Uninhabited home protection.

This is a bit away from home defense of persons but still in the home protection catagory.

We are in the process of purchasing a new home, unfortunately it is a foreclosure. There are a lot of issues with this home but overall it will be a sound investment and a good place for our 9 year old with lots of room, 3 acres and for me a 1200 sq ft shop.

The house has previously been damaged, broken windows (boarded up now), some wiring cut, messed up doors, nothing that I can't do myself.

However, today I went out with a client that does flooring to let him look at the place and take measurements to get an estimate on what he will charge. First thing I notice when I walk in the house is there is a new hole in the the entry way wall. It didn't take me very long at all to determine that the house had been broken into and vandalized. Broken light fixtures, holes poked in walls and doors, broken mirrors. The back door was kicked in. Needless to say I was pissed. Most likely this is the result of kids with nothing better to do.

After some time and some discussion with the realtor, here is what I am planning to do.

If they are willing to fix the new damages and agree to keep the power on at the house, I am planning on having the security system company that I use for my office and current house change out the system that is there, (not being used currently), to their system and putting a cell phone backup in since there isn't phone service there now and won't be until after we close. I plan on having a security system anyway, just the timing issue of doing it now or after we close. I will have them put sirens inside and outside the house. I plan on installing some motion sensor lights around the house, and for now, putting up some phony security cameras. Once we move I will move my current real DVR system to the new home.

So what I am looking for is any other ideas of what I can do (legally, booby traps aren't legal in Texas) to protect the property from further damages while we wait another month for closing. What I do now will also be left in place after we spend a month working on it and then move in. Being that the house is vacant and it is probably 200-300 yds across and down the street to the nearest neighbors house, all I can really hope for is to create enough havoc that they won't stay around long enough to do any serious damage or take time to look for tools ect when I start to do all the work.

Any ideas or suggestions that I haven't listed. I am open for anything reasonable.

Oh, and no I didn't touch anything, the sheriff had already been out there, but my realtor hadn't called me yet.

+1 for interior lights on timers, and motion lights outdoors. Also, put blinds up if any windows remain. A dark, obviously unoccupied house is a big temptation for vandals. Also, keep the lawn mowed. The alarm is a great idea, too. Hopefully, if it looks occupied, it will be left alone.

Brace the back door shut in some fashion. You could also check with a local alarm company, not any of the big box companies , to see if they can put in a temporary alarm system or have a permanent one installed.

The company I used to work for had a temp system that was mounted on plywood and used wireless motion detectors, cellular system for monitoring and a big siren that made people want to leave. A permanent would be the better option since you already have work to do to the house, in which case go with the company with the best deal.

The problem with interior lights on timers is that a lot of the electrical to the wall outlets has been cut out of the attic. Glad I have know some good electricians and have been friends for 30 years or so.

I don't really want to put any window dressings up just yet, first because we aren't supposed to make any improvements until after the closing and second everything will have to taken back down when I do the complete inside remodel and painting.

We use a local company for our office and current home, they will be used for the new house as well.

The timers for lights should have a "random" feature that will vary the on-off times by anywhere from 15 minutes to a half-hour or so. Put a radio on, soft news type 24 station too.

Can, or do you want, to meet the neighbors? More eyes?

Can you "harden up" the doors? Deadbolts, 3 or 4" hardened screws on deadbolts and hinges?

One of my clients lives across the street (county road) and down just bit, not really visible house to house. I have met one of the other neighbors, but it is a little ways away.

Behind our property line is nearly 3/4 of a mile of pasture/woods before you get to another county road. There is probably 1000 acres or better of open land, since they are coming in the back each time, that is what makes this a difficult project. No one can really see behind the house.

The problem now with the doors, which already have deadbolts, is that the doors have been kicked in so much that there isn't any framing left until they fix them. Once that is done I will put one of those bars which fit under the door handle and braces against the concrete floor. Of course there are french doors off the den which now have broken windows. The windows in the french doors off the game room have been broken out and are now secured with plywood framing and lag bolted in.

I had a simalar problem with one house I bought. Went out to the house about dusk. Went inside with my deer rifle and house sat. Never had a problem again.

You can try the alarm if you want too, but a moat filled with alligators would be so much cooler

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Originally Posted by pgrass101

You can try the alarm if you want too, but a moat filled with alligators would be so much cooler

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Motion activated mini guns with video recording would be my prefered security system, but that is a bit out of my budget right now. I wonder if snapping turtles possitioned at crotch level would be considered a device designed to cause serious bodily harm or death.

Maybe one of those motion activated air fresheners but replace the air freshener with OC?

Just be careful with a alarm system, it's a double edged sword, you'll need to have a loud local sounder to make the intruder leave sooner than later but you don't want too many false alarms to irritate the neighbors to the point of them ignoring the alarm. One thing I've seen work is to talk to the neighbors and offer a $100 bounty for the neighbor that calls in the alarm that results in an apprehension. I understand that you will have it monitored but it will be a very low priority call for the police with it being property only security. By giving the neighbors incentives to call if they see someone that doesn't belong will help. Law enforcement tends to respond a bit faster when they have a person calling with eyes on a possible bad guy vs an automated alarm.

Trolls with firearms! Hire them! You can't go wrong with Trolls. They are mean and nasty little buggers.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Russ-Pilgrim-...Y9Q~~60_35.JPG

Warning, don't be fooled by Gnomes thinking they are more bad @ss than Trolls, cause they aint!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/...39473eed_o.jpg

Park an extra vehicle there...:yup:

Rent a Big Dog that loves to eat burglars and put him inside

I would visit the neighbors and ask them to keep a look out for vandals going that way.

Whatever you can do to make it look as close to lived-in as possible. Timers with a reasonably-random schedule that drive lights and perhaps a simple radio or similar noisy appliance. Have someone drop by the house every few days to check on things, rearrange one or more of the window coverings, pick up papers/mail at the home. Beyond your listed ideas, I can't think of much else. It's tough when you're not going to be there for awhile. Short of having a live-in house sitter until then (tough in a rough foreclosure), you've probably thought of all the basics.