popcorn hopefully whatever is left will still remain as a barrier, maybe not much of one but still something.

Instead of a screen door how about a decorative steel one? The main door can look nice and still be made of metal and hung in a steel frame or at least have extra long screws attaching it to the frame. They aren't cheap.

I had actually planned to use the 3M film on our windows as well, but then considered a downside to it that I wasn't willing to risk: House fire. If you desperately need to get out through the windows, you're gonna burn.

 

[Millwright]

I also saw that video, and thought it was very interesting! I'd like to try it myself, but I don't have the machinery he does. There's another guy on YouTube that asked people to send him something that they thought would make the best body armor so that he could test it out against his weapons. The winning material was a simple steel plate with a piece of horse mat glued to it. It withstood EVERYTHING except some massive round that he fired at the end of the video--which I can't remember the name of at the moment. Regardless, he was shocked that nothing else went through it, and it actually outperformed professionally-made body armor!

No real machinery needed to lay up glass.

Scissors and a paint brush.

A mold could be made with a cheep handsaw and scrap wood.