Havelock North residents locking up tight

LIKE FORT KNOX: A sample of Havelock North inventor Raymond Hemi's "fortified safe room", intended to keep burglars out of houses while residents are away on holiday. Photo / Supplied

Some holiday-makers are locking up their houses like Fort Knox before heading off to their favourite holiday haunts, with the help of an inventor in Havelock North.

Before heading off to the family farm for a holiday himself last week, inventor and hardware store worker Raymond Hemi helped fellow village residents create "fortified safe rooms" to keep their home possessions safe while they left for family holidays.

He then posted details on a Facebook page for Havelock North friends and residents social group.

"Two friends here in Havelock North have gone away on holiday.

"Both homes have security measures - sensors - alarms, but I suggested they both put their most valuable possessions into Kennards Self Storage and then came up with the idea of creating a fortified safe room to put their semi valuable possessions in."

Mr Hemi first bought at least 10 window-door motion sensor alarms, "criss cross taped" the entire indoor-inside surface of every window in the room then affixed two alarms to the inside of each window with blu tac.

"One of my friend's rooms had both an internal door that led to the hallway and an external door on the side of the home. The internal door swung into the "safe room". We cut one substantially thick plank of wood to the exact measurement from the underside of the door handle of the internal door angled down to the inside point where the bottom of the opposite wall meets the floor, then carefully jammed the thick plank on the bottom side of the handle and at the bottom of the opposite wall where it meets the floor.

"We placed clean rags on each end to protect the surfaces. We secured the door handle end of the plank to the door handle with tape to ensure it does not slide out.

"On the hallway side of the internal door we put the fridge-freezer firmly against the door with a long towel draped over the fridge to protect the door. We then affixed two motion sensor alarms to places on the fridge that are difficult to access so anyone wanting to turn them off would have their work cut out, we then switched them on."

Motion sensor alarms were also affixed to the room side of the internal door and the inside surface of the solid wood plank, which was tied to the front and rear door handles.

Speaking to Hawke's Bay Today, Mr Hemi said he might have gone "overboard" to look after his friends' houses but it would be "a hell of a deterrent" to a potential thief.

"We've put all the valuables into one room and made an absolute fortress."