Low tech home security
 

Just exploring any/all possibilities for low tech security : what would you do if no ammo is available or no electric power to protect your home? And you have physical limitations so hand to hand confrontation is not a choice.

Realistically the only ideas I have so far are thorny bushes under the windows, door 'clubs'/braces, exterior mirrors positioned on areas not easily surveyed, cow bells/cans/metal chimes in 'blind' spots. If I really wanted to beef up security, I'm thinking a tripwire (even saw tripwire that ignited shotgun shell on that doomsday castle) in very vulnerable areas. Motion solar lights (haven't found any with high consumer rating) would be good.

So any better ideas?

A moat

Yes but limited on $s for equipment rental :/

My system has worked very well for me... don't have anything worth stealing. It doesn't hurt to make people believe you are crazy and well armed.;)

How about Dogs

Mine is a dog to make noise--and a .357 to back it up..

I'd be careful about shotguns wired to go off when "intruders" happen to trip on the wire or open a door. A local drug pusher wired a shotgun to go off when a door to his shed was opened and killed himself when he forgot he had done that. Another did that and wounded the sheriff---which was a very bad idea (not sure if they made him dig his own grave or not).

Yeah, sit on the front porch regularly and clean your rifle or handgun. Make sure you are in clear view of the road and neighbors. No lie. Makes me wonder about how stable you are plus gets the word out that you are armed.

ALSO, I got this idea from ADT many years ago when I was a single city dweller and having a system installed. Take a length of 1X6 board and drive two inch decking screws through it. Place it under your windows, spike side up and cover it with leaves or dirt. Anybody trying to access your home through a window or spy on you will get a rude awakening as the screws will penetrate their shoes and cling to their flesh.

It does work. The tech told me about an instance where a family had a perv that was window peeping on their young son. He told them about the spiked board idea and they implemented it, placing one under their son's bedroom window. That night they heard a scream, went outside and sure enough they found the board between the house and the sidewalk along with a trail of blood going to the street. No more problems.

Again, though, these ideas that can harm anyone are bad. What if the assessor comes around and wants to check that area? What about police looking for prowlers? What about kids retrieving their stray baseball? Etc.

I think your booby trap plan is a good one, but only if you live waaaaaaay away from civilization, and then you probably won't have that much need of those sorts of things.

Just watch "Home alone"...some rather interesting ideas.

Matt

This idea was applied in a city of 37,000. A sexual predator was victimizing a young boy. I'd say all bets are off if it was my child. Police can't be everywhere. Why would an accessor be lurking around a bedroom window? If somebody is attempting to break in (for example)to my or anyone's house via a window, I would safely assume that I am at risk at that time for potential injury or death.

At the time I was single and being victimized by a neighbor who was window peeping all over the neighborhood. Nobody could catch him. Would I have used the spike strips if ADT hadn't stopped the problem. Darned right I would have.

Police were aware of this problem and unable to stop it for the local family with a child at risk. ADT and the nailed board did.

I still wouldn't do it. Too much of a chance that a child might get injured. I get a headache just thinking of the insurance problems associated with that!

A local guy I know stopped a "peeper" from ever "peeping" again. He took the lead out of a couple of 12 gauge shotgun shells and reloaded the shells with table salt. The next time the "peeper" began his "peeping", his face was salted.

BTW: I wouldn't do that, either. As litigious as this society has become, a guy would probably be sued by the "victim", and have to pay for his existence for the rest of his blind little life.

Getting away from lethal immediate retribution and back on topic, Many electrical deterrents are cheap and battery powered. The dollar stores and Harbor Freight have a number of choices. As has been pointed out earlier, a handy can of hornet spray is as good as pepper spray and a lot more "explainable" if you know what I mean.

One thing people rarely mention is to be very careful who you allow to enter your place as a guest. Familiarity breeds contempt AND an excellent way to case a place. (Of course, those few people allowed in our place get to see one or two of our live security camera feeds, so they might be more deterred than less.)

Any kind of boobie-trap is a horrible idea. Way more likely to injure an innocent person that a might be intruder. If you have a specific threat, address it directly.

That has worked very well for me most of my life. :D

I installed security systems for years and we had a saying in that industry...

"you're just paying for the sign"

We say this because the sign in the yard or sticker on the window/door/entry point is what stops the intruder. Make a fake sign. Print out an ADT logo and decoupage it to a piece of plywood or something.
Another saying we had...

"locks are to keep the honest people out"

True home security comes down to 2 options.

1)don't be / have anything desirable
Or
2) be bigger and badder

This my seem daunting, but you just have to appear one (or both)of these ways in relation to your neighbors. For example.. In my driveway sits a 5 year old, good condition, standard SUV. My neighbor has a brand new Lexus. Any thief trying to find a mark in this neighborhood will pass me right up, drooling over the many possibilities of valuable items that guy with the Lexus might have! Pair that with my ADT sign... And "why even bother?!" is what the crooks are saying about me!

Look crazy...

Signs warning of dogs work well, but a sign warning of a pet gator paired with a car rotting in the lawn with bullet holes in it will stop 99.9% of the world from setting foot on your property! Lol

Get creative! This can be fun!

So just to re-cap... Look poor and mean compared to your nieghbors.
That is what I suggest.

If you live in a rural area, it's good to blast away at odd hours of the very early morning. It doesn't have to be a regular thing. I've used a 12 gauge for sky busting. I've also fired a rifle once or twice on a separate occasion, then moved way off into the woods like I had tracked something then fired a .357 once.

If anyone asks questions later, it's always been something after the chickens. Which has been true a number of times. I use a .22 then. No need to waste the more expensive ammo.

My son would sit on the front steps of his apt and sharpen a big knife while staring at the neighbors that caused him problems. Seriously, his wife and the apt manager finally got him to stop.

Being seen with a big knife or a firearm as you walk your place can be a warning without being threatening. Firing off a few rounds at different times of day and night can get the word out that you are a might untrusting of intruders. Answering the door armed gets word out as well.

Having a few LEO friends that stop by now and then in uniform/in patrol vehicles sends a message too.

Thorny barriers. Dogs. Donkeys. Geese. Guineas. Trip wires with noise makers attached to warn.

In NC, I was told that to set a boobie-trap is premeditation. That could mean 1st degree murder charges if you kill someone accidentally. Check your local laws!

i agree with this. there is no safe way to make your home intruder-proof just make it obvious that you are high risk for low reward

Tin cans strung along access trails, with a few bolts in them make lots of noise on a still night. Motion sensor alarms, using rechargeable batteries - recharged in a solar charger. Geese are noisy when startled.

Since the OP mentions ammunition not being available, I'm wondering if you're referring to a "grid down" situation. If so, buy a good supply of ammo now.

In a grid down, or other situation without law enforcement all bets are off. There would be no limit to the lethality of booby traps or other self defense methods. From my time in VN, punji pits with sharpened/contaminated stakes are camouflaged on trails. Some just big enough to stab a foot, others big enough to fall into. Trip wires spaced 4' from sharpened stakes are a nice touch. Plant bamboo, the spreading kind, and when the stalks are about 3/4" slice them at an angle about 4" from ground level - you can literally make a sharp minefield with it.

Just a few thoughts from a demented mind.

In a no-holds-barred situation? Tiger traps or something similar. Small moat with piranha would work too. (piranha are edible and quite tasty from what I have read. Also quite hardy, they'll survive being frozen in a block of water) Piranha don't eat a person to the bone in a matter of minutes but they will inflict a nasty bite. Rubber hoses painted to look like snakes will deter some people. Walls topped with broken glass bottles, razor wire, a mean donkey. Even solar powered hot wire fences would be usable as defense.

Ammo is the reason to practice more than one type of long range take-down possibility. The Indians defended their land quite well against white invaders using bows and arrows, at least for a time. And I recall a story where a shepherd boy knocked out a giant with a sling and a stone from the river. Once your enemy is down it's much easier to take them out.

To protect against intruders where the govt i still functioning and an injured intruder is permitted to come back and sue you is a different story. Big dogs, run down property, old vehicles. Simply, nothing that looks like it's worth the effort.

To the OP: At my old house, the back of which was completely obscured from anyone's sight, I covered the screening with hardware cloth, knowing that that side of the house was the most vulnerable. So when I was eventually robbed, the thief broke down my front door at noon, fully in sight of the neighbors who were at home!!! And scared my mouthy dog no end! Oh well. Good luck with this project; the thorny stuff does help, though.

If you set all sorts of booby traps you will definately be safe. Nobody will break into your jail cell. Any outdoor booby traps will cost you more then the value of anything robbed. I have two dogs. They let me know if anything moves on the property. Everyone in the house is VERY familiar with firearms. I have neighbors who look out for my place and I look out for theirs. I figure that is about as safe as it can get without going off the deep end and setting booby traps.

Every time I hear that term, I think of an "adult" bar in Florida.

Was that the one on US1 with the chainlink fence and the sign that said "Adult Wrestling" on it?

Best one I've ever seen was a guy that had a pet skunk that was descented. He put it just inside the door and put skunk scent on the outside of the door.He said he just left the door unlocked and was gone 2 weeks like that. I guess his kids came over on occasion and feed the skunk and the dogs that had the other entries covered.

I left for 2 weeks last year and before going I put up 4 game cameras on my driveway and back door.I hung a home made sign on the door: "NOTICE if you are reading this you and your vehicle including license plate has been photographed at least 4 times.If you should not be here,don't be!
I also have 5 targets set up around the property. I shot them full of holes and placed them in areas a person could access my house from.I also hang some clothes on the line. Sometimes I will stack sandbags on the picnic table and put some empty brass there with it.I almost always leave a dirty ashtray and dirty coffee cup on it.Sometimes I pull the atv or lawn mower or the tractor out in the back yard and "open it up like I'm working on it.And I like to leave a note on the door something like "John I'll be right back.I had to go get parts.Don't wake the wife! She's got a headache!
Basically anything that looks like you just left and will be right back.

Wade

Do your butchering regularly on the driveway and don't clean up the blood?

I forgot to mention a couple years ago I left for a couple weeks and told my son to take care of the dogs and such. I set up a trail cam and when I got back I had pictures of when he came and when he left. I also had pictures of my mother,when she came and when she left.This is how I found out she comes to my house and snoops around when I'm not there.


Wade

A guy here had a lot of trouble with thieves and got a transformer and wired it to a long aluminum ladder on the back wall of his garage. He added numerous signs (with lightning bolts) warning of electrical shock. He got a dry stick and showed me what happened when the ladder was joustled. Very impressive sparks!
The truth is that the transformer changed 110 volts to thousands of volts (and sparks!) but the amperage is too low to hurt anyone.It will definitely scare anyone touching it but can not hurt anyone.

It has been a while, but yeah I think so. There was another south of Homestead that I have to think was the one referenced in the movie "Porky's"

Few people ever really run out of ammo. Most folks run out of life before they run out of ammo.
As far as perimeter security. just watch the movie The Green Berets and get some ideas. Just don't make any of the catapult spike traps like the one that took Peterson out as those violate booby trap laws in all states.

Wild yaupon, stinging nettle, wild long thorn blackberry bushes, climbing roses etc all make effective perimeter security man eating hedges. Just make sure you get some long arm welder gloves to wear while trimming hedges.

Man eating hedge and a derringer or mini mag revolver in a holster clipped to your underwear as back up along with whatever firearms of your choice to press into use utilizing the kill funnels available to you within your home make for an excellent low tech home security option.

or sheep

We live out in the country and it is nothing to hear gun shots going off all around here 24/7 especially during hunting seasons. Actually it doesnt even have to be hunting season. We also have a private firing range across the road from us.

A person would be crazy to try and do anything on our road or in the vicinity...;)

While booby traps as trip wired shotguns, covered spike strips made from nails, broken bottles etc. are appealing self defense ideas to some, the fact that they are constructed with premeditation leaves the home owner wide open to premeditated felony booby trap violations at state and federal levels if a firearm is used as I recall.

The felony liability factor is why LEOs I know suggest planting living cover with thorns.

An effective alternative to nail spike boards suggested to me by a deputy was to plant thorny vegetation at vulnerable areas and prune some stalks about a half inch to one inch diameter to 3 to 8 inches tall using a machete to spear cut them for service as rooted stakes that will puncture shoes or leg calves or at least trip intruders into the vegetation.

He said there is a booby trap premeditation factor however that liability factor is generally buried deep in gray area interpretation of booby trap laws and generally ignored by law enforcement as LEOs understand that homeowners routinely use thorny plants to keep intruders and peepers from windows and many LEOs protect the vulnerable entry points of their own homes with them.