Ken McNish

What are the costs in getting and having someone install a burglar alarm. Or can I buy a DIY kit and so it myself?

missile

You could get one very cheap, from any of the DIY stores, e.g. 5.95€ from Aki

A proper monitored alarm will cost ..... € significantly more.

How much do you want to spend?

Rosemary

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Dxf

Hola

The idea behind a burglar alarm is that it is a deterrent to would be thieves; there are many ways to deter thieves an alarm system being one. I have a couple of dogs that will bark at anything but their bark changes with the threat level.

I simply bought an eight camera system from Maplin and installed it myself; all eight cameras work and the six outside can be seen easily at night as they have infra-red lights.

Davexf

snikpoh

The other idea behind a burglar alarm is to reduce insurance costs. Insurance companies like to have such systems monitored.

Loafing Along

If you want professional monitoring and back-up service there are national companies such as Securitas that will do it all for about €40,- a month. Definitely influences your insurance premium. All depends what you are looking for, today a DIY set-up , cameras, siren etc etc with monitoring on your phone can be bought from stores such as Leroy Merlin and Aki for a very reasonable price. Good deterrent if well-installed but no back-up.

Fred James

What exactly is the point of an alarm if you are not there? A connected alarm will provoke immediate action by the central monitoring service.

Yes, the difference in cost is huge but what is more important is an alarm that actually achieves something.

Dxf

Hola

The point of the alarm is a deterrent - the "immediate action" by the alarm company means in reality that they phone you, and continue down the list until they get a response from someone.

If I am back in the UK then I cannot attend in person. The thief will be long gone by the time the police arrive, or even the alarm company van arrives.

Therefore to my mind, the cameras need to be seen; the notice saying you have CCTV needs to be visible; if you have dogs they need to bark at strangers in the road

Just my take on security

Davexf

missile

You get the service you pay for. You can have a monitored alarm where they send a man to check your property. Response times are very good and where necessary they will contact the Police on your behalf.

A DIY alarm only serves to annoy your neighbours, when there is a power cut and no one to turn it off.

Burglars are not stupid. They know when a house is empty, set off the alarm and return the next night after it has been disabled / the battery has gone flat.

Longlegpete

Any alarm is a deterrent but as has been said if someone sets it off, disables it and returns at a later date it's not so good, a monitored Alarm will at a price help avoid this, the alarm company will ring if the powers been off for an hour or more, they will know what sensor has gone off and if they think police response is needed they will contact them.

What this does is limit the amount of time someone has in your house, together with other measures this will keep you valuable stuff out of harms way.

You can order a proper alarm system from specialist suppliers for around £200 to £300 , these are much better than the kits from the big diy chains, worth paying the extra for

Loafing Along

We were robbed at midday, my wife was in the apartment the guy climbed from the terrace below, walked into the louge took my wife's handbag and climbed out and away. The insurance paid out as we had a response system but at the end of the day could cope not with such a rapid robbery. We had an alarm, a camera on the terrace etc.
They caught the buglar - fingerprints on the drainpipe and the explanation was "This is what he does for a living ·