Barbed wire is both inexpensive and durable, but it’s security value is often overrated. Traditional barbed wire may be cut with small wire cutters, or breached by throwing a carpet or board over the wire. More determined attackers may place a ladder or truck next to the fence and jump over — or may simply drive a truck through the fence. Nevertheless, barbed wire and related products can play a useful role in a complete security strategy. Improving Barbed Wire Barbed Tape is a steel tape punched into a barbed shape.  It is more difficult to cut through than regular [...]

Floor safes have several advantages over other home safe designs.  In combination, these advantages often make floor safes the best option for protection of your valuables. However, there are also some disadvantages to consider. Advantages Concealment Flood safes are very easy to conceal, mostly because few people look for floor safes.  A large stand-alone safe is obvious.  A small safe hidden under a bed or in a closet will show up in any routine search.  Even wall safes will be revealed after most searches — because people are accustomed to looking for wall safes. A floor safe can be hidden [...]

A home alarm system can be part of a complete home protection system, but it is important to view an alarm as just one component of a larger strategy. An alarm system won’t protect your home from a flash flood, a drive-by shooting, or a no-knock BATF raid executed at the wrong address. Alarm Types Home alarm systems typically report using one or more of these methods: A loud bell or siren Bright and/or flashing lights A landline or cell phone call to you A landline or cell phone call to an alarm service company A landline or cell phone [...]

Perimeter security defines protection layers against both physical ingress and information egress of your property. Defining Your Perimeters If you have a single family home in a fenced yard, you might define your fence as the outer perimeter and the walls of your home as the inside perimeter.  In an highly urbanized environment, you might not have a yard and a fence.  The walls of your home might be your only perimeter.  On the other hand, if your home is a farm house far from civilization, you might define an outer perimeter far from your house which is not protected [...]

Common door locks fall into one of three categories: cylinder locks, rim locks, and mortise locks. Cylinder locks are the most common type of door lock.  They are designed to fit into pre-cut holes in standard doors. Rim locks are an older type of lock that is seldom seen anymore.  They can sometimes be useful to add an additional layer of security to an existing door lock. Instead of going through a hole in the door like a cylinder lock, rim locks are screwed onto the interior surface of the door. Mortise locks are similar to cylinder locks in that [...]

Second only to air, water is one of our most basic human needs.  Nonetheless, most people who have grown up and lived in the Western world have come to take clean water for granted.  They open the faucet and clean water comes pouring out as if by magic. At the same time, 3.575 million people die each year from water-related diseases.  Most of these people live in places where there is no tap water or the tap water cannot be trusted to be clean. Ask yourself two questions: Should I trust my tap water now? Will I be able to [...]

Steel security doors are superior in most ways to wooden doors, but they are not always practical.  Your existing wooden door may be decorative, it may be a non-standard size, or it may simply be already paid for.  When you can’t replace a wooden door, you can sometimes augment it with steel reinforcement. You’ll need to buy a large steel plate and then drill holes for the doorknob, the peephole, and the mounting screws. The thickness of steel plate depends upon the strength of your door hinges and door material. Here are approximate weights for an average 3′ x6′ 8″ [...]

Home fires kill approximately 2,500 Americans every year and injure five times that many. They also cause more than six billion dollars a year in property damage. Burns and smoke inhalation damage can be extremely unpleasant, even if you do survive. Children five and under are twice as likely to die in a house fire as adults. Nearly 100% of these tragedies are preventable. Fire security begins with preventing unintended fires from occurring in the first place. Grab a notebook and a pen and walk through your house, conducting a fire audit of each room. Note the presence of any [...]

Fire extinguishers can help to put out small fires, but should not be relied on to put out fires that have already become large. Most home fires begin in the kitchen, so I recommend maintaining a larger capacity fire extinguisher there. The workshop or garage is another good location for a larger capacity extinguisher. In addition, there should be at least one larger extinguisher on every floor of your house. In the US, these larger extinguishers might be labeled 2-A:10-B:C. Smaller capacity fire extinguishers can be maintained in other rooms to ensure that you are never more than forty feet [...]

Around 412BC, Euripides wrote “The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.” Bad guys usually do not like to be seen doing bad things and security lighting can help to ruin their nights. Where To Deploy Security Lighting Security lighting is most beneficial when used on doors, windows and pathways. It is also useful in parking areas, which provide many opportunities for attackers to hide. The same is true for garbage bins or other outdoor storage areas. Lights should be placed carefully, to avoid creating dark corners where an attacker can hide. Lighting should be soft and even [...]