With Halloween right around the corner, you can’t be too safe with your zombie apocalypse preparations. You really have to think ahead.

Not only will zombies try to break into your house to eat your delicious brains, but if you’re the prepared one on the street, you might have those pesky neighbors wanting to hitch a ride on your zombie apocalypse coat tails.

No can do, Clyde. Get your own rations.

(Clyde is my actual neighbor.)

“But Whitney, surely zombies don’t know how to open doors.”

And to that I say, YOU DON’T KNOW. These new zombies are tricky. Did you even watch World War Z?

So, without further adieu (seriously, Halloween is in two days so if you’ve waited this long, you have your work cut out for you) here are some tips on how to protect your home from zombies.

Four Point Lock

You will definitely want to equip your house with four point locks if you can. They lock in four separate points: The header, the footer, in the strike cavity, and with a bolt in the hinge side of the door.

Even someone who is a master at picking locks won’t be able to get through this door—not even with a crowbar. They are typically used on back doors of facilities that need a little more security than the average building. Pharmacies often request these for their back doors to help prevent valuables, such as medicine, from being stolen. In a zombie apocalypse, Clyde might want your Advil*.

(*Xanax)

Beacon Exit Device

In a normal situation, the Beacon Exit Device (or any exit device) would never be installed in a residential building, but a zombie apocalypse is not your normal situation.

When a Beacon Exit Device is installed, it’s tied into the fire and alarm system. If either of these trigger, the Beacon is activated. Then a special light switches on that has the ability to cut through smoke and guide anyone inside the facility safely to an exit.

I would imagine things get a little crazy in the midst of a zombie apocalypse and I have zero hope the power stays on. (We’ve all seen movies.) The Beacon would be especially helpful, not only because it shines a light to help direct you, it has an alarm that actually speaks to you to alert you where the door is located.

Granted, in a zombie apocalypse, I don’t know if you want the zombies to know exactly where you’re at in the building, but if it were a fire and you were trying to escape, this would be particularly helpful.

EAX 500

The EAX 500 is a battery-powered door alarm that can be surface mounted to almost any door. It has a magnetic strip that is typically attached to the frame and it connects with a matching strip on the actual door. When the connection between the door and the frame is broken the alarm begins to sound.

This is a simple, yet efficient, way to increase the security of your door and it won’t break your budget. In the case of a zombie apocalypse, though, this could be a great deterrent. Without mounting the alarm, you could easily remove the frame piece, activate the alarm to draw the zombies into one area, and make a break for it.

We’re probably not going to be faced with zombies on our door steps trying to eat our brains, but better to be safe than sorry.

Do you have more tips on how to protect your home from a zombie apocalypse? We’d love to hear them!

Happy Halloween!