New house - security tips

[The Daily Meme]

Hello,

I have just had an offer accepted on a house. Moving to an area that will need a higher level of security than where I currently live. Nothing too serious but currently cars are not visible from the road, with quite a lot of security measures to trip before you get to the cars. where as the new house will have the cars visible from the road, on a quiet ish housing estate.

i have quite a lot of building work to do on the house, including rewiring most of the electrics and fitting new doors/windows. I thought I’d take the opportunity to beef up security while I’m at it.

There is a garage, but it wouldn’t fit the car in, besides which there are two valuable cars to protect.

I have already considered CCTV and will be putting steering wheel covers on both cars. The other thing I’m considering which I use on my Landrover at the farm is a peddle lock. Basically a metal box that goes over the pedals, much more difficult to remove than a steering wheel lock. I haven’t seen any of these designed to fit a leon though, unless anyone has any suggestions?

I have also considered a ghost immobiliser but I want things that are more of a visible deterrent.A determined thief might try their luck if they can’t see physical restraints.

finally, since I may be remodelling the drive as part of installing a new gas connection, I may put some rising bollards in as well as a wall along the boundary. Currently it’s just lawn and concrete from house to pavement.

I would like some other suggestions if anyone has found things that work well for them.Open to modifications to the cars such as fuel switch and things.

one thing I’ve seen people talk about in this forum is dashcams that stream to cloud storage. I have a dash cam capable of doing this but I haven’t set it up as I’m concerned it might drain the battery. Id like to hear if anyone has this set up on their car.

 

[UnworthyBean]

Might seem like a daft point to make but if you do go for steering wheel covers and locks, make sure you don't keep the key with your car key. Car security these days is decent enough that most criminals go for the key to steal the car.

Definitely focus on deterring though, not much use in having a photo of their face if they've already crashed your car 5 mile down the road.

 

[Syphon]

Garage not an option?

 

[The Daily Meme]

Garage not an option?

It’s not wide enough. You could get the car in maybe, but you wouldn’t get the door open. I plan on demolishing the garage at some point but haven’t decided what to put in its place. Neighbours got a garage and guest room where their garage used to be so might be a long term goal.

 

[Syphon]

It’s not wide enough. You could get the car in maybe, but you wouldn’t get the door open. I plan on demolishing the garage at some point but haven’t decided what to put in its place. Neighbours got a garage and guest room where their garage used to be so might be a long term goal.

That's a shame, would have been good to tuck the car out of sight.

 

[Rich.T]

As sead above, theyll probably need the keys. So keep them out of sight at night.

 

[Wings988]

Fit security doors to the house that open outwards so not easily kicked in and 2 star door handles and 3 star cylinder door locks if you have euro lock barrels. If they want the car they will want the keys and ghost code from you and keys to any locks you fit. All the additional locks only prevent/deter on street or key code scan attempts. Cctv will not deter them, face masks are mandatory in all shops now so no one's looking suspicious wearing face coverings and combine that with a hoody or hat and they'll not be identified from the camera footage.

The easiest/cheapest option is don't park on your own drive, park up the road and they won't know which house to break into for the keys.

 

[The Daily Meme]

Fit security doors to the house that open outwards so not easily kicked in and 2 star door handles and 3 star cylinder door locks if you have euro lock barrels. If they want the car they will want the keys and ghost code from you and keys to any locks you fit. All the additional locks only prevent/deter on street or key code scan attempts. Cctv will not deter them, face masks are mandatory in all shops now so no one's looking suspicious wearing face coverings and combine that with a hoody or hat and they'll not be identified from the camera footage.

The easiest/cheapest option is don't park on your own drive, park up the road and they won't know which house to break into for the keys.

Agree with all of this. I've actually got a builder coming to look at the house this week to see if we can fit extending the garage into the budget. I am putting a bit on the front that will have an extra door anyway and i like the idea of that opening outwards.

The crime rate is pretty low on this particular street, primarily due to the demographic of people living on the estate being mostly retirees. It is also sits halfway between the barracks and the police station, and is not on a main route in or out of town.

I am just taking a belt and braces approach as I've seen the pictures of some of the break ins people have had for cars. The car is insured, but my house is my home and I don't want that to be violated. That is why I am mainly going down the deterrent route. A car cover is also another option, a lot of cars on the street have covers on them so wouldn't be easy to identify it from the rest.

 

[Mike the_cupra]

I know you can't be too safe, but you're definitely going the extra mile here. I would imagine that some bollards and a steering lock would be sufficient to deter most thieves. CCTV is a standard, but I think this is the smallest deterrent nowadays. Perhaps a big dog would be helpful?

 

[Jimbobcook]

I looked into this as well having a new house none of the locks seem to be anti snap etc. Maybe like above, get a disklock, anti snap locks and uprated handles. I'm slowly bring the wife round to getting a dog as I like them but they can helpful for notification of entry.

Depending on how secure you feel maybe leave the keys on the stairs or something but not in view so if someone does get I can they don't need to come and scare the family they just take it and leave.

It's a rubbish world to be in always thinking your nice car is going to get stolen.

I'd always go garage option first if you can as if they cannot see the car then that's the best deterrent I think.