Increasing Your Door Strength

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

20 Feb 2009 03:30 PM

Whether you are concerned about high winds, fire or burglary, increasing the strength of your doors can be a real comfort to you. There are several things that you can do, depending on whether you are building a new home or retrofitting an existing home. Here are some things that you can do to increase your door strength.

If you have a door that leads from your garage to the inside of your home, make sure that this is a fire door, capable of keeping out fire and smoke long enough to protect your family. Also, since many break ins occur through the garage, be sure to have a secure lock on this inner door to prevent an invader from entering the main part of your home.

Avoid glass in your doors or make sure that the glass is reinforced or impact resistant. Also avoid glass on either side of the door for the same reason. A thief might easily break the glass to reach your door lock or debris from high winds could crash through.

According to State Farm Insurance, here are some other ways to increase your door strength.

For new homes, horizontally braced single-wide garage doors will protect your home from high wind. There are also retrofit bracing kits that may be available for your existing home.

Doors to the outside of your home can be strengthened by having at least three hinges and a dead-bolt security lock. Be careful of locks that require a key to open from the inside, as this could making exiting in an emergency difficult.

Single entry doors are stronger than double entry doors. With double entry doors, you will want to install head and foot bolts on the door that you don't usually use.

Surface bolts on your doors should extend through the door header and make their way into the sub-floor for the greatest security.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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