Security Issues:
Home security

My most frequently answered questions - before I did this page

This is a long page, which you may wish to print out for future reference. Print page

Only one pair of pictures on this page, mostly just heavy reading and serious stuff.

On this subject I will be giving you the benefit of my experience, together with my knowledge and personal opinions, but I will not be going too deeply into the specifics, because we are not wanting to give the wrong people an education, are we?

Please read this next part thoroughly; it is important for you to understand
The actual real physical security of your property, in effectively and successfully deterring a would-be burglar, is one thing. How secure you feel when you are asleep in your bed or go off for the day to work or go off on holiday is quite another.

When you are thinking of buying new windows/doors, you are often sold the 'feeling' of security
The vast majority of people nowadays having replacement windows and doors fitted have little need to be concerned with the, in my opinion, negligible differences between one product and another as regards security, despite what the salespeople will try to get you to believe (theirs, and only theirs, is the best, etc., etc.). In our industry, almost as standard, almost all firms provide all you need for security of the product, with the latest generation of high-security multipoint locking mechanisms and security glazing methods.

But you need to make your own objective judgment about this
Look at what you have now in terms of locks and security. Go on, be critical, what/where is your weakest point (probably ground floor, and rear)? If your property has already had replacement windows/doors, then your security is probably better than when the property was built. If your windows and doors are the original, even if you have a newish property, then new windows/doors will virtually turn your house into Fort Knox, by comparison with what you have now! You have every reason to feel confident and far more secure than ever before with the new windows and doors you choose to have installed, but there is more to the security issue to that, in the real world.

Now that you have read and understood the above (I suggest you have and do), we can get on with the subject.

Right, let’s get one thing straight from the start
There are a number of fairly easy ways to break into most homes. Sorry to upset your sense of security, but, yes, I probably do mean your home, as well. The BIGGEST statement on the whole of my website is this: if you really are very concerned about the security (or the insecurity) of your property (and the subject usually arises when you are getting quotes for new doors and windows), ignore everything you might be told in sales talk about multi-point locks and extra locks and exterior vs interior beading, etc., etc., etc., because, if you knew what I know, you would be aware that all this stuff is shockingly meaningless! This has nothing to do with your new windows/doors being insecure in any way, quite the reverse probably, and especially compared with what I expect you have now. Sure, satisfy yourself that the locking system is of the latest generation, but really feeling and being secure does not end there.

I don't want to upset you but I can assure you that I know a lot more (and several simpler) ways to get into most homes than those above, but will not be going into the subject further for the reasons I have already given. And no, it has never been my 'other' job, one just picks up these things from many years of first-hand experience in my trade.

You have got my attention, you may now be saying, so what should I do? 
In my opinion really being secure can be achieved one way and one way only. If you are getting quotes for new windows and doors, you can take out 90% of the security sales talk (believe me) and have a good alarm fitted. I don't mean one of the DIY jobs either; I mean a proper security alarm, alarm company fitted. A word of warning: there is a saying that says people will not buy prevention, but only the cures, so let that be food for thought and a moral to you. In view of the above, I suggest that you do not largely base a buying decision for new windows and doors on how impressed you are with the security features. You didn't expect to hear that, did you? But think about it!

No Offence
I hope I do not offend, but of the many regular questions that my prospective customers ask me, I have one pet hate. The question goes something along these lines: ‘And do your doors have an eight-point security lock, because that is what the other man’s had?’ Let me tell you that the number of points is completely meaningless compared to the quality of the lock. Most multi-point locks I see that boast a great number of locking points are no more than ordinary multi-point locks that have extra 'roller cams', which are designed to pull the door up against the draught-proofing, and are not at all security points in any sense. I see a lot of 'roller cams' that are catching their keeps by often not a lot more than 1mm or so. Mortise and the new hook-locking system (not roller cams) will offer more real security than was available ever before.

The BIG question, interior or exterior beading, what's 'best'?
I have been compelled to find the time to do this whole page about security urgently, because of the pure weight of e-mails I keep getting on the subject. I never really quite know how to answer the one about interior vs exterior beading, not because I do not know the answer, but because I think it may be a bit of an emotive subject, when the enquirer has perhaps had the fear of God put up him (or her)!

The two are worlds apart. You need to know the difference because this is crucially important to the issue if you have exterior beading; the issue is different if you have interior beading. 
Knock-in beads, as far as my knowledge goes, are mainly used in the German window and door systems, but I do not know why they came up with the idea in the first place, maybe for use in high-rise flats. In essence, if this bead is used externally, then to have any security, the glass sealed unit needs to be stuck in on the indoors with double-sided sticky tape, so that the bead, if removed, will not then allow the glass to simply be lifted out to effect a burglary.

You should read on ... 
It has been common in our industry to design English systems (we are different in some ways from our European friends) to use 'shuffle' (security) beads, even in the days of aluminium. These are designed so that the interior 'wedge' gasket has to be removed indoors first, thus allowing the sealed unit to be moved a few millimetres towards the indoors, before the exterior bead can be released to facilitate removal. There is one exception: older windows used to have a separate, softer and more bulky 'fir tree' exterior gasket fitted into the beading, which could be sharp-knifed away, allowing enough room for the exterior security bead to be removed, but that is really on old window systems. Final note on this point. Virtually all (if not all) PVC-U window and door systems today have 'coextruded' beads and gasket, whether externally or internally glazed, that is, beads with integral gasket that will not yield to the same security vulnerability as the early systems. Gaskets also nowadays show a sightline that is a lot smaller, i.e. you actually see less of them for neatness.

So, do you advise exterior or interior beads?
To satisfy yourself about this point if you are considering external beads, then check out the actual type of beads used in the window/door system, and ask to see a 'corner sample', which will tell you a lot about how the beads are fitted in and what security you will really have. If you are going for interior beads then this should not be of concern.

Talking about security 
A customer of mine asked me to quote him for a set of new PVC-U 'French' (double) doors to the ground floor rear of his house in the middle of Basildon. He is a Crime Prevention Officer in one of the East End London Boroughs, and we had a really interesting half-hour chat about home and personal security. I listened to him and he listened to me, and after that half hour, I can tell you that he knows what he is talking about! We talked through all the security considerations to do with his requirement, and he then placed an order for what I consider to be - and tell my customers is - my completely bogstandard set of French doors. I rest my case, as Ironside would say (ask your Dad if that name means nothing to you).

Have a look at a picture of one of the latest generation 'shoot bolt' window-locking systems. It even has a central mortise lock, which is similar in operation to a conventional back door.

Please bear in mind that these are all my personal opinions only.