Today most apartments or condo’s door takes one or two hard kicks to break down. Most of us still believe these doors protect us from intruders.
If you are believers, you don’t need this help; if not, continue reading on how to secure your front door from offenders. Let us figure out why your house entryway is vulnerable and what you can do to improve it to keep you and your family safe. Below are some of the critical checkpoints of any exterior door to verify periodically and fix it as necessary.
Use these simple tips to guide you toward toughening up your door and turning your home into the secure fortress you want it to be.
1. Reinforce Your Door Hinges:
One of the most significant safety issues of the exterior door is, most of them installed with small screws.
Not only are these tiny screws not very durable themselves, but they fastened in a fragile door case that will not stand the impact of a single good hard kick.
The remedy to this issue is to invest in durable 3-inch screws for your door. Add these screws into the hinges of your door, and the door locks to make breaking a lot more challenging.
Robbers aren’t interested in cutting your door itself, and with this simple modification, they will have to consider doing that because your door isn’t going to let them enter quickly.
2. Upgrade Your Deadbolt Lock:
The deadbolt is the lock that’s going to keep people out of your space. Unfortunately, most standard deadbolts only go into the wall for about one inch. That’s not far enough to offer any real security.
Consider investing in a deadbolt that’s several inches long, and also getting a deadbolt plate that utilizes longer screws for maximum protection.
With a more robust deadbolt and security plate, your door will be much more difficult to kick in. Make sure all the parts secured with 3″ screws.
To make sure you’re getting the highest quality deadbolt for your home, get an ANSI Grade 1 lock for your home. ANSI Grade 1 lock is the highest level of security and ensures that your door is difficult to break into as a result.
3. Invest in a Stronger Door:
A weak front door guards far too many homes, condos, and apartments today. Many exterior doors are hollow on the inside and simple to breakthrough.
Easy to break the door isn’t what you want when you’re trying to keep people from breaking into your home.
Do yourself a major favor and invest in solid wood doors if you’re allowed to change the doors of your apartment or wherever you’re living. Get a thick enough door, made from solid wood, and the only way to get through it will be an ax.
4. Reinforcement lock:
Most exterior doors are easy to get into without a key using a simple bump or pick set. Criminals that want to get into your home will undoubtedly try a simple bump tool to try and prop the door open.
The simplest solution to this problem is to invest in a lock you can use to add more security while you are inside the home.
You will only be able to engage the lock while you’re at home, but this still offers real protection against forced entry while you are in the house.
There are many different types of reinforcement locks, including chains, deadbolts, and more, but one of our favorites is a reinforcement lock that stops the door from swinging open without really changing the setup of the gate much at all.
The Reinforcement lock makes it easy to get some added defense without having to go through extensive steps to get there. Even a small change like this is enough to keep you safe inside the home.
5. Upgrade to a More Reliable Lock Setup:
There are bumpless or pick-resistant locks that are much more difficult to pick into while still allowing you to get into your home with a key.
You could also consider getting a lock that relies on a security code or fingerprint entry to get into your home rather than a standard key.
If you can find a lock that prevents lock picking devices from working correctly, you can enhance the security of your home even when you aren’t there, which is a worthy investment to help keep your belongings safe while you are away.
6. Permanent Barricade:
Another effective way to toughen up your front door is to invest in an actual barricade for it. Barricades attach to the Floor or Wall to secure it in position even unclocked. If you’re worried about someone gaining entry to your home while you’re in there, adding one of these barricades could help keep them out.
Slip the sturdy metal barricade into position when you’re ready to go to sleep for the night and remove it in the morning so that you can get out of your home conveniently.
7. Removable Jammer for your door:
If you don’t want to get a full-time barricade for your door, you can secure it further using a temporary jammer as well.
These jammers are very useful because they’re portable enough to bring with you anywhere you go. With these products, you can quickly secure hotel rooms while on vacation and more.
Some jammers wedge under the door handle and against the floor to create pressure to keep the door from opening. Others slide under the door and press up off the floor to prevent it from sliding around.
Either option will work well, make sure you select the product that’s going to work best in your particular situation.
8. Doorstop Alarm:
These simple alarms don’t make the door more difficult to get into, but they do serve as a security feature to help you remain alert and to scare away intruders hopefully.
These simple alarms slip under your door, and you can activate them when you’re ready to lay down for the night. Once the alarm is activated, the moment the door begins to come inward, the alarm will sound.
These alarms are very loud and will likely scare away most intruders while also notifying you that someone is trying to get in. The best part is that these alarms are easy to set up, and it takes a few minutes.
Hopefully, you can apply one or more of these techniques to securing your apartment or home. The chances are good that you aren’t as secure in your home, as you believe.
By making even just a few of these changes, you’ll make your front door much more difficult to get into and toughen up the security of your home as a result.
Make one or more of these recommended changes and gain confidence in your door at home. Just make sure you test out the differences, so you know they’re going to work well for you.