Alarm Systems

Im home alone a lot at night with my daughter because the husband works a lot of nights. and goes away for work sometimes. So we were looking into getting an burglar alarm system. I have no idea what I should be looking for. I've had a couple people come out to give quotations but they talk a bunch of jargon and quoted outrageous amounts. They could be quoting me for red lazor beams for all I know!
For those who have burglar alarms, what features do you have on it? and etc...Id mostly like   a motion detector by daughters window incase someone tries to come in.... (plus it will be useful when she turns into a teenager and tries to sneak out LOL) and a feature where if a code isnt entered in x amount of time, the police are called.

I actually had one of the guys who did a quotation actually say for an additional £15 a month,someone will drive past my place periodically. 

I work for ADT Security, maybe I can help. You can put contacts on the windows and doors that will trigger the alarm when opened (when the system is armed). And you could put a motion in the area of the window but I'm not sure if putting it right beside the window would work best since it is triggered by movement - the contacts would be perfect.

Don't let them talk you into a bunch of crap you don't need. Contacts on really high windows that would be really hard to access might be a waste. And one motion would be all you would need for a large room.

When the alarm is triggered they will try to contact the home and if no one can be reached they will usually roll the police or fire dept - depends on which alarm was set off. This is how it works with our company, I don't know if the others are different but I would think they would be quite similar.

What jargon did they throw at you? Some sales reps will try to get you to buy everything they can but if you live in a flat you might not need that much.

You can PM me if you like.

we have shock sensors on the downstairs windows and doors.  This means that anything that bangs into the window/door will set the alarm off, like when someone tried to pry open my kitchen window and another time when someone put a brick through a pane in another kitchen window trying to acess the clasp on the sash window.  Without the shock sensor he would have been able to open the window before the alarm went off.

We also have motion detectors upstairs.  Do you have pets?  They can set off a motion detector, there are some companies that talk about pet friendly motion detectors but it really depends on your pet.  When the security guy was advising us he at first said we should get the pet friendly one but then he saw how my cats ran around he changed his mind, so now when we are out they are confined to a certain area of the house that they won't set off the alarm.

Make sure that whatever system you have that you can walk around your own house at night with the alarm set.  I know loads of people that don't set their alarm at night because they can't go downstairs without setting off the alarm.

One more security feature you might want to invest in is outside lighting, the type that is motion sensitive

DH and I are also thinking about getting an alarm system, so thanks for the info everyone!

Thanks! A lot of great advice.

Although considered old-fashioned by some, simple pressure mats located under strategic areas (inside doors, below windows, etc.) can also be quite effective, as well as being completely invisible to the casual observer if installed properly. 

Given a switch action of the appropriate tension, pressure mats can also be made immune from triggering from pets walking over them but still trigger with the weight of a man.