Tip #6:
Consider the space in-between the door and its frame. Quite often, the crook can use a pry bar to torque the door right out of its lock, or pry the lock itself. If this looks like a vulnerability of your door, consider putting a metal guard over the lock. With those glass sliding patio doors, they can also easily be lifted out of their track, so use screws in the upper portion of the track to prevent the sway room for them to be lifted out of their track.
Tip #7:
Windows can be secured in a number of ways. Either by drilling a hole through both sliding parts of a window that have overlapping frames, and placing a 2″ screw into the drilled hole, or by putting window locks on that need a key to open them. A cheap way around this would be to put screws in the window track itself to act as a window stop.
Tip #8:
Use multiple locks on doors. Using one of those chain locks that needs a key, plus a deadbolt, on top of the main door lock, will make any door that much more safe. Same goes for windows with multiple locks. Multiple locks, means a harder job for the burglar, and the name of the game is to frustrate his efforts. All outside doors and locks should have at best two sets of locking devices.
Tip #9:
Consider installing exterior lighting in key areas to light the most vulnerable doors and windrows. Putting lighting systems on motion sensitive detectors makes good common sense. This way, there is yet another thing for the burglar to deal with. Make sure the lights are out of reach from them so they do not have an easy time simply unscrewing the bulbs either. And put these sorts of lights on all of the blind sides of you house as well.
Tip #10:
Identify things in your yard that could be of use to a burglar. Are there things that they could use to smash a window? Is there a ladder lying around? Are there tools, such as shovels or pick axes at hand? A neighbor I know has all of these things on the wall of his shed in his backyard, and he lives in an urban area with its share of crime. To me, this is asking for trouble.
