DIY Booby Traps for Home Defense More Clever than Home Alone’s Kevin

Toy-powered booby traps are the prime way of defending our home. Or at least, this is what the cult hit “Home Alone” taught us. The movie where the 8-year old Kevin is left home alone – drop the title card – and forced to defend the house from two bumbling burglars with self-made traps that made even the most vicious sociopath green with envy. Falling irons, spikes, heated doorknobs and other clever contraptions: everybody fantasized about doing the same with their own mean little creations. You could replicate his moves and get backfired by your own trap sooner or later, or you could get secure and clever trap-like defenses that are as smart as your home security system. If you are still interested, let us give you some pointers.

Admittedly, these kinds of traps sound great in theory, but barbecuing a burglar with an electrified doorknob will very likely earn you a spot in jail, which is quite ironic if you think about it. That’s why we recommend opting for legal alarms and traps sold in shops. For example, a door stop alarm is small enough to slip under the main door but opening it from the outside presses the button, resulting in an ear-piercingly loud noise. It’s small, cheap, unhackable, and free of monitoring fees. Still, the wise course of action is to opt for a true home security system. Most companies offer wireless alarms that can be set up without professional help in almost any part of the room. With a little finesse, anyone can hide a compact little camera or motion sensor in a shadowy corner or at an empty slot of the bookcase, guaranteeing the demise of burglars.