Why Wrap A Doorknob In Aluminum Foil

Doorknobs are the first thing intruders look for when breaking into a house. They’re big and obvious, making them an easy target. Even if your home has other deterrents, like alarms or cameras, an intruder will probably spend only a few seconds trying to figure out how to breach your defenses before moving on to the next house. You can reduce the risk of them even noticing your doorknob by replacing it with a handle. But if you’re not ready to make that kind of investment just yet, you can at least cover it in aluminum foil to reduce its visibility. Here’s why you should do that and what benefits it provides:

Why Wrap A Doorknob In Aluminum Foil?

While it may seem like a strange idea, wrapping a doorknob in aluminum foil can be a very effective way to keep snakes away. Snakes have a strong sense of smell which they use to detect their prey, and the smell can be very unpleasant to them. By wrapping the doorknob in aluminum foil, you can help to keep the scent contained, making the area less inviting to snakes. Additionally, the metal can also provide some protection from snake bites while you are reaching across the door. 

It’s Cheap And Easy

1. Polypropylene, a type of plastic, is the most common material used to line doorknobs. While it’s durable and nontoxic, it easily scratches and is easily damaged. If you were to leave it in the same state all the time, the result would be a worn-out handle that is easily spotted by burglars.
2. Aluminum foil costs only pennies per foot and can be drawn tightly around any object up to a thickness of six inches. The resulting handle is virtually invisible from virtually any angle. It also offers a degree of protection from physical damage that polypropylene doesn’t provide: Even though it’s nearly impossible to dent with your bare hands, aluminum is slightly flexible so an attacker would need something stronger than simply his or her bare hands to cause damage at all.
3. The final benefit of putting aluminum foil across your doorknob: It’s tear-resistant so you won’t have to worry about injuries if someone tries to remove your covering by force because you can use it as an emergency escape method when necessary by punching out through the foil with your hand or another blunt object like a coffee mug or paperweight (keep in mind that anything you use to punch through your covering will leave marks).
4. You get all these benefits for a few cents worth of aluminum foil; you don’t have to buy an entire roll for every ten doorknobs you want to protect.
5. As a bonus, if your hands are wet when you remove the aluminum foil from a knob, it will stick to them and wrap around them as well.

It Helps Detect Break-Ins

• If you put aluminum foil on your doorknob, the friction between its surface and the surrounding area will generate heat. If a burglar tries to force open your door and is successful, he or she will leave burn marks on your door as well as a significant trail of heat.
• The heat left behind by a burglar attempting to force open your door will also be notified through the aluminum foil’s shiny surface when you’re not looking for it (remember, if you’re not looking for it, it can’t be seen). Your neighbors won’t have any way of knowing that someone has broken into your home, but they may have serious suspicions about why there was such an extreme temperature change near their house.
• Though most burglars prefer to take what they want without detection, some are more daring than others and will often break into homes to steal just one thing—a particular item whose value could justify what they would otherwise consider an unnecessary risk: your TV set or another piece of high-value electronics. In those cases, they may not care how easy it is for you to find out they broke into your home—they may even intentionally break a window or door to try to be as stealthy as possible.
• Many times, your home’s alarm system will hear the sound of shattering glass and activate before the burglar has left but very rarely will it record someone breaking into your home even if they’re detected by an external sensor. This makes sense since an intruder breaking through a non-glass door or window would not have gone through the effort of breaking it in the first place if he was going to leave without taking anything at all.
• Adding aluminum foil to doorknobs not only protects them from accidental opening by burglars but also serves additionally as a deterrent by keeping potential intruders from even knowing that there is an alarm system installed at all (it won’t make it any more difficult for them to discover once they’re inside).

It Discourages Break-Ins

1. Adding aluminum foil to doorknobs not only protects them from accidental opening by burglars but also serves additionally as a deterrent by keeping potential intruders from even knowing that there is an alarm system installed at all.
2. Most burglars don’t want to risk the chance of getting caught, and again, an alarm system will hopefully prevent that from happening, but it usually takes more than one person to break into a home. A burglar may be a thief, but he is not stupid. If an alarm system’s siren sounds and there are no other signs of intrusion (including broken glass), then he may assume the worst: that someone has already discovered his presence and called the police.
3. It should be noted that many homeowners who have active alarms on their doors have reported not only a significant drop in burglary attempts since they started using foil on their doorknobs but also some actual evidence of items having been stolen even though no one was caught in the act of breaking into their homes. The battery-operated motion sensor does not normally record very far before it shuts down all electrical activity to save power, thereby helping prevent false alarms from being triggered automatically even though someone may be right outside the door ready to enter.
4. If you are concerned about the possibility of other items being stolen and triggered by a false alarm, then you should also consider installing a keypad on the inside of your door which will allow you to turn off the alarm system at any time (and indeed, most systems include an override button so that you can do precisely that).
5. In this context, it should be noted that the cumulative deterrent of many burglary deterrents is greater than any single measure. Consider that a home burglar will not ordinarily risk making a break-in after he or she has been caught once and has been told at that point that such things as motion detectors and alarms will be activated; this has forced most criminals to make exceptionally quick decisions about who among their targets to target, were among those targets to search for valuables (or perhaps to avoid), and when to flee before the police arrive (thus preventing any chance of getting caught) to minimize the chances of being detected by an alarm system siren. Note: President Lincoln’s famous ‘last row’ comment is explained in further detail below.
6. We all know how much lint and other unwanted fibers adhere to all types of possessions (combined with typical human laziness, it’s fairly easy for us not only to accumulate dirt on them but also dust and other substances as well). If you have ever brushed your hair before going to bed, then you already know what I am talking about here! The adhesive-like strength of lint makes stealing items even more hazardous to the thief’s health since he or she must once again use their hands to dismantle items to remove them from the home; i.e. burglary is not only a great deal of work but also very messy!
7. Is it possible that the perpetrator of a burglary has simply chosen to target a home where no one is at home? Well, if we consider that burglars are very lazy and will typically not spend much time outside looking for places where they think they can easily find valuables, then it is indeed likely that they will choose a house with no one present; i.e., those who suspect potential burglar activity can take appropriate steps (such as installing an extra lock on an interior door) to prevent any possibility of such occurrences.

Conclusion

Doorknobs are the first thing intruders look for when breaking into a house. They’re big and obvious, making them an easy target. Even if your home has other deterrents, like alarms or cameras, an intruder will probably spend only a few seconds trying to figure out how to breach your defenses before moving on to the next house. You can reduce the risk of them even noticing your doorknob by replacing it with a handle. But if you’re not ready to make that kind of investment just yet, you can at least cover it in aluminum foil to reduce its visibility. Doorknobs can be expensive, especially if you’re looking for a top-of-the-line model. Aluminum foil is cheap and easy to find. You can get a roll for less than a dollar at any grocery or dollar store, so you don’t have to spend much to cover your doorknob in foil.