Lifehacks Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people looking to bypass life's everyday problems with simple tricks. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I want to keep my room door partially open so that air can flow easily, but I don't want anyone to enter my room (peeking is fine, just prevent stealing things from my room). How can I achieve this?
Best I have thought is to use door chain, but I am not sure if given ample time, anyone can hook out the door chain from outside. Any other way?
As far as I understand you want to sleep in a room while door is slightly open where there are many risks walking in front of your door. I will probably do two things
1- Lift my door a little bit more by using Door hinges so air flow can be done behind my door.
If this is impossible here is your 2nd option:
2-You may buy a door stooper which can make sound for unwanted visitors.
There are several kinds of hardware for sale for just this.
Which are available where you live depends on the local market, so likely the ones I find on internet round here might be available where you live.
The most common types are meant to allow you to open the door a bit, have a look on who is there and then close the door, open the safety device and open the door fully. Most do not allow the door to open once the security closure is active, not even when you use a smart method.
The chain I had on my door in my last house not only needed the door to be 95% closed, it also needed you to press a small thingy while taking the chain out, so it was impossible to open the door unless you were actually inside. This is one of them.
If you use any of those methods that prevents the door to be opened without the person inside changing something, you will have to keep the door open while the device is active. Those do not keep the door open. In fact the device in the picture I linked to above was in a story about it getting locked on closure of the door by accident, (Dutch language story)
There is also hardware that is designed to hold doors or windows on a tiny gap for a long time, mostly used on doors that are not the main entrance to a house or room, but they might work for you.
Those should also be available for doors open in as well as out, as both methods of opening garden doors and windows can be common.
A clamp like this (from a commercial site) is combined with a metal plate with two or three slots. The slots are such that one closes the door, the other one or two allow the door to be kept open a little bit.
Where these items used to be common here, the local stores do not sell them anymore, likely because most doors and windows have been replaced by plastic ones.
Keep room door partially open at night, allowing air flow but prevent anyone from entering? Here is what you can do.
The thing which prevents the door from opening completely is known as Door Chain. As you can see it provides you some space for air and definitely no person can enter your room.
I hoped I helped.
You could build a trap that is triggered when the door opens. One simple option would be leaning a broom or some similar pole against the inside of the door. If someone opens the door, the broom will fall and smack down on the floor, waking you up. You'd have to prop the door open a few inches with something, like a shoe, or else the weight of the broom might push it closed.
You could also create a "tripping hazard" just inside your room, by placing marbles, low furniture, beer bottles, etc. on the floor.
Install a louver door which will let the air in but not people. Better yet, create a louvered section for the door which can be removed and replaced with a solid piece, when you want complete privacy from people as well as air.
For fire safety, please keep your door completely closed. That way, if there's a fire in your house, you'll have the door keeping smoke away from you for long enough to make your escape (or at least call emergency services). In fact, keep all your doors closed when you sleep; doing so slows the spread of a fire, if one should occur.
If you live alone, someone in your flat while you sleep has already broken into your house and a door chain, alarm wedge, or Home Alone style booby trap won't keep them out of your bedroom if they decide to turn simple burglary into a home invasion.
If you want/need ventilation at night, open a window. If it's too hot outside (summer's coming, after all), small window air conditioners are under $100 new and require only basic home tools and skills to install.
