Bars
This sort of is related to an earlier post "Is this neighborhood safe?", but that was about the streets. This is a reflection about home.My house came with bars on the doors and windows. The front 1st floor window had an AC cage big enough for a monster sized window unit. No air conditioner I've ever had ever filled that cage, and it jutted out so far I was constantly in fear of beaning myself on the head when gardening. When I had the big renovation done in 2007 a neighbor inquired if I was going to remove those bars, as others had done after so fix up. Uh, no. Fast forward to a month ago when I had the neighborhood handyman remove the A/C cage, with the idea of replacing the bars with something that was flush with the building. Well he removed the cage and left the bottom half of my window bar-less for 2-3 days. Those were 2-3 anxiety filled days.
Problem was that window did not lock. It gets stuck and you could break your fingers trying to open the damned thing, but it does not lock. Also a few months ago two houses on my block were broken into, and one of the burgled houses had just put new bars on the windows.
So honestly, as much as I would like to not have bars on my windows, I don't think I'm there yet. I'm not at that place where I would feel at peace having no bars on my front first floor window. I know that our neighborhood would look much more inviting if there were no security gates on the doors or iron work on the windows. But despite the great and wonderful changes there is still that sticky element of crime. Even if the only thing worth stealing is the TV, I still want to keep out thieves (and zombies, but that's another post). I do entertain the idea of changing, not removing, the iron work to something more aesthetically pleasing.
Labels: crime, quality of life
posted by Mari @ 28.5.09
2 Comments:
I'm putting in a new window in my carriage house in a few weeks. Done lots of research on the bars, because the window is a 1st floor and will only be 3 feet off the ground. Almost every company has told me that I can design my own grates, however I'd like it... straight lines are cheaper than curved lines, etc. Do a google search- there are so many amazing ideas out there.
ha! zombies! would love to see that blog
Having grown up in a house with window gates designed and built by my dad, I often wish my house had come with window gates. I'm not a fan of ADT
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