How to Reinforce a Door: 6 Steps from a Locksmith

Why Reinforce Your Door | Strengthen the Door Frame | Strengthen the Door | Improving the Door Locks | Make Your Door Pick Proof | FAQ

Reinforce a Door to Prevent Kick In

Your home protects some of the most important things in your life: your family and your possessions. But the main line of home defense, the front door, can be bypassed several ways and as quickly as 5 seconds when steps have not been taken to reinforce the door and reinforce the door frame. In this article we discuss How to Reinforce a Front Door (or any door for that matter).

To reinforce your front door replace the 1/2-inch hinge screws and strike screws with 3 1/2-inch screws. This will tie the door to the studs behind the door framing. Add larger door strikes to distribute force, add door wraps to strengthen the door, install better grade door locks to prevent tampering, and install a half deadbolt to stop lock picking and bumping. Details on these door reinforcement techniques are shown below.

The Need to Strengthen Door Security

There is approximately one burglary in the US every 15 seconds. That’s 240 an hour, 5,760 break-ins per day. Most home robberies occur during the day while the homeowners are at work, and most occur using forcible entry through the front entry door. And surprisingly, a significant number, 30%, occur by simply walking through an unlocked door.

Our locksmiths can open your front door in less than 30 seconds, without using force. So can a knowledgeable criminal. And residential doors can easily be kicked in within 5 seconds. By default, builders don’t focus on door reinforcement or security, they focus on profit, which means limited door security. The best way to prevent a kick in is by reinforcing the exterior doors.

1) Keep the door locked – Install an Electronic Lock

Though this seems like an obvious thing, but 30% of home burglaries are accessed by walking through an unlocked door or window! The world’s best door locks will not protect your home if they are not used.

People forget to lock their doors. I’ve forgotten to lock my door too. That is until I installed an electronic lock on my door. Electronic deadbolts and levers have one great feature, the ability to auto relock themselves after being left open for a specified amount of time. So if you forget to lock your door, the lock still remembers, and your door stays secure.

My favorite residential grade 1, the best grading you can get are the Schlage touchscreen deadbolts. In addition to the bump-resistant pinning, you are getting the best materials used in a residential deadbolt. They are very affordable at Home Depot.

Be sure to get one with a key override as there is a trend to skip this in favor of saving money when building it. We also really like the Yale YRD226. Though a grade 2 deadbolt, the security is good and it is the deadbolt I have on my home (check price on Amazon).

We discuss the features of electronic deadbolts, such as Bluetooth and home automation, see smart locks.

2) Reinforce the Door Frame

Must Do – Secure your door to the 2 X 4s

The best and simplest thing you can do to prevent door kick ins is to replace the screws securing your door to the door frame.

Throw out the 3/4-inch screws that were installed on your door hinges and door strike by the builder, and replace them with 3″ to 3.5″ screws.

This is a DIY job that any homeowner, comfortable with a power drill, can do. You can get these screws at Home Depot.

The 1/2-inch screws only go into the door frame, which is cheap composite wood. But a 3-inch screw will go through the frame into the two 2 X 4 studs that are behind it, greatly improving your overall door strength and kick resistance.

We recommend reinforcing every door hinge with at least two screws and reinforcing both screws that are on the door’s strike.

Optional Upgrade – Distribute Force

If you want to take this to the next level, remove the standard strike plate that is on the door frame and replace it with an elongated strike plate.

This will allow you to use 4 (or more) 3″ screws to secure that strike plate to the 2 X 4’s behind the frame instead of just the two that a standard strike takes. This prevents the door from being kicked in by distributing force to multiple points.

Options Upgrade – Install Reinforcement Kit

Some manufacturers sell door reinforcement kits. These kits will come with all of the hardware you need to

reinforce the framing of the door and the door edge (discussed below). They will already have the 3-3.5″ screws you need as well. The kits take what we have discussed and add to it some additional materials to further protect the door hinges. They also have strikes that are several feet long so that force is distributed over a very big area making it nearly impossible to force a door in – even with a battering ram.

Though the most expensive solution, these are the best solution and often the easiest solution since one purchase gets you everything you need. You can find them on eBay for the best prices and you get everything you need to reinforce the entry door. Amazon carries them as well.

If you aren’t comfortable installing any of these items, contact your nearest locksmith for help.

3) Reinforce the Door Itself

Once you have that frame taken care of, the next thing to look at is the door. The weak part of the door is the section that contains the bolt or latch. This photo is from one of our Phoenix customers who was broken into when her door was kicked in.

The latch and bolt areas are the weak spots of the door because the bolt and latch have a small surface area. Any force on the door is concentrated on these two spots. Also, the latch and bolts are drilled through the door, so the door is thinnest at these points.

The best way to handle this is to install some sort of door wrap. It’s called a wrap because it wraps around the edge of the door. The objective of a door wrap is to create more surface area to distribute the force over. When you distribute force, the amount of force required to damage the door is much greater.

Think of it like the tip of a sharp pencil popping a filled balloon. It’s easy to pop a balloon with the tip. But if you hit the balloon with the same force from the side of the pencil it will not pop easily, because the force is distributed over a larger surface area.

The door reinforcement kits we previously discussed will have elongated wraps for the edge of the door. Again, you can find them on eBay for the best prices and Amazon. Home Depot has a wide selection of door wraps.

4) Install Stronger Locks

Most residential-grade door hardware installed by a builder is grade 3. That is the least strong lock grade. These locks contain plastic parts, cheap material, no resistance to lock bumping, and the shortest/narrowest bolts. They are the opposite of what you want.

When choosing a deadbolt, in addition to finish and style, you need to consider security. You can go with a high security lock installation but those locks can be expensive. Or, you can install our favorite home deadbolt lock that is 100% pick and bump proof.

To improve your door locks with off-the-shelf hardware, consider the following.

• Lock grading. The lower the grade, the more rigorous the testing of the deadbolt. Lock grade 2 is better than grade 3, and grade 1 is better than grade 2. For residential you will want at least grade 2 door locks. All grade 3 door hardware should be replaced and thrown in the garbage where they belong.
• A minimum of 1″ throw for deadbolts. “Throw” is the length that the deadbolt extends beyond the edge of the door into the door frame. The longer the better. You need a long throw to keep someone from separating the door from the door frame using a crowbar or airbag

5) Stop Lock Bumping

On this blog we’ve thoroughly discussed the topic of lock bumping. Click demonstration of lock bumping to see our video on it.

Bottom line. Unless you have high security locks, they are susceptible to lock bumping, and anyone with $5 and an internet connection has everything they need to open your home within seconds.

In our Best Door Deadbolt article, we discuss one-sided deadbolts. Installing a one-sided deadbolt lock will make your door pick proof and bump proof.

Disclosure: As an eBay / Amazon Associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.