Door Security

Pick in 10 seconds

• If a kick at the lock is the worry → the strike plate kit first, then a door reinforcement lock beside the deadbolt.
• If you rent, or it is a patio slider → the adjustable door security bar. On a slider, add the $7.99 no-drill window door lock on the frame rail.
• If it is a pair of French doors, even ones that open outward → the French door lock bar.
• If it is the big garage door → the garage door slide latch, one for each side.
• If the door is not yours (hotel, Airbnb, dorm) → the portable travel lock, a door stop alarm or a door knob touch alarm.
• If you want to hear it before the door gives → a TremShield vibration alarm on the door or its glass. Six are $99, $16.50 each.

Door security devices, ranked from the frame out

Most doors need no wiring, hub or monthly bill: just mechanical parts in the right order, plus one alarm. Prices side by side are in the devices ranked by what each one stops.

To stop a kick-in, the parts that matter hold the frame and brace the door: a strike plate kit anchored with 3-inch screws, a second lock on the frame, and a floor-to-handle bar. A deadbolt alone holds the lock, not the door.

1. Fix the frame first

A kicked door rarely fails at the lock. It fails at the softwood strip the strike plate screws into. The strike plate kit swaps the thin factory plate for heavy-gauge steel and six 3-inch screws that reach past the jamb into the wall stud. Your deadbolt stays; fitting takes about ten minutes with a drill. More in why doors get kicked in.

2. A second lock that holds when the deadbolt doesn't

The door reinforcement lock mounts on the frame of an in-swinging door. Flip it down and the door stays shut even if the main lock is picked, bumped or opened with a copied key. About five minutes with a drill.

3. A brace for the door you can't drill

The adjustable security bar does two jobs. Head on, it wedges between a hinged door's handle and the floor. Head off, it lies in a patio track and fills the room the panel needs to slide (see patio door security). It adjusts from 17 to 50 inches, no tools.

The French door lock bar closes around both interior handles and locks them together with a key, so it works on French doors that open outward.

4. Hear it before the door gives

The door stop alarm slides under an inward-opening door; push the door and its wedge digs in as the 120 dB siren goes. Check for a sliver of space under the door, about 0.75 in, and buy the 9V battery with it. The door knob touch alarm hangs on the inside knob and sounds at 120 dB as soon as a hand lands on the handle, before the latch turns. Whether door alarms change the outcome is covered in our door alarm article.

A TremShield vibration alarm is a thin disc that sticks inside the door itself, on a door pane, a sidelight or a patio slider. It sounds at 125 dB when that door or pane is struck or pried, while the person is still outside, and a sensitivity dial tunes out traffic and wind.

Renting, or staying somewhere that isn't yours?

The bar, the French door bar and the door stop alarm need no screws. In a hotel or dorm, the portable travel lock rests in the existing strike plate and blocks the door from the inside, so a hallway keycard won't open it. See the carry-on security kit and apartment door security.

Where to start: front door, back door, slider

Most homes need two upgrades: the strike plate kit on the main entry, and a bar or second lock on the door hidden from the street. Then put an alarm on each door and the glass beside it, and see Window Security for the windows. Six alarms are $99, $16.50 each, with 2 free no-drill window locks; the 60-second alarm finder places them.