Tips to Buying New Security Doors
Security is always paramount when it comes to ones home. Security doors play a pivotal role in ensuring security on any structure. Strong and well-mounted security doors help prevent possible burglaries and break-ins when you are away from home, or when you are just relaxing at home and want to leave your doors open for fresh air. There are various types of security doors that you can buy depending on the nature and size of your home. Here are 3 tips that can come in handy when you go shopping for these doors.
Check the Locks and Handles
Locks are a vital component on your security door as crooks like picking them to get access to your house rather than struggle to break the frame. It is, therefore, very important to check these and ensure that they are not easy to pick. Go for five-pin cylinder locks or any that are closer to that. Such locks are designed to spread the force of an attack by preventing intruders wrenching it from either side. You should also check the lock’s warranty. Go for mortise rather than surface mounted locks. A long warranty shows that the manufacturers are confident of its quality. Check the handles as well to confirm their strength. Security doors are always handled with a bit of some force so strong handles would come in handy.
Check the Door’s Frame
Security doors’ frames can either be steel or aluminum. Most experts advise that steel doors are stronger and more effective as compared to aluminum ones, but get corroded over time losing their aesthetic appeal. Aluminum doors are less prone to corrosiveness, but are apparently less strong. This is not to say that they cannot provide the required security. If you want a beautiful door with a unique design, then you go for an aluminum door since it will still provide you with the security you need. If your focus is entirely on security and do not want to take any chances, then you can go for a steel door. You can galvanize it to delay corrosion for a period of time. Whichever material you choose, make sure the joints are strong enough.
Always Check the Hinges
A door with weak hinges is as much as useless since intruders can simply cut or lift the screws and remove the door entirely. It is more secure if a security door has three hinges or more. These hinges should be fixed permanently with pins securely welded instead of simply pressing into the leaf of the hinge. Ensure that the pins are big enough to make them difficult to cut with simple tools and that the door has a hinge filling. The filling between the frame and the door hinges is to prevent possibilities of jimmying. You can save some money by using a single block hinge that runs the entire length of the door. Such a block will not only prevent forced breakage with a jimmy, but is also more durable.