Reinforcing doors

[Matty F]

In a remote mountain hut we have three external doors. Having had many breakins over the years (two involving attempts to burn the building down, one of them completely successful) we want to make the rebuilt building more secure. The external doors are made from 18mm tongue and groove timber with a frame around. I intend reinforcing the edges of the doors with angle iron. I'd like to reinforce the doors more by attaching plywood on the inside so that it's harder to smash through the door. Each door would need two panels about 800mm X 600mm, and I guess somewhere between 10mm and 15mm thick ply.

What's the best way of attaching the plywood? I was thinking of sanding the paint off the interior of the door and using some kind of wood glue. I could also use coach bolts with the head on the outside, but that may be overkill.

Here's the inside of a door

[Colin Wilson]

It sounds like the building is left unattended for a period of time (otherwise the scrotes wouldn't be targetting it) - wouldn't roller shutters or security doors be a better option ?

[sm_jamieson]

Sounds like you need metal security container dropped in with a helicopter. Sorry, that's not very helpful ;-) Simon.

[Matty F]

There are grills over the windows and the burglar alarm carries for about a mile. When it's going it's impossible to stay around the hut without earmuffs. There's now no way in except through the doors. As a last resort I'll clad the doors in sheet metal. But it's probably not necessary. It's a long way for anyone to carry substantial breaking-in tools.

[dom]

I'd agree - roller shutters - or the cheaper option, steel over-gates (the kind of thing you see on London flats a lot).

A door is only as strong as its frame - roller shutters and over-gates anchor directly into the masonry.

[Matty F]

They can only burn it down if they get inside.The hut is clad in corrugated iron to the ground. But I don't really want to get into all those details. Just what kind of glue to use!

[Rod]

think about doing this:

o Remove door and lay flat.

o Strip finish from inside of door.

o Paint a layer of polyester resin onto the inside and use that to stick down ply into each recessed area of the door.

o Repeat until the recessed ares are full. E.g. if the recess is 25mm and the ply is 6mm maybe three or four layers (depending on thickness of polyester resin).

o Apply a final sheet over the whole inside of the door (maybe slightly less than full height/width to avoid having to make adjustments to the hinges/frame). If acceptable, I would glue and screw this to the stiles, etc. of the door itself.

o Consider improving hinges - this will make the door much heavier and, anyway, you need good hinges to make the door secure.

o Consider inseting layers of glass fibre (CFM, roving, almost anything) into each layer of polyester.

I hate the smell of polyester - if you do, you might wish to leave the door away from the hut while the smell wears off.

[Dave]

For security, there is no such thing as overkill.

I would tend to go for a more secure look to the outside of the cabin, something that makes an unwelcome visitor go for an easier target. Something like a steel cladding on the outside, secured to the main part of the building. It can be removed and stored round the back when you are in residence.

Though gluing ply to the inside of the door might make it harder to break through, I wouldn't trust it. A door is only as strong as its basic construction.

2 mm of stainless steel on the outside is your best bet.

Just my 2 pennyworth

Dave

[nightjar]

I used to work in a shop that had been a pharmacy. It had an outside store and, while that had not been used for storing drugs, it was broken into regularly, despite repeated upgrades in security, Finally they fitted a 3mm steel sheet over the whole outside of the door, held on with coach bolts at about 3" intervals all around the edge, and fitted a centre-pivot padlockable bar that engaged in substantial brackets on either side, which did work.

Overkill is cheaper in the long run, particularly if it visible overkill. Strengthening the inside of the door might prevent someone getting in, but it won't stop the damage they cause while trying.

Colin Bignell

[robert]

As suggested an additional steel grill door is probably the simplest and most effective way.

Easy to fit and if fitted away from the door will prevent damage to the original door . It can be easily clipped back when the hut is occupied.

The grill will provide the security, the door will keep the weather out.