I had a horrible day on Friday

Yes, there are "peephole knockers" (sounds a bit kinky, that ) which are identical to my current doorknocker but, of course, with the peephole. I just need to check sizes and that one of the door's internal locking bars doesn't go right where I need it not to.

I had a chat with DD via the Ring as I was going out the door to do some shopping this afternoon. She said the view was fine in the daylight, so that is ok. She will have to keep an eye on the battery level as some days I am constantly in and out when doing the garden and it will trigger the recording action. My front garden is bigger than the back so most of my flowerbeds are there. I don't have the gubbins to recharge the battery, or know how to yet. There probably isn't enough light in the North facing porch to use a solar charger, especially in the winter.

Just checked and Amazon instantly came up with one of the door knockers with a peephole in it that I'd seen - £12.99. There's probably others up there if one checks further.

Maybe a request for a suitable person on the local Facebook group - or, if it's a small town, then that could be on one or all of the local FB groups.

Perhaps get a friend to do this for you under their name if you think the neighbour would spot it and realise?

That new door knocker with peephole in it sounds like a distinct possibility to me...

DD who got her car damaged turned up yesterday with a Ring doorbell. It is in her name and she is paying the necessaries. It is linked to her phone (40 miles from me) and I can access the video as a guest viewer on my laptop, but it takes a while to come through, so limited in its use. Definitely an "after the event" device. To view, I must dig out my ancient Nokia 1200 and wait the minute or so it takes to find a signal to get a security code. The actual doorbell rings like a normal one for me and it has a motion sensor which gives a muted steam train whistle if someone approaches the front door. The only place for the receiver is in my kitchen where there is a free power point.

It is more for my daughter's peace of mind than mine. I wonder what she made of a motion-sensor initiated video of me sitting in my porch with a cuppa at 3.30a.m.? I wake up several times during the night and sometimes get bored waiting to go back to sleep.

One problem, we tested it out of course, but even I was unrecognisable to me in the video it produced. So distorted. Maybe it will be better in daylight. It took so long to install and set up it was dark before we finished two and a half hours later.

At the moment it is just stuck to the front door with strong sticky pads. There is nowhere to fix it on the outer porch wall or house wall.

So far, I have had no luck finding someone to install a peep hole.

Aely
Razor wire on top of the chicken wire and your wooden fence 😂
Or you could electrify the wire fence.

Ok., I got back to the HA. Their system had failed to save my phone number and they had the file standing by in the hope I would ring them.

They have reassured me that the son will NOT be able to become a joint tenant or inherit the tenancy. He has not live there long enough (7 weeks rather than the stipulated 2 years).
She has been visited and they have "had a long discussion". Hopefully she was sober and will remember at least some of it. They have confirmed he is not at the property and have strongly advised her not to let him return. They will also try and help her arrange for her care needs, rather than depending on family members.

So long as she manages to keep her own predeliction to spasmodic nastiness under control and does not incite her other son to have a go at me (as happened with her now deceased neighbour), I do not have a problem, although it might be difficult convincing my daughters of that.

CariadAgain, can't do that. There are narrow windows too close to the knocker. I have found a local locksmith and emailed him (or her!), describing the door and knocker to see if and roughly how much it would cost to have the knocker replaced with one I have seen on the internet, same shape but with an integrated spy hole. That way, any damage caused by the removal should be covered.

That sounds all the more to me like have a police person round to check out the security of your house. If your force won't make a Crime Prevention Officer available these days - ie of budget cuts and police more likely to be used to visit people to harass them for using our British right to "freedom of speech" = maybe it would be worth checking out local locksmiths to see what they have to say about your security generally.

Perhaps you could ask on a local community Facebook group to see if anyone can recommend a good honest locksmith (ie with integrity enough to do a good security check-up - without trying to act "sales person" for anything they personally wish to sell to people). You'd probably have to pay for their security verdict on your house - but I can't imagine it would be that much...

When I replaced upvc front door with a composite door I had a knocker put on the door as an "extra". Just been to have a look at it and, if it was at eye level and I wanted a peephole = I reckon it shouldnt be a problem to put a peephole on one side of it...rather than in line with it. I had a peephole way back in a flat I rented - but it was 40 years ago and I "think" it showed enough of a span that it would have taken in someone standing to the side of the peephole so to say.

Butterandjam (what, no bread?), It is what they call, I think, a Composite construction door. I think the problem the installers had was that it comes complete with a knocker, right where the peephole would need to be. It is a pretty useless knocker (so I also have a ding-dong door bell) but I'm not sure what damage would be done to the door if I tried to remove it to install the peephole. It might just be glued on. If it can be removed ok, how does one find a workman to install a peephole? It is a difficult thing to Google, I think. I don't want to try myself and maybe wreck the door.

Actually, my back door is more of a problem. For some reason, the only new one I could get fitted when I replaced the old doors was one with a really large window, which although doubleglazed, would provide easy access if smashed. I have a tall, locked garden gate at the back but if the guy next door (assuming he is still/back there) got drunk and wanted to have a go, he would only have to pop over a bit of chicken wire fence from their back garden. The rest of the garden has 6' wood fencing but that bit got missed as I had a shed there

Aely

Somebody suggested having a Ring doorbell linked to my daughter's phone?
She suggested that herself, then decided that living 40 miles away, it probably wouldn't be very useful. If somebody actually tried to break in (very difficult with its small windows and internal metalwork) she could call police but they would probably take 3 hours to respond, if Friday is typical. My path is partially covered by my (deceased) neighbour's family's Ring doorbell, so could be used in that event for identifying miscreants.

Is it possible to get a wide angle peephole? My eye level is at the height of many men's chests, unless they are standing well back from the door.

If the door is made of wood, you can have a peephole fitted at whatever height suits you.

Think Age Concern is now called Age UK - think they merged with Help the Aged a few years ago and changed the name.

Allira

I'll go and look at our door chain, Aely

The chain is fitted between the door frame and the door. PVC door and frame (not my choice but hardwood was too expensive!).

Aely

The door frame is PVC. It came with the door. The door with its frame fits exactly into the gap between the supporting wall (which is the kitchen wall as our houses are built back to front compared to the usual layout) and the plasterboard, side wall of the meter cupboard. The latch side of the door is immediately adjacent to the meter cupboard. There is no outer wall between the door frame and the cupboard side wall to which a chain could be securely fixed. If the cupboard wall was solid enough to fix a chain securely, it would have to be a very long chain as there is no room to step to the side to see through the "crack". If the door were set to open the other way round it might be possible for a secure fixing, but the problem of seeing round the edge would be the same.

What a surprise! The promised call from the Housing Association regarding my Anti-Social Behaviour complaint did not materialise. But luckily, I knew better than to hold my breath waiting for it. They are probably too busy trying to figure out how to stop complaints getting through and still comply with the Regulators instructions to improve their communications.

dog-g8 dragons' den

I bought one. It is not high enough to keep out a determined intruder but it would stop him pushing past you and entering your house. .

The information says it can be fixed to plaster board. Also that it can be wide enough so the door opens wide enough for you to see who is on your doorstep.

I've just asked Chat GPT if there are still Crime Prevention officers and the answer boiled down to "Depends on what area of the country the person is in - things like budget restraints that particular police force has". It then invited me to say which police force we're talking about and it would be able to give me an indication of whether they would. I couldnt do that - as I don't know what part of the country you are in. If you want to send me a private message as to which policeforce there is where you are - then I could input that into the question and get an idea.

I wonder if the police still send round Crime Prevention Officers if one requests it - ie to suss out what they think one can do to make a home more secure?

I remember years back now in my last house that I requested a visit from one and they came round. It must have been shortly after that that I swopped the 4 main windows - as the last straw on them was that they were those aluminium frame ones with a couple of mini panels of glass up the top end of them. The police guy explained to me just how easily those mini panels could be slid out from outside. Cue for I must have pretty promptly decided after that to swop those windows for upvc doubleglazed ones.

I don't know how much money you have (or havent) got available for any work on your house? Things like a peephole and doorchain won't cost much. Things like swopping the exterior doors to more secure ones and we would be talking up into a 4 figure amount (I know because I've had one of mine swopped from upvc to composite recently here).

I'll go and look at our door chain, Aely

The door frame is PVC. It came with the door. The door with its frame fits exactly into the gap between the supporting wall (which is the kitchen wall as our houses are built back to front compared to the usual layout) and the plasterboard, side wall of the meter cupboard. The latch side of the door is immediately adjacent to the meter cupboard. There is no outer wall between the door frame and the cupboard side wall to which a chain could be securely fixed. If the cupboard wall was solid enough to fix a chain securely, it would have to be a very long chain as there is no room to step to the side to see through the "crack". If the door were set to open the other way round it might be possible for a secure fixing, but the problem of seeing round the edge would be the same.

What a surprise! The promised call from the Housing Association regarding my Anti-Social Behaviour complaint did not materialise. But luckily, I knew better than to hold my breath waiting for it. They are probably too busy trying to figure out how to stop complaints getting through and still comply with the Regulators instructions to improve their communications.

Happolyretired223
The OP owns her house. No landlord.

Here is what ChatGPT says:

Fitting a Door Chain to a Wimpey No-Fines House

Hello! If you’ve got a “Wimpey No-Fines” house (the ones built after the war with concrete walls made without sand), fixing things to the wall can be a bit tricky. The walls are strong but a bit “rough inside,” so ordinary wall plugs don’t always grip well.

Your options:

The easiest way is often to screw the chain into the wooden door frame rather than the wall. That’s usually secure enough and much simpler to do.

If you do want to fix into the concrete wall, the best way is to use resin anchors (a special glue in a tube you squirt into the hole before putting the screw in). They hold much better in this type of wall than normal rawlplugs. You’ll need a drill that can cope with concrete (SDS drill is best).

In plain English:

If the door frame is solid wood → just screw into that.

If you’re going into the concrete wall → ask a handy relative/neighbour or a tradesperson to use resin fixings, because they stay put better than ordinary plugs.

And a little reminder — a chain is useful, but for real peace of mind, you might also think about a door viewer (peephole) or a video doorbell. Sometimes those are even more reassuring.

Aely, i just read this from you to Allira.
Allira - it is a "Wimpey no fines" construction. A thin concrete shell is filled with rubble loosely held together with cement. I had an aerial fixed up last week (thinking of dumping VM cable) and he used 8 bolts and still warned me it might fall off in a strong wind.

Now I understand.

Aely

Caleo, there are no bricks. The wall inside the door is that of the meter cupboard and is indeed just plasterboard. Indeed, the only bricks in this house are those making up the damp course!

I have rung the HA in what is supposed to be their "quieter time". I am number 30 in the queue and have reserved a ring back when they get to me.

I immediately rang my daughter to tell her. She is currently trying to contact them through their online "live chat". She was number 2 in the queue before she got cut off and had to start again. She is now number 2 again.

I do not believe your house is built from plasterboard! If a house were built from plasterboard (except for the damp course) it couldn't have a chimney stack or be strong enough to fix an exterior door to. A plasterboard house would not even be weatherproof! How do you imagine a house made from plasterboard could support a roof?

The problem of making your front door safe is one that can be solved by any able tradesman.

Your safety chain would be anchored to the nearest masonry. What happens is the tradesman has an electric drill that bores through plaster or plasterboard until it hits brick or stone , then the drill makes a hole in the brick or stone ( or concrete) and the tradesman uses very powerful glue or cement to anchor the chain at one end to the hole in the brick, stone, or concrete.

Poor you. I know how you feel. I lived in a little cottage next to a nice family owned pub.
Later sold to a bully of a guy, he wanted to turn it into a night club, when council allowed later licensing laws.
Police knocked my door, & warned me what their intentions were.
I went round my neighbours & got ten superb letters of objection, plus was asked to go down to the town hall to object, which it was.
That weekend, I saw a three men standing at the back of my car. Next thing my car was on fire.
Six months later two of these men committed suicide, (one was a wife beater, I heard the other was a bullying druggie. I just thought oh well, two down one to go. I didn’t care less.

Aely

It started ok until, at my Pulmonary Exercise class, they started talking about "Goals" we had to set. "I want to be able to do this, by then", with my "husband/wife, family, friends."

As I have mentioned before, I am alone. I feel isolated. This just made me feel depressed. My only "goal" is to stay healthy enough not to end up in a home, sat blankly in front of a TV where I don't even control the remote.

I have lived for the past 30 years on what used to be a quiet, decent Housing Estate. Trouble was rare. Last year I got a new neighbour.

Walking home down my street I was accosted by my demon neighbour's son (now her lodger/carer). He was drunk, with several bottles of Vodka in his bag. He wanted to call round "for a chat". I said Sorry, my daughter is coming round. I declined his offer of Vodka.

When I got home, my daughter called me, suggesting a trip out on Sunday rather than the arranged visit but when I told her I was feeling down she set off on the 40 mile journey to my place. Then the drunk, neighbour's son turned up. His mother had been diagnosed with a fatal condition. He was afraid he would be homeless when she died as she refused to put him on the tenancy. (!). Oh, and could he borrow some money? He was inside the door (I don't have a peep hole or door chain) and I couldn't get rid of him. In the end I gave him a few pounds and he went.

My daughter arrived. The son kept coming back, more drunk every time, banging on the door, wanting to phone a friend. After three more "visits" my daughter allowed him to make the call on her phone and told him to wait in the road for his friend (drug dealer, judging by the nature of the phone conversation). He started accosting passers-by and walking in front of cars. He threw full flower pots at his mother's door and chucked bins around. Then he headed to my daughter's car and put his hefty boot into the passenger door, buckling it

That's when I dialled 999.

He went on a rampage around the estate, with a neighbour following and trying to calm him. His mother stood calmly in her front garden, exuding Vodka fumes, saying "Don't worry, he's fine, he's fine". The son finally returned to her house, in the front and out the back, where we lost track of him.

A solitary policeman turned up three hours later. The whole thing had been captured on another neighbour's Ring doorbell - installed because of previous incidents which only stopped when my demon neighbour's target killed himself.

There is now a Criminal Damage charge pending, when the police get round to finding him. After two days virtually locked in my house feeling physically and mentally exhaused I am now OK. All is quiet.

Strangely, what worries me most is that when he said his mother was dying (Leukemia), I just didn't care one way or the other.

That sounds awful Aely.
If your neighbour is a housing association or Council Tenant, they are responsible for the behaviour of visitors/anyone staying with them. You can contact their landlord and make a complaint about the neighbours son, and keep a log of the time,date and incident. Get a Ring doorbell, and do not answer the door or let the neighbours son in again. Housing Assoations/Councils can evict tenants for this type of anti social behaviour but need evidence for this. Good luck

Contact your local Age Concern they will help with safety measures

Next time don’t wait so long to call the police and tell them you ‘think’ you saw a knife. Or better still say he’s being racist towards you. You’ll have an army of police turn up.
I wish I could help you as this is one of the worst situations to be in. Have you got any big strong ‘relatives’ that could have a word.