5 Ways to Better Secure Your Home in an Emergency

Imagine this: Disaster has struck and you’ve decided to ride it out in your home so you can be near your supplies and have home field advantage.

This is great, but if you’re anything like most people, your house is in a neighborhood and is far from defendable in its current state. All it’ll take is for someone to see lights through the window when there’s no power or smoke coming from the chimney when it’s cold out to try and take what you’ve worked so hard to get.

This is why home security is so important when the SHTF, as police and military will be far too busy to worry about someone breaking in your house so you’re all you have when it comes down to it. Instead of trying to actively turn away intruders, passive methods like strong doors and reinforced windows are far more effective and less dangerous. Check out the tips below to prep your home for emergency security and keep yourself and your family safe.

1. Focus on the Doors

More often than not people will try to enter your home through a door, so this is the first place you should pay attention to. First, get the strongest door possible and look for steel instead of wood.

Next, make sure you have at least one high-quality deadbolt installed, ideally two. These will help secure the door in its frame and make it very hard for anyone to pick or “bump” the locks.

Speaking of door frames, you should reinforce yours with something like this Door Jamb Armor is great at making sure someone can’t just kick your door in. When choosing a door make sure there aren’t windows near the latching mechanisms as to allow someone to reach through, too.

2. Pre-Cut Window Boards

You want to pre-cut boards for all your first-floor windows to stop anyone from trying to get into your house through them. A great way to do this was actualyl seen on the TV show Doomsday Preppers, where plywood was cut to fit outside a window and a hole drilled in the center of the board to attach a 2×4 on the inside via a threaded bolt.

This allows you to sandwich the window frame with the plywood on the outside and the 2×4 on the inside. Now the board is nearly impossible to push in, and best of all, it does no damage to your existing window or frame.

Check out this article that shows more about how to make this great idea. Do this now, before you need them so when emergency strikes you’re ready.

3. Peephole or Exterior Camera

This is a great idea for any time, not just post-SHTF situations. Every door needs a peephole or camera attached so you can see who’s outside before opening the door. You can’t trust what someone says without seeing it for yourself, which is why this is so important.

Remember that windows will be boarded up, so anything you use for this will need to work around this idea.

4. Thorny Bushes

Some of the best passive security you can have is thorny bushes like rose bushes. Plant these underneath every window and around any access points to your property that are hard to defend against.

This helps keep people from sneaking around and getting too close to your house without you knowing. Keep the bushes trimmed so they look like normal landscaping that instantly become security barriers when needed.

5. Crossbars

Installing a crossbar on your doors is an amazing way to keep just about anyone from coming through them when you don’t want them to. These are a little more obtrusive than standard locks but when installed correctly will stand up against just about anything.