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Meet this month's featured expert from The Experts' Guide to Life at Home.
Al Corbi–How To Secure Your Home

 
How did you become passionate about security?
I was born into a family that was very security conscious. After college, I designed secure and top secret installations for The U.S. Department of Justice and other governments and then started utilizing security strategies to design a number of homes which were considered to be extraordinarily safe. After my experience with Sony Pictures (the movie Panic Room) and Oprah asking me to design a secure system for the average American home, I began to realize just how under-protected most people really are.

What do you enjoy most about your career?
Making a difference. Even the best of lawyers lose cases, doctors lose patients, and quarterbacks lose Super Bowls. Yet in 34 years I have never had a client hurt in one of my security designs. On the contrary, because of my security designs, the criminals are the ones who have to worry about being caught and prosecuted for the first time ever. I enjoy that a lot!

What is the craziest request you've ever received from a client?
From putting greens in nuclear resistant safe cores and ballistic grade air-conditioned dog houses to 20,000 foot underground bunkers with theaters, salons, and pizzerias in them, there is a broad range to pick from. But what I do find to be TRULY crazy is that well intended families go to bed each night with nothing more than a burglar alarm, a thin wooden door or pane of glass to protect them, and they think the police will be there in their time of need. Now that's crazy.

Can you give us one tip to make our homes safer?

No…you'll have to read the book. But seriously, it's usually a number of things working in concert which make a home safer. The good news is you can do it, and it doesn't have to be expensive. The key, above all else, is to safely and comfortably isolate the residents from an intruder.

What's the best thing about being part of The Experts' Guide?

The Experts' Guide is a phenomenal resource, one of the best of its kind. I am honored to be given this opportunity to help a great number of readers to make their homes a safer place in which to live and enjoy their families.