I got burgled this weekend, whilst i was in the house!

[Zak33]

well, this weekend whilst myself and my partner were in bed sleeping someone got into the house and went through almost every room, including my parents bedroom which is right next door to mine...

Suffice to say that it was a harrowing ordeal waking up to find everything all over the place most of the stuff was recovered (it seems they got away with what fit in thier pockets - jewellery money mobile phones and a satnav)...

they took camera gear too but they left it with my moms handbag and non valuables from the handbag 2 doors up on some grass land...

it happened between the hours of 2am and 7:30am... as i say whilst we were in bed asleep...

they put a towel at the crack of the bottom of my door and even went through everything upstairs...

i've had maybe 1 night where i havent been paranoid at home because i dont know if they got any spare keys to any of the doors in the house... so even with the alarm on and all windows and doors locked i still do not feel safe in my own home

has anyone ever had the same thing? I've taken to walking round the house with a crowbar during nightfall incase theres anyone in... i know it sounds stupid but im 23 and i feel like a kid, scared of the dark.

I honestly have no idea how to handle whats gone on as nothing like this has ever happened to me before, and until it happened i never thought it would, atleast not whilst someone was occupying the house.

My major problem comes when its dark and its time to go to sleep... every single sound in the house makes me a nervous wreck and gets my adrenaline pumping... so much so that i eventually fall asleep after hours of listening carefully to everything going on... but i know i am a heavy sleeper (i have slept through fire alarms right next to my head before now, and the big earthquake that hit dudley a few years ago never woke me up) I'm hopelessly afraid that they will come back, and that i wont be ready for them if they get in the house...

does anyone have any tips?

i have an alarm on the house (which i had forgotten to put on the night of the robbery, stupid, stupid mistake i know!) but im afraid that even if they get in and the beeping goes off I will sleep right through it.

any help from anyone?

oh man.... I feel for you

Could you borrow a dog from any relatives? Just for a few weeks

They make a noise, even if they're little and the burglars sod off!

[GheeTsar]

Very sorry to hear that - it must be a really horrible feeling. There are a few ideas from "Home Alone" you may wish to consider....

[mmh]

Very sorry to hear that - it must be a really horrible feeling. There are a few ideas from "Home Alone" you may wish to consider....

funny, amongst all the nervousness and tense feelings around my house, myself and my girlfriend joked about that if we were awake we coulda done the home alone thing and dropped irons on thier faces and so on...
lol

[TheAnimus]

funny, amongst all the nervousness and tense feelings around my house

Just a thought but if you don't know how to or want to risk* fitting new locks, there is probably someone in the hexus massive nearby that might be able to help for beer + food / karama.

*i nearly killed someone in the machine shop once, but thats a different story...

[mmh]

Just a thought but if you don't know how to or want to risk* fitting new locks, there is probably someone in the hexus massive nearby that might be able to help for beer + food / karama.

*i nearly killed someone in the machine shop once, but thats a different story...

I would be able to do the front door, but i know for certain they dont have a key for that, plus its got deadbolts (which are now used every night)

the back door could probably do with being done, but its a pvc door and it looks very complicated :/

the sliding patio door also had atleast 1 key in it and possibly a spare that could have been stolen (i dont know for sure as i never looked)... i thought i had locked everywhere up, but when i went round and checked last night the patio door was unlocked...

i know the door is stiff and it might have had me confused especially under the circumstances when i thought i'd locked it up, but regardless, i took the key out of the door and i have since cable tied the lever that opens the door down to the handle so it shouldnt open, (i think the plastic handle on the outside would break before the cable ties on the inside)... but thats the door im concerned about at the minute...

also a pvc door with a special locking mechanism... i expect the barrel would be the bit to change, but i am very tempted to put some chewing gum/chemical metal in the outter lock as that door should never be opened from the outside anyways...

thoughts?

[mycarsavw]

the sliding patio door also had atleast 1 key in it and possibly a spare that could have been stolen (i dont know for sure as i never looked)... i thought i had locked everywhere up, but when i went round and checked last night the patio door was unlocked...

Grab a Patio Door lock - Yale/Chubb make them.

Older patio doors are stupidly simple to force open (having been burgled in the past via our patio door).

[GoNz0]

Grab a Patio Door lock - Yale/Chubb make them.

Older patio doors are stupidly simple to force open (having been burgled in the past via our patio door).

a piece of wood that stops the door from sliding is better than most locks

[mycarsavw]

a piece of wood that stops the door from sliding is better than most locks

It isn't the sliding that's the issue

[mmh]

well the patio door has an alarm sensor on it... 2 i think, 1 a vibration sensor and another one that senses if the door has been opened....

the piece of wood sounds like a good idea... along with the chemical metal in the external side of the lock... should keep anyone out with a key if they have one... if they force the door off the rails is another matter... one that hopefully iw ould hear, or i would hear the alarm...

[Haiku32]

Mate, that is so unlucky. I would absolutely hate if something like that happened to me, so I feel for ya.

Get a security light in the back garden. We've got one and it's really good as it lights up the entire garden when tripped. I think that if someone was in our back garden and that light went off, they would leg it. Stick some "Beware of the dog" and "No trespassing, violators will be shot, survivors will be shot again" signs around your house .

[mmh]

Mate, that is so unlucky. I would absolutely hate if something like that happened to me, so I feel for ya.

Get a security light in the back garden. We've got one and it's really good as it lights up the entire garden when tripped. I think that if someone was in our back garden and that light went off, they would leg it. Stick some "Beware of the dog" and "No trespassing, violators will be shot, survivors will be shot again" signs around your house .

we have a security light in the back garden, apparently it didnt ward them off...

im not 100% certain but i think what happened was that me or my gf left the front door open, around 1:30ish we went downstairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat/drink and on the way back upstairs i notice that not only was the front door unlocked but it was ajar.... odd so i closed the door, locked it and went back upstairs (forgetting to put the alarm on) half hour later, something didnt feel right, so i went back downstairs and looked around, albeit, not very thoroughly as i was quite tired... everything seemed okay, so i went back to bed... woke up and the place was a mess...

footprints in through the front window which was never opened before... so i think one snuck in whilst we were awake, and opened the window after i locked the front door for the other one to creep in through... then they left through the backdoor as the keys were left in it and i'd taken the front door key upstairs...

[TheAnimus]

Another suggestion, you hold a two week long (when is it your parents are back?) LAN party for all hexus people. They can make a donation for new locks and bring food + beer as admission.

Turn this frown upside down!

Thou your girlfriend might find having a room full of geeks drunkenly 'fraggin' one an another more disturbing......

[Lucio]

You're in luck here, I work for a Security product trade distributor

Drop me a PM and I'll be able to help sort you out with decent locks at a sensible price (you'd be shocked at how badly they get marked up!), as well as help try and figure out the best ways to fit them.


Basic advice for anyone is to have 2 locking methods on each point of entry, though PVC doors use multi-point systems as standard. All windows should be on restrictors to prevent them being opened more than a small gap from the outside, but can be over-ridden from the inside in the event of a fire, and these days thanks to some greedy idiot locksmith trainers, anti-bump cylinders are more or less a must. A company called UAP does a Pickbuster compound that can treat existing locks but it's quite messy and can shorten the life of the lock, AFAIK the big DIY chains carry it.

[spac3d]

In all honesty, the burglar won't come back. He's obviously got what he can knows there isn't anything easily nickable?

How did he get in in the first place?

[Agent]

the reason im so on edge all the time is because my parents were away when it happened, and they are still away... i

I don't like to be the one to put this thought into your head.....but how many people know this?

I know you're quite local to me, but where I live you don't tell anyone you're going away. People won't even cancel the local paper for a week in fear that the paperboy / someone at the shop could be passing on the info of who's on holiday. Granted I live in a bad area, no excuses, but it only takes the wrong person to find out....

We had the same happen a few years back, and I'd just like to reinforce what's already been said - we we're targeted 3 times.

The first time was a plain break in through the back room and took all cash / jewellery.
The second time was an attempted break in, but we had an alarm by this point (installed days after the first incident) along with a very high power flood light in the back garden (the only real point of entry).
The third was the shed - bikes and a few tools were taken. Nothing of major value (would have been lucky to have got 40 quid).

A matter of weeks ago a family in the next road was burgled. The most worrying part? When they came down stairs in the morning the people who had broke in had taken the big knifes out of the kitchen draws "ready for use / to scare the owners off if disturbed" said the police

[razer121]

wow that sucks....weve had it happen, but only once, difference was it was in the day! nobody noticed though.....really odd as when we got back the front door window was smashed and the door wide open lol, bit obviouse but no one knew a thing? i can understand how you feel though! get a dog + big light even if its just a dog for a few weeks, and btw the LAN sounds like a great idea lol