Hardening my house (or any house) against unlawful entry

[Nephrology]

So, long story short, I moved into a new residence in December/January. While googling around last night, I realized that my neighborhood is right on the edge (literally ~5min walk or less) of some not-so-great parts of the city. Was hoping to solicit input on how to harden my residence against uninvited guests - particularly concerned about burglary but I guess the same strategies deter home invasion too. Obviously others should feel free to discuss/solicit the same input for their homes as well if there is interest.

Anyway, the homeowner/my landlord (Matt) also happens to be a good friend of mine who has a bunch of summer home renovation projects he'd like to get to anyway, and in talking to him about this he is not opposed to any security renovations as long as they aren't super ugly or obvious. That said he is from Chicago so he can be persuaded if there's no way around it. Just a caveat.

Anyway, onto the house. I apologize in advance that this drawing is ugly as sin. Online MSPaint wasn't as user friendly as I'd hoped. I promise I am not on drugs.



So, they key:
Horrendous orange/sunburst gradient square: The house.
Green: Wood fence, that Matt is planning on fixing as sections are flimsy and rotted through but looks like it was originally sturdy. Encloses a fenced in backyard.
Yellow box: Garage that has a lockable door to/from the house (not drawn in) with deadbolt.
Blue: doors. Front and back doors on the house both have wrought iron security doors and hardwood doors withe deadbolts. Gates on fence need to be replaced as per above.
Yellow square with pink outline: Window basins that extend to the basement; lined with poured concrete. Illustrated with photo below.
Pink square with yellow outline: front-facing windows. There are also a couple facing the backyard that I didn't include.

So, with that likely disorienting figure out of the way, my specific areas of concern are :

1. The window basins. There are 3 of these that look sort of like this:



However, they have taller, thin glass windows that are unsecured outside of standard exterior window locks. What is the best way to secure these? Was currently thinking of buying adjustable metal grates and bolting those into the concrete liner, but I am unsure if this is safe. Note that I live in the basement of the house, so my concern with a grate would be losing a route of egress in the event of a fire.

2. Exterior windows. What are some unobtrusive ways to harden exterior windows? Matt is not sold on window bars.

3. The fence. Matt already wants to replace big sections of the fence per above - any particular considerations to keep in mind, especially for replacement gates/gate locks?

4. Internally (obviously not pictured), my firearms & ammunition are stored in a closet. I have a Stack-On style metal security cabinet, which I understand might deter a smash and grab burglar and will keep out a dedicated thief for approximately 5 minutes. Would hardening/replacing the closet door be an option, either temporary or permanent? Would be cheaper and maybe less of a PITA than installing a safe, but I've never actually hanged a door, so I could be 100% wrong here.

5. Any other thoughts/considerations/etc? Besides the obvious "lock your doors," which everyone that has access to the house is good about.

also, mods, I figured GD is a good place for this but if it is more relevant in mindset/tactics feel free to move it there.

[Chance]

ITS has some great pointers on this. Here's one of their articles about Door Devil. I'd hunt down others, but have a little too much to do today.

[Cheap Shot]

Subbed. Definite interest in doing this to my home as well.

[Drang]

Amazon has many products for hardening a door, and some for hardening a window. Use the link at the top of the page, and support PF.com!

One standard answer is to replace the screws on a door, including hinges, with 6" or longer ones. To make this most effective, it may be necessary to reinforce the frame, which would mean drywall/plaster/paint work.

BTW, the legend doesn't match the drawing (no "Yellow square with pink outline", for one), not sure if part of it is missing or the upload borked it, or what.

ETA: Tagging @Gadfly, based on this post.

[Sterling Archer]

How about a naturally protective dog? A nice big Rotty is a great deterrent.

[Verlyos]

2. Exterior windows. What are some unobtrusive ways to harden exterior windows? Matt is not sold on window bars.

Security film could be an option.



Putting security bars on the exterior of a basement egress window could be a code violation. Personally I'd be hesitant to do that on an emergency exit. As for locks, I believe you can get supplemental locks for windows or bars that limit the amount a regular window can open.

e:

How about a naturally protective dog? A nice big Rotty is a great deterrent.

Anecdotal, but my neighbors have a Doberman and when they got robbed the burglars walked right in while it was barking and pissing itself.

[Gadfly]

I installed a door devil type kick plate after my back door was kicked in. But in the grand scheme of things, there are about 10 windows on the back of my house, and there is a window in my back door. So they can break the glass. But, Glass breaking sounds a lot different to nosy neighbors than a door kick, which sounds like a door slam to most.

[Malamute]

One standard answer is to replace the screws on a door, including hinges, with 6" or longer ones. To make this most effective, it may be necessary to reinforce the frame, which would mean drywall/plaster/paint work.

Hopefully you meant 3" screws?

I haven't seen 6" screws used, or seen any that had heads small enough to work on hinges or latch hardware. 3" will get into the actual wall framing, rather than just the jamb material which is 3/4" thick material, and often not well secured to the framing, and able to be kicked through pretty easily.

For the closet where the weapons locker is, to gain another level of security, if the door has a knob, you can buy and install an entry doorknob with keyed lock. The door likely opens outwards, with exposed hinges. The jamb pin type hinge replacement hardware keeps the door in place if the hinge pins are removed. They replace a couple of hinge screws.

[NEPAKevin]

1. The window basins. There are 3 of these that look sort of like this:



However, they have taller, thin glass windows that are unsecured outside of standard exterior window locks. What is the best way to secure these? Was currently thinking of buying adjustable metal grates and bolting those into the concrete liner, but I am unsure if this is safe. Note that I live in the basement of the house, so my concern with a grate would be losing a route of egress in the event of a fire.

[/QUOTE]

A while back, there was a thread on here where one of the recommendations were bars that can be opened from the inside should the need arise. I thought I saved the link but can't find it now, however they were like these that Lowes sells.

[Drang]

Hopefully you meant 3" screws?

I haven't seen 6" screws used, or seen any that had heads small enough to work on hinges or latch hardware. 3" will get into the actual wall framing, rather than just the jamb material which is 3/4" thick material, and often not well secured to the framing, and able to be kicked through pretty easily.

Pretty sure I've seen 6", with additional 2x4s reinforcing the frame. The standard screws are pretty short, which is the issue.