Before you purchase a fancy electronic alarm system for your home, or hire a watchdog named Butch, consider improving your home`s door and window locks.
Most homes do not have sufficient door and window security hardware, says Joe Mele, an instructor at the National Crime Prevention Institute in Louisville, where police officers and other professionals go to learn about crime prevention.
”People only upgrade if there have been burglaries in their neighborhood,” he says. ”Otherwise, most homes probably still have builder`s hardware locks, which are the cheapest stuff the builder could find. So it`s worth taking a second look even if there have been no crimes in your neighborhood.”
Upgrading door and window locks takes only a few dollars and some elbow grease.
Anatomy of a door
Security experts agree that there are three elements to a secure door:
the door itself, the lock and the jamb, which is the sidepost of the doorway. ”If any one of those is weak, you`ve got nothing,” says Robert Bonifas, president of Security-Master Inc. locksmiths in Aurora. ”They are all interdependent of each other.”
1) The door: Any entry door, say the experts, should be a solid-core door (and most homes` entry doors are). ”If you have a hollow-core door and you put in a good lock, someone could still probably kick the lock clean out of the door,” Bonifas says.
If the door has any glass in it-such as a decorative window-it should be upgraded to polycarbon glass. ”It looks like plexiglass but it`s
unbreakable,” Mele says.
Also, he says, if the door swings out instead of in (most home entry doors swing in), you need to install non-removable hinge pins on the door. Otherwise, the burglar could just remove the hinge pins, which would be on the outside, and lift off the door.
And every entry door, including doors to attached garages, should be secured the same way. ”A burglar`s favorite way of getting in a home is through the back door during daylight hours,” Mele says.
2) The lock: The only door lock recommended by the experts is a single, good-quality deadbolt.
”You don`t want to put too many locks on your door because you`ll weaken the door and make it easier to kick in,” says Nadine Barber, co-owner of the Lock Works locksmith shop in Chicago.
The locks that are on a doorknob, the experts add, are of no value. ”If you hit the doorknob with a hammer, the knob is going to fall right off,”
Bonifas says.
A deadbolt works by basically sending a bolt from the lock on the door into the jamb. A good-quality deadbolt can usually be determined by price, usually starting at $50.
”Another major difference between a quality lock and a standard builder`s hardware lock is weight-up to three times the difference,” Bonifas says.
When purchasing a deadbolt, the experts agree that the deadbolt should have a throw (the extension of the bolt past the door) of one inch. The two halves of the lock should also be held together with bolts that are a minimum of 2 1/4 inches long, Mele says.
The lock should also be hardened so it can`t be sawn off and should have a heavy-duty metal cylinder guard on the outside, as well as a tapered snout. ”That will prevent someone from getting a grip on it with channel locks, so they could crush it and yank it out,” he says.
Basically, there are two types of deadbolts: a mortise or a surface lock. The bolt of a mortise lock slides into a hole in the jamb, and looks more attractive because it extends from the side of the door. But some doors, because of their physical shape, don`t lend themselves to a mortise lock and instead will require a surface lock, which is mounted on the surface of the door.
Deadbolts also can be either single- or doubled-sided (or single- or double-keyed).
With a single-sided deadbolt, a key is used to open and close the lock from the outside, and a knob is used on the inside. A double-sided lock requires a key on both sides.
The double-sided lock prevents anyone from breaking through a nearby window, reaching in and opening the lock from the inside (granted that the key is not in the lock).
But there are big risks with a double-sided lock, especially if you`re trying to quickly leave the house in case of a fire or other emergency. In fact, some municipalities have outlawed doubled-sided locks because of such potential danger.
If you have a doubled-sided deadbolt, Bonifas recommends leaving the key in the inside lock at all times when you`re in the house.
3) The door jamb: This is often the most overlooked part of a secure door, the experts say.
”The jamb is the weakest link as a rule,” Bonifas says. ”But it`s also the most important part and it`s the cheapest part to do.”
Bonifas recommends reinforcing the strike plate, the plate through which the bolt passes in the jamb.
”If you get a standard 2-inch strike plate and put in only two or three small 3/4-inch or 1-inch screws, all it`s holding onto is the trim mold,” he says. ”It`s not going into the two-by-four construction behind there.”
Usually, doors in homes have a 3/4-inch jamb, a 3/4-inch gap and two two-by-fours. To correctly secure the strike plate to those two-by-fours, the experts recommended using 4-inch screws.
In addition, Bonifas recommends an elongated, 8-inch strike plate, which will spread the pull of the screws if someone tries to kick in the door.
Unfortunately, even most good-quality deadbolts come with only a 2-inch strike plate and 1-inch screws. But 4-inch wood screws can be bought at any hardware store for a few cents. And elongated strike plates are sold for a few dollars from a lock shop.
Lock installation
The experts agree that most do-it-yourselfers can install new door locks if they are careful and thoroughly read the directions that come with the lock.
”You will need the correct tools, and the installation usually requires drilling,” says Barber. ”For example, you will need a large-diameter drill bit to install most locks.”
Some hardware stores and locksmiths even sell or rent tool packages specifically for putting in locks. But be especially careful when trying to retrofit a new lock over an older lock, the experts say.
”Someone who is not careful will simply make a mess out of the door,”
Bonifas warned. ”And another tricky area is using a chisel to install the strike plate. One other complication is when you have two doors that meet. You might want to call for help there.”
If you decide to have your locks professionally installed, most locksmiths will charge $50 or more for installation, depending on the door.
Other devices for doors
There is no need for chain locks, which allow you to open a door a few inches to see who is on the other side, the experts agreed. ”Once you open the door a crack, anyone can get their foot in there and break any chain lock,” says Bonifas. ”They`re only screwed onto the jamb board.”
Instead, install a wide-angle viewer, also known as a peephole, to see who is on the other side of the door. Mele also suggested a second, lower viewer for children.
Patio doors
One of the cheapest ways to secure a patio door is to simply place a sawed-down broomstick in the sliding track next to the door, say the experts. This will physically prevent the door from being opened.
But one problem with a broomstick is that a burglar can sometimes lift it out of the door track with a screwdriver or a burglar`s tool called a slim jim.
To alleviate that problem, Barber recommended instead an aluminum device called a Charley Bar, which retails for less than $100. The device works the same way as a broomstick, but mounts to the door track with a few screws so it can`t be flipped out. It flips up and attaches to a bracket when you need to open the patio door.
Another low-cost security step for patio or track doors, says Mele, is to install a few large pan head screws into the upper track of a patio door.
”Open the door so that the upper track is visible, and put in the screws at three locations,” he says. ”Install them so that the heads of the screws barely miss the top of the door when you close it. This prevents the door from being lifted out of the lower track, which you can do with most patio doors.” Windows
Securing windows is a bit trickier than securing doors. But not all windows need to be secured-especially those that are on the second floor or higher (unless they`re easily accessible from a staircase or porch).
At ground level, windows that are the least likely to be entry points for burglars are those that are in the sight range of another window or are clear of shrubbery, says Mele.
If there is shrubbery covering a ground-floor window, clear it. ”Don`t give the burglar any cover,” he says.
Since burglars hate breaking windows, the best way to secure windows is to make sure they stay shut.
For example, ordinary sash locks can be opened from the outside with a screwdriver. And they`re usually held in by 1-inch screws in soft pine wood.
So if you have double-hung windows, drill a small hole where the windows overlap when closed and insert a 16-penny nail in the hole. Mele warns not to drill the hole all the way through both windows (so the burglar could push the nail out) and to drill the hole at a slight downward angle (so the nail can`t be tapped out). To open the window yourself, just remove the nail.
If you have a sliding window, treat it similarly to the patio doors described above.
And if you have casement windows (which are operated by a crank), your best bet is to close the windows and simply remove the crank.
For more information
For additional information on door and window security hardware, call your local police department`s crime prevention office. Most will do a free security check of your home.
The National Crime Prevention Institute also offers free brochures on home security. Write to the institute at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky. 40292.
And, if you`re not sure whether the locks in your home are of good quality, the experts say to remove them and take them in to a locksmith to check. Of course, make sure someone is there to watch the house while you`re gone.
