Physical Security

[Jeff White]

This is a gun forum so it's natural that people like to talk about guns here. But when it comes to living safely, guns are only part of the solution.

I just returned from helping my oldest son shim the front door on his house. The house, built in 1979 had settled a bit and the front door no longer latched. He had to secure it with the deadbolt.

My oldest son works for the largest locally owned alarm company in the area (clients from Chicago to Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana as well as Southern Illinois). He designs and installs all types of security systems from simple alarms to IP camera systems. On the steel clad front door the previous owner installed he had upgraded the standard handle/lock setup with a hardened Yale keypad lock set that was integrated with his alarm system and he could lock/unlock remotely.

The house had settled enough or more likely, the pre-hung door frame had shifted in the door opening enough that the bolt on the lock struck the bottom of the strike plate and would no longer latch. After carefully removing the interior trim it was obvious what the problem was. The door was held into the opening by a half dozed light gauge staples through the door frame into the shims that had been holding the door frame square.

That was it! There were 1 inch screws holding the hinges into the door frame that did not reach into the studs. 12 3" screws later, a little work with the square and level and the door was rehung solidly enough that it would require a concerted effort to defeat. I am sure that a strong pre-teen could have kicked that door down the way it was installed.

I asked my son if he had any idea how many expensive security systems they installed on homes that had doors a child could defeat. He said he didn't know but bet there were a lot of them.

I'm not a builder, so I don't know if there are codes on how doors should be installed, but I do know that there are a lot of doors out there that have been installed with no thought to anything more then being an aesthetically pleasing entry, with no consideration as to how easy they are to breech.

 

[JTHunter]

Good info!

The house I'm in now is 55 years old and both doors have dual locks. I removed the screws in both locks plates, replacing the 1" screws in the doors with 2", and the frame plates got 2.5" screws.
I also added a 1/8" thick piece of steel, 4" long x 1/4" wide to the door's frame with 1" screws holding the inside edge of the door behind the latches. This should make it a little harder to kick in.
My sliding glass door has one of those little locks on the bottom so the door can be opened 2" and let fresh air in. To beef that up, I made a 1x2" board with a 2" hinged end that can be put in the track when the door is opened slightly OR completely closed. I cut it just enough so it is a snug fit, not allowing the door to open any more.

 

[hso]

ALWAYS use long aggressive screws for your hinges and strike plates so they secure the hinges through the ornamental casing into the real structural framing around the door.

I could take a post driver you can purchase from Home Depot and be in most people's houses in less time than they could figure out what is going on because of the pathetically weak entry door systems they have.

 

[W.E.G.]

Most front doors, no matter how long the screws holding it in place, are little more than a privacy screen to keep honest people out.

The amount of effort and money it would take to EFFECTIVELY harden most existing residential structures is enormous.

Two bad guys with a two-foot pry-bar and an axe will be through almost any front door in seconds.

 

[jeepnik]

Most front doors, no matter how long the screws holding it in place, are little more than a privacy screen to keep honest people out.

The amount of effort and money it would take to EFFECTIVELY harden most existing residential structures is enormous.

Two bad guys with a two-foot pry-bar and an axe will be through almost any front door in seconds.

You're right about "most" exterior doors. And one most folks forget about is one into an attached garage. It and the interior door need to be hardened.

 

[another pake]

Unfortunately you are correct when describing the way that most entry doors are installed. They go in fast and the emphasis is on aesthetics, not security or longevity.

A little math and some knowledge of how a typical door is framed will help you significantly improve things, at least to keep a door from sagging over time.

Typically, the rough opening width for an entry door these days is made by constructing a double layer of 2X4s on each side, and allowing approximately a 1/2 inch of space for shims, etc; then you've got the door jamb, typically 3/4 inch to which the hinges are screwed. So if you wanted to significantly improve the "unit strength" of an existing door which may have settled or not been properly installed the first place, you could add long screws through the hinges as Jeff and others have described. Just replace the 1" hinge screws, after squaring and leveling the assembly.

How long should the screws be? Well, add up the widths of the components. The hinge and jamb are 3/4 inch. Then, 1/2 inch shim space. Then a double 2X4 = 3 inches.

Somewhere around 3-1/2 to 4-1/4 inches long makes things solid. 3 inches may be a tad short, barely grabbing the second 2X4. And this works best if you can place the screws immediately above or below a shim bundle. Torx screws can really pull things together. Screws can also be placed under a stop if needed and you want to hide them.

Add long screws through the latch hardware strike plate for the same reasons.

Hope this helps.

 

[X-Rap]

Having installed quite a few residential doors over the years I will say they certainly aren't all created equally. Wood simulated fiberglass is probably the sturdiest and most attractive but is quite costly compared to metal which is typical in this area.
The biggest problem in hardening your home is the windows IMO. They are usually accessible, operable, and large enough to climb through due to code restrictions. Glass Patio doors are popular but offer no protection from items usually found on patios. I've heard of film products but they are designed to protect windows during storms or earthquakes.
A post hole driver was mentioned and I'll mention another common tool, a rock bar is a very effective breaching tool. They are about 5' x 1" diameter with a 2" chisel on one end and a 3"tamping head in the other, I doubt there are many residential doors and frames that can't be breached in short order.

 

[Tirod]

I've installed my own residential grade pre hungs, and sold commercial hollow metal doors. The situation is much worse than that.

A husky 14 year old in a detention facility can, with repeated blows on the door assembly, tear the skin off a 16 ga hollow metal door by working it loose from the lower outer corner and folding it up and in. He can then force the outer skin out, creating a triangular hole big enough to squeeze thru and escape. Once done the frame was also nearly out of the concrete block opening as it, too, was only anchored with the typical sheet metal ones sold for conventional block building, as the contractor did not slush the frame with fill to properly bring it up to detention standards. The replacement was a 12 guage frame and door, top hat reinforced, and fully seam welded. It takes that much.

The hinges were anchored back into the block, and the frame drilled and anchored on the other side, too. The hollow behind the frame was filled with concrete, too. That door is still in place. Wayward 14 year old boys - and girls - no longer beat it down.

Most doors are attacked and easily defeated, but that is because the average human thinks they are the weakest point of entry. In reality, the glass window next to it is the better answer - just break the glass and reach in to unlock it.

In commercial construction we had a store owner who's rear entrance was defeated when a perp beat it in. He took about half an hour on it in a residential neighborhood using a sledge hammer on it - NOBODY CALLED THE COPS - and got in stealing a large amount of electronics.

Said perp could have done it twice as fast with a drill driver simply unscrewing the fasteners on the exterior metal siding and folding it out of the way, exposing the wall structure, which is usually sheetrock easily cut with a knife. It's a lot less work.

If I was going to invasively enter a home I'd just bring a chain saw and create an opening in the exterior wall where I wanted it. American stick built home construction is so flimsy the average 19 year old with an M16 and bayonet can pry and beat his way thru an exterior wall in less than 10 minutes doing it the hard way. With a MK19 mounted on a HMMV roof, about 30 seconds. We teach tens of thousands of combat troops how to do it every three years.

Going thru the door is the hard way to do it if you see any attempt at competent reinforcement. Just go thru the picture window next to it. Or the wall inbetween - it's how you make an door opening where there isn't, with a cordless sawzall.

As HSO said, a fence post driver will do, and that goes double for cinder block.

But, if you armor up the house, what do you have as a problem? Well, the answer in the ME is you don't give your bodyguards an armored vehicle to work out. They only sit back and watch as somebody uses a better way to get into the other. What they sell there now is a large American SUV with no armorer - that way the guards have more incentive to do their job and engage the assailants as an effort to save their own life.

Sure, we can armor up and make a door unbeatable, literally, but it doesn't do anything for the windows, and the side walls of the house are MORE vulnerable to the knowledgeable. You basically find you have caged yourself in, and unless you spent a lot of money pouring concrete in the exterior walls, the typical high penetration ammo sold 99% of time means you are a fish in a barrel.

Don't just stand there, do something. And it should follow that choosing "low penetration" ammo isn't going to help.

Just as we all too often focus on the gun in gun forum, let's not focus on a door as a home security answer. The problem is focusing on a material object when the answer is an effective, thought out response - action. Not fantasy, but planned and rehearsed physical movements involving shooting a gun at intruders, knowing your lanes of fire, and having a way planned to get out of the house safely.

They aren't going to hang around knowing the neighbors are all phoning 911 - which should already be part of your plan and done by then, too.

It also goes to security in depth - meaning, if you live back from the road, do you have a driveway chime to alert you someone just pulled in? Do you have a dog outside? Guinea hens? Pets are great early alarm systems.

What are you doing about it before the perps even get to your door in the first place?

Like was said, we focus on guns a lot, but home security involves multiple layers of defense and recognizing where your weak spots are. Most of the time the major weakness is not having a thought out plan of action at all. It results in the "plan" being a loaded gun at the bedside and wondering if you could wake up with a knife at your throat. Having a plan will also help dispel foolish notions like that, which are largely based on fearmongering and a great deal of ignorance.

Need tips and tricks on increasing your home security? Ask the neighborhood kid back from Infantry basic. He's had more of it than you think.

 

[Jeff White]

If I was going to invasively enter a home I'd just bring a chain saw and create an opening in the exterior wall where I wanted it. American stick built home construction is so flimsy the average 19 year old with an M16 and bayonet can pry and beat his way thru an exterior wall in less than 10 minutes doing it the hard way. With a MK19 mounted on a HMMV roof, about 30 seconds. We teach tens of thousands of combat troops how to do it every three years.

There aren't a lot of break ins where chain saws or other heavy equipment is used. I am unaware of any criminal use in CONUS of a MK19 mounted on top of a HMMWV to facilitate a burglary. If you can document one, please post it in this thread.

Few people have the resources to build a home that would be secure from the criminal who decided to carry heavy breaching equipment. Fortunately most criminals are opportunists and rather lazy. Long screwdrivers and short pry bars are common burglary tools encountered around here.

Yes, windows and walls can be breached, but criminals are usually going to try to enter through a door. You can defeat a lot of attempts by simply locking the door. Hardening it so it doesn't open with a kick or two and the burglar is likely to look for easier pickings.

 

[Mainsail]

I lived in North Charleston when hurricane Hugo came through, and many of my neighbors found out how little was separating the inside of their house from the outside. My house had 2x6 studs, drywall on the inside, and hardi-plank on the outside, with fiberglass insulation in between.

Most of the other houses had 2x6 studs over which was tacked 1" of rigid foam insulation, and then contractor grade vinyl siding, and of course wallboard on the inside. If you wanted in, the door wasn't much easier than just cutting the cheap siding with a knife, and kicking through the foam and drywall.

One of the houses, still under construction and without the drywall nailed up, fell over in the storm.

 

[hso]

The amount of effort and money it would take to EFFECTIVELY harden most existing residential structures is enormous.

I can't agree that it would be enormous. A steel prehung door that looks like a typical unadorned kitchen or front door is $700. The proper fasteners are a few bucks and the long throw deadbolt with rotating bolt core is about $150. $900x2 for front and back is under $2000 for doors that don't pop out. If you simply pin double hung windows they have to be broken for entry and that can be mitigated with window grills for under $50 for each window accessible from the ground. These buy time since nothing keeps a determined and equipped team out.

 

[scaatylobo]

Size 12 shoe

A size 12 shoe [ sneaker ] is THE most popular burglar tool in NYS.

Covered too many burglarys to count in 26 years on the job.

SO, came time to buy my BRICK ranch with windows at 8' +.

I took really good care on the STEEL doors and STEEL frames that I had installed.

After the screws were replaced with 3" [ the originals were 1" ] .

I had the installer [ close friend ] use carriage bolts to secure the frame to the 4 X 4 house structure.

ANY door can be defeated [ ask the ninja cops with the ram ] BUT getting into my house will at the very least awaken me !.

IF you dare risk the cameras AND alarms.You get to face me

 

[Tirod]

It's important to remember than no plans survive first contact with the enemy.

Your supposedly hardened door might slow them down, but if determined, they could just switch to another entry point, and being frustrated, escalate their game.

So, how are those windows getting fixed up? Your local fire marshal will have his say about it.

Second, who says thugs aren't being trained by the military? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_presence_in_the_United_States_military

 

[fallout mike]

You guys severely overestimate (most) burglars. They are lazy and take the easiest way in. If your house appears too much trouble they go next door or across the street. I know there are times this isn't true. But from my experience the last 17 years this is the case 99% of the time.

 

[BLB68]

Exactly. You don't have to outrun the bear, just the outrun the slowest guy in the group.

The point of hardening a dwelling (not in the military sense, which is impractical) is not to make it unbreachable, but to put time pressure on the housebreakers. More time spent getting in means more time to be caught.

 

[boom boom]

A few years ago, a group of burglars were using saws (either chain or reciprocating saws) to cut holes through the exterior siding in the ATL, GA area. Most of the houses here that have been recently built here do not have brick nor masonry walls.

I suspect that thieves prefer doors because they do not like dealing with broken glass and getting cut but have no empirical evidence one way or another.

If you have been to countries where security is an issue, you see walled impoundments with strong gates, razor or barbed wire (even broken glass ) emplaced at the top of masonry walls. Houses are non-descript on the outside but can be quite elaborate and elegant inside. Small windows and bars on lower windows are the norm. Sunlight enters through enclosed courtyards. It is a different style of architecture to be sure.

 

[jlr1962]

I lived in several apartments in my youth. Not a single one of them had the dead bolt drilled out properly. Check yours at home. See what you can do to a dead bolt that does not fully extend to the latched position. You can push it back in.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

3 inch screws on the frames and hindges and door latch plates. When I build a new house it will be heavy duty Steel doors with Steel Frames.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

As for Windows plant barrel cactus , holly bushes or thorny Roses under them .

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Most front doors, no matter how long the screws holding it in place, are little more than a privacy screen to keep honest people out.

The amount of effort and money it would take to EFFECTIVELY harden most existing residential structures is enormous.

Two bad guys with a two-foot pry-bar and an axe will be through almost any front door in seconds.

I looked into hardening my doors and windows (company has a 10 gauge steel product with many small holes drilled so you get like 90-85 percent light through and it doesn't stand out). Could be opened from inside so getting out wasn't a problem in case of a fire. Would run about 20K to 30k to,wrap most of the house and to have a steel gate in hallway sealing,off sleeping quarters. Not inexpensive but not worse than buying a new car.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Exactly. You don't have to outrun the bear, just the outrun the slowest guy in the group.

The point of hardening a dwelling (not in the military sense, which is impractical) is not to make it unbreachable, but to put time pressure on the housebreakers. More time spent getting in means more time to be caught.

Also more noise and enough time to hit panic button on alarms and circle the wagons inside and get the firearms at the ready.