Posts
525
Joined
5/4/2013
Location
Ontario, CA
Edited Date/Time
6/18/2015 6:55am
My best friend's garage was broken into over the weekend. Her and her husband and kids all had 4-wheelers. They were taken, along with some tools.
This makes me want to get some sort of security system for my garage. We have 3 bikes (CR250R, RM85, KX65) and a new JD lawn tractor. All items that could be liquidated quickly.
A quick interweb search shows various security systems with some features I like (remote viewing of pics and videos) and some I don't really care about (home automation like turning on a coffee machine remotely).
Just wondering if anyone here has a smart security system installed in your garage and which features you find to be useful and which features you thought sounded nifty but never really use.
I have a couple fake cameras around my place but I have to wonder if they really fool anyone.
This makes me want to get some sort of security system for my garage. We have 3 bikes (CR250R, RM85, KX65) and a new JD lawn tractor. All items that could be liquidated quickly.
A quick interweb search shows various security systems with some features I like (remote viewing of pics and videos) and some I don't really care about (home automation like turning on a coffee machine remotely).
Just wondering if anyone here has a smart security system installed in your garage and which features you find to be useful and which features you thought sounded nifty but never really use.
I have a couple fake cameras around my place but I have to wonder if they really fool anyone.
The short version is, it depends on what you want.
Long version is:
You can go a few different directions.
The smart system option, your best bet is a 2GIG product. 2GIG is the manufacturer of the "Go System" that seems to be the most popular currently. Contractors rename it and make it proprietary but it's the same system from company to company. It's actually a really cool system. In the US, most monitoring resellers seem to want between $50 and $85 a month for 5 years but no up front cost for the equipment. That's a long commitment with quite a bit of profit built in. You may have different options in Canada. You could pay for the equipment up front which is around $1,000 to $1,500 depending on what you want and the monitoring contract is roughly $15 to $20 a month. You HAVE to have monitoring to control the alarm remotely, regardless if you want it monitored or not.
The cool features I like about the equipment is you can control whatever you want. The more control you want, the more you pay. So if all you want is door monitors, and window sensors with remote setting access, you'd probably be on the lower end of the cost model. If you start adding cameras and light sensors and whatnot, it starts adding up.
The non smart system option is a good option also if it fits your goals. You can get surveillance cameras and a DVR outside of an alarm company, and be able to record and view footage live, remotely, without the monthly fee. If you bundle it in with the alarm company, you pay for it monthly. Then outside of that, you can get a cheaper non monitored alarm. I'm not a HUGE fan of monitoring. Most of the time, the police prioritize those calls lower since a huge percentage of them are false. Also, if you have a siren on your alarm, and someone breaks in, they're getting the heck out of there. Nobody wants to stick around with the siren going off. . . Plus, I'm anti monthly recurring bills if I can help it.
I'm not sure if any of this is what you were looking for but hopefully it helped. Ask more questions if you have them. If you decide you just want the surveillance equipment without the security, I may be able to help you out.
If you set them up properly, they'll email you as soon as they go off. With as many pictures, taken as often as you want once they're triggered.
I am hooking up wifi in the garage anyway so maybe a home-made system would do, and I too am anti monthly recurring bills.
Similar to what they were saying on the podium in this year's SX season, I just can't thank you guys for the information. :^)
I will re-read this all a couple times and put some thought into what I would really want/need and will probably be back with some questions.
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Simple safe looks pretty good. I was looking into comcast's home security, but their lack of customer support deterred me.
It didn't stop some dropkick literally removing the roof a couple of weeks a go, luckily as soon as he stepped in the alarm went off and he bailed. Never underestimate the levels people will go through, but I'm pretty happy with the safety of stuff. All in all it was pretty cheap as well.
Luckily for me everything was insured and had no drama getting it all replaced. And it was pretty cool when the insurance company tells you that despite you giving them the receipt for your bike they can't get one for that price so give you a couple hundred extra!!
Im in Oz and dont pay for monitoring as its expensive and the companies only ring you anyway. Any call out is $100 so if you have false alarms it can get pricey. Total cost is about 0.5% of the value of the house which is cheap long term insurance as some of my stuff is worth more sentimentally than monetary.
Cheers,
When my house got broke into, the police said that the only thing more effective than an alarm is a big dog. He said he's never seen a burglar stick around with a dog.
I have a few game cams for pics. 9/10 of the time it's someone you know. I'll take care of them cops don't care out where I live. Have a deep hole ready to fill.
As far as dogs go, he said he just carried round dog treats which most times stopped dogs being aggressive / barking.
The other pointer was laminated glass, if he couldn't break the window on first attempt he wouldn't hang around and keep trying.
Visible cameras will not deter thiefs, plus the majority of the time your shit is stolen, it's by someone you know or who has had access to your property at one time or another,
It also lays down and can be mounted on the wall.
ion thehome
Pit Row
A steel door frame and dead bolt would probably eliminate the problem BUT I am wondering if there is a cheaper option.
.. such as reinforcing a standard wooden door frame by screwing a piece of steel from top to bottom to provide support for the dead bolt and the lockable knob.
The 18 year old employees at the local hardware store were visibly baffled by my question. So I'm not sure if that's because they are inexperienced or if it's because it was a stupid question. :^)
Can a standard wooden door frame be reinforced like this? I don't care if it looks ugly from inside.
Most of the time the door jamb is the breaking point in a break in rather than the door itself. Enforcing the door jamb would probably get you more bang for your buck than a steel door or steel reinforced door. Adding a second deadbolt several feet higher or lower than the first would make it really difficult to break through.
What is your idea? Wrap the door with solid steel? Or just use some sort of flat stock/square tube or something to just reinforce the door? You'd probably have to add quite a bit of weight to the door to make it work effectively. I know traditional hung hinges can withstand quite a bit of weight but not sure at what point they start dragging or sagging.
Does the door open to the exterior or interior. If it's to the exterior, you could put another door on the other side of that door that opens to the interior. So they have to break two doors. Lol.
By reinforcing the door frame I meant maybe an inch wide piece of quarter inch steel ("flat bar"??) on the inside, where the frame would normally break, and for lots of strength have it go from the bottom to the top of the frame on that side. Drilled and screwed to the frame maybe in 10 or 15 spots. With steel screwed to the back of the frame where it would normally break, I don't know how anyone could break it in. The door opens in btw. Hard to explain in words! Hopefully that made a shred of sense.
I guess what you are calling a door jamb, I was calling the door frame.
And yes, door jamb=door frame.
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