Bugging out may be the best option for most of us when disaster strikes, but we should also consider bugging in as a worthy alternative. It may be the only option in some circumstances such as a home invasion. If you decide to stay put, you need to make sure your home (house, apartment, etc) is prepared for a potential home invasion.  Even if you plan to leave home when the riots start, you’re still gonna wanna fortify your home to decrease its chances of getting ransacked while you’re gone.

I think we have enough reasons to talk about all the various things you can do to prepare your apartment for a home invasion, what do you think? Here are my top tips…

Tip #1 – Strengthen Your Door

If you live on the fifth floor, there’s little doubt that, should someone attempt a home invasion, he’s gonna do it through the front door. Luckily, there are several things you can do to make sure they don’t get through:

• Use longer screws to secure the door
• Use a door barricade (most doors can be knocked down by a few kicks)
• Get a bigger door (not always possible in an apartment setting)

On top of these improvements, the most important thing you can do is never leave your door open. Around 20% of all home invasions in the United States happen because the bad guys are very tempted by open doors and windows (Source: Bureau of Justice).

Tip #2 – Install A Pick-Resitant Door Lock

Most locks are helpless against lock bumping. I won’t go into the details of this technique here but there are a number of types of locks that are “bump resistant,” such as the Abloy Protec2 Double Cylinder Deadbolt.

Of course, if you can have at least a couple of different locks on your door, that’s even better. It will surely discourage most burglars from attempting a home invasion.

Tip #3 – Your Other Doors Or Windows

Your other doors and windows are vulnerable too. Let me ask you a question – how easy it is right now for someone to click one of your windows open? Or, how easy would it be for them to break the glass from your balcony door?

To strengthen your windows, you can use plexiglass. Also, make sure all of them are safely locked when they’re not fully open. It’s also good practice to always lock them even when you’re at home. Don’t forget that a good portion of home invasions happen while the owner is inside!

Tip#4 -Designate A Safe Room

This could be your second bathroom, for example. It doesn’t need to be big, it just has to keep you and your team/family/group safe. You’ll have to strengthen its door just like you did with your front door.

Keep in mind that you might have to spend entire days there (worst case scenario, of course), so you’re going to need food, water, weapons, light sources, and a phone to be able to call the police (if police will be available).

One key aspect to keep in mind is the number of people it can hold. There has to be enough space for all of your group members.  If there are four or five people in your household, you might have to designate another safe room.

Whatever you do, do not attempt to open the door to face your opponent during a home invasion. If you have an escape route you can use, that’s fine, but don’t ever use the main door.

Tip 5 – Know Your Escape Routes

You may have only one shot at getting out of your apartment during a home invasion. The one thing you won’t have is time to think. Since locking yourself up in your safe room should be a last resort, it would be fantastic if you could have at least one way of getting out of there (through a small window, for example).

Now, I can’t possibly know what that route is, that’s something for you to figure out on your own. Maybe you have a fire escape, maybe you live on the first floor and you can use an escape ladder to climb down the window. Escape ladders, like this one, are relatively cheap on Amazon and provide good insurance for this scenario.

In fact, if you could have an escape ladder in each room, that would be even better. You can keep them under the bed, for example, and you can even have one in your bug-out bag, you might need to climb down at some point when bugging out.

Tip #6 – Install Early Warning Systems From Home Invasion

Having an alarm system or even a common bell that jingles every time the door opens could give you those much needed seconds to escape. You can also think about having and activating motion sensors at night.  A dog is also a great option for altering you of a home invasion.

Speaking of which, dogs can be a very helpful during home invasions but they can also be easily taken down with pepper spray or other weapons if the attacker is prepared.

Tip #7 – Know Your Neighbors

It’s always good to know who you’re dealing with. They may be really nice people or, on the contrary, they may be thieves themselves and just wait for an opportunity to start planning a home invasion when police may not be readily present.

Now What?

What I covered here on preparing your apartment for a home invasion is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to know more about how to protect your home, whether you live in the city, the suburbs or in the countryside, check out my other article here.