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 am with your dh.
Locking your doors with the keys still in it is way more 'dangerous' than leaving a 1st floor window open.

that is why i wouldnt like a bungalow

I close big windows at night but leave bathroom window(small push out window) locked ajar. Bedroom window is open all night.

Both bathroom windows open all the time here - any burglar would have to climb through the plant jungle I've amassed because I'm a clichéd millennial.

Used to live in an 11th floor apartment in Brisbane. Were warned not to leave windows open as men did scale the walls and invade the space. I found that really hard to believe until I saw some newspaper reports of exactly the same thing happening down the coast in Surfers' Paradise.

Our upstairs windows are open year-round - I couldn't even tell you the last time they were closed - probably when we bought the house 🤣

But we live in a really safe area and I could go to work and leave the house unlocked with no worries about burglary - the main reason I don't is because the dog can open doors and let himself out 🙈

My husband grew up in Zimbabwe and once had his bedsheets taken through a tiny gap in the window ( they used a pole with a hook) he was still in the bed too!
He always shuts windows because of this, we are ground floor at front but 1st floor at back ( live on a hill, garages at back under flat). I would mildly tease him for closing the back part of the house as we were 1st floor and in a relatively quiet neighbourhood but from reading all these posts i will shut my mouth in future…
In my defense i might add i have a very nosy neighbour who is like a built in security system of the highest caliber, God bless Margaret!

Burglars absolutely don't need ladders to access first floor windows. Most young men can scale the side of a house just using a drainpipe / external light fittings / fences etc no problem. Those of a burglar persuasion are not exactly worrying about health and safety! And they can get through windows that are much smaller than you might expect.

If you need ventilation the safest thing is to get windows that lock on a vent.

People who leave windows open but are not burgled have just been lucky.

YANBU. DH likes to leave the upstairs windows wide open overnight and I mean, WIDE open. Drives me crazy as not only is it an invitation for someone to climb in, when I wake up in the morning, the curtains are usually flying out of the windows.

We live in a safe area though and my next door neighbour likes to leave her large downstairs windows open when she goes out and overnight, so I figure she'll get burgled before me. I'm not from round here originally and I find it crazy how unconcerned people are about safety and privacy in their homes.

I think there are definitely some houses and some bits of houses where its easier, just looking up at the outside of our back (Im in the conservatory), its possible someone could climb onto the fence,then on the conservatory roof and then be able to reach our open bedroom window but they would have to be very very small to get through that. Most of our windows lock open so they are open but they are locked.

If we didnt have the conservatory, the pipework on the outside is all plastic, it falls off, of its own accord most of the time anyway so that might not be possible for someone to break in that way.

Im of the view that most burglars are opportunists and see the most easy ones

Burglars don't need ladders. Does anyone else remember this news story? Burglar used porch roof and drainpipe to get into upstairs bedroom window. It shows how agile and nimble some burglars are. I haven't rewatched the video but I think he got through the small window everyone assumes no one would be able to climb through.

www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/10470792.video-cctv-shows-moment-burglar-fell-window-blackburn-house/

The Lindbergh babies parents would agree with you and they lived in a pretty safe area.
It's always been doable

I always sleep with my bedroom window open even in winter. I can't sleep without fresh air.

We don't have anything near the windows (that are big enough to get through) for burglars to climb. The roof isn't flat and the house is big, so they would have quite a climb too. That said, all windows are closed and locked while we're out, and at nighttime only occupied bedroom windows are left open if it's hot enough to need it. We do have indoor and outdoor cameras, alarms and motion sensors in a low crime area though.

Our bedrooms are in the second floor. There are no drain pipes etc on the walls vaguely near the bedroom windows. So, we sometimes leave the upstairs windows open even if going out for a bit. The likelihood of anyone getting in through them is very very minimal. They'd also be in full view of the streets, near a lamp post and with security lights turning on/off. We are also fully alarmed when we leave the house and partially so overnight. They'd also have to shiny over a tall wall and/or gate also on the very visible street.

When we have been broken in to, and attempted ones too, it was through the patio doors in the ground floor, at the back of the house, when we had an easily scalable fence. The lock took seconds to break apparently. The alarm is what stopped them and they ran. The weren't in to take stuff though - just car keys. They walked past iPads, phones and laptops. We were in bed at the time. The subsequent two times they returned (as failed to get right keys first time) they couldn't get through the new doors/lock and gave up. We simply saw evidence of their attempts.

In the end I got dh to change his car which is what they were after!

With the exception of really cold weather, I always have the small windows in my bathroom and bedroom open, because I sleep better when there's fresh air coming in. When it's really hot, l open all the smaller windows and leave the back door open, too.

Thankfully, we live in a very low crime area. There were only 15 burglaries in the whole town last year, and none on the edge of town area where I live.

Despite that, I know of 2 burglaries in town that took place during the night. In both cases, the burglars gained entry via a locked front door. One was believed to be targeted for a specific purpose, as all they took was the keys to the owners Lexus, which they then drove off with.

Of course they can come in through the first floor windows, just like they can come in via the roofs, but it doesn't seem very likely to me unless you are particularly attractive to skilled burglars. If it's hot, I leave my bedroom window open. I'm not sure of the point of having the bathroom window open at night anyway as nobody is in there, but it wouldn't worry me particularly, depending on the area.

The only upstairs windows I close are those accessible via our flat roofed ground floor extension.

Ground-floor flat. I have my bedroom windows open all night because I can't sleep otherwise.

My upstairs windows tilt inwards on a restrictor. I appreciate not everyone can upgrade windows but it might be worth considering. You can't get in through those.

Hey, burglars come in the 5th floor too. Woke to find one standing in my doorway. He’d climbed in off the roof 🤨

I would be far too hot - all bedroom windows are open
I do have netting across though to stop invasion by Dcats - which would make it very noisy if someone tried to climb in

I wouldn’t worry about a room I was in, especially with a DH next to me.

I wouldn’t leave a child’s window open or an unoccupied room.

I always had my windows open all night when I lived on the first floor of a Victorian house in north London. The ones at the back were the type where only the top bit opened, and a person couldn't fit through. I thought it highly unlikely that someone would try the street-facing ones. Just wasn't a concern.

If someone is determined enough to get into your house, they can just break a window. I don't doubt that burglars sometimes get in through uostairs windows, but there comes a point at which your ability to live your life comfortably and without paranoia is more important than obsessing over the frankly tiny likelihood of that thing happening to you.

Our bedroom windows are open at night all year round.