Door security

​In our last two articles, you read about high security locks, what they offer, and some different available brands. This month, we’re going to discuss how to increase the security of the most vulnerable part of your home or business; the doors. Doors obviously come in many shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and materials. The most common residential doors are wood or fiberglass. Most homes have at least one fire door, which is a rated metal (steel) door that is usually found between the garage and first floor of the home. Doors also come prepped for various hardware options, including knobs or levers, deadbolts, mortise locks, or exit devices. Let’s start off with the doors in your home. Whether they are wood, steel, or fiberglass, if they are exterior doors, they should be dead bolted. If you door does not currently have a deadbolt on it, one can be installed fairly easily, and you’ll be glad you have it that same night. Exterior doors, especially those that are in-swinging, should also have reinforced strike plates. This means that the metal plate that the bolt inserts into on the door jamb should have three inch screws so that they reach the framing of the house. This makes the door very difficult to kick in. Another part of your doors that are susceptible to attack are the hinges. Hinges only come in few styles, primarily in size, finish, and function. There are spring loaded hinges, which you should find on that fire door in the garage, regular free swinging hinges, and security hinges. Most residential hinges are equipped with a security tab that in the event that somebody pops the hinge pin out, it keeps the door from being removed from its closed position. Some doors may required specialty security hardware to prevent additional types of attacks, like deadbolt sawing, latch slipping, or prying. These hardware items include latch protectors, which block the gap between the door’s edge and jamb so that it is inaccessible to saws and other burglary tools. With a properly installed latch strike plate, nobody should be able to “jimmy” your door open with a screwdriver or credit card. We also can sell and install stainless steel wrap around plates that are meant to sandwich the lock to your door and prevent it from splitting during attacks. Multiple deadbolts could also be installed on a single door, even ones that are single-sided and will only show on the inside. Some people also like the feeling of having auxiliary slide locks or bolts on their doors, in addition to deadbolts and knobs. While we do not recommend security chains, we can also install those. Another feature of a secure door is a double cylinder deadbolt. This means that you need a key to lock or unlock the deadbolt from either side of the door. This is however a safety issue, and we only recommend using a double cylinder deadbolt while the building is vacant. Call us today for a free security evaluation, where we will walk through your home or business and point out weak spots for you. Next month, we’ll touch on gun safes, and how important their place is in the gun owner’s home or business.   

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