25
May
2012
By Calvin at 10:36 GMT, 13 years ago
There will be a plethora of warnings from the police and neighbourhood watches over the next few weeks advising us to be careful not to leave windows open during this hot weather. The warnings obviously don’t mean ‘don’t open windows’; they are instead telling us to close and lock those open windows when we leave our homes unoccupied. The timing of the warnings is deliberate, because many of the police forces in the UK will be seeing a little spike in the numbers of unforced burglaries at the moment, due to properties being left insecure during this exceptionally good weather. And this happens every year as soon as we hit that 25°C mark.
So what do we do about it?
Well, it’s all about realistic opportunity. When we’re at home, leaving an inaccessible window open during the day isn’t going to be too much of a risk. The sorts of windows I’m talking about are upstairs windows that cannot be climbed up to and windows round the back and side of the dwelling that are accessed from the private parts of the garden, i.e. where the thief would need to climb over a fence or gate to get to them. If you’re still worried about intrusion through these windows it‘s possible to lock some windows in a slightly open position. The windows I’m thinking about here are most of the multipoint locking windows, some windows that use a lockable handle and sliding sash windows that have been fitted with sash stops to provide a 100mm ventilation gap. Windows that have been ‘locked’ in the slightly open position will not be as secure as fully closed and locked windows, but should be fine when you’re 'up and about' in the dwelling. However, when you go out you must close them fully and lock them. The ones to be be very careful about are the ground floor front windows. Many thefts and burglaries occur through these when left open when the residents are out the back garden.
At night lots of people like to sleep with a window open, especially during hot weather, but I know that many do not do this for fear of intruders at night. Again it’s all about realistic opportunity. An above ground floor, inaccessible bedroom window that’s well overlooked from the street is unlikely to be used by the burglar. What’s he to do? Walk along the street at two o’clock in the morning carrying an extension ladder? I suppose it’s possible, but unrealistic.
But what about those of you who sleep on the ground floor? Although some windows (as described above) enable you to ‘lock’ them in a slightly open position, I’ve met and advised many people who wouldn’t dream of sleeping with a half locked window (and neither would I). What I’ve advised in these circumstances is a collapsible gate on the inside of their bedroom window (the sort that folds back behind the curtains when not in use); so that they can leave the windows wide open at night without the fear of somebody climbing in. If you only want to leave a small fanlight window open you can have a grille fixed onto the back of the fanlight’s frame. If the thief tried to prise off the grille during the dead of night you’d most certainly hear them doing it!
I hope you can see that there are lots of security measures you can adopt to maintain your security and fresh air supply during these hot days and for more information about window security please see the Window security section on this website. The problems arise when you go out and forget to fully close and lock one of these windows. And if you are unfortunate enough to get burgled in these circumstances you’re also going to run into difficulties with your insurers. So you simply need to add ‘close and lock the windows’ to your daily security routine.
So, with a little careful thought about our security risks and by taking sensible precautions we can enjoy the summer with our windows open!
You know it makes sense!
