LPT: If you have a door in your house that is for aesthetics only (you don’t use it), unscrew the handle and point it into the door frame AND move the frame’s strike plate to an obliquely angle. Why? Animals.

Our door had no door handle on the other side, so you can only open/close it from one side. We never use it; it’s a door for aesthetics only. <br><br>One time I had an animal get in my house. It was a possum that had gotten into my ceiling and fell into my attic (the noise you heard was the animal breaking the drywall fall). Before this, no animal had ever gotten past the door (going from attic into the house proper). <br><br>I woke up to find the possum walking around my house, and my dog going nuts barking. The possum had used its claws to open the “aesthetic” door. <br><br>Once I caught the possum with a humane animal trap, I unscrewed the door handle and pointed it towards the door frame. Then I removed the strike plate and screwed it back in an oblique angle, so even if an animal wanted to use its paws/claws to manipulate the door handle, it could never get enough leverage. This was years ago and I’ve never had an animal bypass it since.