Am I taking crazy pills? or 'How to secure a sliding window'

[Ducay]

So in light of the breakin thread, I've decided to beef up the security of a couple of my windows that are horizontal sliders.

Every person I talk to, or every website I visit, says "put a metal or wood dowel in the inside track and that will stop the window from sliding, and put a couple screws in the top of the track so that the window cant just be lifted out"


So the screw part I get and agree it works, but the problem is with the whole dowl thing...... since the dowel is in the inside track, it only stops the inside window from sliding? (ie the outer window and track are still open to sliding, allowing them to open outer window and remove dowel.
I've even tested my the whole thing on my windows and its not working.

I've got some locks on the windows now, but I've got to figure this out for my own sanity.

[BlackArcher101]

It's for the style of windows that has one side fixed and the one closest to the inside slides. Same thing as patio doors.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

It's for the style of windows that has one side fixed and the one closest to the inside slides. Same thing as patio doors.

Ahhh, seems like a critical piece of info I was missing...... explains why I thought I was losing it

So any ideas on how to secure a window where both sides have sliding tracks?

[amorak]

this thread is GOLD JERRY GOLD

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by amorak

this thread is GOLD JERRY GOLD

I feel like I missed the funny part....

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Ahhh, seems like a critical piece of info I was missing...... explains why I thought I was losing it

So any ideas on how to secure a window where both sides have sliding tracks?

My mom had a window like this and we (carefully) sunk a 3 inch screw through the corner window into the window frame.

The other option we considered was screwing a piece of wood (2x1 or something) inside the track where the outer window would slide. In retrospect this would have been easier, because we had a lot of trouble predrilling holes at the 45 degree angle for the other method. It would be a little less secure because someone could just unscrew the screws or smash the wood out, but if they are going through that much trouble they would probably just break the window.

edit: I also just remembered a house I used to live in as a kid that had a brace kinda thing that screwed into the frame that blocked that window from opening. Same kinda concept as the second method but probably wouldn't look as bad. These are also not that hard to bypass if you have time. It was how I let myself in if I forgot my key.

[Pinner]

Should be able to sink a screw to block the window from sliding, they probably won't be bothered trying to remove the screw.

[amorak]

Screw the wood in then take a drill bit and FATA up the head, so that it can't be easily removed.

[bc-chris]

So any ideas on how to secure a window where both sides have sliding tracks?

[Hack&Lube]

Drill a hole in the frame from the inside and into the outer sliding door. Place a screw in there to secure one half of the sliding door. Then you can use the dowel method.