How people get into a single-storey house
The single-storey layout with sliding patio doors onto a terrace, very common in the recent streets, also puts everything glazed at ground level. The garden is enclosed, hedge included, and the privacy people appreciate day to day stops the neighbours from seeing what happens there. Plots backing onto a path, a belt of trees or the canal bank offer a discreet approach on top of that. After a break-in, the useful first question is therefore not 'do I need a better lock', but 'where did they get in, and what made it possible'.
Secondary entrances form the other big family: the side door of the attached garage, the connecting door between garage and house — often the lightest door in the property — the roller shutter box reachable from the terrace, the garden shed where the ladder and the tools are kept. In a cul-de-sac with little passing traffic during the day, an attempt can drag on unnoticed. Securing a property afterwards therefore means dealing first with the entry point that was used, then with the openings of similar weakness, rather than adding strength where there already is some.
Closing up without erasing what will be needed later
Before any repair, leave the traces in place and inform the police station or gendarmerie brigade covering your address. Photograph the door from outside, the door frame, the area around the lock, the forced leaf and the inside, from several angles. File a complaint, then declare the loss to your insurer within the period set out in your policy. In the meantime, temporary securing lets you close the property up again: a temporary lock, a repaired strike plate, boarding over broken glazing. Parts removed are kept, and a detailed invoice is issued to you as a matter of course.
At the ports and on business premises, the logic is similar but the timing changes. A hut, a workshop or a store visited out of season can stay that way for several days before anyone notices, and what disappears is often tools or work equipment. Tell the neighbouring operators quickly: on a single row of huts, an attempt gets repeated. Finally, think about the keys that left with everything else — house or vehicle keys on the same ring call for a cylinder change.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our securing your home after a break-in page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Gujan-Mestras.