# forcible entry on mobile home exterior door



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Yesterday was not a good day. I had a rental home and a mobile home broken into and the tenants had a combined loss that exceeds $14000. As the landlord, the tenants are of the opinion that I should do more to minimized a chance of a thief breaking into the homes. I was able to buy additional hardware to increase the difficulty of accessing the stick built home but had no success with adding security to the mobile home which is equipped with a locking handset and a deadbolt. I am seeking ideas on how to add security to the mobile home exterior door. My own opinion was that the deadbolt was not in the lock position but I need to do something to appease the tenant. All thoughts and ideas are appreciated.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

You could padlock the door from the outside somehow. Funky, I know, but it would help if you had a "storm door" type set-up with a keyed deadbolt. A friend does that on a very rural property that he only stays at periodically.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

By and large the door frame on a mobile is extremely fragile. Reason I never lock my doors. The damage done with a shoulder would probably cost more to repair than the value of anything they would steal inside.


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## countrymech (Nov 28, 2005)

Any building is prone to forced entry, especially a mobile home. That is why the world has renters insurance and rental agreements that read that lanlord is not responsible for lost or stolen items. The only other truely effective option would be to put in a security system and add the fees to the rent. Lets face it, if someone wants into a mobile home they are gettin' in. You can reinforce the door all you want, they'll just bash in the window. I almost get the feeling that these domiciles are fairly close together. Were there any dogs on either of the properties?


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

One option would be to build a steel mesh door outside the door. 1.5" square tubing frame, expanded steel mesh interior, make the door about 6" wider and 6" higher than the existing door. This door would only open out and be locked with a decent quality lock. One of the reasons you can kick in most doors is because the door is smaller than the door frame. Its far more difficult to kick through a door, especially if its steel mesh. I've seen some very fancy wrought iron "security doors" - and they look great.

Motion sensors controlling a siren - with a keypad to disarm it. This will go a long way in deterring thieves from sticking around, even if the alarm system is not monitored.

Many cars have a flashing red LED in the interior - it may be an alarm, it may be a $1.98 flashing LED.

Most thieves are lazy, not very well equipped and will leave if given any reason to.

I'd agree that if someone wants in, they can get in - but don't make it easy for them to walk in the door - and do encourage them to leave once they are inside.


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Think if it was my tenant I'd hook up an electric fencer to the shell and give them a pair of gloves. Otherwise you pretty much know what you're getting when you rent a mobile home.


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## Rocky Fields (Jan 24, 2007)

Hey.

They make iron security doors that look something like bars in a prison. Put one of those in front of the door. Maybe a motion sensing security light by the door. Maybe a cheapy burglar alarm system would be best.

RF


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## Catwagon (Nov 25, 2006)

> Any building is prone to forced entry, especially a mobile home. That is why the world has renters insurance and rental agreements that read that lanlord is not responsible for lost or stolen items.


 Ditto, this isn't a Fisher-Price world nor can someone go through life always expecting someone else to be responsible for taking care of things for them. As a landlord you are contracted to provide a roof to live under, not a vault.

By installing any "out of the ordinary" security provisions like steel bars/doors you might imply to a tenant the idea that securing their personal property is your responsibility and not theirs. If that mindset takes hold they may try to make you legally responsible for whatever they may loose in the future, even to the point of litigation. I'd be careful.


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## Blu3duk (Jun 2, 2002)

The great wal mart of china has some interesting fairly inexpensive video equipment with infra red capability and color recording that is wireless to a video recorder [you supply the recorder] I used a 4 channel model a friend supplied me for awhile with two cameras when we were having visitors that were unwelcome a couple years ago, and when they see the camera its too late they already done been recorded. Coupled with a motion detector security light with high power flood capability zoned to cover the area of the camera eyes [we had one up on a radio tower about 40 feet up covering a huge area and one on the side of the barn facing the house, there was nothing the two could not see] the two channels flipped every few seconds [programmable].

Then you can also get wireless 2.4 Ghtz to hook into a computer sold on ebay [tm] they seem to be over priced in my opinion destined for the yuppie market to put in the horse barn or the baby room..... but security is security and you still get what you pay for.... The wally wolrd ones were under $100 for monitor and camera the last i priced them, they have a b&w monitor but are color cameras..... the only thing i did not care for was the IR capability was only good for about 10 feet and then was not able to see very clear until the light popped on.....

The hasp and lock on the door, although cheesy looking is still a fairly decent deterrent to most idiots, and they have to really want the contents inside to get apry bar and remove it. Replacing the hollow core door with either a steel security fire door, or a solid wood door [generally custom built] will aid in the lock staying put.... my friend put one on his old mobile home to keep out the thieves while he was on the road trucking, seemed like people knoew he was gone and things just grew legs and walked off.

William


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