Increasing security of a room???

[Testosterone boy]

While I was on vacation, somebody broke into the house that I use for a studio and tried to get into the computer room. Left a lot of small gravel grit and a spent bullet primer by the door as well as numerous small pry marks.

The second time, they got into the computer room and stole all of the dvd-rw discs and some other small stuff.


I just bought some dead bolts but wonder how easy the locks are to pick. Perhaps I should buy expensive dead bolts that are hard to pick. Perhaps ordinary household locks are easialy jammed and there is no need to pick the lock? There are many small pry marks by the lock. I have heard that certain tools can be used to push open basic household door locks without even picking the lock.

Anybody with knowledge or experience?

 

[jnuts]

How about using a motion detect security system? Would probably be cheaper in the long run.

 

[Testosterone boy]

*

 

[Testosterone boy]

How about using a motion detect security system? Would probably be cheaper in the long run.

I am installing a motion detection camera today. I don't like loud alarms that are triggered accidentally 99.9% of the time.

Doe somebody know if more expensive dead bolts are really much harder to pick?

The spent bullet primer amidst the gravel grit does set the mind to spinning does it not?


The deleted web page is also a curiousity I might add.

 

[Becoming]

how did they get the door open? was it damaged? or basically just pried/jimmied open? I have no idea about the primer... So the door just has a standard lock and no deadbolt- that sounds like an invite to break in... hell tell me where it is and next time I want to make a sammich I will stop by...

Deadbolts are hard to pick, just get some solid ones frm the hardware store... if you did not have one on there before it is easy to open a door with the standard little catch on it, it prolly took like 10 seconds for them to open...

Also they make it harder for someone to force it open (without breaking the door frame that is) those little standard locks might as well be the "honor system"

 

[Testosterone boy]

Thanks guys.

The fact that they came back is making me think.

The spent bullet primer was the large size, typically used to large caliber weapons like .40 etc. It also had the red markings left when a primer is made to be weather/water resistant. Standard on many military/government loads or surplus loads for that fact.

I think I'll dig it out of the trash in fact and determine the manufacturer. Not too many people have bullet primers in their boot treads.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

buy a motion detecting camera that hooks up to your USB port on the computer. when motion (adjustable to different sensitivities) is detected, the camera starts to record... the video that's recorded is password protected too, so it's not able to be deleted by anyone else.

I have a camera that does that -- and I bought it for a cheap price.


Also, if you want to get an unpickable door lock, buy a number pad door lock. Most police departments have them on the doors to get in. Some are electronically operated, the others you just push a certain set of buttons.

 

[Becoming]

buy a motion detecting camera that hooks up to your USB port on the computer. when motion (adjustable to different sensitivities) is detected, the camera starts to record... the video that's recorded is password protected too, so it's not able to be deleted by anyone else.

why nbot just take the computer...

 

[digger]

This guy is a breaker, not a picker. "Picking" is tricking a lock into opening, not breaking it. Your lock has two major parts: the cylinder, which takes the key, and the latch, the part that holds the door shut. A good cylinder like a Medeco is virtually pick-proof.

A deadbolt doesn't snap out the way a spring latch does. If it's really a deadbolt you have to turn something after you close the door - you can't just pull the door shut and let it click; that's a spring latch. A spring latch can be forced with a putty knife or sometimes even a credit card. Deadbolts don't allow that. Many of them now have a hardened inner rod that is free to rotate so even an electric grinder won't be able to saw through it.

So the Mission: Impossible BS, picking the lock or using a laser beam on the deadbolt, are actually the two things that are the least likely to work.

If someone kicks the door, the deadbolt is not what's going to fail. It'll more likely be the door frame. To "harden" that, you want the strike (the part where the bolt goes into the frame) to be mounted with very long screws, all the way into the studs of the door frame.

Mounting another deadbolt high up, near shoulder height, more than doubles the difficulty of simply kicking the door in.

I assume the hinges are on the inside since he didn't just pop the pins out and take the door out of the frame. One simple trick to prevent that is to drive a couple of thick screws into the frame on the hinge side, leaving them sticking up about 3/4-inch. Drill matching holes in the door so it can close -- now even if someone pulls the pins out of the hinges, they can't pull the locked door out of the frame.

If the guy has unlimited time to work, though, he can still take a box cutter to the wallboard and go right through the freakin' wall. That's why you need some kind of alarm -- you need to limit the amount of time he's willing to hang around. Make him use more force, make him create more noise and draw more attention to himself. Eventually he's going to say "F-ck it!" and go away.

 

[Becoming]

This guy is a breaker, not a picker. "Picking" is tricking a lock into opening, not breaking it. Your lock has two major parts: the cylinder, which takes the key, and the latch, the part that holds the door shut. A good cylinder like a Medeco is virtually pick-proof.

A deadbolt doesn't snap out the way a spring latch does. If it's really a deadbolt you have to turn something after you close the door - you can't just pull the door shut and let it click; that's a spring latch. A spring latch can be forced with a putty knife or sometimes even a credit card. Deadbolts don't allow that. Many of them now have a hardened inner rod that is free to rotate so even an electric grinder won't be able to saw through it.

So the Mission: Impossible BS, picking the lock or using a laser beam on the deadbolt, are actually the two things that are the least likely to work.

If someone kicks the door, the deadbolt is not what's going to fail. It'll more likely be the door frame. To "harden" that, you want the strike (the part where the bolt goes into the frame) to be mounted with very long screws, all the way into the studs of the door frame.

Mounting another deadbolt high up, near shoulder height, more than doubles the difficulty of simply kicking the door in.

awesome summary- this is what I meant when I said I was going to come over and make a sammich... but digger said it much better...

 

[Ganryu]

Took the words out of my mouth, Digger. I think people sometimes underestimate how easy it can be to kick a door in when those crappy little screws are used.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

tboy, are you near the 25 where cherry creek goes over? like near broadway/20th & stout sts?

 

[Testosterone boy]

tboy, are you near the 25 where cherry creek goes over? like near broadway/20th & stout sts?

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

i'll take that as a yes? you know where you're in the vicinity of, correct?

 

[manny78]

Get yourself a fingerprint operated padlock on your door. I have this on my main gun vault. The system can store many users (like up to 25 I think). The get some barred windows, motion detector and you're good to go.

 

[Testosterone boy]

Get yourself a fingerprint operated padlock on your door. I have this on my main gun vault. The system can store many users (like up to 25 I think). The get some barred windows, motion detector and you're good to go.

What do those sell for?

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

check this site too

http://www.nokey.com/

 

[Testosterone boy]

i'll take that as a yes? you know where you're in the vicinity of, correct?

I was playing along with looked to be a joke.

Whats in that vicinity?