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Health & Fitness

How To Secure Special Doors

Effective reinforcing for double doors and sliders

A lot of people are particularly concerned with how easy it would be to kick in their double French doors.   Yesterday a young woman said, “Even I could kick those in.”  And she could.  The sliding pins on top and bottom of the inactive door don’t withstand force. And the glass can be broken to reach through and unlatch the locks. 

I can effectively make double doors kick-proof.   I stabilize the inactive door with special hardware top and bottom.  Then I armor the edge, reinforce the lock area of the active door, and securely reinforce the hinges.  Finally, I replace the deadbolt with one that takes a key inside as well as out, and I re-key it to the client’s house key.  All for $400 or less.

Sliding patio doors are another concern. Many have been replaced in the last fifteen years by a unit with a combined stationery and hinged door, which is secured the same as any other hinged door. But new deadbolt hardware is recently available for sliders. Combined with the clear security film I talked about to secure windows, those sliders become difficult to penetrate, and difficult to lift off the track for easy entry.  And of course, from the inside, the cut-off-to-fit broomstick laying in the channel track at the bottom is still a good measure.

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Duncan Cottrell, The Entry Enforcer, is a home intrusion prevention expert.  He and his team offer door and window reinforcing and free home security assessments.  Duncan answers questions at Duncan@EntryEnforcer.com or (404)289-6960.

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