The front door lock to your house is one of the most common entry points for intruders, and one of the most important to have secure. You would think that they would try to sneak in through a window or go around back, but most don’t. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that the front door to your house is impenetrable.
To dramatically improve your front door security you can:
- replace the screws in your door lock’s metal plate with longer three inch screws
2. replace your short metal plate with a longer one
3. replace the rest of the door, door lock and door hinge screws with the longer three inch screws
4. replace your hollow door with a solid door
5. Add a door lock that can only be opened from inside
6. add a “security lock door barricade”, and
7. add a “portable door lock brace” from the inside of the door.
The Door Knob and Deadbolt
Don’t Go Far Enough Into The Door Frame
In most cases, the closing latch on your door knob and the deadbolt lock, if you have one, only go between 1/2 and 1 inch into the door frame. And the wood on a typical door frame just isn’t that sturdy. There is a metal plate on your door frame that the lock goes into. But in almost every case, that metal plate is attached to the door frame with 3/4 inch screws. Which means that the plate is also only attached to that thin wooden door frame.
This makes a lot of front doors really easy to kick in. Just take a look at the picture and see how that wood just split.
So what can you do about it?
1. The easiest and cheapest solution is to replace the screws in those metal plates. Take the short screws out one at a time, and replace them with 3 inch long screws. These longer screws will go all
2. If you really want to make it secure, consider adding
Your Door Hinges Are Just as Weak
The problem we identified with the deadbolt lock also applies to the hinges. Fortunately, for exterior doors and even some interior doors, companies are starting to use at least 1 longer screw when they install the hinges, especially on exterior doors. But a lot of the screws used are still those 3/4 inch ones and they just aren’t that sturdy. In fact, people often have problems with those screws just falling out over time as they use their door.
So what do you do?
3. This answer may seem pretty obvious after that first section. There’s no particular product that I’m going to recommend. Just replace the screws in both the door and the door frame with 3-inch long screws. That will secure the hinges firmly into the studs framing in the door, as well as into the door itself. Assuming, of course, that it’s a solid core door. Which brings me to our next point.
The Door Itself is Weak
Most exterior doors for homes are built pretty sturdy these days. But certainly not all. If your door is hollow inside, even if the shell is made of metal, it may be pretty easy to actually break through. So here’s our next recommendation.
4. Make sure that your exterior doors are completely solid. By that I mean that they aren’t hollow at all inside. A solid wood door will hold up far better when being kicked in than any hollow core door. The only way through will be an axe, which is a good thing if a firefighter needs to break in and save your life. But there aren’t many intruders out there that will be willing to make such a scene by chopping up your front door with an axe.
Another problem with front doors is that a lot of them have decorative windows. That’s nice and all, but it’s far less secure than a solid door with no windows. Don’t get me wrong, those doors look great, and the glass they use is really strong. So having a window in your door isn’t the end of the world. But if you want to make your door impenetrable, I suggest going with a solid one.
They Can Pick a Lock or Use a Bump Key
So now you’ve made your door impervious to blunt forces. Nobody is kicking that thing in. But what if they can just unlock it?
With a lock pick or a bump key, some intruders can simply unlock your front door and walk right in. No amount of screws or plates are going to keep that door shut at that point. So what can you do? Well, I have a few great options for you to consider.
5. Add a lock that can only be opened from inside. There are a lot of options here. You can add a 1-sided deadbolt that doesn’t have a keyhole on the outside. This can only be locked and unlocked from the inside. These can be tough to install yourself because you have to bore out the holes though. You can go with a chain or latch. It’s easy to install and gives you quite a bit of added security, being a lock that you can only open from inside.
6. Add a permanent barricade, again that can only be removed from inside. Nightlock makes a couple of products that I really like. One, because they won’t let the door open if it
7. The next option is to just use a temporary or portable barricade. There are a
So what about everyday use? You want to be able to use your front door right?
Of course you do. I don’t suggest that these block your doors all day every day. I would place these at night and when you leave the house. If you feel like you’re in an unsafe area or you’re particularly vulnerable, then keep them in during the day too.
What about when you need to leave the house? How do you get out, place these, and then how would you get back in?
It’s quite simple, I suggest that you don’t use the front door of your house for your primary exit. If you can, I would try to exit through the garage. If you take the appropriate steps, your garage can be a difficult entry point for intruders already, but a really easy entry point for you.
Shop Winly Lock door locks, handlesets, lever sets, and hardware.
