Entry Door Reinforcement

The year 2019 marked an increase in property crimes across South Minneapolis. One of the more common examples was garage break-ins. In many of these instances, the locked entry door was forced open, breaking the door jamb. The purpose of this post is to share some tips with fellow residents in Minneapolis, Richfield, and Bloomington on simple techniques for entry door hardening.

Entry door hardening is the act of installing hardware that is able to withstand brute-force or kick-in attacks. This is also called door reinforcement. There are two simple pieces of hardware that will dramatically improve the resistance of your entry door to kick-in attacks. These are the door edge reinforcer and a security strike plate. Examples of these are provided below.

Before explaining why these devices are so great, it's best to describe how an entry door typically fails under a brute force or kick-in attack. When the deadbolt or push button knob are in their locked positions, they protrude into the frame that surrounds the door, called the door jamb. Normally, there are flat pieces of metal attached to the door jamb that surround the holes into which the deadbolt and push button latch extend in their locked and closed positions. These are called strike plates. In many cases, the screws that attach the strike plate of the push button latch to the door jamb are short, so they don’t provide adequate security. The deadbolt strike plate typically has long screws that extend through the door jamb and into the structural framing that surrounds the door. These screws are what must resist a brute force attack when the deadbolt is in the locked position. Many times, these screws are not enough to prevent forced entry. During a brute force attack, one end of the locked deadbolt is forced against the door jamb. The other end of the deadbolt is forced against the inside of the door edge. This introduces a significant torque on the deadbolt, and there are two common modes of failure for the entryway. The door jamb will split apart at the strike plate screws, or the door edge will split apart at the deadbolt. Sometimes both failure modes coincide.

The failures described above can be prevented if adequate hardware is installed on the entryway. Door edge reinforcers prevent the edge of the door from splitting at the deadbolt. In order for the door edge to fail, the door edge reinforcer must also split apart. Due to the significant tensile strength intrinsic to steel alloys, splitting of the door edge reinforcer is extremely unlikely with a kick-in attack. Door jambs must also be reinforced. This can be achieved with a security strike plate. The security strike plates that offer the most resistance to brute force attacks are those that span several vertical inches of the door jamb and have multiple attachment points with long screws. The screws are driven into the framing members and distribute the load applied to the door jamb during a brute force attack.

It’s best to install these devices on uncompromised entryways. However, sometimes the door has already been forced and replacement of the door and door jamb is not feasible with respect to the associated cost and time. Restoring security can often be achieved by repairing the door and door jamb using a door edge reinforcer and security strike plate.

If you have questions regarding how your door can be reinforced or hardened, feel free to reach out to me. If you’d like to harden your entryway against burglary but aren’t confident in your ability to install the necessary hardware, I’m available to provide this service to you. If you choose to hire me to harden your door, you can be sure of two things: 1) you’ll receive excellent service and quality of work and 2) your entryway will be significantly more secure than it was before.