Often overlooked aspects to home security are reducing the attractiveness of breaking in by not advertising what you have inside and blending into the community, and arrangement of well formed and effective boundary markers and psychological deterrents.

The first point is pretty simple. If you set up your 120 inch high resolution TV on your patio where everyone within a quarter mile can enjoy the show with you and hook it up to you 1200 watt surround sound system and watch war movies in the evenings at high volume so half the county knows when John Wayne is storming Mount Suribachi then your a fool and just begging for trouble.

You needn't have a home like a destitute hermit but obviously high end homes with obviously expensive features tend to attract attention if they are not surrounded by similar homes. Try to be just a bit plainer and a bit less ostentatious than your neighbors.

Also be careful about how you talk. Bragging about your $50,000 dollar coin collection at work can get you unscheduled visitors.

Also be careful who you let in your home. Tradesmen should be licensed, bonded, have references and work for shops that use background checks and drug testing.

If your lucky enough to design or remodel your home some thought can be given to keep those areas likely to need service by outside tradesmen segregated from those areas containing valuables. The heat and AC plants, water heater, power panel and water shut-off should ideally be in a separate mechanical room. Appliances that might need servicing, like the refrigerator, washer and drier, should not be near tempting targets.

Creative use of folding doors, curtains and throw covers can help keep valuables out of sight while visitors or workers are in your home. The European tradition of dust covers was only partly about keeping dust at bay.

Remember that even if a tradesmen or visitor is honest they will notice what is around them and could talk about anything remarkable you have at the local watering hole. Your extensive collection of guns will interest the local cat burglar, or crackhead, if it gets mentioned.

Point being that you don't want to present an attractive target for any thieves. And you want to limit the number of people who know about those valuables you do have.

The second point is a little more difficult to define. It has to do with the psychological effects of architecture and architectural details that don't necessarily jump out as defensive measures.

One study of laboratory workers showed that something as simple as a picture of eyes on a wall in a room reduced the tendency to cheat. this was true even when the people being tested were not consciously aware of the pictures presence. In other tests people in rooms with pictures of eyes present reported having the feeling of being observed. Deep in the human mind the presence of eyes and eye shapes are associated with being observed, judged and brought to justice.

Interestingly many 'primitive' architectural designs incorporated details that resemble eyes.

Another architectural effect has to do with demarcation of transitions between public, semi-public, tribe, family and personal spaces. Gateways, arches, pillars and changes in elevation, with or without any physical barrier, tend to slow and deter intruders. Particularly when these boundary points can be assumed to be under observation.

A simple set of uprights at a gateway or low fence is an obvious but seldom understood psychological barrier. Anyone who thinks about it will understand that a if you live on a corner lot people will tend to run diagonally across you property to some extent. If you put up a low fence around the property line, typically all of sixteen inches high and used around flower beds, the number of people who will cut the corner is greatly reduced. The effect is far more profound than the height of the fence would suggest. A child could step over the fence but few people will cross it.

A window that overlooks the fence and a pair of vaguely eye shaped cutouts in the siding reinforce the effect.

This sort of thing also has an effect on how any intruder is seen and, to some extent, how you will be judged if you react violently to any intruder.

Everyone understands that even a very low fence marks territory. A low fence also makes the property look less like a penitentiary. Less like someone inside is worried about someone outside taking something valuable they have inside.

It is less credible for a burglar to claim he 'was lost' and 'looking for a nearby house' if they have to go through a gateway that is clearly marked with your name and address. If they have to open two or three gates to get to your porch they have, in effect, been warned that hey are not welcome if they have no business. If the confrontation gets violent on your porch the jury and judge will implicitly take this into account.

The same situation without any such demarcation of your territory means that a person can credibly walk right up to your house and look around. If confronted they can easily claim that they are new to the area and looking for a friend's house that they think live in the general area.

This is a classic low risk method for thieves to case a house to gain knowledge of who stays in a house, what valuables might be present, when people are present or most likely out. They can 'innocently' case the place and plan their burglary without fear of arrest or violence.

Demarcating your territory and using universal architectural symbols that reinforce a persons uneasiness and feelings of being observed can tilt the situation in your favor and subtly convince any potential intruder that they should try their luck at some other house.

Thank you everyone for your information. I am considering a family dog as an early warning device sometime in the future.

Aiming of the motion lights will be addressed once I get them up and running (after we close).

I am not planning on fencing the property right now and I will be looking at getting better doors as finances allow.

First priorities will be new deadbolts with 2 keyed sides as you can't break a window to open them.

reinforcing the existing doorframes with longer screws (I am not about to tear up the wall to reinforce them more than that.)

getting a good lock system on the one outbuilding so that my tools are secured against theft and being used to break into my own home.

planting non friendly spiky shrubs along the front of the building so that the windows are not entry points and making sure windows can be locked securely.

Getting my steel locking gun cabinet (no it is technically not a safe but you aren't going to break into it easily) installed in the home

I believe those double sided deadbolts aren't legally allowed in residential homes, you may want to check with your local laws. In case of fire it could potentially trap people inside. Medeco makes a set that has a removable keyed knob (basically a key that has a knob attached), but that's pretty much the same as just leaving a key in the door. And unless everyone in your family is disciplined, that's what will eventually happen anyway, they'll just leave a key in the lock for convienence

The longer screws might work, but if the wood itself is weak it won't help much, it'll still rip out of the frame. There's a reinforcement strip about 3-4 feet long that screws onto the frame and spread the load over a much larger area, it's called strikemaster or something like that. You don't have to do much modification either, it's just a very long strip of metal that replaces the strike plate.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to break into a gun cabinet. Whatever it is just make sure to bolt it down, because if they can carry it off, it doesn't matter how secure it is. One motivated person can easily carry off a 300 lb safe.

You can also look into installing home security cameras. I just installed a system not too long ago, it isn't very hard. It won't physically stop anyone from coming on to your property, but it does give you a sense of security to be able to watch your house when you're gone. I'm halfway around the world right now and I can see what time the mailman arrived today and anyone that came onto the property.

+1. Most gun "safes" (like you would see at Bass Pro Shops) are not nearly as tough as you would think. There are good ones out there from several companies but they are not cheap. They are also very heavy.

Locks only keep out honest people. Likewise security systems: bought one, and the only break-ins were committed by my kids, while the old folks were away on vacation, for adolescent party purposes. I go with the dogs-they bark at everybody, including the kids. Geese and guinea hens are more effective, but substantially less winsome than the dogs. The fowl do cook up better than the dogs.I am working on a security device that will fire low velocity cold cuts at intruders: turn the dogs loose, and the intruders will be way too busy to do any serious intruding.

"I will also be building a gun range in my back yard so the sound of gunfire may deter thieves."

That's a two-sided sword sort of thing. It will also let everybody in the area know you are a gun enthusiast and probably have a lot of guns in your home. It won't take long to figure out when nobody's home! I would invest in a quality gun safe.

I would think a double-wide would be hard to really harden and secure, but I'm no expert. There has to be a speciality website that offers suggestions on security for manufactured homes.

well double wides do still have steel frames underneath, even if its the modular type where they remove the wheels park of the metal frame stays so you could drop some thick steel from thge gun safe through the floor to the frame and weld it in place.

I don't know of anyone that has used the "Burglar Bomb" products but I'm tempted to incorporate a couple into my alarm system.

If you haven't heard of them look here http://www.stopthecrime.com/prod-repulsar4.htm

Geese, they frighten me.

Just kidding, before even reading benjammin's post, I thought, "dogs", big junkyard ones, doberman gang types that can climb ladders and leap between buildings.

+5 on that. Geese are damn cobras with wings!

-Blast