It’s estimated that there are more than 2.2 million burglaries every year in the US – which roughly equates to one burglary every 15 seconds.
Those are some pretty scary statistics, and truthfully, there’s nothing we can do to put a stop to burglaries altogether.
Petty criminals are always going to try their luck when it comes to making money.
The trick is to deter burglars from your home by making it as difficult as possible for them to enter.
It’s common sense: if a burglar had the choice between a house with all the latest security features, and a house that had nothing more than a lock on the front door, they’d go for the second option.
You might already have all the conventional security stuff – but do you know about this handy tip?
The tip was shared by Mariana Pearson, an employee at Modern Nest Real Estate Group, who said that her dad had shared it with her back when she moved into her first apartment.
The viral Facebook post reads:
“A good home security tip that you may have never thought about…. Most contractors install the plates with the supplied screws which are only a half inch long and come out with one kick by a burglar. He installed 4 inch screws in their place that go through the door frame and into the framing of the house. They can kick for a long time before they get tired!”
She continues:
“You can see in the picture the screw in his hand is the screw supplied with the door hardware. Making a burglar make a bunch of noise and be foiled in their initial plan can not only give you time to arm yourself but they will most likely move on to an easier target.”
That all sounds great – but just how effective is it?
First off, Maria is right: your home will likely have tiny screws securing the front door, especially if your property was mass-produced in a “cookie-cutter” neighborhood.
For builders that are working to maximize efficiency, it’s convenient for these types of homes to have small screws on their front doors, as they make for a faster install.
Replacing these tiny screws with longer screws will definitely offer some level of extra protection.
A long screw would embed right into the stud that’s behind a door jamb. This means it’s grabbing onto a thicker layer of wood, which would make it harder to split the wood if someone was attempting to kick the door down.
Of course, it wouldn’t make a break-in impossible, and a resilient burglar would still manage to knock the door through eventually.
But generally, burglars are looking for simple jobs – they want to kick straight through the door while attracting as little attention as possible.
Spending more than 10 seconds bashing on somebody’s door is hardly stealthy.
So while this tip doesn’t offer guaranteed protection from a burglar, it’s definitely a helpful tool to have in your arsenal.
In the video below, you’ll see what happened when a national news reporter tested out the long screw method.
How many kicks do you think it took for him to break the door with the long screws down, compared to just 8 kicks for the door with the short screws?
Scroll down to watch the news report for yourself!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
