Home Door Security Tips!

Implementing home door security is imperative to have done BEFORE” an intruder breaks in.

A criminal, intent on breaking into your home to steal your possessions and commit identity theft, finds the front, back and garage doors the weakest points.

Most garage doors are the entry point for a thief.

It is not only the weakest door, but it is followed by easy access to a back door and provides the best coverage.

Home Door Security For Doorframe’s And Locks

• The doorframes are another problem that is extremely important to address.

• Normally, doorframes can be kicked in by an intruder and are extremely vulnerable.

  Putting bracing under the molding and multiple locks makes this kind of entrance highly unlikely.

• You can hide the bracing behind a doorframe’s internal molding.

  Inside and out, this will not be noticeable, and you will retain the beauty of your home.

What a surprise for the thief!

• The lock and strike plate in most homes are also one of the weakest spots.

  The door strike plates are attached with small screws, and the moldings are normally just tacked to the frame of the door and can be torn away quite quickly with a firm “boot” to the door.

For all entry points, it is actually preferable to use solid core or metal doors.

• A priority for home door security for any owner is to improve this area with a heavy-duty, four screw, strike plate that is high security.

For more critical steps to take for home protection, see home security locks.

• Use 3-inch wood screws when installing this heavy duty strike plate and in the knob lock strike plate.

  The screws will cut deep into the door frame stud. Also, use longer screws in the door hinge.

Most hardware stores carry the items you will need for this project and is more than worth the little extra trouble and expense.

• Home security devices such as these will make it much more difficult to access your home and prevent you and your family from becoming a victim of crime and identity theft.

• Make sure you also upgrade your doors with high quality home security locks, dead bolts and door knob-in-lock sets.

  Use at least a one-inch throw bolt. I use longer ones in mine, as an extra safety precaution. The lock set should have a dead latch mechanism.

• Other home security devices should include a wide-angle peephole in your front door.

• This wide-angle peephole should not be higher that approximately 58 inches from the bottom of the door.

• This allows you to see who is on the other side of the door, without opening it first.

Years ago, before we were aware of the rising problem of home burglary and identity theft, I locked myself out of my home and was able to use a shim to gain access.

These days, unless you have upgraded your home door security, credit cards are commonly used to gain access.

Home Door Security, Patio Doors, Glass Doors

Home door security is especially important when you have glass doors in your home.

• Make sure all your glass doors are heavy-duty, double paned and laminated and make sure you put metal grills on all doors.

  See more at wireless home alarm and home security camera systems

• Patio Doors are an easy entry for a thief. The doors are very often installed incorrectly, with the sliding part on the outside track.

• This allows the criminal to lift out the door and enter your house.

I did this once when I got locked out of a friend’s house where I was working.

I lifted the large patio sliding door right off the track to gain entrance. Not Good!!

• If you like to keep your doors open during the day, make sure you install a security storm door to keep out the bad guys.

• Install “Charlie Bars” on all your patio doors. The bar is installed from the side and is stationary to the side that slides and locks in place.

• This stops a thief from manipulating the door to gain entry.

• Another step I’ve seen people take is putting in a cut pole or handle cut off a broom or old garden tool.

If you use a pole in the track, make sure it’s within ¼ inch of the track length. If the pole isn’t long enough, the thief can still slip his fingers in, and “ZAP!” the intruder is in your home.

Garage Door Security

A garage door is one of the entry points loved by thieves, especially on older garage doors.

Older doors had remote controls that operated with a “fixed code”.

All a thief had to do was spend a little time outside your home, find the correct code and, “abracadabra", the garage door opened and he had access to your vehicles and your home.

• You can stop this from happening by having a garage door opener that is new, because it functions with a remote control that has a “rolling code”.

  Every time the unit is used, the code changes. This stops the thief from entering your garage, as he is unable to duplicate the code.

• An excellent home door security idea to protect you against your family forgetting to close the garage door, or the door malfunctioning, is to install a garage door autocloser.

• Leaving your garage door partially open, or open because it malfunctions, is not only extremely unsafe, but it allows everyone, including a thief, to see what valuables you have.

This is a crime of opportunity, and you have definitely provided that opportunity.

I know people that thought nothing of leaving their garage door open all the time, or for their small pets to get in and out.

This action theft the garage, house and everything in both, vulnerable, and the people stopped doing this when items turned up missing or the house was broken into.

• Whether you accidentally leave your garage door open or not, the autocloser will close the door for you automatically.

• The autocloser uses infrared technology and micro-controller to make sure no one is around the garage door when it closes.

• For the times you want the garage door to stay open, it has an “off” mode.

• You can also program the autocloser timer to close the door between 2 to 30 minutes.

Initiating these home door security tips will help protect you from crime and identity theft. For more home security tips see motor vehicle theft garages.

Do You Have Pets?

Personally, besides having all these things to stop a thief, I had a dog - A Very Large Dog.

Oops! Excuse me, his house. It was a well known fact around the neighborhood that he would protect his house and me.

• Thieves know that MOST big dogs are a lot of bluff unless they are trained to be a guard dog, and they are not necessarily a barker.

• Little dogs, such as a Chihuahua or small terrier, are known as a “yappy dot”” and make a lot of noise, and are a great deterrent for a thief.

The constant barking would most likely draw attention to them and what they are doing. The thief doesn’t want that.

Home Door Security For Doggie Doors

Doggie Doors are common when you have a pet, but not safe to have.

Thieves have been known to bring a small child with them. They put the child through the pet door and have the child open the front door.

Remember! Many thieves are teenagers, and it is common among the teen thieves to bring children with them for just this purpose.

I’m sure it goes without saying that an adult can fit through the large size doggy door.

I had a beautiful German Shepherd years ago, and that was the way I showed him what the doggie door was for.

Fortunately for me, it only took one try on my part for him to get the idea.

See home security tips for more ways to protect yourself from identity theft.

Cool Home Door Security Tip For The Doggie Door Solution!

The ONLY doggie door I feel safe using is a custom fit, tinted, electronic doggy door.

This has an electro magnetic sensor that the dog wears on his collar.

Whenever the dog’s head gets close to the doggy door, the door will open automatically.

• If you take off the sensor, the doggie door won’t open. If someone tries to break in through the doggie door, or keep it open, an intruder alarm goes off and alerts you that someone is trying to get in.

• In my case, I had this doggie door set so my alarm company would also be alerted.

  This is the best idea for home door security when you have animals.

• If you must use one of the regular doggie doors, always make sure the gate to your yard is locked.

• Your gate needs quality locks and you need to protect the area that surrounds the lock.

• If you don’t lock your gate, this leaves the way clear for the thief to let the dog out of the yard, pass through the dog door, and into the house, carting off your property.

The thief now has no fence to climb trying to escape. Why? Remember the gate that was left unlocked?

If you follow these suggestions, your home security doors don’t have to be the weakest area of your house. Protect yourself against thieves and identity theft.

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