House Clearing - For the Concerned Parent

[Rob Pincus]

I often say that "I am not impressed with T-shirts anymore" because I've seen poor examples from just about every Cool-T-Shirt group you can name. Usually, they are extreme exceptions, but the fact that they exist means that I wouldn't trust my daughter's life to just anyone who can say "I am a Starship Trooper!". We see people all the time who have been highly trained fail miserably to perform. Add the "woken up in the middle of the night factor and I would not expect much from a pre-teen. That said, your kids might be incredibly exceptional, but I wouldn't expect them to be able to fend for themselves nor give them that responsibility as Plan A, electronic comms or not. You could easily end up spending 30 seconds trying to make sure you are on the right channel and the battery is charged....

I really do think that M25 has a great idea in the "access hatch" concept though, if the floor plan supports it.

-RJP

[Rob Pincus]

I often say that "I am not impressed with T-shirts anymore" because I've seen poor examples from just about every Cool-T-Shirt group you can name. Usually, they are extreme exceptions, but the fact that they exist means that I wouldn't trust my daughter's life to just anyone who can say "I am a Starship Trooper!". We see people all the time who have been highly trained fail miserably to perform. Add the "woken up in the middle of the night factor and I would not expect much from a pre-teen. That said, your kids might be incredibly exceptional, but I wouldn't expect them to be able to fend for themselves nor give them that responsibility as Plan A, electronic comms or not. You could easily end up spending 30 seconds trying to make sure you are on the right channel and the battery is charged....

I really do think that M25 has a great idea in the "access hatch" concept though, if the floor plan supports it.

-RJP

[tombogan03884]

Everyone has had good suggestions, in another thread some one mentioned that even if you can't have a dog, it doesn't mean you can't leave "beware of dog" signs, food and water dishes and a couple of chew toys (Maybe a REALY tore up car tire  )
Burglars  HATE dogs ! Some of the things suggested take time to arrange, but RIGHT now consider if you can take a safe position on the ground floor, keeping all family members out of the line of fire, but controlling access to BOTH stair wells ? you may lose valuable stuff from the rest of the ground floor but ,so what ? STUFF can be replaced, lives can't.
On code words, Often in intelligence nets, the absence of the "safety" signal is in it's self the "danger" signal. Train your wife and kids to unlock/bar the door of the safe rooms ONLY if you use the SAFE word, otherwise they should ask "What", "What did you say ? If you repeat and still do not use the safe word they should ignore any noises they hear until you tell them to open up and DO use the SAFE word. Unpleasant thought but if you are under duress of some sort those noises are liable to be frightening.  Under your conditions I think your wife has a duty to you and her children to learn at least the basics of firearms handling, your situation is nearly impossible for a LONE man to deal with outside of the movies.
Now I will probably find exactly the same things I've said on the second page I haven't read yet 

[ericire12]

Burglars  HATE dogs !

As to dogs.....

Ever seen the show on Discovery called "It Takes a Theif"? Basicly a couple of ex-burglars break into people's homes and then teach them how to prevent future break ins and then they upgrade their home security for them....

....Anyway.... They basically proved time and again that dogs really dont mean much of anything to burglars, and that 99% of domesticated dogs are basically just giant pussy cats -- no offense Haz. Most of the home owners were certain that their dogs would turn into Rin Tin Tin and stop the guys from burglarizing their homes, but the exact opposite was always true. They instead greeted them with affectionate licking and followed them around like they were old family friends. Sometimes the burglar gave them meat out of the fridge to keep them occupied. Other times they were just shuffled off into a bathroom and closed the door behind them. And these were "big scary dogs"..... Ones you would consider to be intimidating and the ideal dog to have around as a deterrent.

The bottom line here is dont think of a dog as anything more then an over active and unreliable early warning system. Some bad guys might have an over exaggerated fear of dogs and may pass your house by because of your "big scary dog", but the professional and/or determined criminal will not view them as a deterrent. They know that 99% of domesticated dogs are meek and harmless.

*Now if you have a $15,000 trained guard dog, disregard everything I just said.  

[ericire12]

As to code words....

Big waste of time. Might work well if all parties are highly trained and strong minded men from a special forces unit, but your wife and kids do not have to mental fortitude to keep that door shut if someone is holding a gun to daddy's head and threatening his life. I couldnt do it. There is no way I could keep my wife locked out if she had a gun to her head. Too many emotions involved, and there is no way I could actively choose to sacrifice her life to keep that door shut.

Spend your time and ideas on finding other ways to be more secure.

[Sponsor]

[Dharmaeye]

Depends on the dog.
Australian cattle dog/ blue heeler are naturals. Family oriented, intelligent  and easily trained dog that tends to herd/ protect children. Had a girl friend with one. Strangers and bad attitudes met with growling at first until directed otherwise.
If girlfriend were attacked, attacker would likely loose their throat in less than a second. Not trained that way, but see there family job as active. Need space and activities - not an apartment dog.

[cooptire]

So my first question is how many home invasions are there in Emporia Kansas?  I am guessing that it isn't the crime mecca that some place like Camden NJ is.  How often are those burglaries that do occur, occur with intent to do harm?  I don't know, so before I start poking fun, I thought it good to ask.

Same thing the wife says. Then I point out that until 2008, more people have been assaulted & murdered here than have been hurt or killed by fire. Yet we all have fire extinguishers and an escape plan. Not trying to be paranoid, just prepared. Meth has made a lot of people into someone vastly different than they thought they were, desperate beyond reason. Couple that with it being the intersection of sveral highways, known crime corridors and I on only a driver - five iron from 2 of them.  Also, being a small business owner, a lot of people have the much mistaken impression that I somehow have a couple of million stashed in my mattress. 

I haven't really had time to review all of the rest of the post in detail yet but, WOW, that is why I like hanging out here. Good ideas and and ideas I wouldn't have thought of. I do appreciate everyone's input. And I will have more questions. 

[TAB]

Build a trap door is not going to be easy, it will actually take alot of work.   You will most likly have to cut out a small section of your basement floor to pore new footings for the new posts and beams that you will be needing to install.  Depends on your house. 

Cuting floor joists is never an easy task.  When it comes time to sell your house it would also be a headache.  Even if you went thru all the permit and engineering process of your local building department.  Personally, if your going to go thru all the hassle of installing beams and cutting joists, you might as well just puting in another stair case.  The cost increase would be very small.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news( seems like all I do is give home owners bad news)

[Rob10ring]

So my first question is how many home invasions are there in Emporia Kansas?

I'd say that usually this question shouldn't matter. It's always possible to be the only home invaded in your area, or even the first ever.

Our city has rated as the nation's "safest" city by the FBI for a few years, but we know of crimes that are happening still. Last year, a teenage girl was raped by a known gang member from LA (we are 35 miles south of downtown LA). When the police spotted his vehicle, he sped into a residential area, and broke into an occupied home. Thankfully, the homeowner not only had a gun ready, but also had just completed a training course. He scared the goblin back out to the police.

[tombogan03884]

Build a trap door is not going to be easy, it will actually take alot of work.   You will most likly have to cut out a small section of your basement floor to pore new footings for the new posts and beams that you will be needing to install.  Depends on your house. 

Cuting floor joists is never an easy task.  When it comes time to sell your house it would also be a headache.  Even if you went thru all the permit and engineering process of your local building department.  Personally, if your going to go thru all the hassle of installing beams and cutting joists, you might as well just puting in another stair case.  The cost increase would be very small.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news( seems like all I do is give home owners bad news)

Sometimes your bad news is welcome, as in this case. It's another case of a really good idea getting mugged by the realities of cost.
 TAB, In my younger days I helped with several jobs rough remodeling and building, from the little I learned it's obvious that you REALLY know this stuff, and have probably run into about every sort of odd ball set up around, odd dimension Canadian lumber, nob and tube wiring, all sorts of things that the average home handy man book never thought of and the average person will not have run into. You should consider sitting down and posting a LONG thread of security improvements, and things to watch out for, methods of doing things. Stuff your profession has showed you that the rest of us don't know, but should.