How to protect your doors from burglary

Video: Ex-Burglar’s Tips on How to Protect Your Home | This Morning

Content

Steps
Method 1 of 4: Do you have secure doors?
Method 2 of 4: lock your doors
Method 3 of 4: harden your entrances
Method 4 of 4: eyes
Tips
Warnings
What do you need

Homeowners are always worried about a burglar getting in.So what is the best way to secure your home? Surely, you have already installed a security alarm (if not, then do it right now) and, perhaps, a guard dog lives in your yard. According to statistics, most burglars enter the house through the front door or back entrance. Therefore, they must be securely locked. Here are some tips.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Do you have secure doors?

1 Install secure doors. If you have hollow doors, replace them immediately. How can you tell if a door is hollow? Just knock on them. Hollow doors are just a sheet of veneer pasted onto a cardboard box. All exterior doors must be tight and made of the following materials:
- Fiberglass
- Hardwood
- Solid wood box (veneer layer on wood base)
- Metal (Attention: iron doors must be reinforced from the inside and have a blocking lock, otherwise they can be removed from the frame with a jack)
2 When installing or replacing doors or frames, make them better opening outward, not inward, remembering to equip them with special protective hinges. In this case, when the door is open, the unexpected guest will not enter the house so quickly.
3 Replace all exterior doors with windows that are completely opaque. For maximum security, all doors should be windowless and it is not recommended to have windows near the doors, as this will allow the criminal to break the glass and unlock the lock from the inside.
- If you have sliding glass doors, glass panels or windows close to the doors, in any case, equip them with metal grilles on the outside or an impact-resistant polycarbonate panel on the inside.

Method 2 of 4: lock your doors

A significant number of burglars enter the victim's home through an unlocked door. Even the toughest locks in the world are useless if you don't use them for their intended purpose. Lock all your doors every time you leave your home, even if you only leave for a few minutes.

1 Be sure to install the bolts. With the exception of sliding doors, all exterior doors must have a deadbolt in addition to the normal built-in lock. The bolt itself must be of very high quality (first or second grade, made of durable metal and without visible screws, bolts or screws), with a protruding bolt at a minimum distance of 2.6 cm from the door.The lock itself must be correctly installed, preferably by a professional. In many houses, short, less than 2.5 cm, low-quality bolts are installed, they must be replaced.
2 Install the mortise lock. Installing an extra padlock will provide extra security when you are at home. A mortise lock, sometimes called an exit bolt, is a bolt that does not have to be unlocked from the outside. It is clearly visible from the outside of the door, but cannot be broken open without damaging the door, box, or the lock itself. While this security measure will not help if you are not at home, it will at least deter the attacker from attempting to break in.
3 Strengthen the sliding doors. The best way to do this is with top and bottom locks. You can also purchase, or even make your own, a bar that hangs down from the door frame to the middle of the door and prevents the door from sliding apart. As a last resort, place something like a bar or rod (such as a thick wooden post) at the very bottom of the rail to prevent it from opening. Regardless of which method you use, it will be good if you also reinforce the glass with a polycarbonate panel as advised in the previous step.

Method 3 of 4: harden your entrances

1 Install the safety cylinders around the lock cylinder (the part where you insert the key). Burglars sometimes remove or knock out the maggot with a hammer, wrench, or crowbar. Place protective plates or rings on both sides of the door on the cylinder.The plates must be secured with round head bolts that cannot be removed with a screwdriver. The easily rotating rings around the larva will prevent it from being unscrewed with a pipe wrench. Many modern locks already meet these requirements, however, if your lock is not the same, we advise you to get a new one.
2 Replace the fragile keyhole plates. This is the metal plate that surrounds the lock slot, the recess in the door frame where the bolt enters when the lock is locked. On all exterior doors, these plates must be made of high-strength metal and screwed in with four 8 cm screws. In many homes, these plates are of poor quality or with screws that are too short and therefore only reach the door trim.
3 Hide visible hinges. They should be on the inside of the door, if you have them outside, re-hang the door or reinforce them with non-removable pins. To do this, you need to remove at least two middle screws from the hinge (on each side) and replace them with non-removable pins (available at hardware stores) or double-headed hardened steel nails. Even those hinges that are not in sight need to be strengthened with eight-centimeter screws.
4 Reinforce the door frame. Even a sturdy door with well-fitted locks can be broken open by breaking the box. For the most part, the door frame is simply attached to the wall, so that a simple kick or blow of a crowbar can easily separate it from the wall. Again, several eight-centimeter screws will come to your aid along the entire perimeter of the box, they should reach the wall frame.

Method 4 of 4: eyes

1 Cut in the eyes.The peepholes allow you to see who is on the other side of the door. Install wide viewing angles at eye level on all exterior doors. It's no good if you have to unlock the door to see who's in. Also try to choose a peephole with a special cover in order to prevent the person standing behind the door from looking at you, for example, using a special tool.

Tips

It is notoriously easy to get into a house through a garage door, so do the same with it as recommended for exterior doors. Always lock your car in the garage, do not leave your house keys in it or anywhere in the garage.
Use materials such as wood, plastic or aluminum to install the safety bar on the sliding door. Do not use steel as the metal bar can be lifted with a strong magnet. Plastic, wood or aluminum will provide sufficient resistance when attempting to burglarize. As soon as a cracker feels that this is not easy to do, he will immediately jump to easier access paths.
Installing double anti-storm locking doors will make the burglar even more confused, because now he will have to break through as many as two doors. They both look like gates and are called safe doors. Such doors should also have mortise locks and bolts. However, the view at these doors is far from presentable. Anti-storm doors can be made laminated with tempered glass like visors that stay strong even when broken.
You can purchase either a single-core or a double-core lock. A double-core lock requires a key on both sides to unlock, while a single-core lock can only be opened by turning the key on one side. Thus, double-core ones will provide greater security for your home, especially in cases where there are windows close to the doors, allowing the criminal to reach and unlock the lock from the inside. But before installing them, read the fire safety rules, because it could be a violation. And take into account the fact that you would not really like to frantically rush around the house in search of keys to unlock the door and leave the house, especially if time is tight.
When reinforcing the keyhole plates, bend the screws back a little to grab the box as well.
Install surveillance cameras. Even one or two of the most economical cameras will scare off a would-be thief. Configure them so that the recording is immediately transferred to your computer or phone. Uniden is a manufacturer of reliable video systems with rugged storage, you can purchase them online at Amazon.com or eBay.com
The actions of the bulk of “simple” burglars operating according to the “hack-steal-escaped” scheme are classified as day crimes. The above safety measures are good for the dark, street lighting is also highly recommended, namely the installation of a powerful lantern above the porch in front of the house entrance. If you have been lenient and have not taken effective measures to protect your home, by doing so you make it very vulnerable and easily accessible to burglars.
You can also purchase another lattice door by installing it in front of the main one, which will serve as an additional measure of protection.
It will be more difficult to knock out the door if, in addition to or instead of a strong plate, a ten centimeter galvanized tube is installed on the lock slot, inserted into the box.
Inspect your neighbors' houses in terms of attractiveness to burglars, remember that criminals will first of all choose easily accessible objects, so make sure that yours looks the least seductive among the neighbors.
Never hide house keys under rugs, in plants, bushes or other similar places. No matter how carefully you think you hide them, they can still be found by robbers. Keep the keys with you, and if you have to keep them outside the home, you need to have a strong stationary lockable safe for this and not on the territory of your home.
Doors and fittings must be maintained in good technical condition, otherwise your home becomes vulnerable and more accessible to thieves. In particular, make sure that the sliding doors always remain in the guides and that the sliding door slide itself is in working order.
Make sure there is a metal protrusion on the outside of your lock striker plate to prevent burglaries, you can also purchase special "burglar-fuses" in stores.
Don't make a fortress out of your house. If you call firefighters or the rescue service, they need to get into your home with hand tools, otherwise they will have to look for an alternative, for example, knocking out a window on the facade of the building.
For added security while you are at home, you can attach an inverted glass bottle to your doorknob. Then, when falling, if someone turns the handle of your door, the bottle will make a lot of noise (if there is no carpet on the floor), which will attract your attention. However, be careful, glass elements in the vicinity can be damaged as well.

Or, alternatively, a tin can and a little bit of little things in it, too, will make noise, but nothing will break around.

And as good as the locks are, they are worthless if they are not locked. Many people forget or are too lazy to lock locks, if this applies to you, take the trouble to install a latch lock - a type of mortise lock that can be locked from the outside without a key.

Warnings

Even the strongest locking systems are useless if the door frame is weak. Make sure it is as secure and secure as the padlock.
Although double-core locks are more reliable, they can be dangerous in the event of a fire. it takes more time to find the key and unlock the lock. In some jurisdictions, building management regulations prohibit the use of such locks and, before installing it, you must assess the risks that this entails.
Picking up a pick is easy if you know how to do it right. Therefore, you should pay attention to locks that are protected from picking picks.Medeco locks, although very expensive, provide maximum protection against pick picks.
If you are not used to locking doors and your lock can be locked without a key, take care not to forget your keys every time you leave the house. You can be left on the street without keys a couple of times, despite all efforts, but over time it will become a habit. Leaving a duplicate key with your neighbors, or discussing the possibility of leaving it somewhere on their territory, will be better than leaving the key in some easily found key device next to the door.
Don't be obsessed with security. Of course, you're just trying to take all reasonable precautions and keep yourself, your family, and your values safe, but don't turn your home into a prison. Regardless of the precautions taken, to some extent anyone can be a victim of crime, but since we are given one life, don't let fear rule you and enjoy life.