Securing house doors against being kicked in

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neb

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#2498913 5-Jun-2020 12:20

scuwp:
For your door, I would look at replacing with a solid steel or wooden one and get rid of the glass first.

Emphasis on "solid". You could stick your fist through the hollow-core front door at the Casa de Cowboy.

(Yeah, it's being replaced during the rebuild).

NightStalker

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#2498924 5-Jun-2020 12:41

Link to Home Depot UK

These sorts of things are common in the UK for reinforcing door frames against forced entry.
Not sure where in NZ to get them or any potential compliance(building/Safety) issues there may be.

Ge0rge

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#2499006 5-Jun-2020 13:42

neb:
BiffTannen:
What are the thoughts and experiences of others with this?

Metal screen security doors, despite looking like you could stick your fist through them, are remarkably difficult to penetrate. In particular if you're worried about them being kicked in a security door will force intruders to look for an alternative point of entry. They're also great if you want to leave the door open for cooling/ventilation purposes during the summer.

Edited to add: There's a ton of videos showing how resistant these doors are, admittedly by the companies making them, but still:

Video 1
Video 2

While it's hard to dispute the video evidence of their attack, I have seen a craft knife used to easily cut the mesh out...

neb

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#2499188 5-Jun-2020 17:05

Ge0rge: While it's hard to dispute the video evidence of their attack, I have seen a craft knife used to easily cut the mesh out...

Sure, you need to get solid stuff, e.g. a perforated alu grille or one with an alu lattice in front of the mesh.

Jase2985

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#2499214 5-Jun-2020 18:16

how is cutting the mesh out going to help an intruder get in?

nickb800

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#2499220 5-Jun-2020 18:26

Jase2985:
how is cutting the mesh out going to help an intruder get in?

I think that comment refers to the doors with only mesh and without the aluminum grid add per those YouTube videos. That style relies on extra strong mesh.

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FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2499411 6-Jun-2020 10:26

door security brace

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

driller2000

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#2499419 6-Jun-2020 10:41

geekiegeek:

The only people I hear of kicking in doors are the Police. You don’t think you may be being a bit paranoid?

I have personally had the front door kicked in by thieves - twice.

Bung

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#2499423 6-Jun-2020 10:52

When you've turned your place into Fort Knox remember that one day you will either lose your keys or lock them inside. Have a plan B that doesn't include smashing a window.

We went to the beach and got a call from the neighbours that their cat had got itself locked into our house having gone in while the car was being loaded. Plan A was a hidden key nowhere near the door that they couldn't find despite directions Plan B was another family member with a spare that had to go and open the door long enough for the cat to shoot outside.

Bung

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#2499424 6-Jun-2020 10:56

driller2000:
geekiegeek:

The only people I hear of kicking in doors are the Police. You don’t think you may be being a bit paranoid?

I have personally had the front door kicked in by thieves - twice.

Was it separate events or the same guy coming back to see what the insurance money had bought?

cruxis

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#2499469 6-Jun-2020 11:17

My TV and Desktops were taken when door was smashed in.

Is there a device like a USB Stick that has a GPS Tracker with battery backup that you can plug into your TV or Desktop PC slot ? Sends a Alert when TV is in motion would be plus. My TV should not be moving down the street.

With top line TV costing $1000s be a nice feature manufacturer could add.

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neb

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#2500035 7-Jun-2020 13:14

cruxis:
Is there a device like a USB Stick that has a GPS Tracker with battery backup that you can plug into your TV or Desktop PC slot ? Sends a Alert when TV is in motion would be plus. My TV should not be moving down the street.

You can get cheap battery-powered GPS trackers, but by the time you need it, if you ever will, the battery will be flat. Better to put a Kensington lock on the TV.

If you're really being burgled once a fortnight, leave some throwdown valuable-looking things in plain view and they'll grab those instead - dead but flash-looking laptop, wad of green plastic with a twenty around the outside, etc.

neb

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#2500037 7-Jun-2020 13:16

neb: Sure, you need to get solid stuff, e.g. a perforated alu grille or one with an alu lattice in front of the mesh.

Had dinner with a friend out in West Auckland last night who has an alu grille front door, there's no way you're getting through that without serious power tools and quite a bit of time and noise made. Something like that is easily good enough.

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2500114 7-Jun-2020 17:00

Lived in Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney for 30 years and this is the type of product we lived with on all ground floor doors and windows.

https://www.kingssecuritydoors.com.au/ do not know if these types of high grade steel products are available in NZ.

These doors and grilles are not aluminium with a fly screen over them, they are high grade steel with 4 hinges and top, bottom & middle central control locking. The window grilles are dyna bolted into the brickwork. If you did not have these types of ground floor security your insurance was horrendous but if you also threw in a top grade door, window & movement security system then your premiums started to come down quite significantly. Of course post code also made a difference.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

sqishy

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#2500118 7-Jun-2020 17:23

This is good but might be expensive.

China Stainless Steel Double Door Bank Vault Door Antitheft ...

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