Burglars don’t always enter a home through a window. In fact, most burglars enter your home the easy way — they walk right through your door. The front door is the entry point of choice over garage, back, or basement doors because it is the easiest to access.
You may think your door is safely locked and secure, but burglars can still get in. A dedicated burglar will employ a variety of methods to get through a locked door. Fortunately, you can still keep unwanted visitors out of your home. Here are some of the devious ways burglars breach your front door and how to combat them.
Break Through the Door
A determined burglar can break through a door in order to gain access, especially when they know they will not be seen or heard while they do so. Exterior residential doors are designed to be sturdy, so the key to a successful break-in is flimsy hardware. A well-aimed, strong kick with a foot or other heavy object is often enough to crack the door frame and shatter doorknob locks.
Sometimes standard builder-grade hardware and big-box locksets are not enough to resist this type of force. The best way to prevent a break through the door is to reinforce the door hardware. Focus on door hinges, locks, and even the screws that hold the doorframe to the wall studs.
Make sure screws that fasten the doorframe to the wall studs are at least three inches long. Half-inch screws barely bite into a single wall stud while a longer length pierces two wooden studs. This prevents burglars from easily cracking a doorframe. Then, consider additional door hardware that increases security like deadbolts and chains.
Use a Copied Key
You might be surprised that some burglars are people that have entered your home in the past. Contractors, prior owners, and your babysitter’s unscrupulous cousin can easily make a copy of your door key for later use. You even put the security of your home at risk when you innocently hand over your set of keys during an oil change. Clever burglars can take a photo of your house key and create a replica with a 3-D printer.
You can prevent the possibility of a copy-key break-in when you eliminate the key — literally. Opt for a keyless door lock with a keypad or touchpad that requires an access code. Some keypad locks are a combination keypad and keyhole. In this case, only use the key code and store the key in a safe place. You can even program some keypads with a temporary, one-time-use number for contractors or the pet sitter.
Overpower Cheap Locks
Sometimes a cheap lock is the only thing between your home and a burglar. Regardless of how often you re-key or replace a lock, the burglar wins if the lock is easy to penetrate. Sadly, standard grade locksets from a big-box store are of lesser quality because they are purchased in bulk to lower the price. Additionally, mass-produced locks mean an increased likelihood of identical keys.
To keep your front door securely locked, upgrade to a high-security lock instead. This type of lock is not mass-produced and has a UL-listed design. You can ask a quality locksmith to install high-security locks that are pick-proof and contain hardened steel inserts to resist drilling.
DuPage Security Solutions, Inc., is your source for high-quality locks and hardware that help deter burglars and thieves. Call us or stop by our location to find out how we can protect your home with door hardware and lock upgrades. We look forward to assisting you!