Security Zones: part 2

After dividing the house into fire zones, the next step is to divide your home into intrusion zones. This is a more difficult job since there is a larger variety of zones and alarm possibilities. Keep in mind your high-risk entry points, first floor windows and doors, concealed or low-light entries, and unfrequented areas. This means the first floor is going to be divided into several intrusion zones, while the garage, upstairs, and basement may only have one or two intrusion zones apiece.

For upstairs and basement intrusion zones, one or two zones are generally enough because of the low risk entry. Upstairs possibilities are really only windows that are located near tree branches. However, if a ladder is in the area, the possibility of upstairs intrusion climbs exponentially. Basement intrusion is more likely because it is considered an unfrequented area. Depending on the number of windows and doors your basement has depends on the number of zones you want. If there are no doors or perhaps one door and a few windows, one zone should suffice. But if there are one or two doors and multiple windows, you may want to consider dividing the basement in half. Because of limited areas of access, the garage is generally considered as one zone.

The ground level floor is an entirely different story from the basement, garage, or upstairs. The possibilities are far more numerous and therefore the zones should be adapted to fit the possibilities. Here proper zone coverage is based on accessibility and importance. It is sufficient for each zone to cover all the intrusion devices that may be found in the area. This means you should not separate door contacts from window contacts or from glass-break detectors. Any intrusion detector that exists within a specific zone should belong purely to that zone.

For the ground level floor, the general rule is to give each room or each major room its own zone. The family room, each bedroom, home office, etc. should have its own individual zone. However, if a small room, such as a bathroom or sitting room, is directly connected to or part of the larger or more important room it is not unlikely to see the two connected into one zone. But if you have space on the control panel, individualizing the rooms with zones is more effective in knowing where exactly the intrusion is coming from. Continued...

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