Ask Lemmy

Not really much, tbh.

Decent quality door locks
Clear line of sight from the street to likely entry points
Loud alarms so if they do break in they're not likely to stay long

If someone wants to get into a house, there isn't much you can do to stop them unless you're rich and can afford exotic shit like bullet proof glass windows and thick metal reinforced doors.
All to can really do is discourage crimes of opportunity by making them seem like bad opportunities.

The critical question is “who?”.

Most break-ins are targets of opportunity. Given that you can’t change to a less risky neighborhood, you could have no outward signs of profitability, no easy/quiet entrance, signs of people around, lights, cameras. And remember, they’re not coming in the front door: they’re looking for an Inconspicuous, weak point. You just need to be less of a target of opportunity than your neighbors.

Someone specifically targetting you will be much harder. Someone with skills will be much harder. At the extreme, no consumer lock is safe against lock picking and no consumer door is safe against police battering ram.

I have a side door with a broken jamb, and speculate that someone kicked it in at some point (before I moved here). One of the first things I did upon moving in, was add long screws to the latch and hinges so it’s anchored in the nearest joist rather than simply the jamb. Supposedly that makes it much more difficult to kick in - someone might give up when it is taking too much time and they are creating noise that could attract attention. I also have a light and a doorbell cam, so they would be visible and on camera doing it. And a dog

At one point I came across an article recommending steel supports behind the jamb, and would really like to do that when I replace the door. It looks like a normal door but the jam is no longer a weak point. Unfortunately no one seems to know what I’m talking about though

Lights, cameras, door armor kit, decent locks, and detergents near windows (bars work, but so does planting a rose bush under the windows. Lastly dogs that bark when one near your doors.

This will.help a lot. Statistically the best impact is a dog or two.

You can go hardest by adding electronic security shutters and a serious storm door over every exterior door..

Very general feedback. I've been slowly doing all of the above for years. Have it all except shutters (no need, windows too high) and storm doors.

But if they get through the door armor, security camera alarms and pitbulls ill have plenty of time to grab my shotgun.

God help them if they hurt my pitbulls.

It depends on whether your adversary is motivated and equipped, your resources, and what visibility you would like to permit. 

Let's suppose you have a poorly equipped adversary, a couple thousand to spend, and you want it to be invisible.

When a door is bashed, the wooden jamb breaks at the lock. So you could go bash resistant device, I believe there are inserts that make bashing significantly harder. Or you can go with a steel door and steel jamb.

For windows, a sheet of polycarbonate glued to the outside should make them resistant to rocks and small arms fire. You should be able to break the glass and kick out the polycarbonate in the event of a house fire.

Check your slider door that it can't be levereged upward and removed while shut.

Given unlimited time for whoever to break in undisturbed, nothing is secure.

The relevant measure is how quickly someone could break in, without preparation and then with. That's kind of how they rate safes.

If you're not Maduro and the goal is just to get away before they're in, people have mentioned some good options to slow whoever down (alongside the silly suggestions). I'd also add trying to look unprepared, so they don't come prepared for more than a door or window themselves, and having a non-obvious escape route to use in those critical seconds.

Of course, if it's an authority, after you've run away you're down a small-ish house.

Having a house with windows already 4 - 6 feet off the ground, security bushes around the whole house, metal shutters for first floor windows, and as many bars or a brace for the doors.

Being a less attractive target than your neighbours, either by being a bigger hassle or by looking like there's nothing worth stealing.

Provide universal health care, low cost.of living to income ratio, free higher education, strong community building, and walkable cities.

Reinforce your doorframes and window frames, preferably with steel. The dinky pine wood frames of residential doors and windows are hilariously easy to kick in, and the thickest steel door and the meanest window bars in the world won't mean much when an attacker can simply kick them out of the frame with a minimum of effort.

You will probably find that doing this is in fact deemed illegal by at least one entity in your local hierarchy of state/county/municipality. I'll give everyone three guesses as to why.

Lesson from South Africa: by the time they are at your door it's too late. Perimeter fencing, preferably a 2m high wall with razor wire AND electric fence on top (including on gate). Garden: floodlights, motion sensing alarms, beams, AI cameras. All doors and windows: bars and security gates. Inside: separate living and sleeping area with lockable gate in the hall between. Panic buttons..

None of that is going to stop a legal intrusion, each just buys you time before the paid security company arrive with guns to chase away intruders. Given time, any determined attacker will get in eventually..

Top 3 tools that will get you most of the way there.

1. Steel door frame reinforcement + steel or solid core wood door. The door jamb is the weakest link here. Cheap steel reinforcement with long screws are an easy win. A quality lock is a good idea.

2. Security window film. Best done when the windows are manufactured, but they will deter most people who were counting on a quick smash and grab.

3. Dog. No one wants to mess with a dog. Lots of dual purpose family friendly breeds who instinctively guard the home from intruders and can smell the adrenaline of people who don't belong.

These three things will get you 80% of the way there for 20% of the cost. Cameras just give you memorabilia of that time you got robbed and rarely help prosecution and even less in recovery of stolen goods.

Who is your enemy?

If it is just some random burglar, create some fear with triple locks and cameras and you are good.

If it is a government operation, you better leave the country before they even start looking for you.

American home

2nd amendment has entered the chat

Edit: Jesus christ what the fuck? They're going door to door?

We're so cooked

Judging by the link in the OP, the concern is the possibility of ICE or other federal agents breaking in. It's not the same as dealing with a random intruder. About the best you can hope for is to slow them down, maybe giving you time to get away or for legal assistance and the media to arrive.

Given that, I'd concentrate on making the house more sturdy: steel framed doors, steel rolling garage door, properly installed security bars/screens on windows and so forth. And maybe start with a solid masonry house.

Probably not realistic for most people, but then a few years ago I wouldn't have considered the risk realistic either, and here we are.

As a locksmith, I can tell you what I tell my paranoid customers. Buying the greatest lock in the world doesn't do shit if you still have first floor windows.