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securing your front door

How to Secure Your Front Door?

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In this article, I share some ways of securing and protecting your front door. There are many different ways to do that.

The most common way for a burglar to enter your home is through a door.

According to Nationwide Insurance, 34% of burglaries in the U.S. occur through the front door.

Few of us think that home invasions only happen at night when families are asleep inside. That’s not the case generally.

Yes – night time invasions do happen and they’re scary but most burglaries occur during the day when thieves believe people are away.

Why wouldn’t they? People are less likely to be home, so less chances of the police being called, and there is less chance of a confrontation, which is what most thieves want to avoid at all cost.

Thieves just want to break-in, get your stuff, and leave as quickly as possible.

Also, most neighborhoods are less active during normal business hours so there is less of a concern for them being spotted.

For these reasons, the front door is somewhere I really want you to consider fortifying.

Wireless Doorbell Cameras

Ring Battery Doorbell Plus

One thing we can do is put up a wireless camera.

Many people use the Ring doorbell cameras for two-way interactions for video surveillance. They come in both wired and wireless configuration.

For this article we'll look at the Battery Doorbell Plus which gives you outstanding video quality, providing clear and crisp video footage of anyone approaching your doorstep.

The Battery Doorbell Plus  is easily setup by connecting it to your to wifi through the Ring app. It also has a Quick Release Battery Pack for easy recharging.

The two-way talk feature turns your Battery Doorbell Plus into a communication hub, letting you chat with visitors from anywhere in the world.

If you're looking for whole of house protection check out my hands-on review of the complete Ring alarm system.

Door Viewer

Tahikem Door Viewer Peephole

Another thing you want to make absolutely sure your front door has is a door viewer.

Most of us call these ‘peep-holes’. Use the term ‘door viewer’ when searching online.

Door viewers allow us to see who is outside our front door.

They are easy to install as long as you have a good drill.

If you can, make sure you have a wide angle door viewer so that you can see if someone is pressed up against the side of your door and waiting to strike as soon as you open it.

This is an inexpensive add to your home and it can mean a world of difference.

Front Door Lock

This seems obvious but I want to cover it just to make sure. Make sure that you have good quality locks on your front door.

Surfing the ‘bargain bin’ for deadbolt is not a good idea. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Get a name-brand lock that has a Grade 1 on it. You can find these online at Amazon.com. Here’s a link to one:

Hornbill Smart Lock WiFi Deadbolt

If you have moved into a new place, replace the locks.

If your locks have been there since 1975, go ahead and replace those as well.

Replacing your locks is really not that hard to do.

If you are a do-it-yourself homeowner, this should be an easy task for you. You should be able to knock it out in an afternoon.

Here’s instructional video to help you change the lock on your front door:

Secure Your Dead Bolt 

Speaking of deadbolts, you may have heard of something called a bump key.

Bump keys are engineered for name brand locks like Yale and Kwikset.

These exist so that a user can open a lock without having the correct key.

Think of it as a fast pass to picking a lock.

Dump keys often look generic and similar to real keys.

They have notches and ridges and look symmetrical. They are highly engineer to open a particular brand of lock with just a tap or bump while you turn the key.

Yes – these key make quick work out of any lock.

Most bump keys can turn a lock in just three tries.

Now, hold on before you panic! There’s a solution – a Dead Bolt Secure flip guard.

Dead Bolt Secure

These guards slip over the thumb turn on the inside portion of your deadbolt. 

The thumb turn is the thing you use on the inside to lock and unlock the deadbolt.

These flip guards will prevent the thumb turn from rolling over to unlock the deadbolt. This makes the lock unable to be opened with a bump key or a real key for that matter.

You can flip the guard on or off whenever you want.

If you go on vacation you can flip the guard down or when you are home you can leave it up and the lock will function like normal.

If you flip the guard down and you happen to get locked out of your house, you better know another way of getting into your house because this going to keep the door locked

Flip guards are easy to install. You can probably do it in five minutes or less.

Conclusion

I’ve covered a lot about securing your front door but honestly there is a lot more that you could do.

I haven’t covered what type of door you need? What a door reinforcer does for you? The importance of a strike plate etc.

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