Dale OrcuttTime and Noise · my own front door, from the inside
The lock on your front door is not held by the wall.
Cheap, reversible fixes for the ways into your house, starting with four dollars of screws and a Saturday afternoon.
I am Dale Orcutt. This is 276 fixes, one to a page, that I have done on my own doors and on my mother’s.
Book $9.99 · 30-day money-back guarantee
Time and Noise276 fixes, one to a page, 307 pages. PDF and EPUB, $9.99.
The 30-Day Home Security ChallengeThirty small jobs, one a day, free.
The 30-Day Home Security Challenge is free. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Get the free 30-Day Home Security Challenge and chapter one
Put your email in the box and two things open on the very next page, both free: the whole 30-Day Home Security Challenge, and Chapter 1, What a Burglar Actually Looks At. Thirty small jobs, one a day, with a screwdriver you already own. There is nothing to install and no card to enter.
A-1 The front door, from the inside. Nothing in it needs a contractor, a subscription, or a monthly plan.
Here is what actually holds your lock.
It is held by a little metal plate screwed into a strip of soft trim, with screws three quarters of an inch long.
That is true of almost every house in America, and it is the first page of this book.
Almost nothing in here is clever. It is screws, mostly.
Every fix in this book does one of two jobs. It makes him take longer, or it makes him louder.
Time and noise. That is the whole of it.
Ask anybody who has spent a career looking at broken-into houses what actually stops one and you get the same two words back.
Time
takes longer
A man who should not be at your door is not afraid of you and he is not afraid of a sticker in your window. He is afraid of standing there too long.
Noise
is louder
And he is afraid of being heard. Nothing in here turns your house into a fortress, because it does not need to be one. It only needs to be slower and louder than he is willing to put up with.
“He is not looking for a way in. He is looking for a reason not to bother.”
There are no weapons in this book. Not one, not anywhere, and not by hint. There are no traps either, nothing rigged to hurt anybody. And nothing in it stops you getting out of your own house in a hurry.
A-3 Time and noise.
23 chapters. 276 fixes. One to a page.
Every page is one thing: what it is, what to do about it, and what it costs and how long it takes. There is a picture on every one.
| Mark | Part | Chapters | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Read your own house |
| 3 chapters |
| B | Doors |
| 5 chapters |
| C | Windows and glass |
| 3 chapters |
| D | Outside the walls |
| 4 chapters |
| E | Keys, mail and people |
| 2 chapters |
| F | Habits and the plan |
| 6 chapters |
Prices in the book are what I saw in 2026 at an ordinary hardware shop, written as ranges. Take them as the size of a thing, not the price of it.
A-4 Schedule of parts.
I wrote this for one person.
She is in her seventies, she lives on her own in a house she has owned for decades, and somebody quoted her forty dollars a month to watch it for her. She is not frightened. She is practical, and slightly annoyed at being sold to.
What she wanted was one thing she could do on a calm Saturday afternoon with a screwdriver she already owns. Nobody would tell her what it was, because there is no money in telling her. So I wrote it all down.
Almost nothing in here is clever. It is screws, mostly. It is a length of wood in a track. It is a light pointed the right way instead of the wrong way. The reason so few people have done these things is not that they are difficult.
Dale Orcutt
A-5 A note from Dale.
The 30-Day Home Security Challenge
Thirty small jobs, one a day, with a screwdriver you already own. Every one has a price and a number of minutes on it, so you know before you start.
- Week oneThe front door and the back door, frame first
- Week twoThe garage, the slider and the basement windows
- Week threeWindows, light, the gate and the yard
- Week fourTimers, the mail, and a yearly screwdriver walk
The challenge is free. Time and Noise is $9.99.
A-6 The 30-Day Home Security Challenge.
Time and Noise
Cheap, Reversible Fixes for Every Entry Point in Your House
The book307 pages, PDF and EPUB, delivered by email. One payment, yours forever.
$9.99 Get the book- 276 fixes, one to a page, with a picture on every one
- What each one costs and how long it takes
- 23 chapters across doors, windows, glass, lights, the garden and the boundary
- Two spending plans at the back, starting at four dollars of screws
- PDF and EPUB, both included
30-day money-back guarantee. For a refund, write to hello@daleorcutt.com.
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