Locksmith Service5 Tips to Burglar-Proof Your Front Door
Looking to upgrade the security of your home? Start by checking to make sure your front door is secure and burglar-proof with these helpful tips.
Homeowners are always concerned about the increasing burglaries. With a rise in robbery incidences all over the country, it is crucial that you have the best tips to keep your home safe. Perhaps you might have installed high-quality locks and an effective alarm system, but is this enough to protect your home and your loved ones from burglaries?
Numerous surveys have hinted that most thieves enter houses through the front door, so you should make sure your doors are locked and secure at all times. Let’s move on to learn a few effective recommendations that might help you!
1. Fortify your Front Door
Install good quality doors. If your front or back doors are made of poor-quality material, you are at risk of getting robbed, so make sure you replace them immediately with better quality doors. If you are unsure whether your doors are solid or not, just knock on them and you will know the difference! Poor-quality doors are usually prepared from a sheet of veneer on a cardboard core.
The front door should be made of solid materials such as Fiberglass, metal and solid wood. When using a metal door, make certain that it is strong inside with a lock block, or else they can be bent out of the frame.
If you have exterior doors with windows, always replace them with windowless doors for maximum security. There should also not be any window near your front door to make it easier for the burglar to break in through and then unlock the door from the inside. If you have glass door panels or sliding doors near your front doors, consider covering them with a grille or security grate on the outside to make them more secure.
2. Keep Your Front Door Locked
It is surprising but true that in many burglary cases, burglars have entered homes through an unlocked door. There is no point in installing even the strongest lock in the world if you don’t keep it locked and secured. Make sure that you lock all your exterior doors when you leave your house, even if you are out for just a few minutes. You never know if you are being watched by a potential burglar.
If you are looking for safe locks to keep your exterior doors secure, think about deadbolt locks installation. Make sure that you get deadbolt locks installed along with doorknob locks in every exterior door except the sliding locks. Always buy solid metal deadbolts with grade 1 or 2 that comes with a throw bolt.
Getting one more additional dead-bolts installed on your door will offer it extra safety when you are home. Also referred to as ‘exit-only deadbolt,’ it is a kind of lock that does not have an external key. The lock is visible from outside, but it cannot be unlocked without breaking the door, frame, and lock itself. Even though the lock may not be functional when you are not at home, its visibility may dissuade an intruder from breaking into the house.
3. Secure Your Sliding Doors
Most sliding doors have simple latches, and even when locking it, that may not be enough to dissuade the veteran robber. Simple latches can be easily broken by wiggling the door a bit.
Considering how easy it is to break the builtin simple latches on most sliding doors, an effective way to safeguard your sliding door is by installing locks with a key at the top and bottom. You can also consider buying a bar that moves back and forth and helps prevent the door from sliding. In addition, placing a thick wooden rod at the bottom of the track prevents it from being opened as well.
4. Protect Your Entryway
You can consider installing cylinder guards around the lock cylinders to make them more secure. In most cases, robbers remove or break the lock cylinders by prying, beating or wrenching. You can secure these with safety rings or metal guard plates on both sides of the door. Most highly-secure locks come with safety rings, guard plates, and free-spinning rings to make the lock stronger. You can consider installing them if your locks are not secure and advanced enough.
Most strike plates are flimsy with short screws and don’t offer the necessary protection. Strike plates are the metal plate that covers the lockset, and thus, front doors should have efficient metal strike plates that are fastened with solid long screws.
In general, the hinges must be inside the door. However, if the hinges of your doors are exposed, consider re-hanging the door or use non-removable pins to safeguard the bare hinges. It can be done by taking out the two center screws of the hinge and replacing them with non-removable hinge pins.
Your door frame should be strong too because even if your exterior door is made of solid wood or metal, it can be easily kicked down if the frame is made of flimsy material. Most door frame moldings are just glued to the wall and a big blow can easily damage them and rip them from the wall. Fasten your door frames to the wall with solid, long screws and make certain that the screws reach the wall stud.
5. Install Peepholes in Your Front Door
Also called viewers, peepholes are great when installed on your exterior door; they allow you to see who is standing on the outside of your door. You can consider installing broad-viewed peepholes with covers at eye level on all your exterior doors. It is a much better option than chain locks as they offer more safety. Make sure that your peephole is not a reverse peephole viewer that allows visitors to look back.
It is imperative that you practice safety tips to keep your front doors secure. Have you taken any steps to secure your front doors? If not, do it today with the help of Locksmiths Locator and enjoy a secure and blissful life!
