Reddit reviews National Hardware N335-984 804 Door Security Guards in Nickel

I recommend something more like this.

A hell of a lot harder to break one of them.

It's not refinishing your house. It's installing a precaution for your safety. See?

Here you go OP. Buy a couple of these and install them near the top and the bottom of the door.

They'll help secure your residence. Student-built housing isn't all that great at keeping out intruders; you'll have to customize it yourself a bit.

Sigh.. Stupid landlords.

I see the investment of a dowel or stick or something jammed between the slide window part and the wall to keep the window closed. This, as you have identified, is the easy access point.

Now, there are two risk zones left here.

1.) someone getting in while you are home.
2.) someone getting in while you are NOT home.

For the "while you are home" portion, I think door bars are pretty darn effective.

http://www.amazon.com/National-Hardware-V804-Security-Nickel/dp/B001RUEWUQ

Landlord dude doesn't seem to care about upgrades, so take them into your own hands and don't sweat the door holes. You could be mean and actually legally deduct it from rent but I don't think it's a worthwhile battle.

I also suggest you get a baseball bat.

I call this the Goodwill security system. Leave it in a known place, like on the hinge side of the door or in your bedroom area. Someone weird comes to the door, grab it and leave that bar thing set. It's useful for playing baseball on a sunny day too, and it doesn't look like anything, so your friends won't think you are crazy.

You are also going to want two of these.

http://www.amazon.com/Vigilant-PPS8B-Personal-Student-Emergency/dp/B005BDBV18

Tie the cord onto the bat, the other one goes with you. Have it out and around your neck when you walk from the street to your door. I can sense you have identified this as a risk point and it seems logical.

You probably have a lamp, so get a cheap lamp timer and position it so the light spills near to the door / outside the apartment. Put a CFL or LED to save the environment and save $$ on electricity. Set it on from 6 PM to 2 AM. Come home before 2AM.

This pretty much covers part 1.

Part 2. This is probably going to be a burglar type situation.

I think a huge part of this stuff is to not look like an easy score. Simple things are to leave a TV or Radio on and have the blinds closed. Put a curtain on that door/window thing too.

If you buy a nice new thing, don't have the blinds open so people can see them from outside, and don't be obvious when throwing away the boxes.

Garden lights might be effective and a cheap solution to stab in the big shrub bed. They are relatively inexpensive so if they walk, you know you have landed in an especially bad neighborhood.

When I've traveled around, places like, New Zealand, you are very safe, but petty crime is really high. My friends I was staying with kept everything of value (cameras, hard drives, laptops, passport etc) in a simple locking filing cabinet. Most of the junk just sorta lived in it, but it especially all went in when they left for the weekend.. say the beach.. These are really easy to find used, like from University Surplus sales and Craigslist. Just make sure it has keys or (better) an external lock bar. You can't bolt it to the wall, floor, but you can at least put in big brick, a sack full of rocks, or old textbooks in the bottom drawer.... Anything heavy!

National Hardware N335-984 Door Security Guard, Satin Nickel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001RUEWUQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_qBkDzb6QJHHKB

Any time some asks me for a little bit of added security I suggest these. They're alot less "floppy" if you will than your standard chain lock.

Check your Ring system for gaps in coverage. Add more cameras as necessary. Put chains on the front AND back doors - something like https://www.amazon.com/National-Hardware-N335-984-Security-Guards/dp/B001RUEWUQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1527789124&sr=8-7&keywords=Door+chain is supposed to be stronger than a true chain.

Put longer screws in your door hardware. Always lock the pedestrian door to the garage, and the door from the garage to the house. If you have a fence, put locks on the gates, and use them.

Consider a large, loving dog to protect your LO.

https://www.amazon.com/National-Hardware-N335-984-Security-Nickel/dp/B001RUEWUQ/ref=sr_1_15/136-1209887-3493354?ie=UTF8&qid=1501208865&sr=8-15&keywords=door+security+devices

Just so she can't push her way in.

Get one of these instead. They will work on a bit of an offset.

Install it at the top. Easy for you to flip open, impossible for him for another 4 years.

My daughter got out of bed before me (we were sleeping together) when she was three, went outside and next to our busy road. Luckily a woman stopped and brought her to our door. Unfortunately no one was awake so she had to call the police.

I woke up to not knowing where she was. The police didn't mention if she was okay until they questioned me and checked out the house.

It was terrifying.


We put sound bell/alarm type devices ( these ) on all the doors and also locks ( these ) for at night. I also talked to her about it. This worked for us and she eventually never did it again.

That sucks! It sounds like you are being really sensible with your security too!

There are so many girls in my apartment complex who have their blinds open all day and all night, even with the lights on. I'm not sure if they're stupid or just exhibitionists. My dad was in the police, so I've always been ultra cautious with my privacy and window treatments. Not only are there perverts out there, but there are people who will look inside to see what you have, and if you have your blinds open, even a tiny slither at 10pm and all the lights on, guess what? People can see EVERYTHING. They can start putting together a shopping list and pay a visit when you're at work! Or worse, watch you.

Hubby works for the local police department and there's one too many peeping Toms and deviants in the world right now. One lady went to investigate a noise outside one night, leaving her husband asleep, she was sexually assaulted whilst he was in the same house. He was completely unaware of what was happening to his wife :(

Sometimes even drawing your blinds is not enough. If you can afford to, get some curtains installed that black out rooms. They are really thick and those little cracks in the sides of blinds when drawn, will be covered and you'll feel a lot safer.

Install one of these locks http://www.amazon.com/National-Hardware-V804-Security-Nickel/dp/B001RUEWUQ , most apartments will allow you to do this yourself or if you ask they may do it for you. And don't answer the door to anyone, unless you know exactly who they are. There were some incidents in my area where people would answer the door to men claiming to be maintenance and they'd barge in and take everything.

Get a dog, they will alert you if something doesn't feel right or if there's a stranger nearby. My dog is very quiet, but she'll come up to me, nudge me with her nose, and do her soft barks if she feels there's someone lurking in the hallway or outside around the windows.

If he bothers you again, immediately turn off all the lights, this protects you as whoever it is can no longer see what you're doing inside or what room you're in, grab yourself a hammer or anything else you can use as a weapon, get your cell phone, sit by the front door and call the police.

That's pretty messed up that they invade your privacy, and it's even more fucked up that they would break your lock and steal shit from you. They're supposed to be family, and family shouldn't do things like that. How about a lock like this one?

You could also just move out, try to find another place to live on like padmapper.com?

Might be time to invest in one of these bad boys, and also properly install the existing locks.

Even if you can't get your grandma to flip the locks around, you can install a swing bar lock on your side of the door. Since you're wanting the locks flipped, I'm assuming this isn't the only door into your home, so it shouldn't be a problem to keep the swing bar closed all the time. Make sure you use longer screws than the ones it comes with to really secure it. Nobody should be coming into your home without your knowledge or permission.

I had that problem when my figured out how to unlock things and started roaming the neighborhood if I left them alone for a few minutes while I was in the shower. We installed these top latches way up high on every exterior door in the house.