Hi Folks,
I'm interested in "hardening" my home from burglaries and more importantly home invasion. Currently, the doors in my home (with the exception of the sliding glass door - a topic which has been covered in this forum) have dead bolts and peep holes on them. However, I was looking for some recommendations on more effective door locks. Several years ago, some friends of my sister had their home burglarized while they were away on vacation. The robbers simply kicked in the front door (which had a similar type of dead bolt, and walked in and stole everything.
What is a good type of lock that will help prevent this or at least slow down a motivated criminal. I thought about installing a chain lock, but to be honest, the chain locks don't look that effective. I remember an uncle (who lived in a semi-rough neighborhood) had some kind of lock on his door that was like a garage door lock. It had two steel rods that were connected to the locking handle in the center of the door. When you twisted and locked the handle in one position, the bars would extend out and slip into metal frames on the door jamb, effectively locking the door. It's sort of like the locks in the Stackon gun lockers.
Does any one have any recommendations on how to "harden" my exterior doors? What's a good resource (is there an online store?) for such equipment? In addition to installing a better lock, do I also need to reinforce the door jamb or something like that? If so, how?
Thanks!
IrvJr
I'm interested in "hardening" my home from burglaries and more importantly home invasion. Currently, the doors in my home (with the exception of the sliding glass door - a topic which has been covered in this forum) have dead bolts and peep holes on them. However, I was looking for some recommendations on more effective door locks. Several years ago, some friends of my sister had their home burglarized while they were away on vacation. The robbers simply kicked in the front door (which had a similar type of dead bolt, and walked in and stole everything.
What is a good type of lock that will help prevent this or at least slow down a motivated criminal. I thought about installing a chain lock, but to be honest, the chain locks don't look that effective. I remember an uncle (who lived in a semi-rough neighborhood) had some kind of lock on his door that was like a garage door lock. It had two steel rods that were connected to the locking handle in the center of the door. When you twisted and locked the handle in one position, the bars would extend out and slip into metal frames on the door jamb, effectively locking the door. It's sort of like the locks in the Stackon gun lockers.
Does any one have any recommendations on how to "harden" my exterior doors? What's a good resource (is there an online store?) for such equipment? In addition to installing a better lock, do I also need to reinforce the door jamb or something like that? If so, how?
Thanks!
IrvJr