User Panel
Posted: 10/10/2012 8:11:22 AM EDT
Just bought my first home and am looking to beef up the currently lame front and rear door frames . Any recommendations? I see Home Depot has strike master and just googling shows some other mfg that are supposed to be better but who knows...
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I would look in to the metal screen doors if you are concerned.
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You can buy a complete metal frame and door at Home Depot. I put one on the side of the garage.
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Quoted: You can buy a complete metal frame and door at Home Depot. I put one on the side of the garage. This. You can even run lag bolts into your studs if you like. The weak point on a door is always the latch; this is why you kick a door by the latch to kick it in. A long, solid deadbolt run deep into the jack/stud and a metal door should give you some piece of mind. Speed |
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replacing entire doors isn't really feasible budget wise right now. The back and garage door are metal the front is wood.
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A basic start would be the larger strike plate if possible, and pull some of the screws from the hinges and strike plate to see if they are too short.
The hinges in my home were attached with short coarse-thread screws. They were all replaced with much longer screws, and I upgraded the strikers for both the latch and the deadbolts- longer and more attachments points. As you replace the deadbolts, consider ones that are keyed on both sides if there is a window nearby. The former owner had ones with latches inside but there was a narrow window next to the front door. Break window, unlock deadbolt. |
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I'd find something to reinforce the deadbolt latch, like someone already suggested. On every burglary I've worked where the door was kicked in, the frame of the door was simply splintered off around the deadbolt latch. It will help if you use longer screws (into the studs) on the latch plate.
Also, replace the short screws on the hinges (again, as has already been suggested) with longer screws into the studs. Also, you might consider removing the interior casing and installing additional shims where you add these screws, as the longer screws will pull the frame in toward the framing. Finally (again, already suggested), put double keyed deadbolts in any doors where there is glass nearby. |
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Door reinforcement around the locks, and an "armored strike plate". Use long stainless steel screws and attach the strike plate to the stud.
Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Try this link. It is from the outdoorchannels show, "Best Defense Survival". Its good info on doors.
Link Jim |
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Do it Bronson style and lay boards with nails poking through at your doors and windows.
True story: My buddys garage was getting broken into evey weekend. He used Bondo and and puttied razor blades to the baseplates of all the windows. (Body shop) The next monday, the window was broke out and there was blood everywhere, lot's of it. That was the end of his break ins. |
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My doors are steel doors/frame the open out. Smash and grab burglars won't be kicking them in or otherwise opening them unless they bring some tools.
As somebody trained in forcible entry I can say there is no residential construction solution that a determined invader with a few tools could not overcome in less than a minute. |
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replacing entire doors isn't really feasible budget wise right now. The back and garage door are metal the front is wood. If the front is a wood panel door then no amount of jamb or latch reinforcement is going to mean anything. Panel doors can be caved in at the rail and stile joints with a solid kick to the center. You can do some redneck reinforcing by screwing a sheet of plywood to the inner face and fastening to each of the rail and stile members. Be sure not to fasten the panels. I've kicked in steel residential doors without any damage to the jamb or strike at all. The metal door skins and wood bore blocking would fail first, allowing the hardware to lever free. You can reinforce against that with something like this, but I'd drill two additional holes for attaching it closer to the door edge. For now pull the trim and make sure the gap between jamb and frame is properly shimmed at all latch points. Then replace the screws on the strike plates with 3" wood screws to secure them to solid house framing. Make sure you've got at least one long screw in each leaf of your hinges, too. |
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Simply using screws on the hinges and latch plates that are long enough to reach the studs will make a big difference.
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I beefed up my doors with Door Jamb Armor it was the least expensive and best way to do it.
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You know that they're going to come in through the windows or the sliding glass door, right?
Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Door armor works great. The kit comes with the jamb, lock and hinge reenforcement plates and extended screws. 30 minutes or less to install.
ETA: The security is only as good as the door itself. I have seen people use cheap hollow core doors for garages. Shitheads will make their own doggie door with a sawzall or axe in about 45 seconds and bypass the lock and alarm contact. |
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po.
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Do it Bronson style and lay boards with nails poking through at your doors and windows. True story: My buddys garage was getting broken into evey weekend. He used Bondo and and puttied razor blades to the baseplates of all the windows. (Body shop) The next monday, the window was broke out and there was blood everywhere, lot's of it. That was the end of his break ins. Yeah, firefighters and paramedics just love running into booby traps like that. We think it's a hoot. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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replacing entire doors isn't really feasible budget wise right now. The back and garage door are metal the front is wood. If the front is a wood panel door then no amount of jamb or latch reinforcement is going to mean anything. Panel doors can be caved in at the rail and stile joints with a solid kick to the center. You can do some redneck reinforcing by screwing a sheet of plywood to the inner face and fastening to each of the rail and stile members. Be sure not to fasten the panels. I've kicked in steel residential doors without any damage to the jamb or strike at all. The metal door skins and wood bore blocking would fail first, allowing the hardware to lever free. You can reinforce against that with something like this, but I'd drill two additional holes for attaching it closer to the door edge. For now pull the trim and make sure the gap between jamb and frame is properly shimmed at all latch points. Then replace the screws on the strike plates with 3" wood screws to secure them to solid house framing. Make sure you've got at least one long screw in each leaf of your hinges, too. The front door is a old solid wood door beside just the latches it's seems quite solid. Which is why I was looking for some frame enforcement. Home Depot has a metal door with a metal frame that when you lock to 3 bolts come out and lock into the frame like on a gun safe. That seemed quite sturdy but it was also $800. |
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. I wanted to get that done on some single frame french doors. What's that cost? People who install want to make a big deal out of giving you quotes. Don't want to take off work to meet them at home to get estimates. |
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You know that they're going to come in through the windows or the sliding glass door, right? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile No sliding door and the downstairs living rooms windows are 2 pane and solild they don't open. The master bedroom window does open but they are in a high vis area. |
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. I wanted to get that done on some single frame french doors. What's that cost? People who install want to make a big deal out of giving you quotes. Don't want to take off work to meet them at home to get estimates. You could buy the film and ask a local window tinter to do it for a set amount for each window. I'd only do the basement/ground floor ones, unless you live in tornado alley. Then do all of them. |
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. That too. I have the tinted stuff on mine. Helps with the AC bill in the summer. Dense, spiny plants planted round windows helps as well. Good motion activated security lights are also a good idea. Bad guys like to operate under cover of darkness when possible. Getting lit up at 03:00 sneaking around the side of a house tends to unnerve them. |
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. I wanted to get that done on some single frame french doors. What's that cost? People who install want to make a big deal out of giving you quotes. Don't want to take off work to meet them at home to get estimates. You could buy the film and ask a local window tinter to do it for a set amount for each window. I'd only do the basement/ground floor ones, unless you live in tornado alley. Then do all of them. You guys realize that window film, without the adhesive that bonds film to glass, glass to sash, is worthless as protection right? An unbonded filmed window is quieter to break, falls out in pretty much a single sheet, and is no deterrent whatsoever. You may call bullshit but i sell film, bonded and unbonded, windows and doors, and exterior hurricane protection products. If you want to harden a home, it is easy but costly. |
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I had a Home Depot fiberglass door put in a few years ago. They cut the old one out of the frame as the new one came already framed. While the guy was working I asked him to throw more nails into the exposed frame before putting on the trim panels. Once that was done I bought a commercial quality steel "screen" door to go over the top of that. Big 1/4" one-way lag bolts into the frame of the house. Of course good doors don't mean a thing without good locks - again the top-of-the-line locks which were "bump" proof. There's a dead bolt in each door, the inner door requires a key on both sides. We leave the thing unlocked when we're at home but throw that inner dead bolt when we leave. The inner conventional lock is digital and it automatically locks every time the door is closed.
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. I wanted to get that done on some single frame french doors. What's that cost? People who install want to make a big deal out of giving you quotes. Don't want to take off work to meet them at home to get estimates. You could buy the film and ask a local window tinter to do it for a set amount for each window. I'd only do the basement/ground floor ones, unless you live in tornado alley. Then do all of them. You guys realize that window film, without the adhesive that bonds film to glass, glass to sash, is worthless as protection right? An unbonded filmed window is quieter to break, falls out in pretty much a single sheet, and is no deterrent whatsoever. You may call bullshit but i sell film, bonded and unbonded, windows and doors, and exterior hurricane protection products. If you want to harden a home, it is easy but costly. Thanks for the information. |
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Strikemaster on all my exterior doors. Lowes has a cheaper alternative that's only 40 bucks. I haven't seen it in person though.
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I put these on all our exterior doors.
Door devil Quick, easy and no one has broken in since I did it. |
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. I wanted to get that done on some single frame french doors. What's that cost? People who install want to make a big deal out of giving you quotes. Don't want to take off work to meet them at home to get estimates. You could buy the film and ask a local window tinter to do it for a set amount for each window. I'd only do the basement/ground floor ones, unless you live in tornado alley. Then do all of them. You guys realize that window film, without the adhesive that bonds film to glass, glass to sash, is worthless as protection right? An unbonded filmed window is quieter to break, falls out in pretty much a single sheet, and is no deterrent whatsoever. You may call bullshit but i sell film, bonded and unbonded, windows and doors, and exterior hurricane protection products. If you want to harden a home, it is easy but costly. So what's something like that run? Ballpark? One giant window on 2 french doors. I realize it has to be bonded, I've looked into this but it's tough to get people even to give a quote without spending an inordinate amount of time with them, which I haven't had. I'm just looking at getting into the ballpark. 3M film, installed correctly. |
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I put these on all our exterior doors. Door devil Quick, easy and no one has broken in since I did it. does that one have the reinforcement fort the locks on the door? |
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Replace the short 1" screws in the strikeplate and hinges with 3" screws that go all the way into the studs around the door frame. Remember to drill pilot holes for the 3" screws so they don't split the studs.
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I put these on all our exterior doors. Door devil Quick, easy and no one has broken in since I did it. does that one have the reinforcement fort the locks on the door? No, it only reinforces the door frame. You have to start with a good door and good locks. |
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Do it Bronson style and lay boards with nails poking through at your doors and windows. True story: My buddys garage was getting broken into evey weekend. He used Bondo and and puttied razor blades to the baseplates of all the windows. (Body shop) The next monday, the window was broke out and there was blood everywhere, lot's of it. That was the end of his break ins. My Dad did the same thing with some fishhooks, he also lined the backyard fence with them. Stopped the breakins real quick. |
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I've done this at three houses. Gat a 6' length of 1-1/2 wide aluminum angle iron.Carve out holes for the deadbolt and strike plate. Screw it into the doorjamb with screws long enough to reach the studs. The deadbolt fits into the hole in the angle iron. The door latch hits the strike plate. You can't drive car through it.
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To beef up the windows you get the 3M window film. It'll slow them down long enough for you to response or for a neighbor to call the po po. I wanted to get that done on some single frame french doors. What's that cost? People who install want to make a big deal out of giving you quotes. Don't want to take off work to meet them at home to get estimates. You could buy the film and ask a local window tinter to do it for a set amount for each window. I'd only do the basement/ground floor ones, unless you live in tornado alley. Then do all of them. You guys realize that window film, without the adhesive that bonds film to glass, glass to sash, is worthless as protection right? An unbonded filmed window is quieter to break, falls out in pretty much a single sheet, and is no deterrent whatsoever. You may call bullshit but i sell film, bonded and unbonded, windows and doors, and exterior hurricane protection products. If you want to harden a home, it is easy but costly. So what's something like that run? Ballpark? One giant window on 2 french doors. I realize it has to be bonded, I've looked into this but it's tough to get people even to give a quote without spending an inordinate amount of time with them, which I haven't had. I'm just looking at getting into the ballpark. 3M film, installed correctly. With the 3m stuff look for the 5 to 10 dollar a square foot range depending on thickness. For the stuff I have you, can go from 2 mil film to 10 mil film. There is a large price range which is the reason people want to meet with you. They don't want to give you 11 different quotes, they want you to pick the tint or tone of the film ( I have safety film clear and solar safety film tinted), and then give you one or two quotes. No one in sale has time to spin 11 quotes for each person that calls. Additionally, the film you choose may not be a stock item. In that case you are buying the entire roll regardless of how big your project is. If it isn't a stock item it doesn't sell enough to warrant a standing par for inventory purposes, the total cost is on you. The sales visit at the home shouldn't take more than 30 miutes. Make up your mind on your primary buying criteria, if the film also has value added properties then all the better. Don't let them push you into higher priced film, stick to your guns. Solar Gard, Madico, and 3M all put out a good product. In my opinion Solar Gard is tops though. |
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If you want to go really cheap, for starters, just replace the current screws for the strike plate with ones that are at least 2" long. The ones in my current house were only 1/2" long, not even going into the wooden house framing around the door. For a few dollars more, by a more generous strike plate first.
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battery powered demo saw and the wall next to the door. Unless you go really nuts and put bars on all windows and seriously do your doors, a good deadbolt set with lags is about as good as you are going to get to kep opportunists out. Someone really wants to get in, they will. A good (stolen) demo saw makes quick work of a wall.
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Quoted: battery powered demo saw and the wall next to the door. Unless you go really nuts and put bars on all windows and seriously do your doors, a good deadbolt set with lags is about as good as you are going to get to kep opportunists out. Someone really wants to get in, they will. A good (stolen) demo saw makes quick work of a wall. To me, the goal isn't to keep someone out. It's to slow them down and make them make noise while getting in. |
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battery powered demo saw and the wall next to the door. Unless you go really nuts and put bars on all windows and seriously do your doors, a good deadbolt set with lags is about as good as you are going to get to kep opportunists out. Someone really wants to get in, they will. A good (stolen) demo saw makes quick work of a wall. To me, the goal isn't to keep someone out. It's to slow them down and make them make noise while getting in. Ahhhh! OK, that is different. Attack tarantulas, the best bet. The screams make noise |
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With the 3m stuff look for the 5 to 10 dollar a square foot range depending on thickness. For the stuff I have you, can go from 2 mil film to 10 mil film. There is a large price range which is the reason people want to meet with you. They don't want to give you 11 different quotes, they want you to pick the tint or tone of the film ( I have safety film clear and solar safety film tinted), and then give you one or two quotes. No one in sale has time to spin 11 quotes for each person that calls. Additionally, the film you choose may not be a stock item. In that case you are buying the entire roll regardless of how big your project is. If it isn't a stock item it doesn't sell enough to warrant a standing par for inventory purposes, the total cost is on you. The sales visit at the home shouldn't take more than 30 miutes. Make up your mind on your primary buying criteria, if the film also has value added properties then all the better. Don't let them push you into higher priced film, stick to your guns. Solar Gard, Madico, and 3M all put out a good product. In my opinion Solar Gard is tops though. Appreciate it. I'm not looking for any tinting at all, just security film thick enough to make breaking the windows frustrating. I've already reinforced the weak spots on the doors. I've got an alarm with motion detectors anyway, so that'd catch them even if they got in. Thanks again... I've been meaning to get this rolling. |
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With the 3m stuff look for the 5 to 10 dollar a square foot range depending on thickness. For the stuff I have you, can go from 2 mil film to 10 mil film. There is a large price range which is the reason people want to meet with you. They don't want to give you 11 different quotes, they want you to pick the tint or tone of the film ( I have safety film clear and solar safety film tinted), and then give you one or two quotes. No one in sale has time to spin 11 quotes for each person that calls. Additionally, the film you choose may not be a stock item. In that case you are buying the entire roll regardless of how big your project is. If it isn't a stock item it doesn't sell enough to warrant a standing par for inventory purposes, the total cost is on you. The sales visit at the home shouldn't take more than 30 miutes. Make up your mind on your primary buying criteria, if the film also has value added properties then all the better. Don't let them push you into higher priced film, stick to your guns. Solar Gard, Madico, and 3M all put out a good product. In my opinion Solar Gard is tops though. Appreciate it. I'm not looking for any tinting at all, just security film thick enough to make breaking the windows frustrating. I've already reinforced the weak spots on the doors. I've got an alarm with motion detectors anyway, so that'd catch them even if they got in. Thanks again... I've been meaning to get this rolling. Dr. Octagon, In FL, the minimum thickness allowed for a recognized insurance credit (wind and impact 120 to 140mph) is bonded 8 mil clear. You should look into the differences between 6 mil and 8 mil clear. When properly bonded, (film, glass ,sash) you can normally throw a hammer at the window 7 or 8 times before one component of the system, sash, bonding agent, or film, tears and there is a breech of the buildings envelope. We sometimes do this as a a film product demo when we clean out the warehouse of extra window displays. |
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With the 3m stuff look for the 5 to 10 dollar a square foot range depending on thickness. For the stuff I have you, can go from 2 mil film to 10 mil film. There is a large price range which is the reason people want to meet with you. They don't want to give you 11 different quotes, they want you to pick the tint or tone of the film ( I have safety film clear and solar safety film tinted), and then give you one or two quotes. No one in sale has time to spin 11 quotes for each person that calls. Additionally, the film you choose may not be a stock item. In that case you are buying the entire roll regardless of how big your project is. If it isn't a stock item it doesn't sell enough to warrant a standing par for inventory purposes, the total cost is on you. The sales visit at the home shouldn't take more than 30 miutes. Make up your mind on your primary buying criteria, if the film also has value added properties then all the better. Don't let them push you into higher priced film, stick to your guns. Solar Gard, Madico, and 3M all put out a good product. In my opinion Solar Gard is tops though. Appreciate it. I'm not looking for any tinting at all, just security film thick enough to make breaking the windows frustrating. I've already reinforced the weak spots on the doors. I've got an alarm with motion detectors anyway, so that'd catch them even if they got in. Thanks again... I've been meaning to get this rolling. Dr. Octagon, In FL, the minimum thickness allowed for a recognized insurance credit (wind and impact 120 to 140mph) is bonded 8 mil clear. You should look into the differences between 6 mil and 8 mil clear. When properly bonded, (film, glass ,sash) you can normally throw a hammer at the window 7 or 8 times before one component of the system, sash, bonding agent, or film, tears and there is a breech of the buildings envelope. We sometimes do this as a a film product demo when we clean out the warehouse of extra window displays. Got it. I'll double check with my insurance company before getting a quote. Thanks for the info. |
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Checking on home owners policy apparently if they do a security walk through they can lower your premium some. I wonder If stuff like this helps? Ay idea what they might look for besides a monitored alarm?
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