More On Doors

I hope you were able to see the piece I wrote “Anatomy of a Slider” because it is a segway into today’s topic which covers all the other door accesses you have in your home. In most cases these include the front, rear, and a garage door if your home came with one. Securing these doors can be tricky when leaving the home because the best locking/break-in prevention devices get placed while you are still in the home or when you are able to exit the garage doors, thus leaving these mechanical devices in place. 

I am going to start things out a bit differently and tell you right up front that all the devices and techniques I will discuss are not necessary when you have a Boss Security Screen door installed over these openings. I will not embed any of our videos in this article since you can review them on this site. However, I would urge you to check out the videos that show how much stronger our frames and mesh screening are when compared to any other door on the market. Watch as we beat the doors, both ours and theirs, with hammers, crowbars, and bats. Theirs fail, ours hold fast…that is a fact. When you have a Boss Security Screen Door in your home, you need not worry about break-ins because we guarantee against it. 

Let us start with some easy and simple improvements that almost any homeowner can complete using only a screwdriver or electric screw gun. If you have never seen a door installed into the wood or metal framing of a home, then take a good look at the photo provided here. Doors come in a variety of sizes, both width and height. The framing usually allows for a half inch or more of clearance so the door can be plumbed and squared inside the opening. To do this, installers will use shims or blocking to “fill” the gaps around the door and once they get the plumb, meaning that the door is perfectly vertical, they will sink a screw to hold it in place as they square and plumb the rest of the door. Pre-hung doors, meaning the door and frame come together at the time of purchase, are assembled with screws that are only long enough to hold the door and frame together. To really secure a door to the wood sub-framing you will take the top screw from each hinge and sink a matching 2-1/2 to 3” screw so that the weight of the door is supported and any potential forced entry is prevented. Likewise, you will do this same thing on the strike plate where the latching mechanism is held by the frame. By sinking longer screws here, you are making entry difficult because the door frame and strike plate are secured deeply into the sub-framing. 

Once you have beefed up each entry door to your residence, you can now consider several useful after-market mechanisms that make entry very difficult. One that I encountered during my undercover days as a police officer, was a floor mounted stop. This gave our entry team some problems during a search warrant execution. While not always the most attractive, they are highly effective. With long screws in the framing and a floor drilled base, we had to use “lock shot” to blow the hinges off the door and collapse the entire thing to make entry. It was tough to defeat. 

If a floor mount is not your style, there are a host of other smaller, easily installed or completely removable options available. Door stops like this one at the left can be pulled up or pushed into place quickly and it has a clean look. It works off downward pressure once the door is pushed. The rubber stopper grips the flooring material to prevent the door from fully opening. Likewise, this portable device here on the right works on the same principle; however, it is fully removable and it can be moved to other doors. Just another good option that exists out there for homeowners.  

The last style of door kick prevention that I wanted to show you is a bar style stop that fixes under the door handle and it extends down to the floor at an angle with a rubber grip stopper. This works just like the ones above, but for those who have trouble with mobility and bending, this allows those folks to use a device that is easily installed and removed. When answering the door, this is a nice feature to have. I personally have these devices and I like them. I also bought them for my elderly mother and she had no trouble using them. 

Since any opening to a home is vulnerable to forced entry, we must add protection to reinforce them or cover them with other external precautions like security screens from Boss. It costs nothing to have us come out and give you a bid. While at your residence, we also do a short CPTED review to help our customers. Boss Security Screen employees go out of their way to help educate our potential clients when we present the value of our products. It is a Win-Win, so take advantage of our commitment to helping you…give us a call. 

Until next time…stay safe and be prepared!

Written by,

Michael Johnston

Chief Security Advisor at Boss Security Screens

*The author is a paid consultant and product representative for Boss Security Screens. The information provided in this blog does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials are the author's opinion and for general informational purposes only. It is recommended that you consult an attorney, certified trainers, or licensed providers before acting on any information provided. This website may link to other third-party websites. Such links are for the convenience of the reader and are not endorsed by the author.