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Apartment Security System
samsam7
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey H/A
So today I noticed that the sliding door in my apartment living room had been tampered with. The screen door was open and the lock on the sliding glass door was open. Luckily I had a dead bolt on the door hidden from view. I checked out my my other windows and noticed that one had the screen dislodged. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a security system for my apartment. I don't want anything hardwired or too expensive since I'll only be here for a year. Just something to scare off intruders/warn me. I've got two sliding windows, a sliding door and a front door as points of entry. And of course a ton of electronics and video games.
So today I noticed that the sliding door in my apartment living room had been tampered with. The screen door was open and the lock on the sliding glass door was open. Luckily I had a dead bolt on the door hidden from view. I checked out my my other windows and noticed that one had the screen dislodged. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a security system for my apartment. I don't want anything hardwired or too expensive since I'll only be here for a year. Just something to scare off intruders/warn me. I've got two sliding windows, a sliding door and a front door as points of entry. And of course a ton of electronics and video games.
samsam7 on
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How'd they manage to open the locks on the screen/patio door?
Might be helpful if something happens in the future.
Currently, in our apartment, we've got pvc pipes that we jam into the doorframe, so that the door only slides open about a quarter of an inch (enough clearance to be able to get it back out when the door's completely shut). This isn't foolproof either, but it makes up for how crappy the locks are, which is fine since i'm on the 4th floor.
If you want to do security for cheap, it depends what you mean by security. Do you want an alarm? Do you want it to try to notify the cops? Do you just want video surveillance of the entryways?
There are plenty of internet-enabled webcams (we used to use one by Axis at a workplace of mine way back) that'll email photos around which are handy for evidence. We had ours wired up to an ultrasonic microphone to detect movement, but the same can be done with visible light movement detectors.
The type of camera will depend on whether it needs to work in no/low light environments.
Also, do you have pets? If so, that calculates into the type of detector you use. (ultra-sonic not so hot then, but there are movement detectors that only go off if the target masses more than 40Kg or so (aka, won't go off for cats or smaller dogs)
I have no clue. It's a shoddy lock, which is why I'm glad it has a deadbolt. I'm also gonna cut up a broomstick and use it as a jam on the sliding rail. I've thought about renter's insurance too, but I haven't got a quote yet, and also it wouldn't immediately protect me in the event someone did break in. I'd love to get a huge dog, but it wouldn't be fair to the dog to be in a small place like an apartment.
I'm definitely picking up a baseball bat seeing that my rockband guitar doesn't work very well as a blunt instrument :P
Go do it now, it's like $10 a month.
*Rimshot*
Yeah, go for renter's insurance, it's incredibly affordable. Also the broom handle for the door is a good idea as well, see if you can find s similar supplement for the windows.
Like... My original car insurance was $140 a month, and with renters it went to $90.
It would be nice to have a wireless alarm set up with a motion detector in the living room to cover the home entertainment stuff is, which is right where the sliding door and front door are and possibly sensors for the windows. I have no pets or roommates. I don't think I need to go as far as having a subscription to a security company or police notification. The area I live in isn't rough at all. I just want an alarm to scare off people and something to physically protect myself.
Do you have curtains on your patio doors and blinds/curtains on the windows?
They'll act as a decent deterrant to new thieves, if they can't see what you have they're less likely to take the risk.
Sure, it blocks them from sight when they get in but most of the time nobody will see that anyways, even if your door is wide open.
It's just vertical blinds. It looks pretty well covered visibility wise, but I'll probably get curtains anyways nonetheless.
I'm definitely going to get the renters insurance if its really that cheap.
I remember it being brought up before that tech geeks have the hardest time with insurance companies since our purchases of high end electronics is so disapropiortinate to all our other purchases.
So I want to mention right from the get go that I've only ever done this in strictly legal circumstances, but I've broken into just about anything you can imagine with the exception of a combination safe. The only thing that will reliably make me pack up my bag and call it a night before I've even tried the door is a dog. Doesn't even have to be a big dog as long as it's annoying and won't shut up when it unexpectedly meets someone new.
Motion detectors are also all well and good; they can be defeated, but only if the person doing the B&E knows about them in advance. But my gut is that you probably need to focus on deterrents as opposed to alarms. Shy of a dog, options to look into are improved locking mechanisms for your windows, bars over same, some sort of thorny bush beneath your windows, and motion-detection floodlights. The goal is to make an individual think that there are easier places to break into.
What's on the other side of your sliding glass door? A parking lot, a field, an alley, a street?
Unfortunately, a privacy wall about up to my shoulders surrounding the patio, and after that are parking spaces. My windows both face these parking spaces, and these parking spaces/windows face towards the center of the complex, they're not along the outside edge.
Hmm. See, if you can see the sliding glass door but it isn't visible from the street, then what this is suggesting to me is that one of the following statements are true:
1. The person who attempted to break into your apartment either currently lives or works in your complex or has previously lived or worked in your complex.
2. The person who attempted to break into your building is a friend or family member of one of your neighbors.
3. Someone from outside your complex has been casing your building in anticipation of future burglaries; in point of fact, whoever was poking around your sliding glass door may not have been trying to break in, he may have only been testing the locks on your windows and doors in case he decides to come back.
I didn't see you answer an earlier question from Iceman about whether or not you filed a non-emergency police report. If you haven't, you definitely should. Indeed, the more visibility this attempted break-in raises, the less likely it is that the culprit will want to risk another venture in your complex. The management company for your complex should strongly consider sending around an email to all the residents and post large, highly-visible notifications in the public spaces about the event. These notifications should mention that the police are already on the case and that security around the complex is being tightened.
Generally you don't want to use an IP Security camera for a home deployment like that. Almost all home internet providers block SMTP from the user end, and almost all security cameras support only SMTP, not IMAPI or POP. So those e-mails would go into the void. If a home user does insist on a camera, you want to have it connected to an NVR/DVR to do the recording.
For home users, generally a PIR or other motion detector is overkill. The Axis cameras you mention have decent motion detection built in. An NVR or DVR will have slightly better motion detection. Most homes will be low light rather then no light environment, particularly by a door. Camera placement under the circumstances becomes a headache. Looking right out a door means you want a camera with WDR to reduce the light difference. A better solution is to change the camera angle but it requires the home to be set up for it.
The best solution for the original poster is to get something like a metal rod for the sliding door and renters insurance. Document well and keep up on your premiums.
This was years ago, they've probably gotten better. I think we switched to the ultra-sonic so that it would only detect people on this side of a glass door (was an office with a shared hallway), didn't need pictures of people walking past, only walking in)
I agree on the renters insurance. Many apartment complexes require it anyway, but not all. IT's not a bad idea, and if you do sane things like backup your data offsite, you can be cleaned out without too much long-term pain.
Also do the broomstick/pipe trick. Can't believe they didn't give you a bar to use for that.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Actually a lot of them just straight up block port 25. It's a very common problem that we have encountered for home users, they simply can not send any traffic via port 25. They will often kindly unblock it if you switch the business cable/DSL packages for much more money.
You know all those trojans running free on the Internet?
If port 25 weren't blocked by default by virtually every residential ISP on the planet they'd all be running SMTP servers in the background of every single infected PC.
Do you have any idea how bad that would be for spam propagation
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Oh I'm well aware of how bad it can be. Simply pointing out that if it's a requirement, it often can resolved with the application of more cash. I don't think it's a good idea, and I feel that at that point you're already wasted quite a bit of money. But some people like to be silly gooses.
That's kind of fascinating to know, actually. But my impression of what the OP's asking about is focused much more on deterrence than anything else. A camera that will email him vids or pics when its motion detector goes off is cool, but what he would likely prefer (as far as I can make out) is something that will make an ear-splitting noise that will scare off a would-be intruder.
What would be even better are external deterrents so that a would-be intruder will take a pass on his apartment in the first place. Either in the "security-through-obscurity" department (black-out shades or something else to prevent people from seeing into his apartment and assessing the value of his belongings) or more overt deterrence like prickly holly bushes just inside his privacy wall, thorny rose bushes under his windows, a dog, window bars, a big ADT sign on his glass door that suggests higher-tech security, motion-sensor floodlights...hell, you can mount a security camera up over the door and not even connect it to anything, and it will function as a deterrent. Which is better than nothing.
I obviously wouldn't call the advice to procure renters insurance bad, but insurance != security. It can give you some piece of mind w/r/t the question of "what happens if all my stuff gets stolen?" but the OP has also mentioned that he feels personally unsafe in his home and wants some sort of physical, tangible protection against the potential of future home invasions. Which is totally rational and understandable.
The problem is that there is a limit to the modifications you can make to an apartment. Planting bushes under a window might be a lease violation. Same with window bars. It's hard to make an apartment more secure because you can't really change much. That's why the renters insurance suggestion is very important for him.