Are you ever afraid of your house being burgled? (Don't know where to post this)

N

nimpo46

New member
I just got another guitar today, and it's got me worried about being broken into.

I am in a house with 3 people, unpredictable schedules, and two German Shepherds in a decent neighborhood. ATM, i'm not too worried (but you never know) but I will be moving out in half a year to a year... to a place probably on my own. Worrying times ahead?

How do you feel about this? How do you cope? :confused:

Sorry if there is already a thread on this :eek:
 
I don't recall seeing a thread on this topic before.

Personally, I am not worried about being burgled. Where we live is fairly quiet, and we know the neighbours. I don't recall us ever locking the doors.
 
Yeah, I live on a very quiet one lane deadend road. I don't worry too much about that. My son however lives in South St Louis and for him it's a different story. He's not had a problem so far but...
 
I have been burgled, but it was long ago.... they lined up all my music gear but then something disturbed them and they fled out the front door (they broke in through the ceiling - an apartment) via keys they found with some cash and a few leather jackets - no music gear. And they came back a few days later but I was home and a neighbour denied them access anyway.... would have been interesting had they got past the neighbour.

These days I have a monitored alarm system and, more importantly, stickers on the front door saying I have a monitored alarm system. I still worry about it sometimes, but I live in a very big city and it's sort of part of the deal... so far, so good.

I'm very careful about who knows there's a large amount of musical gear here, though...
 
I'm not sure if you're talking about your safety, or the safety of your gear.

Gear wise, at least, insurance companies usually have set rules that dictate whether or not they pay out.
We had a few thousand pounds worth of road racing cycle stolen from our utility room. It's a divided off section of the garage with a separate door.

They paid out, but on inspection they said we were lucky it wasn't in the main garage, because we didn't have locks on the windows.
Just the internal locking handles!

If needs be, check your policy, make sure your locks are adequate and meet all their other requirements.

For your own safety, get a loud ass alarm, or a loud ass dog. :)

I even thought about wiring a movement sensor in the room where my studio gear is.
Maybe I'd use it as a trigger for a smoke alarm in my bedroom or something? That'd mean you can't kill it from the room with the sensor.
Once it's tripped, it's tripped.
 
I've been robbed. Had a lot of cool and quirky vintage equipment stolen. I actually saw one of my basses many years later hanging on the wall at a Guitar Center. That sucked. Still had my home-done mods on it. Sigh....

Anyway, I live in a nice suburb, but shit can happen anywhere. Do I worry about burglary? Sure, a little. I have a pretty stout alarm system and my stuff would be a little difficult to get out of the house, but it's possible. What I worry about way more than burglary is fire. I'm pretty obsessive about unplugging things and not leaving anything on when I leave the house. Fire is my biggest worry. Cavemen can rot in hell for eternity for inventing that damn fire!
 
I've been burgled
"Burgled". That's a cool word.
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3 times in the past but having been a child thief, I was philosophical about it ~ in the grand scheme of things, it probably served me right.
The last time was so long ago and since I started recording and buying instruments, it hasn't happened. I wouldn't say I actually worry about it, it crosses my mind from time to time. I used to be a little more concerned that the telly would be nicked although I used to chuckle at the thought of burglars trying to make off with a heavy 42 incher {these days they're alot lighter than in 2004 when I got this one} and if they did, I would hope they'd get caught in a major rainstorm, rendering the telly useless.
I don't think any of my musical equipment is really worth stealing but people are strange; once, someone threw all my laundry out of two dryers and stole a ripped up tea cloth ! Maybe it pays to be unfashionable and still play cassettes !
 
Note that home/renter insurance may not pay replacement value on your equipment if it is stolen or destroyed in a fire, unless you pay for a rider that covers it. If you've got expensive stuff, consult an insurance agent. Also, if you're sharing an apartment with others, they may not be as careful as you, they could leave the door unlocked, give a key to a 'friend', etc.
 
Insured and someone is home most of the time in a gated apartment complex in a nice neighbourhood...that being said my mountainbike was just stolen recently


Though i may burgle my neighbour for his TV
 
There actually WAS a thread that touched on this topic. The consensus was that one's roommates were the greatest potential threat. In the prior post the OP knew that a thief was aware of his gear but felt it wasn't a problem because the thief was a 'friend'. I think the general conclusion was to take no chances and that the OP shouldn't trust the thief further then he could throw him.
 
my gear isn't worth a hell of a lot, but it's not bad. Fortunately I live in a nice area and know my neighbours. Unfortunately, the room most my equipment is in has two walls of big windows. However That room backs off into my garden which means that for anyone to know that all that stuff is there, then they either have to be my friend, or they actually have to come in the garden and go up some steps.

I do fear that my stuff will be stolen though, and at my age it is a lot bigger deal. My parents are quite wealthy and we have quite a few other goods in our house as well as all my music equipment, including:
my brother's musical equipment
many laptops (one being a £1500 mac)
2 big tv's, one 42 inch and another 3D 50 inch
and generally have lots of other stuff.

So yes I do fear that we may be targeted, but the only thing we've had stolen from here (as far as I know) is a lawnmower at least 5 years ago.













The burglers can have the desktop though, it is a complete pile of shit and has been slow as hell for years, really needs getting rid of anyway.
 
gecko zzed said:
I don't recall seeing a thread on this topic before.

Personally, I am not worried about being burgled. Where we live is fairly quiet, and we know the neighbours. I don't recall us ever locking the doors.
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big mistake ....... hope you don't find out the hard way but all it takes is someone to tell a friend who tells another friend about your gear and you'll come home to an empty house.
Happens ALL the time in fairly quiet neighborhoods where people know their neighbors.

Personally, after getting a truck backed up to my house and having everything I owned carted off by one of those neighbors I 'knew' (LOTS of music gear) in the 70's I've gone to a monitored alarm.
 
Greg_L said:
I've been robbed. Had a lot of cool and quirky vintage equipment stolen. I actually saw one of my basses many years later hanging on the wall at a Guitar Center. That sucked. Still had my home-done mods on it. Sigh....

Anyway, I live in a nice suburb, but shit can happen anywhere. Do I worry about burglary? Sure, a little. I have a pretty stout alarm system and my stuff would be a little difficult to get out of the house, but it's possible. What I worry about way more than burglary is fire. I'm pretty obsessive about unplugging things and not leaving anything on when I leave the house. Fire is my biggest worry. Cavemen can rot in hell for eternity for inventing that damn fire!
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^^^^^ this ^^^^^^ fire is my big bugaboo also. I unplug lots of stuff ........ wifey'll come home and something won't turn on and she knows I got a 'vibe' about it while leaving and unplugged whatever it was.
 
ollie99 said:
my gear isn't worth a hell of a lot, but it's not bad. Fortunately I live in a nice area and know my neighbours. Unfortunately, the room most my equipment is in has two walls of big windows. However That room backs off into my garden which means that for anyone to know that all that stuff is there, then they either have to be my friend, or they actually have to come in the garden and go up some steps.

I do fear that my stuff will be stolen though, and at my age it is a lot bigger deal. My parents are quite wealthy and we have quite a few other goods in our house as well as all my music equipment, including:
my brother's musical equipment
many laptops (one being a £1500 mac)
2 big tv's, one 42 inch and another 3D 50 inch
and generally have lots of other stuff.

So yes I do fear that we may be targeted, but the only thing we've had stolen from here (as far as I know) is a lawnmower at least 5 years ago.


The burglers can have the desktop though, it is a complete pile of shit and has been slow as hell for years, really needs getting rid of anyway.
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Not sure what UK insurance is like, nor what coverage your parents may pay for, but here in the US everything is prorated, so that TV you paid $1000 for last year will only get you $500 from the insurance company - after your deductable has been taken care of (so if your ded was $500 and the TV is all the thief took, you woudl get nothing!)
Here, you need to get a rider on your insurance to cover computers, too.
 
wheelema said:
There actually WAS a thread that touched on this topic. The consensus was that one's roommates were the greatest potential threat. In the prior post the OP knew that a thief was aware of his gear but felt it wasn't a problem because the thief was a 'friend'. I think the general conclusion was to take no chances and that the OP shouldn't trust the thief further then he could throw him.
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Interesting point... when I was burgled, I always figured it was because my temporary flatmate, who was a troubled soul, hung out at the local pub with some strange people and let on in his gormless way that I had music gear... no other reason I would have been targeted versus any other apartment in the block... there were much easier places to get into...
 
I feel a lot safer in Crete than I did in the UK, even though I lived in fairly well-to-do UK neighbourhood until seven years ago. Perhaps that's a target! Here we live in a traditional Greek village where everyone knows everyone else and a stranger will get a few suspicious looks. Computer gear is the pricey stuff - two good desktops and two new laptops - and everything is insured, even though few Greeks bother with insurance.

As for fire, stone and concrete house and the only burnable stuff is wooden doors and windows! The OP definitely needs to make sure his insurance is 100%, as my son does, who has quite a large studio setup in the UK.
 
mjbphotos said:
Not sure what UK insurance is like, nor what coverage your parents may pay for, but here in the US everything is prorated, so that TV you paid $1000 for last year will only get you $500 from the insurance company - after your deductable has been taken care of (so if your ded was $500 and the TV is all the thief took, you woudl get nothing!)
Here, you need to get a rider on your insurance to cover computers, too.
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and they'll get out of paying other ways also.
For instance I had a friend who also had a bunch of music gear stolen ..... since he had a lot of it the insurance company called it a 'collection' and said he needed a flyer for a collection so it wan't covered.
 
Sospiri said:
I As for fire, stone and concrete house and the only burnable stuff is wooden doors and windows! .
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and furniture and rigs and lampshades and sometimes the paint on the lamps and toys and CDs and etc etc.
Don't for a second think your stuff is safe bfrom fire because the house is stone.
 
5 dogs are a pretty good alarm system.
my backup is a 12 ga, a 45, a 9mm, a .38, a 7.62 with a banana clip, and really bad breath.
:D
 
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