Home Defense Strategies: How to Fortify Your Home

This article will tell you about how to fortify your home. If you get stuck at home during any survival scenario like a civil unrest or a pandemic, your home security is the thing to focus on first. Check your fence, every window and door, check your locks and weapons in your safe room. You will want to be fortified to the max in case of burglar attack, too. Don’t forget about your self-defense in your daily life. To learn how to make the perimeter of your living space safe and secured, read our article.

The ability to defend your home from enemies is a basic human knowledge that allowed our species to survive. It makes no sense to explain that there are always detractors who, if they do not want to cause you physical harm, do not mind to take away your valuable property. Our ancestors had to dig deep ditches around their castles and set up barbed wire fences to keep out enemies in the past. However, it no longer makes sense to build complex and cumbersome defensive fortifications in the modern world. Thanks to human ingenuity, people have found many ways to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their houses.

Today several elementary ways can help you make your home truly impregnable. And, it will look completely ordinary and normal for others. Simultaneously, if you want to turn your home into a full-fledged bunker with the maximum degree of protection and demonstrate to possible intruders the inaccessibility of your home, you can choose this option. I want to say that everything depends on your preferences and the type of home fortification. Get a light timer for better house protection.

In short, the point is to reduce the risk of bad guys entering your home to a minimum. And if getting inside your house is difficult, then most likely, the attackers will decide to choose an easier target for the robbery. And that’s your final home fortification plan.

Here are some working security measures for your ultimate home defense system.

Security Cameras for Self-Defense

There are some home defense systems to monitor the safety of your property constantly. One of the most common is video surveillance systems, which detect signs of break-ins, call 911 immediately. Such tools are handy when you are absent or to keep your home under supervision at night when you are asleep. Of course, such protection is not cheap, but at the same time, it guarantees 27/7 supervision of your home and protects it from criminals.

Another cheaper DIY option can also be purchased and installed in your home if you wish. It is basic and does not include the authority inform function as the previous one. However, such devices and even doorbell cameras have significantly improved since recently and now can notify you about motion detection in the house through your phone. Besides, they have more different additional functions, such as the ability to listen to what is going on in your home via devices. Such a system will not guarantee you round-the-clock protection since you will not permanently check the video recording.

However, no matter what camera type you install, when the potential burglars do not really know whether it is connected with a monitoring system or not. If they see the security camera, they most likely will choose another object for the home invasion. As I mention, the thing is to make it more difficult to penetrate your property. But creating the visibility of this penetration difficulty is effective as well.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that it is better to spend it on quality home security and surveillance systems if you have enough money. There are many options on the market today, and you can choose the ideal one if you look through some reviews and expert recommendations.

Anyway, it is only one of the most popular but not very basic options for home fortification. So you better pay attention to the other measures if you have a limited budget. Learn how to make cement fast in order if you need additional fortification.

Extra Window Protection

One of the basic and easiest ways to fortify your home is to focus on such entry points as windows. There is no need to install complicated and expensive booby traps against home invasion. First of all, you have to provide your windows with locks, and what is more important you should use them.

Unlike door alarm systems, applying the same technology to windows is not a good idea. Besides, such a system is only applicable to sliding glass doors and windows, while for the protection of traditional options, the alarm system is useless. Another problem is that burglars can break the glass without sliding it. In this case, such an alarm will not be working as well.

My advice -think about getting burglar bars and security window film instead. Both options are great for strengthening the level of your window protection dramatically. However, while the security bars look specific and cannot be appropriate for everyone, the latter is almost universal and almost invisible. This film makes glass much stronger and resistant to breaking. Besides, if somebody tries to break your first-floor windows protected by the transparent security film, intruders will have to make a lot of noise, and you are likely to notice the intrusion into your private property and take action beforehand. Of course, it does not guarantee the complete invulnerability of your point of entry, but it is a nice way to slow thieves and prevent them from penetrating inside your home.

Home Security Motion Sensors

Installing motion-sensing illuminators around your property is a very convenient way to indicate suspicious movements and would-be intruders. As a bonus, they are very cheap and affordable for the majority.

Although be ready for false alarms due to wild and stray animals wandering around your house, after all, there can always be accidental mistakes.

Door Chime

There is such a useful and familiar device as doorbells or doorknob chimes, which notify that someone has just entered the house. Having such bells on your exterior doors, you will always feel something is wrong. For instance, if they ring in the middle of the night or at any other inappropriate time, all the family members are already at home. In other words, it can be your personal alarm signal what somebody tries to get inside.

Guard Dog

Even if you are an ardent opponent of pets owners, I still have one weighty argument why you need to have a dog in your house. This is, of course, their effective additional home defense function. Large dogs can scare off potential intruders, and after proper training, stop or attack them.

However, despite the obvious advantage of large breeds, small decorative dogs are also able to perform a protective function, notifying you of “uninvited guests.” Even more, they can detain or distract attackers for a while.

Or Other Exotic Domestic Animals

Dogs are great pets and property defenders for many people. However, sometimes exotic animals can be even more effective at scaring off criminals. For example, it is unlikely that someone will want to rob your house if a dangerous predator, like a tiger or a lion, lives on its territory. Obviously, our own life is more expensive than stealing other people’s things and money. Even if intruders overcome the alarm system and burglar bars and get inside your home, they will definitely be intimidated by a predator ready to bite their head off. Anyway, be careful if you decide to own such pets. After all, it often doesn’t matter who disturbs their peace of mind-your family and friends or potential enemies for many animals. They are equally dangerous for everyone.

Home Security Hedges

Humankind has been building defensive fences to protect their homes for many centuries. And such constructions are supposed to handle this job nicely. The fence protects your property from the unwanted presence of strangers and hides it from the eyes of others. Of course, even a barbed wire does not make your house completely invulnerable to intruders. A fence will be a good addition to your home fortification system and help prevent spying on you and your estates.

However, you need to keep in mind some information. To begin with, most of the fences criminals can easily overcome. That is, they are far from reliable protection measures. The bad news is that the high and expensive fence surrounding the luxury house, on the contrary, will attract even more unwanted attention. That is why you should avoid tall fences to fortify your home. Such a fence seems to signal that there are many expensive things in this house and that criminals must necessarily consider it a target.

However, you can still use hedges for concealing purposes. In this case, you need to choose one of the following natural options. They will help you to keep the inner part of your house away from the thieves’ eyes.

Plants&Trees Outside

If your house is located on a large plot of land and you have free lawns, do not hesitate to use them for protective purposes. Make sure that your windows, glass doors, front door, and other private spaces are protected from prying eyes by dense shrubs and bushy trees. No one will like it if their private life is always in plain sight, so use your territory wisely. Therefore, if there are no plants on your outside space yet, urgently fix it and plant as many shrubs around your home as possible.

Besides, think about the types of shrubs you would like to use. Choose prickly plants such as raspberries to block the path of uninvited guests. They have thorny branches, and it will be difficult to get through the thickets of such bushes quickly and without any damage. Also, you can design your landscape in such a way as always to keep intruders insight.

Perimeter Cacti Hedges

In continuation of the theme of natural fences, here is another excellent option for fortifying your home. Some wild and tall cactus species can be used as a natural thorn hedge. By planting such a cactus as Mesquite under the first-floor windows of your house, you will eliminate the penetration of intruders and violent riots into your home through the windows or at least significantly reduce the risk of such an event.

It may seem that plants are unreliable providers of home security. However, no one, even the most ferocious maniac, will want to get stuck in thorns and needles near the windows of your house. Anyway, there is never too much protection, right?

Ordinary Fortification Design

Luxury homes with bright designs, with Porsches parked on a driveway, are likely to attract criminals’ attention. At least they will clearly be more wanted targets for robbery than ordinary houses with unremarkable exterior details.

Therefore, the main advice is to avoid eye-catching objects. Use neutral colors in the design, do not leave luxury items in plain sight, park cars in the garage, or at least cover them with a tarp or other material. Again, don’t forget about the windows. Curtains and blinds will hide your interior from outsiders and will not allow them to encroach on your expensive things.

In general, your goal is not to merge with nature but to avoid drawing too much attention to your property.

Self-Defense Skills

The next part of the article is about the necessity of learning survival techniques. If you and every member of your family can handle a gun, shoot accurately, and can stand up for yourself in any dangerous situation, it is unlikely that your home will become a potential target. And even if somebody decides to attack you, there will be a big possibility that he will regret it immediately after entering your entry point.

Therefore, it is important to teach your family basic self-defense techniques and provide them with lethal and non-lethal means of protection.

Firearm Prepper Skills

Shooting is one of the most important and basic skills for survival. That is why you need to make sure that everyone in your family knows how to handle different kinds of firearms. No matter what you use for training — air rifles, a Kalashnikov, or even a survival bow — the principle is always the same. If you know how to use a gun and you are confident that your family members are also capable of doing so, you can rest easy.

For self-defense purposes, you also need to think about a pistol silencer to have a surprise effect when defending against attackers.

Martial Arts&Self Defense Techniques

A gun is always a helpful thing, but it may not always be at hand. You need to be sure that you can stand up for yourself, even in the absence of additional items for self-defense. Therefore, the study of martial arts is so necessary and important in the modern world.

There are many different styles of martial arts, and you can choose among this variety the best defense option for yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you are attacked in a dark alley by robbers or criminals decide to break into your house with enough diligence. You will always be able to fight back and will not become an easy target for villains.

Weapons Skills

There are a huge number of different weapons, both lethal and non-lethal ones. For effective usage of any of them in a fight, you need to know beforehand how to handle them and know several techniques for applying this weapon. For example, if an attacker finds you in the kitchen, the best option is to grab a kitchen knife and deliver stabbing blows to the intruder. However, if you have never used a knife or other cold weapon before, the attacker may use your inexperience against you. Thus, the most important thing in surviving and self-defense is practice, practice, and practice. And even a huge scary-looking man will not be a threat to you.

Frequent Home Security Weak Points

It is logical that during the planning of your home security system, you should first think about parts of your home that are most at risk of penetration and reinforce them. For many, it seems obvious that sliding glass doors and open windows are the easiest way to make your houses the perfect targets for thieves. However, people continue to underestimate the protection of entry points and allow attacks on their homes.

You need to take care of all possible entry points, but you need to think more about some of them. According to statistics, the most popular points that intruders use to get inside the houses are the exterior doors (a front door and back one) and the first-floor windows. Almost 80% of all home invasions happen this way. Therefore, about the protection of these points, you should consider first. Give preference to strong solid wood doors instead of fragile glass ones and install door locks.

Entry Points Fortification

Doors

So how to properly protect these weak points after all?

My recommendation is the Armor Concepts doors. This system will help strengthen your door and make it virtually invulnerable to unwanted visitors. In the last section, I explained to you what weak points your house has. By installing Armor, you reduce any risks and make sure that your door is fortified. This is a great device for a reasonable price that will make your whole house a safe room for you and your family.

Here is the video if you want to see how this thing works.

Windows

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned the security film as an ultimate way to reinforce your home. Here you can find more details about this protective measure to understand if you need to purchase it or not.

In fact, there are many other options for your window as well as you can find various kinds of security film. So, you always will be able to choose the ideal solution for you.

Walls Protection

Few people think about strengthening the walls, as they actually seem to be the most reliable part of the building. However, modern buildings are constructed from relatively flimsy materials such as drywall. During an SHTF scenario (e.g., disaster strikes) or the shelling of your house from machine guns outside, such walls are unlikely to hold the defense for long. It is better to strengthen the walls with stone or brick for greater safety.

Chimney Fortification

Of course, this situation is quite unlikely. Nevertheless, we need to think about everything. Theoretically, a very motivated intruder may try to enter the building through the chimney. After all, the Santa stories could not have come out of the blue, could they? In the end, in case of emergency, consider this option too, and if there is a threat, block the pipe.

Booby Traps&Ammunition

Regularly check that you have everything you need to carry out a powerful attack on your home. All of the above measures are mainly designed to prevent home invasion. But if this has already happened, then your life and safety will depend entirely on the number of weapons and ammunition that you managed to stock up in advance.

Set a couple of basic, not deadly traps inside your home. The latter tools are hazardous and can lead to your own death if handled carelessly. Besides, they are illegal, and you can incur serious liability if your trap will accidentally kill someone.

Conclusion

After all, there is a problem. If well-prepared criminals decide to attack your home for any reason, they likely will manage to do it successfully. But penetrating the defended bulletproof home is a much more complicated task than the standard unprotected one. So, there are two possible ways to survive and to protect yourself and your loved ones from such a threat.

One way is to fortify your home as much as you can to make it unapproachable. Another option is to have plan B. Think through a quick evacuation strategy in case of danger, as well as define a special location for all the family members where you will be able to meet and regroup.

The thing is that you can never be sure that you can stay at home in case of danger if you do not have the necessary tools, survival skills and your home is not fortified enough. Imagine that there is an Apocalypse outside, and you are in the urban city.

Densely populated cities and districts are more prone to high crime rates. Therefore, it is in your best interest to think once again about your own safety and develop a plan for evacuation and survival during an SHTF scenario.

Of course, I hope that you will not need the knowledge gained from this article, and you will not have to defend your home from enemies. Nevertheless, it will not be superfluous to be prepared for different bad scenarios. After all, who knows what awaits us tomorrow and what dangers may await us at any given time? As they say, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

FAQ

Front Door Fortification Tactics

First of all, upgrade your door lock to a stringer one. You can even buy quality deadbolt locks. Use solid wood or metal doors instead of the fragile glass ones. Yes, they are good for controlling what is happening outside, but breaking the glass in such a door will not be difficult. Provide your home with a door security system, including motion sensors or a surveillance camera. This point always has to be under surveillance. Think about chimes and bells for notifying you about unwelcomed intruders.

Back Door Fortification Tactics

I do not recommend you to install a glass door. You better choose the more solid and reinforced option to prevent a glass-breaking scenario. Use different security devices such as alarm systems, motion detectors and control who enter this door and when. Besides, deadbolt locks and bells will be a good solution as well. Each of your exterior doors should be monitored and protected by the latest technologies. Also, never forget to lock your doors before you leave or go to bed at night.

Why Do You Need Security Cameras?

A high-quality surveillance camera will keep a close eye on your home instead of you. It is a very convenient and useful device for everyone. You will be able to see and control everything that happens in your home through your phone while you are away. The best models can detect signs of intrusion and call local authorities to take immediate action. In other words, such a camera is a personal security guard of your home, performing its functions 24/7 without days off and breaks.

Why Fortify Windows?

It is one of the weakest points that allow criminals to use them for invasion. According to statistics, in 25% of cases, thieves use the window to break into the building. This happens because it doesn’t take much effort to break the glass, and thieves take advantage of it. Besides, if you are not used to hanging curtains or blinds as a part of the interior, then through the windows, everyone can easily see your entire personal life. This includes valuable items that you own and that someone might want to steal from you.