Bars
Not the ones that serve beer.The ones on your windows. I know, a lot less fun.
As far as security systems go, if they are already on the windows and doors when you move in they are fairly cheap and require no monthly maintenance fee. However they might lead to your death if there is a fire and there is no way to open them up. And in some cases they are just plain ugly.
Bars on the windows are not just a Shaw thing. I've noticed some in Georgetown and Dupont. Those bars sometimes only go halfway up the window or are on all the basement windows and doors. And they are not on every house and some seem more like decoration than an anti-theft device.
Yet once you have them it seems like a tough idea to get rid of them. I've only noticed two people to undo their bars. One was when a neighbor got a new window and just didn't put the bars back up. Another got a new storm door, replacing the bars with a glass door. At some point, in the future, when I replace all these cheap section 8 windows on my house, I'll have to consider putting back the bars. I want to be able to escape should a fire break out, but I don't want to be one of the few houses without bars.
posted by Mari @ 31.3.05
2 Comments:
Wow, I have thought about this long and hard, also. I think that surely with the windows facing the street, I don't need the bars cuz the nieghbors would respond, right? Well, I have seen the same people refuse to acknowledge gunshots occurred on the block the night before also. So I have left the bars on. To make ends meet, I rent out a portion of my house to roommates. Every year I go through this ritual in August of looking for a roommate. I get more questions about the bars than I do about the nieghborhood! More than once, I see people drive by and not stop. When I call them to ask why they didn't come, they respond with the simple fact that I have bars on my windows! Once a year a parent shows up with a bleary eyed college freshmen. It's always the same story. "We want cheap, safe, hip, and no bars." or my favorite: "You're charging too much for such a DANGEROUS place." Uh, huh... Go back to Georgetown and give Timmie an extra 1000 for a corner in the gutter!
MM...I'm in the process of ordering the bars now. You can get inside-only quick-release versions...in fact, the guy said its code if the room is a bedroom.
T
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