In my post Five Free Things You can Do Now to be More Prepared, one of the recommended steps was to evaluate the safety of your home or apartment. If the doors and windows don’t seem too secure to you, now is the time to reinforce them.
1. Secure the door’s strike plate with longer screws.
What is the strike plate? The strike plate is the metal part covering the hole in the door frame where the dead bolt enters. Before proceeding, remove one screw and measure its size. The commonly used screws are usually only one inch long . You can reinforce the strike plate by replacing the one inch screws with 3 1/2 inch screws. This will secure the strike plate against the frame. This will not make it completely “kick-proof” but will make it less likely to fall apart with one kick.
2. Install a dead bolt lock.
If your lease allows it, replace a flimsy dead bolt with a grade one or grade two deadbolt. It should extend at lease one inch into the door jamb, which is the vertical section of the door frame.
3. Door and window alarms.
These are inexpensive door alarm sets that attach to the door frame. When you are inside, you set the alarm. If the door is breached, it makes a loud obnoxious noise. I actually use these and they make a lot of noise when triggered.
If you prefer not to attach anything to the door frame, then try the door stop alarm. Just insert under the closed door, and it will stop a door from being opened. If anyone tries to open the door, the alarm will sound. This will work better in a bare floor, with no carpet.
5. Secure your Sliding Glass Door.
6. Security film on windows.
Glass windows can be covered with security film that reinforces the glass. Another type of privacy film can be used on doors that have glass trim or designs, or side lights that are not covered up. This is more for privacy to keep passersby from looking into your house.
7. Leave objects on the window sill that will sound off when moved.
Another low tech method is to leave bells or fine china on the window sill that will sound off if anyone tries to enter through the window.
8. Heavy duty security bar.
When you are home, you also want to keep your door as secure as possible. We use this security bar against the door knob at night. It is another layer of security to deter someone from kicking your door open quickly.
Updated Feb. 2017 from a previous post.
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I LOVE you Bernie! You read my comment! You gave me some info I did not know was available so I will be looking for it now. Thanks for the great article!
Regarding #1 – be very careful to not tighten those longer screws any tighter than needed to just hold the strike. Overtightening will pull the frame away from the door, leaving a gap which will waste heat and AC energy.
Regarding #5 – the “stick” needs to be located approximately 1/2 way between the top and bottom of the door. Placing it in the bottom channel allows the door to be leveraged in a way to force it open unless screws are driven into the top to prevent the door from being lifted out of the track.
Hope these things help someone.
Hey Doug in Arkansas, Thanks for adding these cautionary tips, everyone benefits.
my parents always put a metal rod in all the windows of our apartment & screwed them in place with a mechanical screw driver. Apparently if you do that wrong it can break the windows so we never opened our windows during my entire childhood so they wouldn’t have to do it over & over. Apparently it was against our rental agreement but they figured they’d remove the rods before they moved so as long as they weren’t found out what did it hurt? 20 years later there was an inspection by a new owner of the apartment & he found the rods. Thankfully he didn’t care. He did remove them from a section 8 apartment dweller in the unit as it was against state regulations.
But they did work! When the apartment was tented & every apartment was broken into, theirs was the only one where the window wasn’t the point of entry. Instead they got in the front door through the standard issue dead bolt that came with the apartment & technically come-to-find-out wasn’t a dead bolt because it had a triangle door insert instead of rectangle or something like that… that’s fixed now.
Hi sk8r, So the metal rods did their job all these years, but the flimsy deadbolt failed! Thanks for sharing this story.
Thanks for this practicle list of preparedness security ideas.
hinges on a door – remove one screw from each hinge and replace it with a much longer one.
How about a simple door security chain/guard, heavy duty of course. Or maybe a screw in the top of a sliding door or a window lock that only allows a window to be opened a few inches. I might also suggest having a light or two on timers as a general rule for when you’re not home.
Hi millenniumfly, Good ideas for both home or apartments. Thanks!
This sounds like a great idea Dave. Thanks for sharing!