# Securing my home windows?



## thegtwyo86 (Sep 2, 2013)

Hi everyone 
Lately, I've been changing my bug out idea to bugging in my house. I've been wondering what would be the best items to use in securing the windows in my house? I want something that will last so I was ruling out plywood, I also want something if I have to move slightly so I can defend my house. My house is block construction one story and my windows are impact resistant hurricane windows. I'm in the middle of changing all my doors over to steel hurricane ones. I was just wondering what you guys have done with your windows.
Thanks 
James


----------



## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Sounds like with hurricane resistant windows you are already in pretty good shape! As for me I put 3M security film (Google/Youtube it) on most of my first floor windows and Glass Blocked the ones
I didn't put the film on. 3M film is tough stuff and qualifies for energy tax credits. I have had the film on my windows for 3 years now and absolutely no problems with it, you would never know it's there.


----------



## thegtwyo86 (Sep 2, 2013)

That stuff is sweet!!!!
So you wouldn't worry about anything like bolt on shutters on top of that? 
Thanks for the info
James


----------



## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

The film is actually on the inside panes inside the house. It is pretty much indestructable and like I said you would not know it is there. The only concern the 3M rep had was the cat I have it is possible if the cat were to go crazy chasing a bug on the glass
that it is possible but not likely the cat may scratch the glass/film. I rolled the dice on that one and after three years and several cats the windows and the film are fine. I'm now looking at putting the film on my car windows to eliminate someone smashing a widow or carjacking deal.


----------



## BigCheeseStick (Aug 7, 2013)

Was looking at the 3m videos and found this company. Seems equally strong, and tinted. Available for homes or specifically for cars. There are youtube videos on it you can check out to.

Tint Simulator | Madico Window Films & Specialty Films


----------



## thegtwyo86 (Sep 2, 2013)

Thanks guys 
James


----------



## jimb1972 (Nov 12, 2012)

BigCheeseStick said:


> Was looking at the 3m videos and found this company. Seems equally strong, and tinted. Available for homes or specifically for cars. There are youtube videos on it you can check out to.
> 
> Tint Simulator | Madico Window Films & Specialty Films


Is there anyplace to get that stuff online?


----------



## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

It would not be all that affordable, but it serves a dual purpose. In a crisis that window might be your intelligence source more so than any internet of the past. Looking out and knowing what you face is critical to defeating it. It if you were going to shoot out from inside your home it would likely come at a window. (yes I'd avoid that if you could - at all cost but still it could happen) 

So whenever someone posted on Craigslist free bricks or I found some at a garage sale that were affordable I'd take them. I was able to build an enlcosure in front of two of my front of the house windows that fits a 55 gallon blue barrel inside of it, and I run rain water from the front side of the house into these. Any reasonable rain here fills them full off the front of the house which was otherwise not collecting any rain water. I can then water the front areas of the landscape the neighborhood likes to see free of city water that costs money. I attach a hose to the bottom of the barrel and gravity gives my rose garden out front ample supplies when its dry - then I wait for the next rain - roses are quite resilient and also serve a nifty benefit - no one likes to go through them.

My result here isn't going to stop someone from breaking a window, but if those barrels are full of water I feel pretty good about knealing in front of one of those windows and pointing a shot gun out. I don't think those barrels will stop everything - but I think they'll stop most things.


----------



## jimb1972 (Nov 12, 2012)

I found what appears to be a similar product from TAP plastics that's available for purchase, it is 4 mil but there is limited information on the product. Anyone heard of them?


----------



## BigCheeseStick (Aug 7, 2013)

jimb1972 said:


> Is there anyplace to get that stuff online?


Window Films Dealer Locator & Finder | Madico

Says there's a dealer that installs it less than four miles from our house. Probably one close to you as well.


----------



## jimb1972 (Nov 12, 2012)

BigCheeseStick said:


> Window Films Dealer Locator & Finder | Madico
> 
> Says there's a dealer that installs it less than four miles from our house. Probably one close to you as well.


Closest one is about 200 miles, plus I am cheap and handy.


----------



## BigCheeseStick (Aug 7, 2013)

jimb1972 said:


> Closest one is about 200 miles, plus I am cheap and handy.


Probably have to make a phone call to the number on the Madico site is my guess. Or find a local tint shop and ask them if they can get or install it. They say for the films to work well you should remove the windows completely for install.


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

thegtwyo86 said:


> Hi everyone
> Lately, I've been changing my bug out idea to bugging in my house. I've been wondering what would be the best items to use in securing the windows in my house? I want something that will last so I was ruling out plywood, I also want something if I have to move slightly so I can defend my house. My house is block construction one story and my windows are impact resistant hurricane windows. I'm in the middle of changing all my doors over to steel hurricane ones. I was just wondering what you guys have done with your windows.
> Thanks
> James


Maybe I missed it, but bugging in against what? What are you expecting will come in through the window?


----------



## BigCheeseStick (Aug 7, 2013)

split said:


> Maybe I missed it, but bugging in against what? What are you expecting will come in through the window?



View attachment 2752
View attachment 2753
View attachment 2754


The few seconds or even minutes it slows them gives you enough time to arm yourself and prepare for the starving looting masses that will shortly follow even the smallest SHTF scenario. "Zombies" is you care to call them that. "Thieving Turds" would be another name.


----------



## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

BigCheeseStick said:


> View attachment 2752
> View attachment 2753
> View attachment 2754
> 
> ...


3M film is the perfect deterrent for that.

Next step up would be full on plywood or boarding it up, but OP stated he didn't' want to do that, so I think 3M and good 'blocking bars', or whatever you want to call them - just small boards you wedge into the frame to keep them from being opened - are your best bet.


----------



## thegtwyo86 (Sep 2, 2013)

Thanks everyone. 
I like the 3m film because it doesn't appear that I have something to hide by boarding up my windows. I'm worried that if and when something happens the other 95% of the people that live around me will quickly realize that I have something they don't have. And if it gets to bad i will load up the jeep and run a few over on my way out. 

Thanks James


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

thegtwyo86 said:


> Thanks everyone.
> I like the 3m film because it doesn't appear that I have something to hide by boarding up my windows. I'm worried that if and when something happens the other 95% of the people that live around me will quickly realize that I have something they don't have. And if it gets to bad i will load up the jeep and run a few over on my way out.
> Thanks James


Ya, that film will hold. I'll take one of the neighbors cars and drive it right through your wall and take what I want.


----------



## thegtwyo86 (Sep 2, 2013)

I guess you could try


----------



## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

split said:


> Ya, that film will hold. I'll take one of the neighbors cars and drive it right through your wall and take what I want.


My neighbor would shoot you!


----------



## Tundra Dweller (May 18, 2013)

split said:


> Ya, that film will hold. I'll take one of the neighbors cars and drive it right through your wall and take what I want.


not all homes are built the same.. I would love to see someone try to take anything less then a kenworth and drive it into my house..


----------



## ordnance21xx (Jan 29, 2014)

THanks learned a lot



MOLON LABE


----------



## Schramm (Feb 9, 2014)

I was just wondering about my windows...(New Prepper here) and I have very old windows (1975) single panel and I am on a split level house... so I have 3 windows downstairs one which is approx. 2 yards and one in the garage. You have given me Ideas on how to help to prevent people from at least noticing (rose bushes or similar plants) BUT what else would you use I am on a budget so I have to go slow but my weakest part of my house is THAT window. I can board up the other two that are not facing any roads...Also what should be used on a sliding door? the lock is broken on it and I have plans on putting 2 of not 3 bars on it, (mind you have a 3 year old and a 10 month old and 2 cats) I was thinking plywood, but the original poster made me think otherwise. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## kevin108 (Jan 16, 2014)

If you already have impact-resistant hurricane windows, anything short of roll-up steel covers is just a waste of money. Hurricane-rated windows are usually 1"-thick laminated glass outside with tempered glass inside. They are incredibly durable. I've used them for securing buildings where I was having problems with the kids breaking windows. These rated windows are every bit as tough as plywood would be. I've been nothing but impressed with their durability.


----------



## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Schramm said:


> I was just wondering about my windows...(New Prepper here) and I have very old windows (1975) single panel and I am on a split level house... so I have 3 windows downstairs one which is approx. 2 yards and one in the garage. You have given me Ideas on how to help to prevent people from at least noticing (rose bushes or similar plants) BUT what else would you use I am on a budget so I have to go slow but my weakest part of my house is THAT window. I can board up the other two that are not facing any roads...Also what should be used on a sliding door? the lock is broken on it and I have plans on putting 2 of not 3 bars on it, (mind you have a 3 year old and a 10 month old and 2 cats) I was thinking plywood, but the original poster made me think otherwise. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


Can you grow prickly pear cactus? That's what I'm looking at here in AZ


----------



## Schramm (Feb 9, 2014)

I'm sure I can, Ill have to look into the plants AND get my Husbands approval. He doesn't know how he feels about this type of thing....


----------



## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

thegtwyo86 said:


> Hi everyone
> Lately, I've been changing my bug out idea to bugging in my house. I've been wondering what would be the best items to use in securing the windows in my house? I want something that will last so I was ruling out plywood, I also want something if I have to move slightly so I can defend my house. My house is block construction one story and my windows are impact resistant hurricane windows. I'm in the middle of changing all my doors over to steel hurricane ones. I was just wondering what you guys have done with your windows.
> Thanks
> James


1. concrete
2. brick and mortor.

If that is outside your budget there really aint many options as if it can be broken it can be broken into.

I'll also plug this new technology that is wall inserts. Basially the whole wall is preassembled then just slipped into place, so you can just put a wall infront of your windows. Then it is no longer a window, but rather a wall, you could do this for your other house openings and instead enter your home through a ladder, at which point you can draw the ladder up into the home making ease of entry require sledgehammers.


----------



## longrider (Mar 25, 2013)

I like the idea of the prickly plants. I have roses and gooseberry bushes in front of my bedroom windows. They came with the house. The roses are pretty, summer and winter. The gooseberies are painful, summer and winter. I was thinking something metal to put on the inside of the BOL, which is a farmhouse from the late 1800's. The basement windows are so small it would have to be a 10 year old girl to get in there. The other windows are new. 2008. Metal grates that are welded with 1 or 2 openings for shooting. Set them into some kind of brace on either side of the window. If SHTF, I want to be safe in some building.

I think some blackberry canes would be good. Fruit and break-in deterent all in one.


----------



## thegtwyo86 (Sep 2, 2013)

It's been a wile but thanks everyone


----------



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

Ok well I'm sorry I know he said he didn't want to use plywood but the ******* in me is going that route.
I have lumber out in the shed if I need it. I think I will build shutters that open to the inside where as I can drop a board
across on the inside to lock them. And I want shooting slots in them with little boards on hinges to cover the slots.
I hope to cover them with something that won't let any light in or out in case I want to have lights on without anyone
knowing that I have lights. Just like 150 years ago 
Sorry that's the ******* way.

Note: In a pinch during SHTF you could use the doors in your house to do this. Reuse the hinges also.
Just a silly thought


----------



## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Like a few people here, my primary plan is to bug in. For that reason, part of my plan is to make my house look very normal, compared to the rest around me. I also will try to make my house look like it has already been looted. Old TV and stereo stuff tossed around the front yard, along with some clothes , etc. I will do the same for the houses on either side of me if possible.


----------

