I would like to reinforce my doors to prevent the possibility of them being kicked in by a scum bag thief. I've seen door edge guards, heavy duty strike plates with long screws and other contraptions. Which one is best? My doors have dead bolts but it wouldn't take much to break the door jamb. Thanks. The Wobulator
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A motion sensor "porch light" (even if you don't have a porch) and any combination of loud/mean dog and/or semi-automatic hand gun (with proper training, of course.) HTH.
Take it from someone who has kicked in a lot of doors.........the most difficult door I've come up against was a heavy steel door with a reinforcing bar. By that I mean a bar that is placed in a brace on the floor and a brace under the knob. I had to find an alternate point of ingress because this sucker was tough.
Short of replacing your wooden door you might try using a reinforcing bar and installing steel pegs (4 or 5) into the hinged side of the door that will "lock" into the jamb. (Imagine a doweled joint) That should make it pretty difficult to kick in.
"TexasFireGuy" offers up:
Replace the wooden door or put up a security storm door. I almost kicked a door in half , but the jamb gave way first.
Something else to note. I remember living in a POS house for a while and I reinforced the lock area when I replaced the lock. After I was done, I gave it a few "bumps" with my shoulder and you could see the wall might actually give way. Inspect your structure.
If it is a wood jamb, forget it. Adding a extended steel striker plate with long screws into the stud will help, but enough kicks (or the proper method of a prybar) can still shatter the jamb. About the only way to prevent entry is a jam stick under the knob, going down to a socket in the floor. (quite common in big cities), or a 2x4 in clips across the door. But that only helps when you are home, or have another more secure door to go in and out of. I presume your main worry is daytime breakins while you are at work? (been there, had that done to me, so I do sympathize.)
Replacing with a steel door and steel frame is the proper solution, and I mean a Real Steel Door, not one of the wimpy steel-clad, which peel like a beer can.
Do keep in mind that fire dept, ambulance, etc, need to be able to get through door in an emergency. Of course, they are not worried about being quiet during forced entry, and carry pointy things that would make burglars green with envy.
Most local PDs, and your insurance company, are happy to do home security evaluations, and can recommend appropriate level of defense for where you live.
aem sends...
this is what you want along with a steel door and good installation
Putting out a large dog water bowl with a I love rotties door mat would help too!
Wayne
SO, you have no windows that are near the ground for them to go through?
Tom J
That of course is the downside to reinforced doors. However, we've got these nifty little power saws that will make quick work of even a stainless steel door. It should not have taken 30 minutes to get through, even on the
9th floor.By the way....it doesn't matter how tough your door is if your windows are accessible. And we can get through burglar bars fairly easily these days.
Folks should also be aware that there is a tool called a jamb spreader. You can put all the locks you want on a door, but if the bolts are too short the spreader will make them obsolete.
Gee willickers! When you get that door installed, whatcha going to cover the windows with? Got 911 service in your neighborhood?
In alt.home.repair on Mon, 21 Jul 2003 15:32:10 GMT "TexasFireGuy" posted:
They sell an in-door deadbolt that is just a half or 3/4 inch longer than the regular one. Is that enough to make a difference?
And by the way, the guy who kicked in my door didn't really damage the door, only the piece of wood the strike plate in the door jamb is screwed to, and the pine door jamb molding!
Meirman
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funny you mention that, my friend has all the signs "beware of dog ", "guard dog on premise" etc..
he also has a large chain, with a broken collar on it, it looks like the dog got away in the yard.
punch
the time fram isan estimate, I believe the cops were first on the scene, the super didn't have the proper keys to the lock,
and yes power saws do make short work of a door,
bolt cutters or air tools? (jaws of life)
Punch
I heard that scum bags preferred doors to windows cause they might get hurt by the broken glass. The Wobulator
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Around here, kicking in doors and breaking windows without preparation would cause too much noise, something our neighborhood burglars aren't interested in.
Scum bags around here quietly work on the door jamb while the family isn't home or cover the window with masking tape before they break it so they don't get that shatter effect.
In this neighborhood, kicking in doors and shattering windows without masking tape is reserved for disgruntled scum bag ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, and yes, even a few ex-wives and ex-girlfriends.
Cindy
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