Large, *secure* apartment windows

I'm hoping someone knows something about this in China because the prison planet aesthetic is getting to me. I don't believe every residential window everywhere does need to be secured by a cage. I believe there must be ways for a window to be window, to let in light, air, the unobstructed view, and none of the lurking marauders who will hang from ropes until YOU are dead because they will break into your apartment and cut your throat because burglary and murder carry the same penalty in China, like everyone says.

Or, to put the question more plainly, are their options for securing your windows that aren't based on jail cells? What are the options for window space that is large, has a great view, and really should be open every day because the air moving in the apartment is delightful, but which also can be secured (open and closed) against unwanted entry?

Large open windows without bars have been known to be very inviting to pigeons.

Upon which perch they are open targets. Come to me, pijy-pijy! Come sit upon this inviting platform and LEAVE YOUR BROKEN CORPSES UPON THE LAWN BELOW

Most won't be perching on the windowsill.  Thousands will take that open window as an invitation - they'll be nesting inside your apartment.

pffft, mesh screens.


In other news, casement windows, my butt. Properly installed, they're the most secure window type, and the least expansive. I want the wind to be able to sweep the floor for me. I want large open windows (with pigeons sparkling on the electrified screens). I don't want hand-cranked casement crap. There as to be another way. What do people do in traditionally hot countries, apart from just get robbed a lot?

All my windows and my front door have screens / mesh-covered frames. My back door does not, because my Spaniel requires constant passage. in&out.  When both doors are open, we have a lovely cross-breeze in the livingroom
If you are handy, you can make them yourself for your door/windows.
Good Luck

I do have mesh screens, but they're about as secure as a sheet of paper. Back in the aulde country, my mother has a huge picture window/glass sliding door combo on the back of the house - essentially one wall of a relatively small living room is glass, making the whole room very pleasing to be in. The sliding portion can lock in various degrees of open and the open portion can be covered by a substantial mesh screen that slides open and closed too. This particular screen blocks about as much light as shade cloth but is more substantial than wire mesh. You could go through it with a power tool but a knife or a hammer wouldn't make much of a dent (nor would a pigeon or a baseball). I suppose I'm looking for that kind of construction. Or, I guess, a set of bars that can be opened and closed - opened during the day for the view, closed (securely) at night for the security while still allowing the summer breeze.

I have seen accordion-fold security bars on sliding glass doors.  Not bad, unless they jam somehow.

Also, notice all the roll down shutters on storefronts.  In Florida, one company was selling those for hurricane protection.

I think I could probably cope with folding/collapsible security grilles...

But that kind of construction quality.... does it exist in China?

Word from the FAO is this kind window screen may well exist in our burg and not be too expensive. I'll have to investigate more to see if we're talking about the same thing...

Per the "Taobao test", I'm considering the following as Chinese names for folding, collapsible or retractable window security grilles...

推拉防盗窗 折叠 - Tuīlā fángdào chuāng zhédié - "Push and pull anti-theft window (folding)"

or

伸缩防护网防盗窗 - Shēnsuō fánghù wǎng fángdào chuāng - "Telescopic protective net anti-theft window"


One arrived at this terminology by searching Taobao with direct translations of "folding window security grille" or some such English expression and copying Chinese expressions from whichever search results had a product picture that looked right, and then searching again with those new expressions to see what weird results they would produce. The final few are probably too complex as expressions, but they do turn up the right kind of product on Taobao.

But that kind of construction quality.... does it exist in China?

A friend had one like that in her apartment.  I never tested it to see how much force it would take to break it.  I do know that the common shiny round "bars" in most window cages are hollow and thin enough that they aren't all that hard to break through with a few hand tools.

Quote from: Calach Pfeffer on August 10, 2017, 06:52:05 PM

But that kind of construction quality.... does it exist in China?

A friend had one like that in her apartment.  I never tested it to see how much force it would take to break it.  I do know that the common shiny round "bars" in most window cages are hollow and thin enough that they aren't all that hard to break through with a few hand tools.

I was thinking rather of mechanical quality - if this thing is to be opened and closed every day for the next several years...

Then it occurred to me to take a look around campus. There are no such grilles on any windows anywhere, but there are quite a few instances of folding security grilles on doorways - notably the nearby dining hall has one. Same hollow bars as uprights, and thick strips of metal for the moveable folding parts, not too much in the way of rust...

It's probably a disaster waiting to happen, but I think my living room would be that much nicer if I could get the view back. It's curious: those thick metal bars are kind of invisible in that I sort of ignore them, but they create a wall across the view anyway, obscuring what's out there just by interfering with every possible viewing angle, even if I press my nose to a bar and try to see past them, one eye on either side.

Locally, after the first flurry of interest, no one is saying anything anymore. I guess I'll have to try and find a seller and/or installer by myself.