9 Most Effective Ways To Secure Your Door From a Kick-In
Ever been a victim of a home invasion? According to statistics, most of the burglaries or home invasions are associated with front door break-ins.
What this means is, securing your front door is one of the most crucial steps to enhancing the safety of your home, and leaving for work with peace of mind knowing that your property is secure.
However, most property owners and tenants consider reinforcing a door quite expensive and time-consuming, the reason most people don’t take some time to secure their front doors.
Contrary to this belief, there are methods you can adopt to secure your front door from a kick-in, and these methods can cost a few bucks and become effective in less than an hour.
That said, allow me to take you through nine effective ways to secure your front door from a kick in.
Note that each of these methods is proven as an effective way to burglar-proof your front door, and applying one or multiple of these ways can improve your front door security and deter intruders away.
Best Ways To Secure Front Door From Being Kicked-In
1. Replace The Hinges & The Strike Plate
If you are wondering what a strike plate is, this is the metal piece where the deadbolt latch settles into the door frame. This part is designed in such a way that it is strong enough to hold the door shut or open.
However, it isn’t strong enough to withstand the force of forced entry. That said, you should replace the strike plate with a more reliable box strike model. Such a product should integrate longer screws plus a full metal enclosure so that the lock can clasp into it and improve the ability of the door to withstand more force.
Also, if you have a door that features a cheap cylinder lock, then it is time to improve it. Note; criminals find doors with low-quality deadbolts easy to break-in.
Therefore, upgrade your deadbolt with a grade 1 deadbolt. The reason I recommend this is that such deadbolts are durable and reliable and designed to withstand more force. Furthermore, they act as significant visual deterrents, given the fact that thieves can recognize them fast.
Do not forget to replace all screws that are shorter than 1″ with ones that are at least 2.5″ long while installing. This helps to protect the hinges from moving from their original place by adding an extra layer of protection.
2. Strengthen Your Door Frame
There is no need to adopt new ways to reinforce the strength of your door if the door isn’t reliable and secure.
For this reason, start by installing a strong and durable door such as this. A simple way to gauge the strength of the door is by considering its weight.
The heavier the door, the more likely it is solidly constructed. Therefore, focus on getting the heavier options, more importantly, while comparing doors made using similar materials.
Also, I would recommend that you buy a door that is made using metal instead of wood. In fact, opt for a door made using steel or iron, given their ability to resist rust and corrosion.
Furthermore, avoid hollow core composite doors since these are easy to cut through. If you insist on getting a wooden door, then ensure that you purchase a hardwood door, and that should be one that can withstand a lot of force to prevent entry after kicking.
3. Use a Door Jammer or Security Bars
Would you like to strengthen your door from within? Well, a simple way to do so is by fitting a door jammer.
A door jammer uses the ground force to strengthen it. It is easy to install, given the ability to fit it firmly below the doorknob and lay its base on the ground.
Better, it doesn’t need any tools during installation so that you can use it right out of the box.
Trying to kick in a door that is protected using a door jammer isn’t easy since door jammers offer some extra force so that it can feel as if someone is pushing the door from the inside.
Door jammers can work with sliding doors or hinged doors, while their adjustable heights adjust to fit most doors.
Besides using a door jammer, you can opt to install barricade security bars. A horizontal security bar is a high-strength steel bar that endures all kinds of force.
Unlike a door jammer that slides under the doorknob, barricade security bars require you to fix it using two lag bolts.
The slots of the bars slide over the lag bolts after installation, assuring you of being protected against surprise kick-ins.
4. Use High-Security Locks
Well, another way to secure your door from a kick-in lies in installing a high-security lock. By this, I mean, source your door locks from trusted door lock brands.
Not only that, but pick a lock that integrates a durable deadbolt, one that can withstand the amount of force that a kick-in is likely to deliver.
Also, ensure that the lock is made using hardened steel, and better, this should be thick steel as opposed to one that is likely to be hollow.
5. Install Security Cameras
A security camera is another way to help you to protect your door from a kick in. Ideally, security cameras can let you view the situation at the front door so that you can notice an intruder on time and respond accordingly.
The best security cameras can connect to mobile devices, including phones, PCs, or Tablets via Wifi.
The result of this is the ability to view the live footage remotely and control the features of the security camera anywhere and anytime.
When buying a security camera, look for a model that offers notifications after detecting activity or motion, plus ones that record or document the occurring for easy retrieval when you need some evidence.
Also, opt for models that offer ways to distract or scare intruders. Such models incorporate features such as a two-way-talk feature that allows you to warn the intruder and let him know that you are watching him.
Also, models with floodlights, sirens, or alarms are worth investing in owing the ability to switch on the light or alarms to scare the intruders.
Besides security cameras, you could opt to buy a smart doorbell with a video camera. The video camera on the bell plays a role in recording the criminal’s actions so that you can know the identity of the robbers even when they fail to enter your home.
Also, a Wifi-enabled smart lock could be another idea given the ability to send notifications to the connected devices for you to respond accordingly.
6. Take advantage of security screens
Besides installing a security camera, you might want to install a security screen. Ideally, a security screen is another door that is installed over an existing front door.
These doors are perforated barriers that offer additional room for additional locks. Because of the extra deadbolt plus keyed knob, security screens are a great option when you want to safeguard your home from kicking attacks that depend on pushing the door open.
Better, these doors serve as a more secure peephole that allows you to see the activities on the front side of the door without exposing yourself to harm.
In fact, security screens will enable you to see more than you would through a peephole.
With a security screen, you can repeat every means applied to protect the front door from kick-in attacks so that you can secure your home.
Although most homeowners fail to utilize these doors since they reduce the curb appeal, I wouldn’t recommend failing to utilize them, especially if you are more interested in protecting your property rather than attracting visitors.
7. Install Monitored Alarms
Installing a monitored alarm system is another method to help you protect your door, more importantly, when you are not around. The best system should detect tampering, besides detecting a door opening.
Also, it should ensure that the appropriate response will be applied after identifying a threat to the front door. On detecting unauthorized entry, the system should contact the relevant parties who should be prepared to intervene.
To ensure that the contacted parties will protect your home from invasion, their response rate should match the projected time for entry and the average time required for a burglary to take place.
8. Add a Layer of Conspicuous Security & Lighting
Enhancing the visibility of your front door plus the area in front of the door is another way to secure your front door from a kick in. There are several ways to increase the visibility of your door, the most obvious being surveilling your front door with sufficient lighting.
To do so, install an LED Floodlight that will sufficiently illuminate the front door and make it highly visible during the night.
Better, you can add a motion-detecting LED light in the doorway. Such light is supposed to illuminate when motion is detected, which serves as an effective means to scare intruders.
Besides, you can make use of dummy but blinking security cameras. With these, you can distract thieves and scare them because of the blinking status that makes intruders think that they are under observation.
Second, clear up the garden area in front of the front door and ensure that the area is appropriately maintained.
By doing so, you can eliminate the hiding places that offer criminals a cover-up as they try to determine the method to adopt when they want to break the door.
You can also make your door highly visible to the neighbors and community, given that it allows them to quickly determine when there are intruders in your home so that they can contact you and the authorities when your door is under attack.
9. Improve the Security of Glass Doors
Well, we have covered eight best ways to secure your door from a kick-in attack. But, how can you secure your front door if it is a glass door?
Also, how do you ensure that your front door is secure from a kick-in attack if it is close to the window?
I believe that you will agree with me when I state that intruders find glass doors easier to break into when compared to metal or hardwood doors.
After all, a typical glass pane isn’t immune to kicks, which means that glass doors are likely to break allowing an intruder to get in.
However, there are several ways to improve the security of your glass door; let’s have a look.
First, you can consider installing steel security grills or steel bars on the front of the door or the window.
When installing the bars over glass windows, make sure that the bars are close enough so that intruders do not insert their hands through to break the windows in a mission to open the deadbolt of the door.
Although most people do not like this option since steel bars interfere with the beauty of glass doors, note that protecting your property is more crucial than sacrificing the beauty of your front door, which means that you might want to consider this option.
You can also choose to get customized steel security grills so that you can avoid bars that will curb the appeal of your home.
Besides using steel security grills, consider strengthening the windows using security films.
Security films are adhesive tapes that look like window tint. However, you can acquire clear security films. These tapes protect the glass from shattering easily, but the strength of the films depends on the brand you select.
Also, note that security films do not make the window smash proof, but they can discourage burglary by enhancing the strength of the glass and protecting it from shattering easily.
Conclusion
Securing your front door from kick-in attacks is one of the best ways to enhance your home’s security. Although most people overlook this need, note that having a front door that is easy to break into ends up inviting burglars to try their luck, which means a high risk of losing your property. Therefore, address the weakness of your front door by applying one of the discussed methods and be sure to have added extra protection to your home and property.
