Securing Your Front Door

Has it been years since you’ve replaced your house locks? Not quite sure if your front door is secure enough to keep intrud­ers out? Don’t wor­ry, we’re here to help. Mak­ing sure that your front door is strong and secure is a great way to pre­vent intrud­ers from com­ing into your home. One way to do that is by select­ing the right lock for you and your lifestyle. As a home­own­er, you have many fac­tors to con­sid­er such as:

- Which one will pro­tect my home or busi­ness the best?

- Which has a longer lifes­pan?

- Should I go with a dig­i­tal pass­word or the tra­di­tion­al key?

- Will it be strong enough to keep intrud­ers out?

With so many fac­tors to con­sid­er, choos­ing the right type of lock for your home or busi­ness is one of the most impor­tant deci­sions you’ll make when choos­ing how to pro­tect your prop­er­ty from intrud­ers. Here are some ways to help you find what you’re look­ing for.

Look at the lock through an intrud­ers per­spec­tive

Most bur­glar­ies occur through the front door as bur­glars find this as an easy and quick way to enter and leave the home in min­i­mal time. So in order to stop an intrud­er right at the front door, start by choos­ing a strong and durable look. A good, secure and strong lock can be eas­i­ly cause the bur­glar to walk away from your home right from the start. A bur­glar does not want to spend a lot of time try­ing to break into a home so if they see a lock that they can­not break, they’ll sim­ply walk away. For exam­ple, a dead­bolt lock on the front door is known to deter a bur­glar away from the home upon see­ing it as they are much stronger and hard­er to break than oth­er locks.

Install a dead­bolt lock

As was said, a dead­bolt lock is a stronger and hard­er lock to break than oth­ers. Unlike a spring-loaded or beveled lock that can be retract­ed sim­ply by turn­ing a door knob, a dead­bolt lock is retract­ed and extend­ed man­u­al­ly through the use of a key or a thumb turn. Rec­tan­gu­lar in shape, a the dead­bolt lock extends fur­ther into its plate than latch bolts do, mak­ing it much larg­er in length. The fact that it extends fur­ther into its plate makes it much hard­er for a bur­glar to pick it or break it, pro­vid­ing added pro­tec­tion to the home. Man­u­al­ly oper­at­ed locks may take more time and effort to use but they pro­vide much bet­ter pro­tec­tion. Also if you do install a dead­bolt lock, make sure to install the secu­ri­ty strike plate on the side pan­el of the door to aid in the added pro­tec­tion of the home.

Install more than one lock on the door

Since the front door is the most con­ve­nient and acces­si­ble way for a bur­glar to enter your home, it’s best to secure that entry way the best way pos­si­ble. One way to do so is by installing more than one lock on the front door. By installing two or more locks on the door, it pro­vides anoth­er bar­ri­er for the bur­glar, as they must now try to get through more than one lock in order to enter your home. It can also deter a bur­glar away from try­ing to break into a home because when they see two locks, they may not want to put in the effort to try. If you do install more than one lock, pay atten­tion to their place­ment on the door. From inside the house, you want to make sure that at least one lock is out of reach from small chil­dren. If the lock is reach­able by small chil­dren, they may by acci­dent­ly open the lock unknow­ing­ly.

Keep dig­i­tal pass­words safe

If you install a lock that requires a dig­i­tal pass­word, make sure that you keep that pass­word safe. A bur­glar can eas­i­ly pick a lock but if they know your dig­i­tal pass­word as well, then they can enter your house a lot faster. Make sure no one sus­pi­cious is look­ing when you enter in your pass­word and make sure to cov­er it when you enter it in. Also, remem­ber to change the pass­word on a reg­u­lar basis (if you can) so that if some­one does have the code, they won’t get in.

Best of Both Worlds

With so many types and styles of locks to choose from, you can choose to install both a dig­i­tal and man­u­al lock. A man­u­al lock, such as a dead­bolt lock, will pro­vide secu­ri­ty if the dig­i­tal pass­word is cracked by a bur­glar, while a dig­i­tal pass­word can stump an intrud­er right at the front door. Also, for those who con­stant­ly lose their keys, a dig­i­tal pass­word lock is a great choice as it pro­vides the option of either using a key or a num­ber code to enter the home.