Home Security Beat

Are Your Doors Vulnerable to Burglars?

We can talk all day about expensive home security systems, but it’s often the simple things that homeowners overlook.  For instance, before a burglar scales the side of your house to check the lock on a third story window, he’s going to try the front door!  How secure are the doors in your home?

Let’s take a look at some of the ways burglars can get in through doors:

Impersonating Other People

The easiest way for a burglar to get in is for you to open the door for him!

It’s not uncommon for burglars to pretend to be police officers, UPS delivery folks, cable installers, meter readers, and other service people who you’d naturally open the door to talk to.  It’s always smart to ask for identification or have the address read on the package (to ensure it’s from someone you know) before opening the door.

A side window makes it easy to see who’s out there and what they’re holding before opening the door, but if you don’t have this, you may consider installing a wide-angle door viewer that lets you see whoever is standing outside.  Also, a simple chain lock lets you open the door a few inches while still retaining control.

Removing the Hinges

If your door’s hinges are visible from the outside, a burglar may be able to get inside without ever touching the lock.

Most door hinges have two metal plates with “knuckles” on one edge.  A vertical pin goes through the knuckles, and holds the plates together when everything is aligned.  However, the hinge pins can often be pulled out, thus disconnecting the door from the frame.  The burglar simply removes the door and walks right in.

To protect against this, consider doors with interior hinges, hinges with nonremovable pins, or inexpensive hinge reinforcers.

Kicking Doors Down

You’ve seen it on TV, and yes it’s possible for a burglar to kick a door down.

The success of this move depends on you having a weak strike plate (on the door jamb) or a weak edge on the lock side of the door.  This isn’t all that uncommon on old doors.

You can get a new door, but to save money you can also consider door reinforcers, which usually cost $20 or less.

Prying off the Door’s Stop Molding

The “stop moldings” are the protruding strips which are installed on three sides of a door frame: the lock side, the hinge side, and the top.  Their purpose is to stop the door from swinging too far when you close it, and if your hinges are on the interior of your door, the stop moldings will be on the outside.

In older homes–or cheaply constructed ones–the stop molding may be little more than thin strips of wood.  They can easily be pried off, exposing the bolt, which makes the lock easier to attack.

If your moldings look weak, you can install a new door frame or reinstall the moldings using plenty of wood glue and nails, so they can’t be pried off easily.

Prying open Sliding Glass Doors

While sliding glass balcony or patio doors are nice for letting in light, they can be very vulnerable to burglars.  Their frames and locks tend to be weak, and a sliding glass door can be forced simply by prying the sliding panel away from the door frame.

A simple fix is to insert a fitted wood board into the track, so the door cannot be slid from the outside.  You can also get various sliding door barriers at home improvement stores, or you can pick up a lock that holds the frames together.

As you can see, there are a number of ways doors are vulnerable to burglars that have nothing to do with fancy lock picking skills or burglary tools.  The first step to good home security is making sure this number 1 point of entry is taken care of!

Source: The Complete Book of Home, Site and Office Security

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Tags: burglars, doors, home security