Need help choosing components for home alarm system

[Anonymous]

We just moved to a new house and want to have an alarm system installed. We don't have much in the way of valuables, but my DH travels for work and the alarm gives me a little more peace of mind. The house has a typical setup, with a playroom/laundry in the basement, living/dining on the main floor, and bedrooms on the second floor. In the basement there is an exterior door with a big window, and on the main floor there is the front door and a sliding-glass back door. I'm not looking for Fort Knox and I know the alarm is mainly about deterrence and peace of mind, but I want to make sure it gives as much protection as possible, within reason.

We had ADT come out and they recommended the following components:
--a regular door contact on the front door
--vibration sensors on the sliding glass and basement doors
--a glass-break detector on the main floor
--a motion sensor in the basement

I have two major concerns with this plan:
--It contains no protection for the 2nd floor. They say it is virtually unheard of for someone to get in that way. We live on a semi-busy street in Arlington so not exactly in the boonies, but it is quiet at night and our backyard is fairly private.
--The basement will be fairly un-protected while we are home. I run down there 20 times a night so it's not realistic to use the motion sensor unless we're away. There are several small windows in the basement that basically consist of 2 panes of glass side by side that slide to open the window. If you just broke one pane it wouldn't give you a large enough space to crawl through, but if you actually smashed the frame, it would be possible for someone to crawl in.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether ADT's setup seems reasonable? If you have an alarm, what components do you have? Which ones do you find useful and/or annoying to use? Thanks in advance for any insight!

[Anonymous]

The big companies don't want to spend a lot on the security devices. They sell those cheap to get your business and then make profit on the long term monitoring plan. Of course that's no big deal if you have a standard townhouse, but anything more puts them in the red.

We went through the same thing, where the big guys just wanted to put in a few sensors and be done with it. All the while, we kept pointing out that the second floor windows were easily accessible from the roof of our porch, which is easy to get to. They didn't care. They just want the monitoring contract.

So we went with Potomac Security systems. The owner is the installer. He will listen to you and give you options. He does work in VA and MD. You can call him about DC.

My chief concern with going with a small company was about the monitoring, but they connect you to a reputable 3rd party monitoring company.

[Anonymous]

We also use Potomac Security Systems. They are great! The owner ran over here the other day because the smoke detector was going off and i could not get it to stop. He was here in an hour.....unheard of customer service!

[Anonymous]

We also use Potomac Security. The owner is an engineer and will not try to oversell you. We had everything alarmed that could be (our choice) including the small basement windows, and I have never regretted it. We paid about $2800. FWIW, our neighbors were robbed by people who broke into their un-alarmed second story windows. The burglars only tripped the alarm when they left which gave them ample time not only to rob the house but also do some major vandalism as well. We had our alarm put in after our house was robbed. I didn't consider us rich either but when I started adding up the value of all the small items DH had given me over the years it really did add up and insurance replaced only my engagement ring, which had a separate rider. You can't go wrong by putting in too much security. An added bonus is that I can check how long the cleaners and catsitter stay.