Increase Illinois Home Security with A Safe Room

• October 30, 2015
• by Carlos Lopez

You’ve seen safe rooms in many Hollywood thrillers or TV crying dramas. The hero retreats to these specially-built impregnable havens in order to dispatch the bad guys. While such interior fortresses do exist, they’re a little impractical for the average homeowner. That doesn’t mean that you cannot designate such a place of safety in your own house.

At its most basic, a safe room is any place in which you can weather an emergency, such as a home invasion. You can turn any room into such a secure place if you follow a few tips from Popular Mechanics.

• Pick a place that is easy to reach quickly and can fit all members of your family, once you hear your security alarm go off. You want a room with as few exposed walls as possible, which can include a basement hobby room with no exterior walls or a second floor bedroom with one window that is hard to reach from the ground.
• Strengthen the door. Don’t rely on a hollow core door that is typically used for interiors because it can easily be kicked in or destroyed. Replace it with a solid wood or steel door that swings out and relies on pinned hinges.
• Use a good lock. A typical interior lock is easy to break into. Use a three-point deadbolt with at least a two-inch metal bar (throw) that fits inside the jamb.
• Have a means of escape. If your room has an exterior window that can fit an adult, make sure that an escape ladder is nearby. Barring that, have some way of communicating with the outside world available, such as a throw-away cellphone, so you can call for help.

If you want more information on safe rooms or want to increase your Illinois home security, please contact us.

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