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Keep Your Family Safe With Better Door Security
How difficult would it be for someone to break into your home through a door and take someone in your family by surprise? When sixty percent of home invasions happen with residents at home, you need to be certain that your home and your family are safe. Good door security is the first step in protecting your family.
Door security has four elements:
- The right door for your needs
- The right locks
- Putting the locks in the right places
- Installing the right alarms.
First, you need the right door. This might be a high-security steel door. If you have a patio or balcony, you might want to install French doors or a sliding glass door. This would not present a door security risk if you are above the second floor of a building. On the first or second floor, you might need additional safeguards.
The second thing you need for door security is a good set of locks. The door knob or door lever should have a good solid lock. This is not a place to sacrifice quality for price. The best locks include either a keypad, for entering a code to open the door, or a sensor that reads fingerprints to unlock the door. It is far more difficult to get past one of these!
In some cases you might need a three-point lock. These use a bar that runs vertically up the door. The locks are positioned at the top, the bottom and the side of the door to make it more difficult to break in. Three-point locks are ideal for French doors and other doors where additional door security is needed. Patio/sliding glass doors can be doubly secured with either a wood or metal rod that lies in the slide so the door cannot be slid open or with a patio door lock screwed into the bottom of the door preventing the door from sliding. These are generally operated with a key. A good deadbolt lock is usually suggested for door security. The best deadbolts are operated on both sides of the door with a key (which should be removed from the lock).
Installing locks in the right places is the third part of door security. Placing a deadbolt just above the doorknob might make sense if you have a solid door (no windows). It is not, however, the best location in a door with a large amount of glass. This would place the deadbolt right beside the window. It would be better positioned close to the floor where it cannot be reached through the window. It is important to look at the door and think about the best place to position locks and the best lock for the specific door before installing.
The fourth step: the right alarm completes door security. Most door alarms create points of magnetic contact between the door and the door frame. If the door is opened, the contact is broken and the alarm sounds. These alarms are frequently supplemented with a glass-breakage monitor. A very sensitive sensor is placed near the door which is programmed to respond only to the sound of a door or window being broken. This sets off the alarm even before the door is opened. Sometimes this is enough to deter an intruder.
If your goal is to keep your family safe when at home, you will look into all aspects of home security. Keep in mind that door security is the first step. Pay attention to all four aspects of door security, and you can trust that your family is safe when at home.
About the Author Todd Cavanaugh is a 10-year home security specialist. His company installs home and business monitored security systems, 24-hour camera surveillance systems, access control systems and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Visit his business web site for his recommendations on door security.
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