OT - but I need some advice

[robind]

Sorry to get off topic, but I need some advise from people I trust. My home was recently broken into, luckily not too much was taken and no one was home. However, in true, locking the barn door after the horses escaped, I am looking into having a security system installed.

Does anyone have one, if so who do you use, are you happy with them? What do you wish you knew then that you know now? Any "gotcha's" to worry about why I'm getting estimates.

Thanks for your help.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We use ADT but got them so many years ago, I can't remember what it was like in the beginning.

I do know that one extremely annoying thing for me is when we lose power and it comes back on, the alarm system goes off. If we aren't home to turn it off, it results in the police getting called to our house.

It's only happened once when we aren't home but we got a warning from the police that if it happened again, we would get a fine. I think that's ridiculous since we can't control the whole power going out thing but it hasn't happened since that one time.
The rest of the time, we've been home when we lost power.

Also when the batteries need to be changed on the various zones thru the house, we have to remember to call ADT in advance so the system doesn't go off while we are changing them. That was an unpleasant surprise the first time we had to change batteries. We had no idea the alarm system would go off when we were messing with the batteries since we had turned it off before doing it.

Other than that, we haven't had any issues with the system.

 

[klam_chowder]

At our last house, I did a few things that really provided me with peace of mind:

• installed 3rd keypad in master bedroom
• had backup battery system installed so if the power went out the system was still on, or if home invaders cut the wire the alarm would go off
• put in a camera and intercomm-type device so I could see from the kitchen who was at the door and ask them what they wanted if I didn't recognise them (we couldn't see the front steps/covered foyer from inside the house)

At the time, there were a number of home invasions going in the greater community so I was worried more about that than a burglary while we were gone. Our area was never hit, thankfully. We've since moved and feel this place is pretty safe (knock on wood) so haven't put in a system here.

The cost of a robust alarm system was well worth the peace of mind it provided. Good luck with this Robin.

cheers,

 

[robind]

Thanks for the input, my brother is home alone alot because of my travel for work, so I want him to feel comfortable, he's still very nervous.

I had Brinks come in today for an estimate and ADT is coming in next week.

 

[LilGMom]

We have ADT and I while we haven't had to use them I like knowing that the house is being monitored. We had to have all of our windows and doors that open to the backyard fitted with extra sensor things because of the pool. If you have a pool you might want to think about that because it can make the cost go up a bit. We installed an extra keypad so that we'd have one at each of the main entrances into the house. We have a battery backup on the system too which is great since a hard sneeze in this area can make the power go out. I now wish that we would have had some security cameras installed too.

Depending on who you have your home owner's insurance with you might be able to get a discount on the initial setup cost.

Good luck and I'm sorry to hear about your break-in.

 

[sau418]

We just had a Guardian System put in our house, and so far am really happy with it. One feature that I really appreciate is that there is a chime option that will ding whenever a door is opened, I have two small kids and this alerts me if one of them opens a door when I am not right there. It gives me a little additional piece of mind during the day when the alarm is not set in the case of someone trying to enter the house. It also has a feature of a second code that I can enter and set off the alarm without setting off the sound.