disappointed with my door while installing Taylor deadbolt!

[Jake T]

after reading some recent threads here concerning deadbolts, I decided to purchase one to be installed on my front door:

However, I was disappointed to find that my door was hollow! This house was built in the late 50's and I always thought the doors were solid wood. Another caveat was that as I was chiseling out space in the door frame for the other part of the lock, I find that there's no stud close by. So, I was forced to install the bracket onto the trim. Needless to say, I don't feel much more secure than I did with just the standard door lock. Since it's all said and done now, is there anything I can do with the existing installation to firm things up?

[Ed Pawlowski]

No matter what you do, you still have a hollow core door. It does not take much to kick one down.

Perhaps a metal strip will reinforce the frame a bit.

[Ralph Mowery]

Most of the things you see to harden a house are just the feel good waste of money things. Are there any windows that can easily be smashed ?

One time the wife could not get up and had to call an ambulance while I was in the hospital. The medics broke in the front door that had a deadbolt on on it. Looking over the problem when I got home a day later the easy repair that did not look too bad was a metal strip about 2 feet long with holes in for the lock and screws that is sold by Home Depot as a security device.

[Clare Snyder]

Most current outside doors are foam filled with "masonite" skins. Better doore have steel skins - and the GOOD ones are fiberglass. Basically only "fire rated" or some "high security" doors are solid - and they are HEAVY - often having 4 ball bearing hinges insted of 3 plain pin hinges.

[gfretwell]

There is a stud in there, just to hang the drywall on but it might be up to an inch away from the door frame depending on the R/O and the bucking. They usually tend to get closer to the stud on the hinge side and buck in the gap on the latch end. The walls I have built, I try to make the R/O as tight as I can to the door frame. You really need to be careful about being plumb tho since you don't have the flexibility of a bunch of shims. You could probe by drilling a hole where the bolt goes and seeing how far you get without hitting something with coat hanger wire. Maybe longer screws would get a bite into something. Just be careful tightening them so you don't pull the frame out of plumb. Worst case, pop off the casing and look. Maybe you could cut a shim to fill the gap. Then you can crank down on the screws. I did that on my front door but I was replacing the casing anyway.

[Jake T]

I was thinking of trying this (going back and probing with a coat hanger or similar), so thanks for the suggestion. I noticed several videos where they used longer than normal screws to reach the studs. I'll carefully drill pilots and hand tighten if I find one. At least that would give me a bit more security, but I still have to laugh at this mediocre door. Someday when I get the funds, I'm going to have to replace it with something more substantial.

[angelica...]

The other day I was contemplating putting up a sign on the front door that says: Fire Department: Please smash through rear door.

We took great pains to install the front door, but the back door is a patio door that probably needs to be replaced anyway.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

When my wife was building we replaced all of our doors. She could get them wholesale and we were trying to harden the place against windstorms. Around here if you want a break on your insurance you would have to get rid of a hollow core door and beef up the mounting. My hinges and latch strikes are fastened into the solid concrete rough openings with 4"x3/16" TapCon screws, long enough to get through the frame and bucking. It is solid wood because I filled the gaps. It is a steel door. I imagine the cops could break it with a batter ram but it would take a few hits.