How to secure your primary residence while traveling ??

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by Gneiss Guy

...I don't think the money spent on expensive locks makes a lot of difference. As my late East Tennessee father used to say, "If a man has a stick of fire wood, he has a key to your house". Most homes, even if they have heavy-duty doors, have a vulnerable window somewhere.

Ah, then, might as well have cheap easily picked / bumped locks to save your windows from assault.

Seriously, though, we also use double deadbolts with a removable key on the inside so that when we're gone you aren't using any doors, even once you're inside.

A couple more simple things to do:

• Shut off water to the ice maker in your freezer. Sometimes those lines burst. Not fun.
• Shut off water to your washing machine. Sometimes those hoses burst. Again, not fun.
• Set light timers all over your house. The ones that randomize on/off times a bit can be more difficult to program, but it's useful to have a few of those as well.

I of course agree with other ideas suggested here - nosy neighbors, house sitters, kind neighbors who agree to enter your house every day or two and walk around inside, devices that monitor interior temps / conditions and report back to you, good insurance that is OK with the amount of time the home will not be occupied - all good ideas.

Most arrangements simply need to make your house less attractive than other nearby homes and keep you apprised of anything unfortunate that happens (e.g. a leaking water line, a backed up gutter, a broken furnace, etc.) Walking up to the front door and seeing a tough lock provides additional incentive to try a different home.

Last but not least, you can try my great uncle's method: Put a hastily written sign on the door that says, "Uncle Ralph is at it again. Don't go inside, no matter what. Have gone for help."

[gecko]

All good stuff. In our area, there is only one police car to come ver thousands of homes (don’t ask why!) , so we must be particularly careful. All neighbors have banded together.

Two things not get mentioned: cancel or postpone your newspaper delivery (we all cover for each other by picking up each other’s newspapers if someone forgets) and also think carefully about mail delivery. The Post Office in our area will now only hold mail for 30 days. So we have added a huge mailbox which holds about 4 weeks of mail (it’s those darn unwanted catalogues!) , so we’re good for 7 weeks max (to be careful) before there can be a tell tale overflow. In summer, we go to the same camp fir three months, so we forward our mail. Another alternative for longer trips is a PO box either at post office or a private service.

Our best solution has been a young friend who is delighted to get away from his three roommates and have our house to himself while we’re away. Our neighbors corroborate that he is friendly and responsible. Combined with a gardener and timed inside auto lights for when he’s not there, and we haven’t had a problem in seven seasons that we’re away for a total of 1/2 the year (in up to 3 month stints.)

[jcl]

We used to do many of the things listed when we lived in a detached house in the suburbs. Monitored security system, fire proof safe for valuables, lights on timers, etc. Our only breakin was one of opportunity, a small team came through the front door with a fire axe while my wife was at the grocery store, mid day. Grab and run.

Now we live in a managed strata. No ground floor access to our unit. Two parking gates on fobs, with an “airlock” between them, and cameras. Fob for the lobby door, and again to access our floor from the elevator. Cameras. 24/7 concierge to watch everything, and to water plants for longer trips. We’d never go back. We can drop and go at any point.

The flip side is we can’t park a travel trailer on site.

[windfallsp]

OT, but I've been meaning to ask Rocinante for some time now:

Do you know Steinbeck's original source for the name of his camper?

[Mollysdad]

Good neighbors.
My neighbors bring in my mail and pick up any papers in the driveway. Then I encourage them to park one of their cars in my driveway.
Loose lips sink ships. Don't show off your violin collection at a party.
Be a good neighbor to others.

[CabinCruiser]

1. Attend your neighborhood watch meetings and get to know your local police.
2. We bought wireless Arlo brand cameras. Easy to install. No contract. 7-day cloud storage free (rolls off at end of 7 days) -- this is important because there is no recording device in your house that they can steal which would have your videos. Sends you alerts via text and/or email. You can change mode from your smart phone to view any camera live at will. You can also talk to visitors from the camera. Works great. https://www.arlo.com/en-us/

[TBRich]

We live in a single family home on a block-long dead end street. When we are preparing to leave, unfortunately, the whole block knows we are leaving because we have AZBambi in the driveway getting packed and readied. Fortunately, no one on our street has taken advantage of this knowledge (to our knowledge!).

What really gives us peace of mind is a neighbor across the street who not only keeps a vigilant eye on our house from their place...they come into the house each day to bring in mail and look around, and to take care of our yard and desert tortoise. (The desert tortoise, Homer, really doesn't need taking care of. He will out live us all even if we are not there to take care of him.)

In addition, we have lights in different rooms programed to go off and on randomly in the evenings. we are in touch by email when necessary and they always know our itinerary and how to reach us.

[coasttocoast]

Replace the Lowes deadbolts with Medeco locks. It is said that it takes a locksmith an hour to pick a Medeco deadbolt. Add kick plates to your doors to strengthen the weak points. Lock your garage doors. Lock your fences. Put storm windows on your house which adds another step. Put in cameras and security lighting. Basically, just put locks on everything which makes it harder to get in and out. Have your neighbor look after the house when away. Hide anything of value.

[JACQUIE]

Good to see 2 other Airstreamers from Ontario discussing this. We are currently looking at the legrand adorne lighting system that we can control with wifi using our cel phones; anyone else installed this? Our kids are here often-almost every day so that also helps. Good neighbours for sure. Also have a security system. Hoping we are covered.

[coasttocoast]

You want to put your key fobs in a Faraday Cage in your home and also when you park your car. Your key fob sitting on your dresser can open your car door when the guy outside has the right equipment. This can also be done in parking lots when you are in the store. Look this up. It’s prevalent in Atlanta.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by windfallsp

OT, but I've been meaning to ask Rocinante for some time now:

Do you know Steinbeck's original source for the name of his camper?

Of course! Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It was the name of Don Quixote’s horse, from the word “rocin” meaning an old, probably decrepit, horse. Like Don Quixote, Steinbeck, and us, Rocinante was awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. 🤣

[Bruce B]

Originally Posted by Silvr_Bullet

Does the nest have the capability to let you know of an indoor temperature drop like in the case of a boiler/furnace outage? Thanks

Interesting question... I thought it did but I can not find that setting in the app.
It does change wth updates regularly so maybe I remember a past feature???
We do get regular notifications of movement on the cameras...
I’ll figure it out and report back.
Bruce

[gsmithii]

In addition to everything preceding use Neighborhood Watch. When requested our town’s police department assists in establishing the program.

[windfallsp]

Perfecto, Rocinante! And it seems from your reply that your Airstream is very aptly named. :-)

I don't suppose you travel with a black standard poodle named Charley, or even Sancho Panza? (We travel with two brown standards, who love Airstreaming.)

[Rocinante]

No poodle yet, though we do have a rescued Catahoula Leopard Dog. He has enough energy for at least two standard poodles.

Anyhow, lots of good ideas here to help folks secure their sticks/bricks homes while on the road in their Airstreams.

[zapper]

Former house was broken into twice. Both times through the front wooden door. Door 2" thick, but the insert panels only 1/4" thick where mated with the door. They simply kicked out the panel reached inside and unlocked the door. After the 1st time had a burglar alarm installed, so the second time they broke in nothing was stolen, but the expensive wooden door had to be replaced.

New house we have these protections by the numbers:
1) Vehicles in garage never left out.
2) Neighbors never know if were are home or not. Irregular habits. We don't necessarily put out our garbage every week for collection.
3) Lights in house come on-off at irregular times.
4) Locked secondary front storm door.
5) Alarm, infrared plus hard wire sensors at entry points including garage side door.
6) When away for prolonged time, physically locked both garage doors on inside. Disable garage door openers. Lock the vehicles still in garage. Put vehicles on chargers.
7) After the problems we have had with USPS, we have a Private Mail Box at UPS who will hold all mail indefinitely.
8) Nosey neighbors
9) Alarm Company signage.
10) Gardner mows every week. Yep even in winter. No snow here.
11) Two Blink devices will go in next week. One in front and one in back of the house.

Not perfect. But should slow down even the most determined twit until the police arrive in 5 minutes.

[featherbedder]

One thing of all posted was not posted IS NEVER LEAVE OUT SIDE LIGHTS ESP BY ENTRANCE DOORS AND GARAGE DOORS, this is tip off that no one is home even if random lights inside as thieves will pace times off on for several days. Every break in our neighborhood was attributed to out side lights burning day and nite. One neighbor had every sturdy locks and door, robbers simply kicked door and frame in. Police in town stopped them searched vehicle Q. them then let them go with stolen stuff in car

[Acheron2010]

My house is in the boonies, and have had great success with a SimpliSafe alarm/monitoring system with the cameras that give you a motion alert to your cell phone, bright external motion-detector LED floodlights, and neighbors that look out for strange vehicles.

[Soyboy]

Use IOT (Internet of things) devices to aid in securing your home. I have installed Lutron Caseta switches that control our outside lights. You can basically turn them on and off come anywhere in the world. You can also set up random schedules, set them to go on and off at sunset and sunrise (you tell them your location and they figure the times out) etc. I also use Belkin WEMO switches in the house for the lamps and such (you could likely use them for a TV. Again essentially controllable from anywhere in the world and can be scheduled/randomized etc. BTW, I run certain outside lights whether I am home or not that way, having lights on doesn't look out of the ordinary when I am away, I use LED bulbs that are very cheap to operate. My federal style townhouse has porches across the back with downlights that I dim (also remotely controllable) and bath the house in light all night, every night. I will likely go the wifi camera route too, but mostly because I can keep an eye on the cats inside or see what's going on in the 'hood outside LOL. BTW, our ITO stuff has been very reliable so far. It all has cycled properly when the power has gone out and back on etc.

Speaking of the cats, the best thing of all as mentioned by others, better than most security devices, are good neighbors that look out for each other. In our neighborhood, we let each other know when we are away and when we will be coming home. We have a neighbor's teenagers that take care of our cats and bring in any mail etc. We are very lucky in that respect. The parents oversee them and we pay them a decent fee but much less than a cat sitter would cost.

Speaking of pet care, a trusted pet sitter would likely be more than happy to stop by your home several times a week and check it over etc. even if you don't have pets. That would cost a few bucks but might be worth it for peace of mind. As others have mentioned, (vetted) house sitting can work too.

I know of one person that installed roll up/down metal storm shutters (like folks use at the beach on their homes and condos). Seems like that would be rather secure, but it is an advertisement that you are away.

Of course some of this stuff won't work if you live out in the country etc. but others have mentioned how they handle that.

I the end, you can only do so much. If someone wants to get in they can. Folks have broken into way more secure things than one's house. Carry good insurance and put and super valuables in a safe deposit box.

Good luck.

[cwf]

I tell my neighbors I am leaving. They know where keys are. Shut off water and gas. Adjust thermostats. Empty garbage...etc.