How To Reinforce Your Entry Door And Lock

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Step-by-Step Pictures and Instructions for How to Reinforce Your Entry Door and Lock
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I never realized how easy it is to kick in a solid door that has old hardware until I tried it on our demonstration door. With two kicks in only five seconds, I destroyed the doorjamb and was in the house.

You need to upgrade the deadbolt and lockset plates of your exterior doors if you haven’t already done so. FBI burglary statistics show that 65 percent of break-ins occur by forcing in the front, back or garage service door (not to mention the 12 percent of entries where burglars find your “hidden” key or simply walk in through an unlocked door).

In this story, we’ll show you how to strengthen your exterior doors in three ways. We’ll replace an old deadbolt with a quality Grade 1 deadbolt. Then, we’ll replace the deadbolt strike plate with a four-screw strike box and faceplate— attached with 3-in. wood screws that reach the wall frame. Finally, we’ll replace the lip strike plate and its wimpy 3/4-in. screws with 3-in. wood screws. We’ll also show you a handy method to turn a small deadbolt hole into a larger hole.

The techniques we show in this article will work on any type of exterior door. But keep in mind that these techniques may not be as effective if you have glass sidelight windows or large glass panels in your doors.

For this project, you need only basic carpentry tools, as well as a 2-1/8 in. hole saw bit and a 1-in. spade bit (check the deadbolt packaging for the exact bit size required). Home centers usually carry deadbolt installation kits with the right size bits.

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