What types of home security devices do you have for your home? Despite fancy security gadgets, you may be surprised to learn that unless you’ve taken the time to fortify your entranceways, your home could be an easy target for criminals.
The truth is that security cameras, motion-sensor lights, warning signs, and security alarms do not provide any actual physical protection. For criminals who already are violating the norms of society and preying on innocent families, these systems are useless against kicks, lock picking, and blows from a sledgehammer. In fact, the most common place criminals break into a home is through the front door – accounting for more than a ⅓ of burglaries and home invasions – while 65% of all home break-ins are committed through other entranceways, such as a garage door or back door(s).
In this article, we will look at a number of ways to fortify the most targeted area of your home and why door barricades are the optimal solution for comprehensive home security.
Tips to Fortify Your Home’s Entranceways and Windows
- Install longer screws in the doorjamb, hinges, and other parts of the door frame. Longer screws dig in further to the wooden frame of your home, creating a sturdier frame that is significantly more resistant to blows. By comparison, shorter screws
- Cost: <$1
- If your doors don’t have deadbolt locks, be sure to install them today. A deadbolt is an extremely useful locking mechanism that requires the right key to rotate the lock cylinder from the door jam. This creates a more solid connection of the door to the door frame. Deadbolts therefore make a door very resistant to entry to supplement other door locks, such as a spring-bolt lock.
Deadbolts are also harder for criminals to lockpick, creating another obstacle in addition to other locks your doors have. Plus, they are significantly harder to defeat by brute force (similar to the longer screw installation above). While deadbolts require a bit more modification for your door, such as routing out material of the door and the doorframe, the result is an near impenetrable door.
- Cost: $10 – $50
- Use high-quality solid wood or metal doors. Many doors are often made from plywood or cheap composites materials, with a hollow center that is sometimes filled with cardboard scraps as a soundproofing and insulation material. These doors typically fail within a few blows, defeating any locks that you may have installed.
- Cost: Starting at $100 and up.
- When the house is occupied, use chain locks in conjunction with other locks that you have installed. Installation of a chain lock takes less than 5 minutes, but provides another layer of security that can be useful if you want to restrict entry but want ventilation. Because they are under a short length of chain under tension on the inside of the door, chain locks are nearly impossible for criminals to lockpick.
- Cost: $5 – $15
- Doorbell cameras are trending as an essential home security door device due to their ability to record criminals in the act of entering your home or trespassing on your property. Because of their popularity, doorbell cameras act as a deterrent for nearly every criminal that shows pu on your doorstep or other entranceways.
- Cost: Starting at $60 and up.
- Use blackout shades to break up the line of sight for criminals looking to see if someone is home and what property may be available to steal. Blackout shades can be used over the windows of a door when you leave your home.
- Cost: Variable depending on the size of doors and windows of your home
- Door barricades are the ultimate form of door security for your home. Available from Nightlock, door barricades use the strength of the floor after being deployed to create a near-impenetrable fortification. Installation is simple and the barricade deployed in seconds. Nightlock’s line of door barricades are available for all residential doors, such as entry doors, outward swinging doors, and sliding patio doors.
- Cost: $39.95 – $59.95
Conclusion: Install as Many Forms of Home Security as Your Can for Comprehensive Home Security
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to fortify your home that are cost-effective, easy to install, and simple to deploy. You may only decide to install a few of these tips, but the truth is that you should do everything you can in your budget to boost your home security.
Watch the following video of a Nightlock customer that used a residential Nightlock door barricade, but neglected to invest in a quality door. As you can see, the intruder repeatedly hits the door to gain entry, but the deployed Nightlock significantly delays the criminal’s attempts. However, after almost a dozen tremendous blows, the door finally fails due to its poor quality and the criminal ultimately gains entry.
Contact Nightlock today to get the best home security to keep your family and property safe, and get the peace of mind you deserve.
Are School Shootings a Thing of the Past?