# 1st floor apartment safety



## ihugtrees (Oct 16, 2008)

We are moving into an apartment complex and will be on the 1st floor. I wanted 2nd floor just because I've heard they are safer, and with my husband in the military and often gone, I would've felt better...however all they had was 1st floor right now. We will have a screened in porch and glass sliding door with one of those bars that is supposed to be some sort of safety feature? DH was thinking of putting up lattice over the screen to deter a robbery...after all, if it's some random break in, they are going to choose the easiest place to get into, right? But the screened porch is one of two sources of natural light (the other being the window in the bedroom) so I really don't want to block it all out










Any advice on how to make a 1st floor apartment safer?


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## crunchymamatobe (Jul 8, 2004)

I think a lot depends on where your screened-in porch leads to. Parking? Busy road?

We also live on the ground floor of our apartment building, with a back door to a porch. As our son got older, our worries have moved from making sure he can negotiate the small step from living room to porch safely, making sure the slats surrounding the porch aren't far enough apart for him to crawl through, making sure he can't open the latch to let himself off the porch, and, most recently, making sure we don't keep the key in the lock anymore, because he can reach, unlock the door, and let himself out! Sneaky kid!

In your case, I would think about using slats or lattice over the screening, so there's less of a risk of baby pushing his/her way out/tearing the screen and falling.

I would also make sure all your windows lock properly, with keys, so they can't be opened at all from the outside. And don't leave items like cameras or computers where they can be seen from outside. That's obviously not going to deter a very determined criminal, but it makes a 'chance' robbery less likely.


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## Just My Opinion (Nov 26, 2008)

I've seen people cut a piece of wood to fit, and place it at the bottom of the sliding glass door in the groove, so it can't be opened (sort of like the *bar* thing you describe.

I wouldn't do the lattice thing -- your husband's theory is good, but also, it can provide hiding from a would-be intruder, so people on the "outside" couldn't see them on the porch kwim?

Also, we had these things on the windows in our first floor apartment -- how can I describe them? They work to secure a window so it can't be opened -- they are small and screw onto the side of the window easily, but prevent the window from being open. (you could remove them very easily in case of a fire etc). Gosh I wish I knew how to describe them better...

Keeping a light on at night, perhaps the patio light (get a CFL) is a deterrent.

Do you have a dog? Even a small, yappy dog is a deterrent.

I've heard of leaving a pair of big men's boots in visible sight, like work boots for example - on the patio, so would-be-burglers are deterred thinking a large man lives there or is home.

We felt very safe in our first floor apartment even though the area wasn't the best. I guess our thinking was that anyone looking for "valuables" isn't going to be looking in our humble apartment









Good luck


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

I don't have anything on our sliding door, I'm not worried about. Our back door faces a small hill w/ a fence. On the other side of the fence is I-80. I like the bottom floor, I would never choose to live on the 2nd or 3rd floor. The only problem we have is people upstairs don't know how to work their sinks (they shove all kinds of nastiness down there) and we've had our sinks overflow twice now. We're trying to move out next week.


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## sunnymw (Feb 28, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Just My Opinion* 
I

Do you have a dog? Even a small, yappy dog is a deterrent.

I've heard of leaving a pair of big men's boots in visible sight, like work boots for example - on the patio, so would-be-burglers are deterred thinking a large man lives there or is home.

Good luck









Used boots. From Goodwill








And ditto to dogs.

Honestly, I prefer a 1st floor for many reason: lugging kids around, hating stairs, paranoid about fires, paranoid about tornadoes, etc. Tornadoes happen more often here than home invasions--and this is coming from someone who had her house broken into in one of the "safest" neighborhoods in town. It doesn't matter who/where you are. If they see something they want, and they want it badly enough, they're going to go for it. For us, it was before we had moved in all the way and they wanted the guitar in our living room. They shattered our french door glass after trying to get in w/ a crowbar, and took it (and our DVD player).


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## fork (Feb 7, 2007)

Just get a piece of wood for the sliding doors and windows that fits between the window and the frame so that it cannot be slid open. I've lived on first floors my whole life, in both houses and apartments and I've never really worried about it. I currently don't have air conditioning, so the windows are open all night and I've never had a problem. I live in a pretty crappy neighborhood, but most home invasions are done by people wanting to sell stuff for drugs, so they seem pretty good at avoiding houses with people that are home. I make sure I lock everything up tight if I leave the house.

Are you allowed to do any planing outside of your apartment? Maybe see about planting some prickly bushes under your window/around your screened porch.


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