6 Strategies You Can Use To Improve Front Door Safety
Your home’s front door is usually the first obstacle that a burglar would need to go through in order to access the house. For the sake of your family’s safety and to ensure that you don’t lose property, it would be wise to make sure that the front door is as near impregnable as you can afford. It is usually very easy to take this for granted until you end up being the victim of such an attempt. However, the changes that can be instituted to make the front door safer are usually very straightforward, so implanting them should not be a major problem for you. Some of these are:
Install a deadbolt
As far as locks go, one of the most intimidating that you can get for your front door is the deadbolt. This is usually a low cost lock, but will definitely do a lot to improve the safety profile of the front door. There are many varieties of deadbolts you can get including single cylinder and double cylinder varieties. It is important that you pick a high quality (Grade 1) lock if you are to gain the most security from it. These are usually made of components that make them physically h4, so it’s going to take a while for any burglar to break it. They are also harder to crack open using items such as wires. Some are also resistant to chemical damage such as from water, meaning that the lock will not let you down on account of corrosion.
Get a strike box
You can replace your current strike plate with a strike box, which ensures that there is a solid connection between the door jamb and the wall. By installing a strike box, you will essentially be increasing the contact between the lock and the wall. This in turn means that any force transmitted to the door by a burglar is likely to be in turn transmitted through the wall, making it far more difficult to damage the lock. Installing this device normally requires changing various aspects of the lock, but it’s a worthy investment when you consider how much safer you will be with it.
Re-key your locks
If you have any reason to suspect that there might be other people out there with keys to your front door lock, re-keying the lock should be a primary goal. This ensures that you have the same lock in place, but that you use a different key for it. A good example of when this might be necessary is if you buy a home from someone else, and are not sure whether they made copies of the locks or not.
Buy a solid core door
After assessing your front door, you might find that it’s a bit too flimsy to be safe. Replacing it is usually the most ideal way of reversing this state of affairs. When you decide to do this, it would be a good idea to simply go for the best option available: solid core doors.
Solid core doors are designed in such a manner that the middle of the door is made of a very dense substance such as hardwood or metal, which is then covered by wood veneer to give it a more pleasing aesthetic effect. For instance, the very best of them will have a thick slab of steel or aluminum in place.
This serves various functions. For one, the core strengthens the doors, meaning that any intruder would need to use a lot of force to even make it budge. The fact that the door might have metal in its core also offers some degree of protection against gunfire, since it might act as armor. This makes such doors useful in areas where gun crimes are common.
Get a peephole
A tactic that some people might use when robbing a home is to knock, and then force the door open once you unlock it. If this happens, the front door might not be of much use even if it has a solid metal core.
Getting a door that has a peephole can help, since you only need to look through it to get an idea of what’s happening outside. Ideally, the peephole should be the wide angle variety. This way, even if the individual moves aside to avoid being directly ahead of the peephole, you will still be able to see them before opening the door.
Get a door with multiple latches
Some doors can be designed to have more than one latch, so that there are more points of contact between the door and the frame. In most cases, the door will have only one lock that will operate all the latches.
Your front door is very important when it comes to home security, so it would be unwise to make any compromises when installing one. You can use any of the above tips to make it safer and more secure for yourself and your family.