"To make it harder for them" - Security ideas.

Electric gates or if the budget won't go that far just lock them at night with a padlock.

Watch Home Alone 😄

Security cameras are indeed dirt cheap… family member got a full state of the art set up, Ultra HD, multiple cameras…. Viewable from smart TV, smart phone, tablet and dedicated flat screen monitors in the house and garage and also outside lighting all for about 5,600 euros… cheaper then the list price slightly as they know one of the managers…

The way the country is heading with most categories of crime trending upwards as per august ‘22 Garda numbers, it’s a savvy investment….

Get a dog

or a laser shark

My next door neighbour asked to leave a key with me in case their house alarm goes off while they’re out, so I just leave that taped to my front door beside a Post-It note with the alarm code and an arrow.

As mentioned, CCTV camera's are cheap and very functional these days. The other thing I'd suggest is a bright LED light with a sensor. I got one put in years ago and it's just great. Anything walks across the sensor's field of view and voila, the whole back garden is lit-up.

Yep, I have one at the front door and side gate. I put it in for me though, to stop me fumbling with my keys at night, or when I'm bringing the bins out. Each of them has a small solar panel for power.

Home alarms are expensive for what you get. I think the subscription ones are a waste of money. Why pay someone to monitor your house when you can simply automate it.

most modern CCTV will ping the phones of the house owners when there's movement so you can take action yourself.

No such thing as a pick resistant lock. They can all be picked. Check out the LockPickingLawyer on YT. There's even other YT's like Mark Rober and StuffMadeHere to test him. He hasn't failed yet.

But, yes, you need to make your house less desirable than others. A burglar will get in if he wants, especially the good ones. Just don't make your place look like you have more money than your neighbours. And don't be those house wanchors whose sun-level LED lights shine onto the road!

The paid for cameras, Ring/Canary/etc have a use but if you know someone or know IT yourself, it's easy to create you own system these days. Ring/Canary are for the those with little to no knowledge of the systems. Easy set up and easy to use App for the masses.

Exactly… you want whatever measures to be a deterrent so they are thinking..

1) “looks like too much hassle”

2) “looks like they are well geared up”

3) “good chance I’d be caught”

I left my keys inside and front door closed- good solid front door - modern design etc-called out locksmith- he had a wonderful little tool that took about a minute to put together- once assembled he had the door open in 3 seconds- he pushed the tool through the letter box and pulled down the inner handle opening the door- so YES- 100% agree- lock your front door from the inside when at home and take the keys out of the lock - as long as a burglar can gain access to interior door handle and door isn’t locked, then access is entirely possible

Sorry to hear that happened to you.

That is a really good point about uPVC type doors that have all those locks that engage around the edge when you pull the handle up.

If you've a handle on the outside of the door, chances are that pulling it down disengages the locks - as you said, you need to actually lock the door from the inside with a key after engaging the locks so the handle cant be pulled down from outside.

A thief could just pull the handle down, disengage all the main locks (just leaving the one latch lock where the door handle is) - easily just kick the door open then.

Important thing to note though, if you are doing this - don't leave the key on the inside of the door when you're leaving! I accidentally did this recently and ended up locked out. Had to get a locksmith.

What I actually do now is at night, I engage the door locks from the inside by lifting the handle, lock the door with a key, leave the key in the doorlock (in case of fire & so it can't be easily picked) but I have the key on a chain that's connected to the wall.

So if there's a key in the door, you can't actually leave the house until you take it out of the door as there's a chain blocking your path.

Also means someone can't fish the key out of the lock through the letterbox.

What I do is that every might I jack up all four wheels of the car and change the tyres around so that they are reversed.

That way, if someone breaks into the car and tries to put it into reverse to make a speedy getaway, they will drive forward and hit the wall of the house.

It's a bit of a hassle doing it every night, and then having to change them back the right way again every morning, but the car hasn't been stolen yet, so who's laughing now!

😂😂😂😂

Ask Padraig McNally to be your housemate.

For years growing up, my father had 'designed' a z-shaped copper pipe that he used to shove through the letter box and wedge open the front door any time he forgot his keys (frosted glass on front door so could roughly guide the copper pipe). I found it ironic for a lad paranoid about making sure the place was locked and no window was left open when out, that he had a handy way of breaking in hiding in a bush.

Better have something that requires time and effort to bypass, then nothing . Easy ? Not really, not if you have a good one, breaking the steering lock could render the steering unusable.