# Door Fortification Tips



## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

Doors are usually the common points of entry. 
How can we best fortify them?

Aside from putting a deadbolt lock, this site recommends replacing the screws on the wall side of the hinges with wood screws that are at least 2-1/2 to 3 inches long.

This site gives quite a few tips on different things.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=Rr...age&q=indoor hot rock heater preppers&f=false


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

other than something like a front door where aesthetics comes into play - bar holders lagged into each side for bracing with a drop-in 2 x 4 are a great reinforcement ....


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

The windows are more of a concern to me then a door.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Chipper said:


> The windows are more of a concern to me then a door.


burglar bars and security film ....


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Illini Warrior said:


> other than something like a front door where aesthetics comes into play - bar holders lagged into each side for bracing with a drop-in 2 x 4 are a great reinforcement ....


I have been considering putting a bar holder on my storm cellar''s door although the door is a steel door of very good quality, I still see it as the weak point. But I was thinking more of a iron bar than a 2x4, also I was thinking more of a F5 tornado than bad guys trying to get in.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

A good way to fortify an entrance door is to add another door. 

A security screen door. One with strong but decorative steel bars that looks very attractive. One that swings outward, so it cannot be kicked in, and with integral hinge pins that can't be pulled out. One with a double cylinder deadbolt lock, so that when the glass is put away for the summer, no one can cut the screen and open the quick latch. One that stays locked when you open your entry door to talk with visitors and check ID without giving them the opportunity to "push in rob" you.

I've got them installed on all my doors. I used huge 3 1/2 inch non-removable screws that required pilot holes to get them into the framing. It would take 10 minutes with a pickhead ax to get through them. By then, I'm ready.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Here's another tip to create a stronger interior door, for example into a bedroom or a closet where valuable items may reside. 

Where hinges are on the exterior, an assailant can pull the pins and lift the door from the frame, even if it's locked. To prevent this, remove one screw from each hinge on the jamb side. Replace it with a large diameter nail. Drive in the nail and leave about an inch exposed, then cut off the head. Remove the matching screw in the door, and drill a hole to accept the nail when the door closes. 

Now the door is locked in place even with the hinge pins removed.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I really am thinking about transplanting cactus to the area directly in front of my windows. It might not stop
them but I think I'll hear them coming.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Moonshinedave said:


> I have been considering putting a bar holder on my storm cellar''s door although the door is a steel door of very good quality, I still see it as the weak point. But I was thinking more of a iron bar than a 2x4, also I was thinking more of a F5 tornado than bad guys trying to get in.


I use steel pipe myself - and on one door the pipe extends thru and into an adjacent wall... an improvised Jersey Bar from the doorknob angled 45% to the floor is also very effective ....


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## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

Illini Warrior said:


> I use steel pipe myself - and on one door the pipe extends thru and into an adjacent wall... an improvised Jersey Bar from the doorknob angled 45% to the floor is also very effective ....


I've always found this to be a fun topic to think about!

The problem with bars across the door is that they are only as strong as the sistered 2x4s in the wall on each side of the door. By the way, pad the "bars", so that the padding fits snug against the door. You don't want that door to shake at all when someone kicks it from outside, otherwise the shaking will contribute to the door damage. Instead of bars, I'll use pressure-treated 2.4s, with the thick side on the horizontal, because I can pad it with more wood right against the door.

There are door reinforcing kits that add thick metal braces to the door frame, but they are a bit of work installing.

Aside from that, I'd put 4 metal bolts into the flat side of a 2x4 that fits within the width of a door frame, and drill holes in the floor to accept the bolts in the 2x4, so that the 2x4 with bolts can be dropped into the holes in the floor and lay snug against the bottom of the door. The 2x4 can then just be picked up off the floor, if you want the door unsecured. In this case, if I were using a bar against the door, I'd place it 3/4th of the way up the door.

Another thing, which is super strong, is to wedge a 2x4 between a receptacle you make halfway up the door above the knob door and an other receptacle in a wall facing the door. You can just lift the strut out of its receptacles any time you want the door unsecured. If you can't create a receptacle in a wall, you can place it on the floor, and even make it removable

Another thing I plan to do with my front door, since I'm not going to use it except in emergencies, is to paint the whole landing in front of the door with lithium grease. This will prevent anyone up there trying to breach the door to have any traction. If we need to use the door in an emergency, I'll have a large mat inside the door that we can thrown over the grease to leave.

Another thing I plan, which only works in doors into foyers, is to put a well-secured nylon net from wall to wall on either side of the door, secured to 2x4s on both sides of the net, and a recepticle on one wall, so it can be folded away when not in use. This would be placed to allow the door to fully open without interfering with the net. If your door configuration doesn't allow that, you can create a drop net on the ceiling, that can be operated by someone in a secure position. If someone breaches the door, they run into a net, which cannot be easily breached. While they're trying to get past the net, I will have plenty of time to fire on them, from a position with good cover from down the hall. If it's dark, I'll have a super-flashlight laying at another position to illuminate and blind them.

Another option is to allow access to only 1 person coming in sideways. You do this by securing a piece of plywood to the outside frame, with a narrow opening at the doorknob side.

Finally, if you have window panels on or beside your door, you want to block them with plywood *outside*. I'm tempted to not block my side panels, because I have a VERY sharp Chinese meat cleaver I'd like to use on any arm that comes in through them.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

easiest I know of is drill a hole in the floor about midway on the door -drop a steel pipe or a broom handle or whatever down in the hole with about a foot sticking out the top or use a draw bar method can get to musk more secure than that


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## Jammer Six (Jun 2, 2017)

They teach firemen to go through walls when they're trapped, not doors. The reason is that with a simple fireman's axe, going through a residential wall is not difficult. Interior walls are tissue paper to that axe, exterior walls slightly more.

Once the door is stronger than the wall, it's strong enough. Cages, bars, screens, whatever are useless when you can move two feet to the left and go through siding, plywood and studs. You either have to make all the walls as strong as the door, or once the door is not the weak point, further improvement becomes wasted resources.

Those resources would be better used to welcome people rather than preventing their entry. My neighborhood is organized as a group; we intend to help one another, not lock each other out. The bigger the group, the stronger, better prepared and more survivable it becomes. The ultimate resource is people, the ultimate skill is leadership. More people is better.


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## HochwaldJager (Aug 31, 2017)

My house is 18" of stone on all three levels so I'm not concerned but isn't most US homes 1/2 OSB, plastic, sheetrock and insulation with 16" of spaced out supports? If I was trying a force entry would probably be easier to go around the door and bypass any traps or reinforcements wouldn't it? Any firefighters or SWAT members got experience on this? In Grunt land we blow the doors if we feel they are to strong to force in with our breaching gear or if we want total surprise shock and awe. .....


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Jammer Six said:


> They teach firemen to go through walls when they're trapped, not doors. The reason is that with a simple fireman's axe, going through a residential wall is not difficult. Interior walls are tissue paper to that axe, exterior walls slightly more...
> 
> Those resources would be better used to welcome people rather than preventing their entry...


Yep. But smash and grab type thieves looking for a quick score don't know/use those methods. And they won't work on my brick house. I would rather have a choice in who I welcome into my home, and hardening the perimeter gives me that.


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## huntntrap (Feb 5, 2017)

sideKahr said:


> Yep. But smash and grab type thieves looking for a quick score don't know/use those methods. And they won't work on my brick house. I would rather have a choice in who I welcome into my home, and hardening the perimeter gives me that.


Dollars to donuts says that I can self rescue myself through your brick wall without trying all too hard. It will just take a few more minutes

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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

huntntrap said:


> Dollars to donuts says that I can self rescue myself through your brick wall without trying all too hard. It will just take a few more minutes.


Do you really think it would be that easy to egress with a hand tool that you may have with you? I've installed windows, it wasn't easy. Plaster on lathe, 1x10 inch sheathing on diagonally, brick over 1 1/2 courses of block? Besides, why bother. I have windows to climb out of in a fire situation.

Anyway, the fact that it's going to "take a few more minutes" to break in, is just what I need to wake up or otherwise prepare for an uninvited intruder.


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## Jammer Six (Jun 2, 2017)

sideKahr said:


> Yep. But smash and grab type thieves looking for a quick score don't know/use those methods. And they won't work on my brick house. I would rather have a choice in who I welcome into my home, and hardening the perimeter gives me that.


You think that those bricks will keep firemen out?

Residential brick walls take an extra swing with that axe.

Staying in one place gives the choice to the _aggressor_, not the defender. Fixed defenses went out after the first world war, because they don't work. Another word for folks in fixed defenses is "trapped".


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Jammer Six said:


> You think that those bricks will keep firemen out?
> 
> Residential brick walls take an extra swing with that axe.


You can't knock down a brick wall with one swing of a fire axe. I was a firefighter for 3 years. You must be dreaming.

I'm out.


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## Jammer Six (Jun 2, 2017)

Good choices.

I didn't say anything about knocking down a brick wall with one swing.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

If you're a looter, would you waste time trying to break through a brick wall if there are many easier targets? Maybe.....if it's known that a house have something of value, they would try to breach it. 
But I don't think that will happen during the first wave.

Once gangs are formed (and everyone had a chance to sit down and think things through), they are likely to go systematically to every houses. Hopefully by then, neighborhoods will have formed some sort of defenses.


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## HochwaldJager (Aug 31, 2017)

Would love to see a fireman hit my walls with his wee hammer! 18" stone with the first floor poured concrete (36" high) 8mm rebar reinforced. Got to love that German engineering. That being said only think on my house that would burn (minus furniture) is the roof on the third floor. Pretty sure I could go to the basement and it would be like a mild sauna until it puts itself out but dang that would suck....


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