Burglary Resistant Entrance Doors

What should be the entrance door in your opinion? Someone will call the main thermal insulation qualities, someone soundproof, and someone fire protection. But for all homeowners without exception, the main indicator of a quality entrance door is its reliability and ability to withstand burglary. After all, everyone values the accrued good and does not want to voluntarily part with it. In this article we will talk about burglary-resistant entrance doors, identify their positive qualities and determine the selection criteria.

Burglary-resistant entrance doors: how they differ from conventional ones

Unlike ordinary steel doors, burglar-proof entrance doors are able to resist professional burglary. This is the main quality that separates them from the reliable, thick conventional steel doors with a good lock.

Burglary resistance – this is not an advertising trick manufacturers, wishing to increase the volume of sales at the expense of high-sounding names. If a manufacturer calls his door burglar-proof, he should confirm this characteristic is documented – at least to present a certificate and provide a guarantee on their products.

In order to prove its status, the door undergoes a series of break-in tests – it is cut with a kiln knife, squeezed out with a press, bolted, broken cylinder, broken open with a crowbar, undermined. In general, do the things that are usually done intruders try to illegally enter the house.

Only after testing, the door is assigned a burglary resistance class, which is calculated according to a formula and depends on indicators such as:

• The size, power and weight of the tool;
• its dependence on electricity;
• noise, sparks;
• the time for the burglary and its preparation.

The formula is used to calculate the burglary resistance class, where the first class is the most unreliable doors, which can be opened in 5-10 minutes with a simple hand tool. The second class doors require power tools to break in. The third class is more reliable, to open such a door construction an intruder would need a quarter or half an hour and a power tool. And the fourth class includes armored doors, which are at the same time and bulletproof – for their hacking will need about three hours and a serious power tool.

There are doors and higher classes, such as 7, 10, 13, but they are not used in the home, this is a special purpose design (banks, bunkers, safes).

How to choose a burglar-proof door: 8 important factors

It is clear that the better the quality of the door, the more reliable it will be. Many homeowners and apartment owners when choosing to a greater extent based on visual characteristics, selecting the color of the leaf and decorative elements on it, while the main thing is the reliability and quality of construction.

What points should be paid attention to when choosing a burglary-resistant door?

1. When choosing a burglary-resistant steel door, first of all you should pay attention to the thickness of steel and the number of metal sheets. The best burglary resistance have doors consisting of two sheets of metal, with a thickness of one sheet should not be less than 2 mm. You can do more, but then the weight of the door increases.
2. Locks with the highest secrecy and high class of burglary resistance. Usually install two locks: one – cylindrical and the second – lever or one – mortise, the second – consignment.
3. The “night watchman” lock is a deadbolt that prevents the door from being opened when the locks have already been unlocked.
4. Availability of armor plate that protects mortise locks from drilling and knocking out. It may be reinforced by steel balls, which effectively resist any drill.
5. Stiffening ribs that give the structure extra strength and protect against forceful burglary methods.
6. Reliable internal hinges and anti-burglary labyrinth (which protects the door against pushing and unhooking the hinges) or anti-cutting pins.
7. Secure fixation of the door frame to the walls by installing the box in the girth of the opening.
8. Pay attention to the presence of a metal insert near the lock, it protects against the keel knife – the most common tool of burglars. The metal plate can be located not only near the lock, but also on the entire door leaf.

It is also worth saying a few words about the locking points of the door. While conventional doors usually have one, maximum two points, burglar-proof doors are equipped with a reliable locking system, which closes in all four directions.

And what’s inside the door: heat and noise insulation

Such doors are no different from steel entrance doors. They are just as warm and soundproof. Let’s see what characteristics to ask the seller about.

• Mineral wool, foil insulation, polyurethane foam are used as insulating material. Most often, it is mineral wool inside the leaf and in the box, which is characterized by reliable thermal and sound insulation characteristics.
• Burglar-proof doors are also equipped with a good rubber seal (or even two), which becomes a reliable barrier to the penetration of cold and odors from the outside. Some models additionally have a magnetic seal, which ensures a tight fit and corrects door backlash, skewed hinges and other installation errors.
• As for the finishing panels, they are not only available in a wide range of colors (on the RAL scale), but also have a special soundproofing layer. So even decorative overlays can additionally protect against noise.

Ask the dealer if the doors he sells have the characteristics described above. It is possible that some of the features will be missing, for example, there will be no magnetic seal or the filler will be different. However, knowledge about these or those characteristics will help you to make the right choice and choose burglar-proof entrance doors that are actually burglar-proof, and not just called so by the sellers.