Home Security Doors
November 23rd, 2008

Home Security: Doors

Before you install any type of advanced home security system you need to make sure you have completed all the basic home security steps. One of the most important steps is to make sure that you install proper doors for your house. Your doors should be strong enough to provide you will a necessary level of protection and should be hard to impossible to open by someone who is not supposed to do that. There are several other ways to make sure that your doors provide you with a proper level of protection.

The door should be made from a strong material that is hard to break. An internal cover plate can also strengthen your door. You should think about installing a steel plate or door reinforcement plate on the outside, especially in the door lock area. Depending on the material used to build the door, you should make sure that the door is thick enough and the frame is very firm and reliable. The frame should be attached to the wall in such a way that it is securely bolted to the wall and cannot be easily disconnected or pressed inside.

The type of lock that you will be installing depends on your door and on your budget. It is a good idea to protect your home with more then one door lock. The lock should be very hard to pick or to break. You may want to install an electronic door lock in addition to the regular lock or locks. If you have glass windows at the top of your door, you should think about installing a door lock that is located far from those windows, closer to the bottom of the door. This will prevent the burglar from breaking the glass and reaching to the lock from the inside. One of the inside locks should be opened only with a key.

Sliding doors are usually less secure then regular doors. The burglar may try to break into the house by raising the doors from the tracks. You should install some type of equipment that will not allow the doors to be raised. A good example of what type of equipment can be installed is a pin lock or a patio door lock. Also, if the sliding doors are made of glass (the majority of the cases) the burglar may simply try to break the glass and enter the house. When installing sliding doors you should make sure that they are made from an enforced type of glass that is very hard to break. An even better idea is to use the laminated glass since it provides with even more protection and is even harder to break then the enforced type of glass. The alarm security panel (even if it is a dummy alarm) should be seen near the glass door to scare of the burglar and to prevent the burglary attempt.

There are several basic security measures that can enforce your door and provide you with additional protection. The first step is to install a door chain. This will protect you from strangers and prospective bogus callers and will allow you to check an identification of an unknown person who knocked at your door. It is also possible to install a door limiter instead of a door chain for additional level of security. However, installing a peephole will provide you will an even higher level of security as you will no longer have to open your door first before you can see who is outside. You should also be very careful when you are installing letter boxes or name plates. These should be far from the lock and should not provide easy access to the inside of your house.

It is a good idea to install a motion detector light outside near your door. This will allow you to see in advance that someone is approaching your house and will help you to see who that person is even if it is dark outside. The motion detector light can serve a double purpose. It will also light up when your friends, neighbors or family members approach your house and will allow them to see their way and prevent them from falling down in the dark

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