TIP OF THE MONTH!!! - CHEAP DOOR PROTECTION
Police everywhere are telling people a small trick to increase the security, rigidity and protection of your most accessible opening to your home...your doors.
Would be burglars are going to try to make as quick of an entry and exit as possible. Even if a window is used to gain access to the property, the quickest way to get out is through a door. Oddly enough. The FRONT door is what is used in most cases...just simply kick it in and then...go out the same door. But what do you know about how your door is constructed? What kind of door do you have? What kind of locks do you have? What hardware was used for mounting them? Chances are, even with high quality materials, the STOCK screws were used to mount everything.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE IMAGE ABOVE - The difference is clear between the stock screw and what you could be using.
Check all of your screws for your sticker plate, latches and hinges. Are the screws similar? If so, I would recommend changing them out for something longer, thicker and maybe better materials. The smaller stock screw obviously has no real anchoring protection when it comes to kicking in a door. Just looking at it, you can tell that would break or come out pretty easily.
THE CHEAP FIX? Some places sell screws individually or in packages but for the quantity you need, they generally don't run that much. I would spend $5 on a good box of 3" screws for my doors and other exterior hardware before I'd be okay with spending $500 on an insurance claim from a break in.
Now...is it fool-proof? Of course not! A hard enough hit with a hard enough instrument or body (repeatedly) could cause it to strip out or weaken. However...this comes at the cost of two things that would be burglar really don't like...NOISE and TIME.
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Take care!!!
