Apparently I'm weird for shutting 1st floor windows at night because burglars don't like to enter through 1st floor windows?

[Northwinds]

I reminded OH to shut the bathroom window before bedtime, because it is a safety issue. He said, why? I said, because it's not safe to leave it open all night, it's not a small window, it'll be an easy entry point for burglars. He said I was weird to think this and that burglars do not particularly want to use a ladder to get into someone's house via an open window on the 1st floor. I was just so shocked that he can even think that! Please fellow mumsnetters, tell me I'm not being unreasonable to think this!

I think it depends where you live and what the access beneath the window is like. I always have first floor windows open over night as it's a quiet, terraced road and unless they bring ladders, they won't be able to get in that way. Plus I have dogs who would be on to them before they even reached the window with the ladder they'd brought.
I watch alot of crime shows and most intruders gain access by unlocked/open ground floor windows and doors. They want easy, quick access generally. Do what makes you feel safe though.

YANBU I met someone once who used to do this, he called it doing "creepers", sneaking into houses when people were asleep. They really don't need ladders. Since then I've been paranoid about windows at night, although I leave my bedroom window when it's hot because practically the entire street is covered by neighbours cctv, and it's a busy well lit area.

I didn’t even see this before I commented 😂 thanks for posting! Made my giggle

Telescoping ladders are lightweight and collapse to the size of a large sports bag.

Putasmellonyou

"they have a dance on insta/tik tok that is the exact movement they use to break the locks into your house."

i just googled this but no result. Very curious. Seems an odd thing to do.

i'm in flats so the security stuff is a lot different than houses.

How organised do you think your average burglar is? And how much other shit can you carry when you are holding it? And if they were this determined - what's stopping them popping a car window punch tool in their pocket and quietly breaking a locked window?

@FourTeaFallOut The last time we had an attempted burglary they tried to get in through the first floor bathroom window, but I'd fitted window alarms. My neighbour wasn't so lucky, some twat just smashed her patio window.
They're pretty organised round here, its not uncommon that they'll go through your house and stack the stuff they want near the door, then a mate pulls up in a van and they load it.

We live in a bungalow, we have our (adult) bedroom window open all year round, we have dogs - one of which is particularly tuned in to noise and I'm quite a light sleeper so definitely think we'd hear something also our gate at the front is kept shut and really could do with some wd40 as it creaks quite loudly while opening, they could jump the front wall but my bedroom is at the front so collectively I feel it's safe to have the bedroom one open, I wouldn't leave open wide the bathroom or children's bedroom though but would be fine with them locked open slightly.

That does sound worrying. We've never had any bother for years and even then, it was a theft from a shed which doesn't seem so personal. I suppose I'd be locking the windows if break in like that were happening near me.

A man climbed over my wall and up my drainpipe one night and threatened my housemate. They totally would.

In my teenage years more than once I may have drunkly crawled through my parents first floor bathroom window. I could use the bin to get to flat roof of ground floor roof then crawl in.

Im to fat now to even squish probably an arm through it! But I can’t sleep without the window open - though there isn’t an easy way to get into my window. My daughter room has a flat roof below it so hers is never left open.

Can a person even get through your bathroom window? Ours is too small. We sleep with the bedroom window open in the summer too. I’m not willing to take guaranteed cooking myself for the vanishingly minuscule chance that a burglar with a ladder rocks up, no neighbours notice, we don’t get woken up and they break in.

We leave our bedroom window open but we have a chihuahua.

I don’t believe someone could get into my bedroom window without a ladder unless they were Spider-Man.
I would find this thread more worrying but my next door neighbour has left her bathroom window open for a week and gone away, and there is a flat roof below. Everyone I’ve ever heard of being burgled was from open downstairs windows.

All my windows are tilt/turn ones.
Obviously wouldn't leave window open in turn mode overnight, and in tilt mode it only opens a few inches and you can't switch between modes from the outside.
I live on 2nd floor flat which makes it even less likely a burglar is going to focus on mine rather than looking for ground/first floor opportunities.

Just to add, that I'm not advocating shutting all windows at night if it's hot/stuffy, but just not to have a big window open in an unattended room (and it's very obvious that the window is a bathroom window because it's frosted). We often have some bedroom windows locked shut with a gap and all the vents are open.

Burglars and indeed rapists do enter through open first floor windows.

I am considering retraining as a burglar it sound like there are lots of opportunities if you do your research. Who knew about telescopic ladders. I thought I would have to use a pogo stick

..... gets out of bed to shut bathroom window .....

I keep my bedroom window on tilt the whole year round, same as my upstairs bathroom. I couldn't sleep without that ventilation.
We do live very rurally though, so maybe I'm a bit complacent.
We didn't have a set of back door keys for the first three years of living in this house. Wasn't something we gave much thought to, until we had packed up our car to go on holiday one year. We had a moment of wondering if it would be ok, then headed off anyway. Two weeks later, we got back home - all fine.

Pretty sure the insurance company wouldn't be on board if anything did happen. But, I love living in an area where door locking is considered quite unusual.

@HollowTalk Quite right! And safety!

@bellac11 Ah I see how my post reads. Sorry I don't have all my windows completely shut at night. When it's warm I have them locked with a gap, and all the vents are open. If we had those windows with a smaller top opening then I would defo have those open for ventilation, but unfortunately we don't.

I leave my kitchen window open for the cats, sating that I can't remember the last time I locked the back door.

The dog would definitely alart me if someone tried to get through the window

The only burglaries where I live have for years now targeted primarily homes with range rovers and all they take are the car keys.

The nearest large town has a significant south Asian population and there are more burglaries there, they target homes looking for jewellry.

I speak as a victim of burglary and I leave my bedroom windows open at night if required. I refuse to Iive in fear. The people that broke into my house smashed the double glazing of my 6ft French door.