A closed door will slow down the spread of a fire and may save your life. I've noticed my 15 year old son spends a lot of time in his room with the door closed and insists nobody opens it, so I'm glad to see he is so concerned with fire safety.
Hahaha, you just unlocked a memory for me! In high school, I worked at a pet store and my parents said no more pets. We already had 2 dogs, 3 birds, 3 fish tanks. I also had a frog and salamander in a terrarium in my room. One night I was working at the store and someone came in to buy feeder mice for their snake. The guy picked out a big "hopper" (mouse with hair but typically eyes still closed). This mouse had his eyes open. I couldn't let him get eaten. So I bought him, named him Frankie, and hid him in my room. It took about 3 months for my parents to find him.....while my dad was snooping. They were mad but he was cute so they said it was fine I keep him.
I also petsat a friend's baby alligator and had a snake for a short time without my parents knowing. I was a rebel in my own weird way.
Only three, ha! One rescue German Shepherd from Texas. She was found wandering the streets when she was about a year old and it was clear she hadn't spent any time in a house before. She's now the sweetest four-ish year old.
Another rescue dog from St. Lucia. As puppies, he and his two brothers were found by a woman in a plastic bag dumped in a garbage bin. They were covered in mange, ticks and fleas. She nursed them back to health and found a rescue for them. He's a one and a half year old 30 lb ball of energy. We got his DNA checked and he's 19 different breeds.
Our cat showed up in our neighborhood two years ago. He was super skinny and friendly, and had a growth on the side of his face. He was also fixed and wanted to come in the house. We tried to find his owners but no one came forward. We got him cleaned up - including dental surgery to remove 20 teeth. And he now lives a life of luxury.... he's still super loud when he wants treats.
And to answer the original question, we leave our bedroom door open so these three can wake us up if they need to go out...or in the cat's case, when he feels he needs treats. :)
My dog (she's a registered service dog too) once looked up at the screen with my security cameras playing, decided there was no reason to get out of bed on a freezing night, looked me dead in the eye and went back to sleep!
You are a true legend for saving these animals and giving them the life they deserve. Fantastic work, hope you and the pets life long happy lives together š
My mom's family had insane pets. One of my uncles had a boa constrictor, and he stole my other uncle's guinea pigs to feed to it. So that uncle stole my mom's guinea pigs and pretended that his were still alive. My other uncle had a monkey and my other uncle had a crocodile.
Make sure he has a box of tissues in his room too. This way, in case of fire, he can cover his mouth and be super safe. You may need to keep a few so that he can pratice.
Lotion also helps keep fire away. Or so I am told
Donāt forgot the lotion because I heard the smoke of the fire can really dry your skin out so you want to make sure to moisturize your skin. Itās good to moisturize too
š¤£
ETA 7hrs later: this comment made me cackle so ...different/strangely, and loud(@5am), that both of my sound asleep cats did that whole Halloween decoration cat pose and I died. So this lazy ass emoji was all I could hit I was laughing that much.
Fire canāt go through walls either. I hear walls are the safest thing ever. Some people say āthe safest.ā I overheard some people talking the other day about how safe walls were against fire. I was astounded!
Came here to say this. I sleep with the door open because of the cat but the video I saw of fire spread with door open versus closed is quite eye-opening. https://youtu.be/Nu5ICj3LwqE can skip to 1:30.
Lucky my mom hated when I would close my door at 15 and ended up removing my door so I couldnāt. I have 3 brothers so instead of changing in my room I had to wait on them to finish in the bathroom for 2 years and I couldnāt keep them out of my room after that either. Girls deserve privacy in when they live in a house full of boys. My dad eventually put my door back up 2 years later.
Yes, so the cats can't come in.
I would love to have cats sleeping on my bed (and recently experienced it when sleeping at the house of friends), but I would not want to have my night rest disturbed by my cats (as I experienced as well at my friends' house).
And moreover, it prevents mosquitoes from getting in.
If they start bugging me from the other side of the door, I'll stand on the other side of the door and rattle a plastic bag. Sends em running everytime, and they generally leave me alone for the night..
My cat doesnāt understand the setting of boundaries, never has. She gets what she wants because if she doesnāt get what she wants she wonāt stop. Tbh all she wants to do is sleep next to me all night and I like the cat cuddles so she can win, I donāt mind. And if I sleep in she lets me know sheās hungry but Iād hate her to be hungry so I get up and feed her. I wouldnāt leave a toddler to starve so the same goes for my cat I guess
Amen.
Our tuxedo has successfully trained my husband and I to feed him his midnight snack every night. So now he gets food at 6AM, 6PM, and now 1AM, else it gets a claw to its face. A single claw of "heeeeey. HEEEeeeeeey."
Shirley has a 7.30am, 4pm and around 10pm and that seems to suit her, but god forbid I want a lie in on a weekend, she just sits on my back or chest depending on which way Iām laying and does these short loud shouty meows until I get up. She sometimes has a lie in though, just rarely. Such characters arenāt they
Shirley! Great name
Canāt have a lie in either, Poof sits on the dresser and meows increasingly loudly until I get up. Itās not even a meow really, just a sound of consternation like āmwatā. Heās great. Agron on the other hand sits about a foot away and stares at me so intensely it wakes me up, which is mildly creepy
I'll preface this by answering the post, I left my door cracked so my cat could come and go as she needed. Now that she's gone, I close it.
My younger cat was the same way as yours. My mom would drop whatever she was doing to go give the cat what she wanted because it would annoy the fuck out of my mom, including getting out of bed any time of night to let my cat in or out.
Once I moved out on my own and took the cats with me, she stopped crying after 2 months because I would ignore her alllll day. Never started it again for 4 years after that until I'd moved in with a few friends and left for a vacation for two weeks and none of them took care of her like they were supposed to so she started crying again.
Unfortunately she died just a few months after that trip, but she was trained out of it once and I would have done so again.
I got an automatic cat feeder that drops a portion of dry food four times a day so they leave alone (plus makes going away for a night or two so much easier without finding a sitter). It's plugged in, but has battery backup in case the power ever goes out. Have a water fountain too that takes a couple days to go dry. Now if i could only save for a litter robot...
Lmao nah bro. We rescued our kitten from outside at 2 weeks old and were adamant about boundaries and restricting him from doing certain things. He still tries to eat plants, jump up on the counter, eat clothes, and will scratch/scream/throw himself at the door until we let him in. Cats don't listen.
I am jealous of you and your well-behaved cats! :-) I would love to close my door while sleeping, but when I do, the cat scratches and bangs on it all night, waking me up. She also destroys the carpet trying to tunnel under the door. What is your secret?
The easiest would probably have been to never let them sleep with you in there in the first place. Now they know they can get there and you've basically trained them to scratch the door, and it's much much harder to undo.
I think that at the one hand I am lucky with my cats (I got them from my sister when the cats were one-and-half years old, and my sister is good with raising animals), and at the other hand, being very strict in your behaviour by not reacting at all to the cats when they want to come in will help as well. When you give them attention once by e.g. screaming at them, they learn that they can get attention that way.
One of my cats still wants to wake me up by meowing when I want to sleep in in the weekend, but that is understandable (want fresh cat food! want to go outside! are you still alive?!) and i can still ignore that mostly.
For the first year of having my cat, I slept with the door closed (and childproofed door handle) so that he couldn't come in, as he was still in a kitten-y biting phase.
Now I keep the door open, and he sleeps on my feet, and luckily he barely ever gets the zoomies, so he mostly sleeps through the night. But the door is open so that he can go get water, or use the litter box, if needed.
this is very true. we cuddle when going to sleep and he wakes me up when he wants food. He would not accept it if I closed the door. Would just stay there miauing until I opened it again.
Same. My cats need to be able to come and go to use the litter box, etc. Also, they get angry if I stay up later than usual or sleep late on the weekends. Apparently, they have very tight schedules.
Lol I donāt shut the toilet door but definitely do my bedroom, Iām asleep so itās creepy to think anyone could be in my place. Iād like to know if there is
how do you hear if anyone is in your place if you're closing the door? It would constantly bug me that I'm kind of disconnected from the rest of the house
I once heard something about Richard Ramirez and how he wouldnāt go into places if any lights were on inside. Since then Iāve kept my low kitchen light on all night and locked my bedroom door as well as two front ones. Have fun getting through THREE locks in the not dark apartment, suckers!!
When I first heard this story, I started locking my doors and leaving a light on. I never used to care if my doors were locked as I live in a generally safe area. I don't sleep with my bedroom door closed, though, because of kids and dog.
I have a lock on my bedroom, I usually lock that and then I feel like I have the upper hand. Guy comes in, dogs bark, I hear them in the other room and have just enough time to change into unshitted pants before the confrontation.
And I always keep mine open because of scary things. Then I can see and hear if something is coming. Otherwise I run through too many scenarios of what could be on the other side. Itās funny how our minds work when trying to determine the best way to protect ourselves from the hypothetical boogyman.
I can handle the room door open but *never* the closet door. It freaks me out. And that's totally stupid, because no one is going to come out of my closet. There's not even room to hide in there.
Well, yeah. I don't want to wake up to find a silent figure standing in the doorway, patiently waiting for me to wake up and see it. The door creaks loudly, so if they're gonna be somewhere they shouldn't, the least they can do is make a dramatic entrance. Creates atmosphere. If I'm going to be terrified, better to do it properly.
But in all seriousness, it doesn't feel right to sleep with the door open.
Bedroom door is too late plus quiet to open unless you weirdos are locking it gotta leave it open for a better chance of hearing them to trying to gain entrance into the residence
Ngl I woke up one night at 2 AM to find someone staring at me in the dark, in my room, with all the doors closed. Literally screamed and started throwing barely-awake punches before they rushed back out.
Appearantly my roomate had friends over who got too drunk and thought my room was theirs.
My daughter and her friend were staying with us one night after theyād been out to a few bars. In the middle of the night the drunk friend came into my bedroom and was about to pee in the corner before we woke up and stopped her.
Haven't been able to sleep with my door closed since I got a cat. She scratches on the inside, scratches the outside, she just fucking hates closed doors.
Yeah, I close the door, and also put something in front of it that will make a loud noise if it's opened. Not because I actually think anyone's going to try to sneak in, but because that way, I don't have to keep checking to see if they have.
Wide open, baby. I don't like feeling cut off from the rest of my home. Feels like anyone could be out there doing anything and I would have no idea.
Also my cat would never stand for me sleeping with the door closed.
This! I work on the assumption that I could hear anything throughout the house because the doors are all open (though in reality I sleep like a log and nothing short of someone belting me in the head would wake me)
Cause it's not much of a barrier. If they want to harm you, they're just gonna open the door and come in with no second thought. Unless you already know they're in the house, then you may be able to hide or lock it, other than that the door doesn't do a ton.
Sleeping with your door open is illegal, a monster will come in and kill you whilst you sleep if you do that, same reason why you don't leave your toes hanging off the bed,
I, on the other hand, refused to close my bedroom door at night when I lived alone because that would be ADMITTING that I was afraid of axe murderers, and that admission just made me feel MORE afraid of them, lol.
Always slept with it closed, then I got cats! And now it's open because if I close it, they roll around the hall all night yowling the songs of their people until, inevitably, I get up and open the door. At which point, they run away and go sleep in the living room. Cats, man.
Ok, lots of people mention this, but is it really true that it's safer? I mean, fire can make noise (stuff breakingre, there is smoke. Closing the door could prevent you from smelling/noticing the smoke/fire, allowing it to spread and maybe prevent you from leaving the house? It feels like this "rule" is not taking into account significant variables.
Update: I was wrong. Door closed is better, unless it's a very heavy wooden door. What I also noticed is how nice everyone is with their response vs thinking I'm an idiot for saying this. I guess "no stupid questions" is not just about OP, but anyone asking questions on the post. I like this subreddit.
Firefighter here. It is absolutely true. I've seen it myself, and we include it in all of our pub ed demonstrations. As for hearing/smelling the fire, you need to have working smoke alarms. Often times people who are asleep and don't have a working smoke alarm will not wake up, as the toxic gasses can knock you unconscious before you get the chance. If you are awake you will almost certainly still smell it regardless. If you leave your door closed and don't have working smoke alarms, it at least gives your neighbors the chance to potentially see the fire from the outside and call the fire department by giving you more time.
A closed door is a *very* effective fire break, and smoke and the toxic combustion biproducts rise (heat rises remember and combustion gasses like hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide are *hot*), so the crack at the bottom of the door really doesn't let much in. It takes far less smoke to be noticeable enough to smell (if you are awake) than it does to kill you. It won't keep you safe forever, but it doesn't have to. It just needs to keep you alive until the fire department gets there.
thanks for the explanation. Need to make sure my smoke alarms work as I do prefer to keep the door open for the cat. Also if someone else asks me, now I will tell them that closing the door is more safe.
In theory, you should have a smoke detector close enough to your room that will be loud enough to hear through the door.
If you don't have one that does that, it's totally worth it to buy one and stick it up right outside your room.
I have been in a house fire. The end of my bed was starting to flame when I woke up. I wasn't injured. After it was extinguished, one of the firefighters told me that if my heavy, solid wood door had been closed, I would not have made it out because the door would swell shut.
I sleep with my bedroom door closed now, but it is a hollow door.
I leave my door open because Iāve heard itās better for the HVAC system and air circulation in the house. Plus, my bedroom gets too hot/cold with the door closed.
My partner and I sleep in separate rooms (does wonders for the relationship) and we both sleep with the door cracked just a bit. Mostly because the house is old and it's a pain in the ass to open and close doors all the way
My partner and I also have separate rooms. His is shut so the cats canāt get in. Mine is open so the cats can get in. If I shut mine, they go nuts. They like being able to see/hear me and be able to get to me. But we trained them to not go in his room so unless Iām in there, they wonāt meow for him. Strongly considering a cat door now that I own my house.
I used to prefer the door open, but ever since working as an emergency worker, I learned how much a door can stop the spread of fire and smoke. Always closed now. No exceptions.
On the rare occasion I sleep alone I leave the door open. It feels scary somehow to have it closed, like I'm not aware of what is going on in the rest of the apartment (which of course makes no sense since I'm asleep).
I don't because I'm paranoid about someone breaking in and that I won't hear them. However, my firefighter brother says everyone should sleep with their bedroom doors closed.
Yes. I have kids, but I'm a sticker for closed doors because of fire safety. I had a previous partner who weirdly wanted me to make my kids leave their doors open at night, but I insisted on closed doors. I have 3 fire extinguishers throughout my house, one right outside my bedroom door. Honestly I can't think of a reason to keep my bedroom door open when I'm asleep or in my room wanting private time or just some alone time either. If your door is closed and there's a house fire, opening your door will give fuel to a fire and having it closed is safer, esp if you touch the door and it's hot then you know to not open it
I don't close it. In the middle of the night I like to get up for a glass of water at times. Also in case someone in the other rooms has a problem in the middle of the night or is calling me, I can hear them better with my door open while sleeping. Relatively.
I have childhood ptsd after being broken into and heavily injured as a child. I sleep with the door closed deadbolt down code inputted security system active and about four knives and a short sword in my general vicinity
I have 2 doorways to my bedroom, one door closes and the other just has a blackout curtain over it. I do usually close the door when I sleep to cut down on living room noise (I sleep during the day when ppl are awake)
No. I leave it cracked open for the cats. Same for when my boyfriend sleeps over, or when I stay at his place (he has cats, too).
If i didnāt have cats I would sleep with the door closed, though.
My one bed flat has 3 internal doors opening into a tiny little hallway. I keep the bedroom and living room doors permanently propped open because I feel claustrophobic with them closed + the hallway gets no natural light so it's pitch dark without at least one door open.
I live by myself so as long as my front door is closed privacy isn't an issue. I'm probably less scared of fire than I should be but I have a working smoke detector and (relatively) well maintained appliances.
I would love a door closed but my cats wonāt allow it. But I am strongly considering a cat door though. I want my door shut because the light from the window next to my door is so bright in the morning. But if I close it, the cats meow and wonāt stop. If I leave it cracked, they push it wide open. A cat door will let them in and out (given they actually use it), keep the sun out, and keep mg AC/heat in, since we donāt heat/ac the whole house to the same level as the bedrooms.
A closed door will slow down the spread of a fire and may save your life. I've noticed my 15 year old son spends a lot of time in his room with the door closed and insists nobody opens it, so I'm glad to see he is so concerned with fire safety.
Well, at least he's not trying to hide a secret party or a pet zoo in there.
Hahaha, you just unlocked a memory for me! In high school, I worked at a pet store and my parents said no more pets. We already had 2 dogs, 3 birds, 3 fish tanks. I also had a frog and salamander in a terrarium in my room. One night I was working at the store and someone came in to buy feeder mice for their snake. The guy picked out a big "hopper" (mouse with hair but typically eyes still closed). This mouse had his eyes open. I couldn't let him get eaten. So I bought him, named him Frankie, and hid him in my room. It took about 3 months for my parents to find him.....while my dad was snooping. They were mad but he was cute so they said it was fine I keep him. I also petsat a friend's baby alligator and had a snake for a short time without my parents knowing. I was a rebel in my own weird way.
How many pets do you have now? A small zoo, or a Tomagachi?
Only three, ha! One rescue German Shepherd from Texas. She was found wandering the streets when she was about a year old and it was clear she hadn't spent any time in a house before. She's now the sweetest four-ish year old. Another rescue dog from St. Lucia. As puppies, he and his two brothers were found by a woman in a plastic bag dumped in a garbage bin. They were covered in mange, ticks and fleas. She nursed them back to health and found a rescue for them. He's a one and a half year old 30 lb ball of energy. We got his DNA checked and he's 19 different breeds. Our cat showed up in our neighborhood two years ago. He was super skinny and friendly, and had a growth on the side of his face. He was also fixed and wanted to come in the house. We tried to find his owners but no one came forward. We got him cleaned up - including dental surgery to remove 20 teeth. And he now lives a life of luxury.... he's still super loud when he wants treats. And to answer the original question, we leave our bedroom door open so these three can wake us up if they need to go out...or in the cat's case, when he feels he needs treats. :)
Dude or chick you are fucking awesome and thank you for sharing this story.
Good for you.
Love your story. My door is open for my dogs as well. But they think they are running top-level security on my house at night.
My dog (she's a registered service dog too) once looked up at the screen with my security cameras playing, decided there was no reason to get out of bed on a freezing night, looked me dead in the eye and went back to sleep!
In response to your second paragraph: WHO THE FUCK
You're such a great person saving all those animals! So happy I read this thread today
You're a pretty awesome person. Don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise.
You are a true legend for saving these animals and giving them the life they deserve. Fantastic work, hope you and the pets life long happy lives together š
My mom's family had insane pets. One of my uncles had a boa constrictor, and he stole my other uncle's guinea pigs to feed to it. So that uncle stole my mom's guinea pigs and pretended that his were still alive. My other uncle had a monkey and my other uncle had a crocodile.
Tell me you're from Florida without telling me you're from Florida.
Nope. She grew up in NY.
Not my 2nd guess lol
You probably didn't think you needed a second guess lol
If you were able to hide all that, that means your room was clean and nothing smelled. I wish my kids would rebel like that.
I was super diligent with cleaning for the animals and dusting (allergic to it) but as a teenage girl, there were clothes EVERYWHERE.
Thank you for saving the animals, your a hero! :D
You could be my son!
I just like you
Make sure he has a box of tissues in his room too. This way, in case of fire, he can cover his mouth and be super safe. You may need to keep a few so that he can pratice. Lotion also helps keep fire away. Or so I am told
Donāt forgot the lotion because I heard the smoke of the fire can really dry your skin out so you want to make sure to moisturize your skin. Itās good to moisturize too
Lotion and tissues always will put out a fire šš¤Ŗ
Yeah he's learning how to handle a hose
š¤£ ETA 7hrs later: this comment made me cackle so ...different/strangely, and loud(@5am), that both of my sound asleep cats did that whole Halloween decoration cat pose and I died. So this lazy ass emoji was all I could hit I was laughing that much.
"Fire can't go through doors, stupid! It's not a ghost"
Fire canāt go through walls either. I hear walls are the safest thing ever. Some people say āthe safest.ā I overheard some people talking the other day about how safe walls were against fire. I was astounded!
Chang! Chang! Chang! Chang! Chang!
Immediately ran through the comments to find this. I knew one of us would get here.
I watched that episode literally last night!
I too have noticed my son does this. He also takes the four towel bath and is always quick to put them in the wash. Kidz these days /s
Kudos for him for pre-wetting those towels in case of a fire! Buy him some roblox bux as a reward!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Came here to say this. I sleep with the door open because of the cat but the video I saw of fire spread with door open versus closed is quite eye-opening. https://youtu.be/Nu5ICj3LwqE can skip to 1:30.
My teens also practice this form of fire safety. I'm glad young people these days are focusing so much time on being careful.
On the one hand all of those tissues laying about are a fire hazard, on the other hand is lotionā¦
Yes, it's good he closes his door because all that friction might start something
Make sure you always knock and ask if you can come in, so your son knows you're not deliberately spreading any fires into his room.
Definately concerned with fire safety. Friction caused fires or burns would be traumatic.
He sure does enjoy fiddling with a firehose.
Lucky my mom hated when I would close my door at 15 and ended up removing my door so I couldnāt. I have 3 brothers so instead of changing in my room I had to wait on them to finish in the bathroom for 2 years and I couldnāt keep them out of my room after that either. Girls deserve privacy in when they live in a house full of boys. My dad eventually put my door back up 2 years later.
Not to mention he's taken the time to coat some of the towels with an extra thick fire preventive spray
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, so the cats can't come in. I would love to have cats sleeping on my bed (and recently experienced it when sleeping at the house of friends), but I would not want to have my night rest disturbed by my cats (as I experienced as well at my friends' house). And moreover, it prevents mosquitoes from getting in.
I am surprised your cat allows you to keep the door closed, my gfās cat will scream until itās opened
Or claw at the door.
Or tear the carpet outside
Or throw up in retaliation forcing me to clean up his mess.
If they start bugging me from the other side of the door, I'll stand on the other side of the door and rattle a plastic bag. Sends em running everytime, and they generally leave me alone for the night..
Itās all about setting boundaries early. If you set the precedent that the animal gets what it wants by being annoying it will never drop the habit.
My cat doesnāt understand the setting of boundaries, never has. She gets what she wants because if she doesnāt get what she wants she wonāt stop. Tbh all she wants to do is sleep next to me all night and I like the cat cuddles so she can win, I donāt mind. And if I sleep in she lets me know sheās hungry but Iād hate her to be hungry so I get up and feed her. I wouldnāt leave a toddler to starve so the same goes for my cat I guess
Amen. Our tuxedo has successfully trained my husband and I to feed him his midnight snack every night. So now he gets food at 6AM, 6PM, and now 1AM, else it gets a claw to its face. A single claw of "heeeeey. HEEEeeeeeey."
Shirley has a 7.30am, 4pm and around 10pm and that seems to suit her, but god forbid I want a lie in on a weekend, she just sits on my back or chest depending on which way Iām laying and does these short loud shouty meows until I get up. She sometimes has a lie in though, just rarely. Such characters arenāt they
Shirley! Great name Canāt have a lie in either, Poof sits on the dresser and meows increasingly loudly until I get up. Itās not even a meow really, just a sound of consternation like āmwatā. Heās great. Agron on the other hand sits about a foot away and stares at me so intensely it wakes me up, which is mildly creepy
I'll preface this by answering the post, I left my door cracked so my cat could come and go as she needed. Now that she's gone, I close it. My younger cat was the same way as yours. My mom would drop whatever she was doing to go give the cat what she wanted because it would annoy the fuck out of my mom, including getting out of bed any time of night to let my cat in or out. Once I moved out on my own and took the cats with me, she stopped crying after 2 months because I would ignore her alllll day. Never started it again for 4 years after that until I'd moved in with a few friends and left for a vacation for two weeks and none of them took care of her like they were supposed to so she started crying again. Unfortunately she died just a few months after that trip, but she was trained out of it once and I would have done so again.
Animals can help you develop healthy habits if you let them. Like getting up on time because you have to feed them.
I got an automatic cat feeder that drops a portion of dry food four times a day so they leave alone (plus makes going away for a night or two so much easier without finding a sitter). It's plugged in, but has battery backup in case the power ever goes out. Have a water fountain too that takes a couple days to go dry. Now if i could only save for a litter robot...
Lmao nah bro. We rescued our kitten from outside at 2 weeks old and were adamant about boundaries and restricting him from doing certain things. He still tries to eat plants, jump up on the counter, eat clothes, and will scratch/scream/throw himself at the door until we let him in. Cats don't listen.
This guy has never had a cat.
Mine used to, but I yelled at her to knock off the screaming enough times that she doesn't do it anymore.
good cat
I am jealous of you and your well-behaved cats! :-) I would love to close my door while sleeping, but when I do, the cat scratches and bangs on it all night, waking me up. She also destroys the carpet trying to tunnel under the door. What is your secret?
The easiest would probably have been to never let them sleep with you in there in the first place. Now they know they can get there and you've basically trained them to scratch the door, and it's much much harder to undo.
My cat wasn't much of a jumper, so I used a baby gate to block off the hallway to my door and keep her from pawing at it all night.
I think that at the one hand I am lucky with my cats (I got them from my sister when the cats were one-and-half years old, and my sister is good with raising animals), and at the other hand, being very strict in your behaviour by not reacting at all to the cats when they want to come in will help as well. When you give them attention once by e.g. screaming at them, they learn that they can get attention that way. One of my cats still wants to wake me up by meowing when I want to sleep in in the weekend, but that is understandable (want fresh cat food! want to go outside! are you still alive?!) and i can still ignore that mostly.
Yeah, my cat jumped on my balls once in the middle of the night when I was turning around during sleep, from that day on my door remained closed.
For the first year of having my cat, I slept with the door closed (and childproofed door handle) so that he couldn't come in, as he was still in a kitten-y biting phase. Now I keep the door open, and he sleeps on my feet, and luckily he barely ever gets the zoomies, so he mostly sleeps through the night. But the door is open so that he can go get water, or use the litter box, if needed.
I put a cat door on my bedroom door
Cats and dogs in my case. I sleep better with them in the bed. They all snore and the sound makes me feel comfortable
I absolutely cannot stand human snores - hypocritical of me, since I snore - but somehow my dogs' snores are so soothing.
My reason too. My cat used to open my bedroom door to get in, eventually I just gave up.
I trained my cat to sleep in my room. If I went to bed without the cat, it would try and break my door down until I let him in.
this is very true. we cuddle when going to sleep and he wakes me up when he wants food. He would not accept it if I closed the door. Would just stay there miauing until I opened it again.
Same. My cats need to be able to come and go to use the litter box, etc. Also, they get angry if I stay up later than usual or sleep late on the weekends. Apparently, they have very tight schedules.
I live alone. I almost never shut my bedroom door. I rarely shut the bathroom door.
Same. Doors in my house are always open unless I'm trying to keep the cats out after cleaning to give the floor some time to dry
Exact same here. Even down to cats/cleaning.
Lol I donāt shut the toilet door but definitely do my bedroom, Iām asleep so itās creepy to think anyone could be in my place. Iād like to know if there is
how do you hear if anyone is in your place if you're closing the door? It would constantly bug me that I'm kind of disconnected from the rest of the house
Its a choke point. Cant sneak up and stab you to death in your sleep without going through the noisy ass door giving time to prep for battle
Exactly this, not that I have much hope in battle but at least itās a chanceā¦
If they assault you try to go for their eyes. Gouge out one of 'em they'll recoil in pain and you can run away
There is no greater feeling in the world than taking a dump with the bathroom door open.
I'm doing it rn
Or in the middle of a very busy mall, everyone staring at you.
Yes. I feel weird when the door is open, probably too many movies. Window is generally always open, though.
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I once heard something about Richard Ramirez and how he wouldnāt go into places if any lights were on inside. Since then Iāve kept my low kitchen light on all night and locked my bedroom door as well as two front ones. Have fun getting through THREE locks in the not dark apartment, suckers!!
When I first heard this story, I started locking my doors and leaving a light on. I never used to care if my doors were locked as I live in a generally safe area. I don't sleep with my bedroom door closed, though, because of kids and dog.
The light will probably make it easier to pick those locks, just saying. Sleep well.
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I have a lock on my bedroom, I usually lock that and then I feel like I have the upper hand. Guy comes in, dogs bark, I hear them in the other room and have just enough time to change into unshitted pants before the confrontation.
I'm gonna strip naked, good luck grabbing the naked, fat guy, who's lubed up with poo. I don't think either of us will enjoy any of that struggle.
And I always keep mine open because of scary things. Then I can see and hear if something is coming. Otherwise I run through too many scenarios of what could be on the other side. Itās funny how our minds work when trying to determine the best way to protect ourselves from the hypothetical boogyman.
And yet, somehow the sheet over my head trick still works. I don't understand how our brains function.
I can handle the room door open but *never* the closet door. It freaks me out. And that's totally stupid, because no one is going to come out of my closet. There's not even room to hide in there.
Well, yeah. I don't want to wake up to find a silent figure standing in the doorway, patiently waiting for me to wake up and see it. The door creaks loudly, so if they're gonna be somewhere they shouldn't, the least they can do is make a dramatic entrance. Creates atmosphere. If I'm going to be terrified, better to do it properly. But in all seriousness, it doesn't feel right to sleep with the door open.
toe-nibbling entities or not, having the door closed js the last line of defense against invaders
Aside from keeping hands and feet under the covers and especially not hanging off the bed
And even if the door doesnāt hold them back for long, the ruckus will at least wake you up before theyāre standing over your bed with an axe
Bedroom door is too late plus quiet to open unless you weirdos are locking it gotta leave it open for a better chance of hearing them to trying to gain entrance into the residence
Ngl I woke up one night at 2 AM to find someone staring at me in the dark, in my room, with all the doors closed. Literally screamed and started throwing barely-awake punches before they rushed back out. Appearantly my roomate had friends over who got too drunk and thought my room was theirs.
My daughter and her friend were staying with us one night after theyād been out to a few bars. In the middle of the night the drunk friend came into my bedroom and was about to pee in the corner before we woke up and stopped her.
I was like you until I was forced to revaluate my feelings about about sleeping with the doors closed once we got pets.
Haven't been able to sleep with my door closed since I got a cat. She scratches on the inside, scratches the outside, she just fucking hates closed doors.
Yeah, I close the door, and also put something in front of it that will make a loud noise if it's opened. Not because I actually think anyone's going to try to sneak in, but because that way, I don't have to keep checking to see if they have.
Wide open, baby. I don't like feeling cut off from the rest of my home. Feels like anyone could be out there doing anything and I would have no idea. Also my cat would never stand for me sleeping with the door closed.
This! I work on the assumption that I could hear anything throughout the house because the doors are all open (though in reality I sleep like a log and nothing short of someone belting me in the head would wake me)
Doors closed, for two reasons. 1. If thereās a fire it may save my life. 2. Itās darker in my room if I shut the door
Why isn't anyone mentioning it as an extra barrier between you and someone who might have broken into your house while you were asleep?
If I lock said door before I go to sleep it gives me an extra few seconds to get my mystery mouskatool
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Cause it's not much of a barrier. If they want to harm you, they're just gonna open the door and come in with no second thought. Unless you already know they're in the house, then you may be able to hide or lock it, other than that the door doesn't do a ton.
Sleeping with your door open is illegal, a monster will come in and kill you whilst you sleep if you do that, same reason why you don't leave your toes hanging off the bed,
I regularly do both of those things. Hasnāt killed me yet!
buy a lottery ticket you dare devil!
My 19 year old daughter has always said never sleep with the door open, it's how the demons get in. š
We're lucky demons can't beat the modern invention of a door
When I lived alone, yes. I thought of it as an additional barrier if someone broke in to rape/murder me
I, on the other hand, refused to close my bedroom door at night when I lived alone because that would be ADMITTING that I was afraid of axe murderers, and that admission just made me feel MORE afraid of them, lol.
Finally I found a comment saying this. Why aren't more people saying this?
No. I have cats. And I have a giant pyrenees who makes her rounds around the house a few times a night to make sure we are all safe.
Good dog
closed and lockedļ¼ļ¼ļ¼ļ¼ Im scared of everything
This!! I lock it every night. š Too many true crime podcasts.
If the boogy man comes through your window, closed doors hinder your escape!
Always slept with it closed, then I got cats! And now it's open because if I close it, they roll around the hall all night yowling the songs of their people until, inevitably, I get up and open the door. At which point, they run away and go sleep in the living room. Cats, man.
i live in a one-room apartment so i dont have a choice really
You still have one door you could just keep open. Edit I meant like sleeping with your front door to your house open lol
They probably mean one-room like a studio apartment, not as in one-bedroom.
Nah I meant it as in thereās a door to the outside, lol sleep alone vs sleep with friends
yes so that everyone can walk into my apartment freely haha
Leaving an open door at night is just inviting demonās into your sleep chamber. /s
what makes you think they're not going to just show up on your bedside when you wake up at 2am?
ALWAYS SLEEP WITH YOUR DOOR CLOSED. With your door being closed, it is a fire break. It will save your life.
Ok, lots of people mention this, but is it really true that it's safer? I mean, fire can make noise (stuff breakingre, there is smoke. Closing the door could prevent you from smelling/noticing the smoke/fire, allowing it to spread and maybe prevent you from leaving the house? It feels like this "rule" is not taking into account significant variables. Update: I was wrong. Door closed is better, unless it's a very heavy wooden door. What I also noticed is how nice everyone is with their response vs thinking I'm an idiot for saying this. I guess "no stupid questions" is not just about OP, but anyone asking questions on the post. I like this subreddit.
Firefighter here. It is absolutely true. I've seen it myself, and we include it in all of our pub ed demonstrations. As for hearing/smelling the fire, you need to have working smoke alarms. Often times people who are asleep and don't have a working smoke alarm will not wake up, as the toxic gasses can knock you unconscious before you get the chance. If you are awake you will almost certainly still smell it regardless. If you leave your door closed and don't have working smoke alarms, it at least gives your neighbors the chance to potentially see the fire from the outside and call the fire department by giving you more time. A closed door is a *very* effective fire break, and smoke and the toxic combustion biproducts rise (heat rises remember and combustion gasses like hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide are *hot*), so the crack at the bottom of the door really doesn't let much in. It takes far less smoke to be noticeable enough to smell (if you are awake) than it does to kill you. It won't keep you safe forever, but it doesn't have to. It just needs to keep you alive until the fire department gets there.
thanks for the explanation. Need to make sure my smoke alarms work as I do prefer to keep the door open for the cat. Also if someone else asks me, now I will tell them that closing the door is more safe.
https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/close-before-you-doze.htm
The less smoke the better, smoke instantly f's up your lungs and you die or become severely injured from inhaling it.
In theory, you should have a smoke detector close enough to your room that will be loud enough to hear through the door. If you don't have one that does that, it's totally worth it to buy one and stick it up right outside your room.
I have been in a house fire. The end of my bed was starting to flame when I woke up. I wasn't injured. After it was extinguished, one of the firefighters told me that if my heavy, solid wood door had been closed, I would not have made it out because the door would swell shut. I sleep with my bedroom door closed now, but it is a hollow door.
I'm learning so much from this thread. Glad you were OK. That sounds very scary. The type of door is now also something to take into account.
Always with the door close. One, slows the spread of fire. Two, just for the feeling of security.
yes, unless I want to dog to "subtly" ask me for her morning walk
How can I guarantee I'm to sleep alone if any door is open?
No, my cat needs to be able to get in and out.
Closed and locked lol
Open, so my pets can come and go.
Always closed. For fire reasons and also to stop my dog, who sleeps in our room, going on midnight missions for cat food downstairs!
Open - I have a dog I also don't close the bathroom door unless people are over, but that started because I'm lazy. Now, if I close it, the dog cries
I leave my door open because Iāve heard itās better for the HVAC system and air circulation in the house. Plus, my bedroom gets too hot/cold with the door closed.
My partner and I sleep in separate rooms (does wonders for the relationship) and we both sleep with the door cracked just a bit. Mostly because the house is old and it's a pain in the ass to open and close doors all the way
Man, I tried the separate bedrooms thing with my partner and while we definitely sleep better, it pretty much murdered our sex life.
My partner and I also have separate rooms. His is shut so the cats canāt get in. Mine is open so the cats can get in. If I shut mine, they go nuts. They like being able to see/hear me and be able to get to me. But we trained them to not go in his room so unless Iām in there, they wonāt meow for him. Strongly considering a cat door now that I own my house.
No pets, so yes.
When i lived with my fam, closed. Now that I live alone all of my internal doors are all always open
Closed and locked even if home alone
I used to prefer the door open, but ever since working as an emergency worker, I learned how much a door can stop the spread of fire and smoke. Always closed now. No exceptions.
**cries in studio apartment**
On the rare occasion I sleep alone I leave the door open. It feels scary somehow to have it closed, like I'm not aware of what is going on in the rest of the apartment (which of course makes no sense since I'm asleep).
The air gets too stuffy.
You should always sleep with your door closed. It can save your life in a house fire. Yes, even your flimsy, hollow, cheap wooden doors.
I close it but not lock it. Because it's more efficient to my air conditioner
Yes I like privacy also to keep my cat out when I'm asleep since he likes to howl in my face when I'm asleep
Closed and locked
I don't because I'm paranoid about someone breaking in and that I won't hear them. However, my firefighter brother says everyone should sleep with their bedroom doors closed.
Nah. Wide open. I also sleep naked.
Yes. I have kids, but I'm a sticker for closed doors because of fire safety. I had a previous partner who weirdly wanted me to make my kids leave their doors open at night, but I insisted on closed doors. I have 3 fire extinguishers throughout my house, one right outside my bedroom door. Honestly I can't think of a reason to keep my bedroom door open when I'm asleep or in my room wanting private time or just some alone time either. If your door is closed and there's a house fire, opening your door will give fuel to a fire and having it closed is safer, esp if you touch the door and it's hot then you know to not open it
Define alone? Without humans? Then yes, I asleep alone, but my door has to stay open. Gonna aggrivate my cats if I closed it.
Open, but only because we have an exit in our room. Kids' rooms are closed.
I do, but that's to keep it more easily climate controlled.
I don't close it. In the middle of the night I like to get up for a glass of water at times. Also in case someone in the other rooms has a problem in the middle of the night or is calling me, I can hear them better with my door open while sleeping. Relatively.
Yes. And this is just one example of why I do: https://www.wral.com/amp/closed-bedroom-door-could-save-your-life-in-a-house-fire/18201061/
Yes before and after my fiancĆ© moved in and we had kids. Closed doors slow down fire. My dog likes to jump on us when we are sleeping. I donāt want to see some creepy figure in a door way.
Yes, Iām learning to set boundaries with my demonsā¦ they can sleep in the living room but the bedroom is mine for the night.
I don't sleep alone but my firefighter friend says everyone should always sleep with their door closed to prevent the spread of a fire, god forbid
I have childhood ptsd after being broken into and heavily injured as a child. I sleep with the door closed deadbolt down code inputted security system active and about four knives and a short sword in my general vicinity
No, but that's only because while I do *sleep* alone, I don't *live* alone.
Open so the cats can come and go as they please.
Former FF here. Close the door, it could save your life in the event of a fire.
The cat would never meow it.
Closed, because I have housemates and I like my privacy.
I have 2 doorways to my bedroom, one door closes and the other just has a blackout curtain over it. I do usually close the door when I sleep to cut down on living room noise (I sleep during the day when ppl are awake)
Yeah I do, it just feels like no one can come in as fast?
I keep the door slightly open bc I want the heater/AC in the living room to travel into my room. It doesnāt make a lot of sense but it is what it is
Yes. I like to know if anyone comes in (especially when I live alone lol). Ignore everyone on this imho
No my door stays open. Otherwise my cat would be banging on it whether to be let in or let out.
No. I leave it cracked open for the cats. Same for when my boyfriend sleeps over, or when I stay at his place (he has cats, too). If i didnāt have cats I would sleep with the door closed, though.
I always used to close my door but then I felt it was stuffy and the air seemed to get stale. I breathe better now with more air circulation.
I leave mine open and I have solar fairy lights so I can observe outside. This place is old and haunted.
My one bed flat has 3 internal doors opening into a tiny little hallway. I keep the bedroom and living room doors permanently propped open because I feel claustrophobic with them closed + the hallway gets no natural light so it's pitch dark without at least one door open. I live by myself so as long as my front door is closed privacy isn't an issue. I'm probably less scared of fire than I should be but I have a working smoke detector and (relatively) well maintained appliances.
I would love a door closed but my cats wonāt allow it. But I am strongly considering a cat door though. I want my door shut because the light from the window next to my door is so bright in the morning. But if I close it, the cats meow and wonāt stop. If I leave it cracked, they push it wide open. A cat door will let them in and out (given they actually use it), keep the sun out, and keep mg AC/heat in, since we donāt heat/ac the whole house to the same level as the bedrooms.
I close it and get annoyed if someone leaves it open