Burglars recently entered my home while I was away overnight. When I returned, I saw two possible ways to enter and exit. In the kitchen, the sliding door to the patio was open enough for someone to easily pass through. In the fireplace room, a large casement window at the left end of a bay window was open, and the casement operator was bent, as shown here:
Assuming that the kitchen door was locked, I don't see any way he could have entered through the casement window. There is a screen on the inside held in place by four plastic clips. (One is visible in the above link.) The screen was laying on the floor, undamaged, and none of the clips was damaged. From the outside, there was no damage to the frames of the kitchen door or the casement window, as there would be if someone used a pry bar.
It takes a great deal of force to bend the casement operator; I couldn't straighten it using a bench vise. It is impossible to bend it upwards as shown in the link with the window closed because the bottom of the window frame would have blocked it.
The crank handle was lying nearby on the floor of the bay window. It's only held in place by friction; no need to loosen a screw.
Aside from the loss of the stuff stolen, my only expense was $45 for a replacement casement operator (brand: Truth). The casement hinges and locking bar were okay. The window frame wasn't bent out of shape.
Questions:
- Can anyone figure a way of getting in, either through the kitchen door or the casement window, without leaving signs outside?
- If they entered via the kitchen, why fiddle with the casement window?
- If they entered via the casement window, why take the time to bend the operator?
To see how my home looked, go to youtube and enter "house burglary
07726" to see the 5:32 video. The place looks messy, but nothing except the casement operator was damaged. There was no gratuitous vandalism.R1