Three weeks ago my daughter and her partner moved out with the grand kids into their own home that was given to them by his parents. The problem is as nice a present as it was there is serious amounts of work to do and the main one being security. This is their first home and they are in the process of finding out the other worries we experience.
Today we had a barbeque/braai except the dad was missing as he had to stay at the house as they want to hold onto and protect their possessions. Twenty minutes is all that is required to be cleaned out and I can see the tears soon when this happens unless they make some drastic security improvements.. They are a sitting duck right now and loads needs to be done to make their house more secure.
Lets say they have not slept much since moving in as they are aware of every sound outside. This is what happens when you have little or no security and I am glad they have woken up to this fact. They were foolish to move in before they had everything secured, but they I guess they know best and need to learn the hard way. Crime is part of every day life in South Africa and not becoming a statistic is what everyone aspires for. Common sense goes a long way and you just remain vigilant, but you need the basic security.
Boundary walls in South Arica are not for looks and are designed or should be designed to keep people out. This wall is useless as there are hand holds or a foot hold built into the design which may look different, but this design is a security weakness. The house is a complete lemon when it comes to security d the parents who gave the house after designing and building it are oblivious to what they have created. In SA security is always first on your mind when building anything. Personally I would not be staying here as all your possessions are at risk.
The pillars on the outside is another security weakness as this offers another access point into the property. How great will this all look once there is an electrified fence on the wall and the pillar overhead as this is what is now required.
The neighbors property is as wide open as theirs which forms their rear boundary wall. The side wall s also a problem with the other neighbor and there is an additional cost having to fit electrified fence over the sub station which lies in between the properties.
I also noticed the other problem and that all the adjoining boundary walls internally are also needing to be electrified as the neighbors properties have no proper security either. If you just electrify your boundary wall facing the street you are still wide open to crime via the access your neighbors property offers.
The first step which I did today as they asked me for a security assessment was give them a to do list and having very little money we have to select the security upgrades carefully. Grandpa is not paying for this and they must grow up and open their eyes. The guard dog they have does not count as it is way too small and runs away when people arrive. A yapper dog would be far better as at least you will be alerted before anything happens.
The alarm needs servicing and they need to join an armed response company in the area who are like a private armed police force working on your behalf. They monitor your alarm and will be outside your front gate within a guaranteed 5 minutes of activation. 5 minutes is still a long time to wait so they need double motion activation beams placed in a star shape pattern around their property. This will trigger the alarm before any break in has occurred limiting the time any criminal has on your property.
The only problem with the activation beams is once triggered they need to be moved and camouflaged each time this happens. Once a thief knows were the beams are he will just bypass them and why they need to be moved each time they are activated.
The electric fence can wait for now as there is no budget and way out of their reach financially. You need a large one and not a cheap one that offers temporary resistance. I did notice another area close to theirs had properties with serious electric fences with up to 8 electric wires so there is definitely crime rampant in the area.
This was always my biggest concern when they moved and I said so at the time and was called a negative ninny spoiling their big day. Do you have contents insurance because I know you can only be insured if you have armed response ad my guess is they do not have cover. When I look at a property I spot the security weaknesses first as this is what gives you peace of mind. One property I was keen to buy I rejected as the boundary wall was one brick wide and I could push it over without much trouble. The owner was not prepared to negotiate a R500K discount on the fact the entire wall needed replacing.
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Since security should be the number one item on everyone's list, I wonder how that whole community was built without any of that in mind. I realize I know nothing, but that does not make any sense to me.
This entire community is a new community with most of the homes being self builds without banking loans. These houses have taken upwards of 10 years to complete and they have not gotten to the security part yet and will most likely be done in the next 3-5 years.
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STOPWhy would one even put such a boundary !!!
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