Should I pop for an alarm on my house?

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If you do, I would recommend using a local company, if your city has one. There are two types, one that just makes a loud noise and one that alerts Police/Fire depts. I own a Private Security company, and we don't sell or service alarms. I do know people in town who do, and they are very good.
I am also a Private Investigator, and one of my clients is a lady in her 70s who is a widow. She is well off financially, and I had her get an alarm installed in her very expensive house. It was set up to alert her, via cellphone if the alarm went off. I knew what would happen in that case. She would not recognize the number, so she wouldn't answer it. I told her that when we were getting it installed, and she smiled and said, "Well, I guess we'll just set it up to call you next".:eek: Uh, OK. I have keys to her house (she trusts me implicitly) so I guess that makes sense.
Later she was out of state, and we had a thunderstorm. Apparently lightning hit somewhere near the house and set off the fire alarm.I got a call at about 0500 hrs from the alarm company. Had to meet the fire department at the house, let them in, check for flames and re-set the alarm. Everything was fine. I told her she owed me dinner on that one.:rolleyes:
The alarm worked VERY well, and she is very secure with it. It covers fire, break-in and I believe carbon monoxide. The company that services it is local, so I trust them, and that is what I recommend. I believe it cost about $1,500 to install, but this is a very large home.
Alarms are good, in some situations.
Jim
 
I also have a system from a local company. Mine announces what door was opened (beep beep front door! for example), contacts the company by wireless (cutting my phone line won't stop it) and battery back up (cutting my electricity won't stop it either). The company contacts the police if we're not contacted by phone to verify. My sis accidentally tripped the alarm once and the police was there inside 5 minutes.

I also have a personal surveillance camera watching our cars and part of my front yard, also part of the street including the corner. It goes through my DVR running 24/7 to my 14" TV.

It's good for the peace of mind especially the announcements. It lets me know that someone entered my house. It also listen for breaking windows and alarms on.
 
Yes, you should IMO. In most cases, your homeowner's insurance company will give you a reduction in your rate if you have one. Not to mention the added peace of mind is worth it!

I thought we were going to have to lose our alarm system when we cancelled our land line, but our alarm company came out and installed a cellular unit. Our system has a battery backup, so if the power is out, it will still work. Our system has door sensors, window sensors, and motion sensors (these aren't recommended if you have a cat :p ) and the company does alert the police if they cannot contact us. (Live person calls...and they call within seconds after the alarm goes off...as we have found out when we tripped it inadvertently, several times. :o ) We also have yard signs in the flower beds at each door, and window stickers on each window (assuming that burglars will read, or can read.)

I wouldn't want to be without one.
 
+1 on a monitored alarm system with a cell phone and battery back-up. If you get monitored smoke detectors, you'll receive a healthy discount on your homeowners insurance.

I also had them install an overflow detector in my sump pump basin that's in the basement. I had a problem with my pump about a year ago and the alarm warned me before any damage was done.
 
I have one in the Tucson home and it works well. Sometimes too well when my wife sets the alarm and I unknowingly go into my shop after a shop trip. The police here are great at responding, though if it happens again that I set it off they may charge me a fee. My only complaint with all the alarm companies is they want a two year contract that renews automatically. If you sell your home and the new owners don't want the system, you may pay an early contract termination penalty. Of the companies I have used over the years, I like ADT.
 
Yes and i suggest a dog or two. My 145lb female rottie would shake the house when she barked. Door to door salesman would turn around and leave when they see her. If i heard a noise and she barked i knew something was wrong long before the house alarm went off. My alarm is backup to the dog. You need both.
 
For just a couple hundred dollars you can obtain a wireless system and install it yourself. The one we have (Honeywell) comes with a main panel, fob, motion sensor, and 2 door sensors. I added a lamp activator and remote siren. Set it at night and if anyone enters by either door, or walks into the living room, the main panel will beep in our bedroom, a light will come on in our dining room, and a remote siren in the kitchen will sound. We also wired it to the phone, it calls our cell phone if we're not home. It has a battery backup and the sensors run on AA and AAA batteries. No wiring. We bought this about 20 years ago at Sears for around $ 450. They sell for about 1/2 that now and have more attachments (smoke detectors, glass breaking, etc). And during the day it can be set to "beep" when a door is opened, w/o setting off the alarm. Just Goggle search "Wireless alarms".
 
The answer is YES. You should get one. I consider mine to be a very important part of my home defense plan.
 
Alarms are a huge subject, and you will get a bunch of different answers. Yes, you need an alarm, a good safe, a video system, and sprinkler heads in your home. This is just common sense. How you accomplish each part of it is up to you. Its your home and they're your guns.

Some crooks are sophisticated enough to know to cut the phone wires. Its why we suggest a cell phone dialer. Notice I didn't suggest you not also keep your land line and tie it in. Some of the better alarm panels interpret a loss of land line as an alarm situation. The dumb crook thinks he's home free and has just called the cops on himself. Its justice.

Just which sensors are installed and were is how it separates the men from the boys. A good installer knows his items and uses the best for the application.

The video system can be fun. But not if you walk around in your underwear. You can even see prowlers outside. Or the neighbor kid doing vandalism to your home.

I used the installer who had been doing our alarm systems at work for the last 22 years. I knew him well, and knew he did good work. We used sensors and the panel I was familiar with already.

I would caution you about connecting the fire and smoke detectors, and specifically the CO detector to the system. When the monitoring service or local authorities get an alarm, and the zone is labeled CO, you or the insurance company will be buying a new door and frame, maybe more. They don't mess around, they're coming inside. You won't even have time to respond to a knock, they don't give you that courtesy. They will assume you're nearly dead and will get you out. Or not. If you do decide to go that route, make sure you have a common door you can replace easily and is not too difficult to put in. If you're not lucky they'll smash in more than one door.

Everyone wants a fireproof safe. Easy, just make it out of 15' thick granite. Notice fire protection on the inside of the safe will probably result in your firearms getting charred and discolored (ruined). Its ok if thats what you want. Maybe a better, cheaper and easier solution is to install residential sprinkler heads above your safe. The difference is the box gets hot, the drywall the used for insulation releases steam on your already over heated firearms, and you didn't save your guns. Or the alternative, a few sprinkler heads, sprays cold water on the outside of the steel box. The guns never even get warm.
 
Yes, absolutely, CPI is locally owned out of Charlotte in your area and does a good job.

Let me ask you this, would you rather know the BG is there or wake up to a surprise?.......Think about it as long as you need to.................
 
YES, get one. But, before you do check with local government as most cities have permit applications before install. Also look up local ordinances on the false alarm penalty. Most false alarms occur because of 1. human error, 2. poor equipment used by companies. In our city you can find which companies have the most false alarms excluding human error, and perhaps that info is available from you LEO agency of record. If you go with a monitored alarm (central station) I would suggest one which is "in your area". My neighbor has one and it is monitored on the east coast. We are in Oregon. Connections go down in all sorts of weather related issues, so I believe local is better.

Another suggestion is don't buy it until you can afford to do it right. I also suggest a panic alarm in the bedroom in addition to one at another point in the house. Your gone and your significent other is in bed and having a panic button is a good thing for them. Finally, what kind? I went with a audible alarm that rings (siren-one tone yelp) and is also monitored by a central station. They call me if it shows alarm and also calls the local coppers. If the fire alarm goes off the FD is automatically notified. The rule of thumb is if you have an audible only then you must have someone besides the crook to hear it. If you live in the country with no neighbors then a monitored alarm is a must. You want to alarm someone who calls the cops, and not just alarming the crook. They can do a lot of internal damage and can also arson your residence to cover their intrusion if no one can hear the audible but them. Be careful of the major advertised companies. They offer sweet deals but when they buy for a nationwide company they will order thousands of widgets and pay the least amout they can..Remember, poor equipment is one of the two major causes of false alarms. I also would just talk to you local coppers and if you know one check with them and ask this question. Do you have a system or If you were putting one in, who would you call? Any LEO doesn't want to keep responding to your house with false alarms, and most would be up front as who they would call or have had good luck with.

Rodger
__________
Retired LEO
 
I am 67, live alone, have one cat and don't travel a whole lot. In addition to guns and electronics, I have watches. Not much cash, but you could round up a few dollars worth of tools if you had the time.

My daughter bought a remodeled row house in South Philly. It has an alarm, but I don't think she uses it. The dog would set it off. She has a huge Lab (over 100 pounds). He barks when someone comes to the door.

I don't want something that costs a lot on a month to month basis and I don't want the Police, fire, etc. answering false alarms. I have relatives that could reset if I am away, but the closest are 45 minutes away.
 
Jay,

Go with CPI's basic plan, they come over the intercom and check on you, they provide fire, police and EMS coverage. There is a home and away setting, away arms everything, motion sensors etc. Home turns off the motion sensor but leaves the doors, windows, glass breaks etc armed, so you and the Cat can wonder around.

If it goes off, they'll call you and you can tell them whether you want the police dispatched. They also offer one of those emergency necklaces, should you ever want one.

It's worth the money.

Just as an FYI, I'm not affiliated with CPI. I have though, put some pretty high tech alarm systems in, well past what most people have with several companies and CPI has far exceeded the other in terms of CS, lower number of false alarms and quicker responses.

JMO.
 
I have one with all the features noted above, central station monitoring, fire alarm, CO detector, wireless outcalling(I buried the phone lines also),etc etc. Check local regs, you probably need a permit and pay a yearly fee to your town. Usually, the local authorities will forgive a couple false transmissions a year, but if the police and FD are being sent every week you'll be fined and told to have your alarm installer rectify the situation, at least that's the way it is around here.
 
We've had ADT for over ten years and am satisfied. We had a couple false alarms likely due to the dog setting off glass breakage alarms and a failure of a smoke detector. Police responded and were good about it and didn't bill us. I stopped the firetrucks with my phone call and learned smoke detectors don't like flea bombs.
Once a BG kicked in the garage service door which set off monitored alarm and outside (attic) horn. That scared off the BG and the police got here just after he left. They were disappointed but secured the house.
The dog is gone now and we rely on the alarm to know if doors or windows are opened. A dog would be better but some warning is better than none.
 
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