Neighbourhood Watch Merged Thread

CrazyRabbit

Good advice there. To add to it....

1. Don't leave things like ladders in the back garden. Doing so just gives the scumbags extra entry points to your house. Secure it with a lock/chain if needed.
2. Don't leave any tools accessable in the garden that could be used to force entry to your house.

gjc

I never put out those so called 'charity' bags on my doorstep. I find it brings unwanted individuals to your door. My neighbour put out one one day and her sons bike was taken with it.

Hilly Bill

<snip>

Zaph

Hilly Bill, I've removed your post as it contained a potentially libellous accusation. Please don't make any further claims like that.

managerman

mothers house in hartstown got broken into last night,between 8-8.45pm broke the lock on the back door with a vice-gripes, ransacked the whole upstairs in the house, only took jewellery and small amount of money, the centimental jewellery really hurt my mother tho, didnt take anything else, left labtops,tv's,watches, everything.

so be aware, there in the area

KoolKid

The gold jewellery is the big thing now. I rekon they head straight for the nearest shopping centre for the gold exchange.

altor

Been out to a few over the last couple of days. Standard barrel locks should be replaced with the anti snap type.

athtrasna

altor wrote: »

Been out to a few over the last couple of days. Standard barrel locks should be replaced with the anti snap type.

Any idea what kind of money you're talking to do this? Wouldn't mind replacing our front door lock.

altor

athtrasna wrote: »

Any idea what kind of money you're talking to do this? Wouldn't mind replacing our front door lock.

About €40 on line, very easy to install yourself once you know the correct size barrel its replacing. Getting them done by a lock smith is expensive. All you have to do is open the door, remove the screw that keeps the barrel in place,( it will be in line with the barrel on the lock side of the door ) slide the barrel out and replace. By taking out the barrel you can measure it to get the correct size.

nudger

Is It better to have them slightly smaller so they can not get a grips on them.

altor

nudger wrote: »

Is It better to have them slightly smaller so they can not get a grips on them.

They have different sizes for the different door types. They are designed to be resistant to all forms of tampering with, although I would not get one to big.

nudger

I replace them regularly myself between houses so some then are outie's and some are innie's.
I won't go into the way's they do the locks but if the house has a shock sensor I recon an innie might be harder to do without setting off the alarm.
Might look into the anti snaps for the back doors.

Mary28

My neighbour is a garda and she says people break in through the back door a lot. Her living room is at the back so she locks the door going into the living room so if someone breaks in the back they can't go any further than the living room. Her 3yr old locked her out in the garden one day and she borrowed a big screwdriver from me and it took her about 5 seconds to force the locked door open. Really showed me how easy it was, didn't make a whole lot of noise either.

gjc

Could someone explain 'anti snap' to me, I understand barrel locks ta !!!!

Diddler1977

Mary28 wrote: »

My neighbour is a garda and she says people break in through the back door a lot. Her living room is at the back so she locks the door going into the living room so if someone breaks in the back they can't go any further than the living room. Her 3yr old locked her out in the garden one day and she borrowed a big screwdriver from me and it took her about 5 seconds to force the locked door open. Really showed me how easy it was, didn't make a whole lot of noise either.

This will make them think there is something of value somewhere in the house. They will cause more damage by breaking down the door.

Saw it in a friends house where they kicked in a bedroom door to get in to a room locked by a very private teenager who didn't want anyone in their room when they were out.

nudger

gjc wrote: »

Could someone explain 'anti snap' to me, I understand barrel locks ta !!!!

Most normal door locks have a bit in the middle of the barrel that is held in place by a screw through the side of the door, by pushing or pulling hard these can be broken and the barrel comes out, door opens.
Anti snap means much harder/not able to break.

robertxxx

A friends neighbor had his audi, laptop, wallet, camera, phone taken when the scumbags broke in through the back door.

But to be honest his security wasn't great! his side gate was closed with a bolt but no pad lock and his house alarm was switched off because it was faulty, they snapped the barrel and got in around 5am.

sambora

I'm in Manorfields and there's been a few times in the past couple of weeks where there has been two "travellers" knocking on doors. One man is an old man in a tattered suit, beard and a hat and carrying a bag of stuff. Very persistent. There's a younger man watching what he does, and obviously keeping an eye out to who is opening doors. So for anyone in this area, including Rusheeny and Ravenswood just keep an eye out.
Pretty scary, as I was in the house on my own at the time. They knocked at the same time on two seperate days. Around 1pm.

ronan45

Diddler1977 wrote: »

This will make them think there is something of value somewhere in the house. They will cause more damage by breaking down the door.

Saw it in a friends house where they kicked in a bedroom door to get in to a room locked by a very private teenager who didn't want anyone in their room when they were out.

True no point locking weak internal house doors. My parents used to lock all their internal doors. While on holidays They were broke into and the thieves just kicked in all the doors as they went from room to room (about 10 doors/ frames/ locks). Cost thousands to replace frames and doors . One well placed kick/ shoulder and they fail .
You need to stop the thieves at the house perimeter ideally

BostonB

That might depend if you are upstairs or not.

Nolimits

While I was asleep this morning, I was woken by the dog jumping off the bed growling and running down the stairs, he gave a few barks, and usually I'd roar at him to shut up and he does. Despite being half asleep I figured early on a Sunday morning it could only be one of those charity bag people, and knowing their reputation, and thinking of this thread, I decided I'd let him bark, wouldn't hurt for them to know there is a territorial dog in the house

amdublin

Mary28 wrote: »

My neighbour is a garda and she says people break in through the back door a lot. Her living room is at the back so she locks the door going into the living room so if someone breaks in the back they can't go any further than the living room. Her 3yr old locked her out in the garden one day and she borrowed a big screwdriver from me and it took her about 5 seconds to force the locked door open. Really showed me how easy it was, didn't make a whole lot of noise either.

Diddler1977 wrote: »

This will make them think there is something of value somewhere in the house. They will cause more damage by breaking down the door.

Saw it in a friends house where they kicked in a bedroom door to get in to a room locked by a very private teenager who didn't want anyone in their room when they were out.

Good point Diddler. The cost to replace broken internals would be big money. Locking them will not stop them if they want to get in.

Plus also surely it's a fire hazard for your family to lock internal doors :eek:

dibs101

Rediculous, if you are in the house, and live in a standard semi d, lock your kitchen door to your hallway. It prevents fire from spreading giving much needed time to help get your family out and prevents would be burglars from getting to your loved ones before you can react or call the guards. **** damaged internal doors, thats what your insurance is for. Your house can be repaired your family cant.

amdublin

dibs101 wrote: »

Rediculous, if you are in the house, and live in a standard semi d, lock your kitchen door to your hallway. It prevents fire from spreading giving much needed time to help get your family out and prevents would be burglars from getting to your loved ones before you can react or call the guards. **** damaged internal doors, thats what your insurance is for. Your house can be repaired your family cant.

Surely a closed door stops fire the same as a locked one?

And a closed one gives quicker emergency exit if needed. Imagine if there was a big fire at the front of your house and you're faffing with a locked door to exit through the kitchen.

BostonB

You'd keep the path to your escape route unlocked. How hard is that.

amdublin

BostonB wrote: »

You'd keep the path to your escape route unlocked. How hard is that.

Yeah exactly why would your lock the door to the kitchen when it is an escape route if the front escape route was blocked?

gipi

My parents house was burgled during the summer (Coolmine area), house ransacked, money and jewellery taken - left technology and the like. There have been 3 burglaries in their estate in the past 6-8 weeks, one prised open a front, living room window (using the wheelie bins as cover).

The gardaí asked my parents if they had photos of the jewellery taken (inc 56 yr old engagement ring) - naturally they didn't because it's not something they'd ever have thought of. The gardaí said if they'd had photos they might have checked the "cash for gold" kiosks locally.

Might be an idea for everyone to photograph their jewellery and offer to do same for family, neighbours, etc.

BostonB

amdublin wrote: »

Yeah exactly why would your lock the door to the kitchen when it is an escape route if the front escape route was blocked?

Ditto the front and back doors.

amdublin

BostonB wrote: »

Ditto the front and back doors.

Yep I don't lock my front door with a chubb or anything, just the door knob type opener at the top.

Hmmm, my back door is different....need to think more about that.

BostonB

Theres a compromise to be made somewhere.