We live in a village - there are 4 houses on our compound and people here all day - we almost never lock our doors - it is hard to imagine a robbery between the family around and dogs - but we have bars on the downstairs windows - it is almost as if they are decorative or came with the ohuse or something as they are totally unnecessary…

However - you definitely should check this out by neighborhood.. just saying that the bars do not necessarily mean that there are problems…

Recently I moved house from one with bars to one without. this new house has an extremely loud alarm system with all door and windows wired.

Kinda amusing when I stumble in the door early hours and forget about the alarm. The missus is never impressed.

It's common in Asia and especially Thailand to have security bars on windows. With poor policing, deterrence is important. It's really not correct to paint Pattaya as bad. This is common all over the country. It's the culture.

It's only a "common thing" in parts of Asia and in parts of Thailand, I rarely see barred windows in the North although they do exist. In the area where I live there's a single house that has bars, owned by an Ausatralian offshore worker whose Thai wife and young child live there when he's working offshore - that's one house out of about 100..

I am really confused by the op. Bars on windows are so common here that I'd be concerned if there weren't any.

Approx 10% of the houses in our village (dark side) have bars on the windows. In the 6 years I've been living here never been a break-in.

I live in East Pattaya.

My house has iron bars on every window.

I have patio doors for entry to my house.

Inside the patio doors, I have sliding iron doors.

My view is that this offers as much protection as possible.

My view is also that burglaries will occur anywhere there is a weakness in security.

And the iron grilled windows need to be fitted internally.

If I had to live with that kind of security I'd move, feel like living in a jail. I too live in a village on the dark side with no bars on our house, and only three houses (Thai) out of 40 with bars, never been a break-in.

Beside security bars I do recommend to install also a cctv system, which starts around 20K. Worth the money and works fine for me till now.

I put in CCTV and it definitely gets noticed. I can watch most of my neighborhood from my desk where I work. Not only does it deter criminals, all the dog owners that used one side of my house for a dog shit area have stopped 100%, making my missus very happy.

Congratulations! Not having dog shit in front of the house is a really nice side effect!

I don´t know about East Pattaya , but in another SEA country where i lived , the bars were also useful to keep monkeys (real monkeys) out of the house.

I am really confused by the op. Bars on windows are so common here that I'd be concerned if there weren't any.

Approx 10% of the houses in our village (dark side) have bars on the windows. In the 6 years I've been living here never been a break-in.

Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but what do you mean by "dark side"?

He means the Sith controlled area of his village.

I am really confused by the op. Bars on windows are so common here that I'd be concerned if there weren't any.

Approx 10% of the houses in our village (dark side) have bars on the windows. In the 6 years I've been living here never been a break-in.

Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but what do you mean by "dark side"?

East Pattaya (East of Sukhumvit road )is known as the dark side .Meaning away from the bright lights of Pattaya central.

I am really confused by the op. Bars on windows are so common here that I'd be concerned if there weren't any.

Approx 10% of the houses in our village (dark side) have bars on the windows. In the 6 years I've been living here never been a break-in.

Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but what do you mean by "dark side"?

East Pattaya (East of Sukhumvit road )is known as the dark side .Meaning away from the bright lights of Pattaya central.

Ah, thanks for that. At first glance, it seems counter-intuitive. Now it all makes sense!

Ever considered that they might come through the roof ?

Ever considered that they might come through the roof ?

A very common method, it's just so easy to slide the tiles back and remove them.

Never buy a safe

That really tells all that you have some stuff worth pinching.

Not sure about that advice too be honest.

Just get a safe that even 2 Thai blokes struggled to pick up let alone get it over a wall. That's what I did.

I am really confused by the op. Bars on windows are so common here that I'd be concerned if there weren't any.

Agreed.

There's a chap I know , who lives in Pattaya,who has pieces of jagged glass embedded in the top of his 2 metre high concrete wall. Serious measures to deal with serious problems I guess?

My old house already had that when I moved in, I still put metre high barbed wire rows on top of that, (my old village had a reputation for burglaries but luckily I never had an issue in over 10 years.

Edited December 27, 201510 yr by davethailand

Glass is expensive in Thailand iron isn't, don't worry all good I lived here 8 years with balcony doors open 24/7 and I only live on the 1st floor but 2nd in Thailand so easy for any would be thief to climb a tree or fence to gain entry.

And I got expensive chit like a tea towel and box of rice krispies just laying about.

It sounds like you are a newbie here. If so, I suggest you rent a house for awhile to see if you like it. Unfortunately, even the best villages get broken into. The reality is what good are two sleeping security guards at the gate entrance? Interesting how some of the break-ins occur when the house is vacant and you are away for the weekend or on holiday. Are the guards the informers? Construction workers the informers? Pattaya draws in not only construction workers from Cambodia/Laos but also Thais on minimum wage working for the tourist industry. These folks also want a nice phone or new motorbike so will take the chance to burglarize a place. (bars on windows in SE Asia is common, at least it is not like living in Kenya where you may get stabbed/shot during the robbery so you also have bars on your bedroom door.)

If you have no children, I would move into a decent condo where you do not worry about being broken into.

I haven't moved there yet. My wife is a Thai national. I am just doing initial research. I keep telling her a condo would be best, but she has this thing about wanting a yard. It looks like I need to try harder selling her on a nice balcony with lots of plants is almost as good as a yard.

I have been to Pattaya a few times and Bangkok many times. I have never once felt in danger, so I was a bit surprised to see the bars on the windows. It also appears I just didn't notice them on previous trips. Thanks for the good information.

Oh but I definitely think renting is the way to go for a while, as getting a feel for the area would be nice before writing a check and then being stuck with a house I don't want. Thanks for that.

The problem is my friend you buy a house your wife owns it buy a condo you own it, figure it out you don't need to be Sherlock.

It sounds like you are a newbie here. If so, I suggest you rent a house for awhile to see if you like it. Unfortunately, even the best villages get broken into. The reality is what good are two sleeping security guards at the gate entrance? Interesting how some of the break-ins occur when the house is vacant and you are away for the weekend or on holiday. Are the guards the informers? Construction workers the informers? Pattaya draws in not only construction workers from Cambodia/Laos but also Thais on minimum wage working for the tourist industry. These folks also want a nice phone or new motorbike so will take the chance to burglarize a place. (bars on windows in SE Asia is common, at least it is not like living in Kenya where you may get stabbed/shot during the robbery so you also have bars on your bedroom door.)

If you have no children, I would move into a decent condo where you do not worry about being broken into.

I haven't moved there yet. My wife is a Thai national. I am just doing initial research. I keep telling her a condo would be best, but she has this thing about wanting a yard. It looks like I need to try harder selling her on a nice balcony with lots of plants is almost as good as a yard.

I have been to Pattaya a few times and Bangkok many times. I have never once felt in danger, so I was a bit surprised to see the bars on the windows. It also appears I just didn't notice them on previous trips. Thanks for the good information.

Oh but I definitely think renting is the way to go for a while, as getting a feel for the area would be nice before writing a check and then being stuck with a house I don't want. Thanks for that.

The problem is my friend you buy a house your wife owns it buy a condo you own it, figure it out you don't need to be Sherlock.

Buy it in a company (unless the rules changed).

Ever considered that they might come through the roof ?

Ever considered that they might come through the roof ?

A very common method, it's just so easy to slide the tiles back and remove them.

Very true, my old house had an iron railing type hatch with a big lock on it.

Never buy a safe

That really tells all that you have some stuff worth pinching.

Not sure about that advice too be honest.

Just get a safe that even 2 Thai blokes struggled to pick up let alone get it over a wall. That's what I did.

I seriously doubt if your heavy safe is going to do you much good during a home invasion when they have a gun pointed at your wife's head or a knife pressed against your child's throat

Are you really going to be able to convince a robber that the safe is empty, don't have one and there will be no questions

^ Thats a risk of course, I needed a safe for personal and business reasons.

It was out of sight and as said I had high walls with wire and dogs and luckily no problems.

^ Thats a risk of course, I needed a safe for personal and business reasons.

It was out of sight and as said I had high walls with wire and dogs and luckily no problems.

Aren't home invasions pretty rare in Thailand, especially with guns? I was thinking about a safe myself, though would bring mine from the US. It's not very heavy, but could be bolted to the concrete foundation. Pluse

Pretty rare?

No, it's a daily occurrence

Not rare indeed

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^ Thats a risk of course, I needed a safe for personal and business reasons.

It was out of sight and as said I had high walls with wire and dogs and luckily no problems.

Aren't home invasions pretty rare in Thailand, especially with guns? I was thinking about a safe myself, though would bring mine from the US. It's not very heavy, but could be bolted to the concrete foundation. Pluse

I would of thought they were quire rare, certainly didn't hear of many in just under 13 years.

You can get good safes there, not sure about the hotel type ones too be honest but I suppose you get what you pay for.

I had this one in the house, 53kg-

and also one of these bolted down just for daily stuff, wallet & passport etc.-

However for the business I had one like this one in the office, 100kg.

^ Thats a risk of course, I needed a safe for personal and business reasons.

It was out of sight and as said I had high walls with wire and dogs and luckily no problems.

Aren't home invasions pretty rare in Thailand, especially with guns? I was thinking about a safe myself, though would bring mine from the US. It's not very heavy, but could be bolted to the concrete foundation. Pluse

I would of thought they were quire rare, certainly didn't hear of many in just under 13 years.

You can get good safes there, not sure about the hotel type ones too be honest but I suppose you get what you pay for.

I had this one in the house, 53kg-

ss-xpl.png

and also one of these bolted down just for daily stuff, wallet & passport etc.-

HS-25EA.jpg

However for the business I had one like this one in the office, 100kg.

Taiyo-Fire-Resistant-Safe536b584d5e8fe41439d3.JPG

Break in are not rare

If you think they are you're in a bubble

Safes are a necessity

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^ Thats a risk of course, I needed a safe for personal and business reasons.

It was out of sight and as said I had high walls with wire and dogs and luckily no problems.

Aren't home invasions pretty rare in Thailand, especially with guns? I was thinking about a safe myself, though would bring mine from the US. It's not very heavy, but could be bolted to the concrete foundation. Pluse

I would of thought they were quire rare, certainly didn't hear of many in just under 13 years.

You can get good safes there, not sure about the hotel type ones too be honest but I suppose you get what you pay for.

I had this one in the house, 53kg-

ss-xpl.png

and also one of these bolted down just for daily stuff, wallet & passport etc.-

HS-25EA.jpg

However for the business I had one like this one in the office, 100kg.

Taiyo-Fire-Resistant-Safe536b584d5e8fe41439d3.JPG

I have something like your large one here in the US- probably better to get one there in Thailand. Or really, I suspect the smaller one(s) bolted to the ground would stop 99.9% of thieves.

^ Thats a risk of course, I needed a safe for personal and business reasons.

It was out of sight and as said I had high walls with wire and dogs and luckily no problems.

Aren't home invasions pretty rare in Thailand, especially with guns? I was thinking about a safe myself, though would bring mine from the US. It's not very heavy, but could be bolted to the concrete foundation. Pluse

I would of thought they were quire rare, certainly didn't hear of many in just under 13 years.

You can get good safes there, not sure about the hotel type ones too be honest but I suppose you get what you pay for.

I had this one in the house, 53kg-

ss-xpl.png

and also one of these bolted down just for daily stuff, wallet & passport etc.-

HS-25EA.jpg

However for the business I had one like this one in the office, 100kg.

Taiyo-Fire-Resistant-Safe536b584d5e8fe41439d3.JPG

Break in are not rare

If you think they are you're in a bubble

Safes are a necessity

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Break-ins or home invasions?

Break ins

Where are you living?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"Pretty rare? No, it's a daily occurrence"

I doubt home invasions happen often in $100/month fan rooms.

Are they going to steal my crockpot and my sous vide cooking equipment? How about my 3 legged cat?

No need for a safe if you keep all your treasure in Heaven, 555

"Pretty rare? No, it's a daily occurrence"

I doubt home invasions happen often in $100/month fan rooms.

Are they going to steal my crockpot and my sous vide cooking equipment? How about my 3 legged cat?

No need for a safe if you keep all your treasure in Heaven, 555