TexasCHLforum.com

The former owner of my home converted the 2 car garage into a family room - and did a beautiful job of it, by the way. There is a concrete parking pad large enough to accommodate our 3 vehicles immediately behind that room, over which I had a craftsman style "patio cover" built. It gives us a shady sheltered spot under which to park our cars which can also be used as a large shaded entertainment space; and it shelters the family room, which is westward facing and has a lot of glass window and door treatment, from the afternoon sun.

The layout of the yard/patio/parking area behind my house is such that there is no place for a potential attacker to hide or cover his approach to us as we are exiting the vehicles and entering the house. On top of this, an attacker would have to scale a fairly high fence from one of three neighbors' backyards to gain access, or they would have to scale a high wrought iron gate across the driveway in full public view of anybody on the street. This relative security was a happy accident, and I honestly had not considered that aspect of things at the time that I had the patio cover built.

Just lucky, I guess.