Security for your French Door

Ensuring that your double entrance-way is as secure as possible.

Kona Handle
Kona Handle on French Door

French doors, how chic, how stylish.

How wonderful to have a set of double doors that open straight onto your patio, decking or lawn area.

On fine sunny days enjoy the freedom to move through the wide space from the inside of your home to the outside.

On days that are not quite so fine, your French doors allow you a marvelous view of the outside.

Yes your double opening glass doors provide you with many benefits.

However, along with those benefits there are some French door security issues.

French Door Locks And The Security Of Your French Doors.

The type and quality of lock that you have on your French doors plays a big part in making the doors as secure as possible.

Deadbolt Lock will will give your double doors greater protection than a latch, or Rim Lock ever will.

A double cylinder deadbolt lock is locked with a key either from the outside or the inside.

Should a burglar break the glass in your French doors he will not be able to reach in and unlock a double cylinder deadbolt because he does not have the key.

The most secure deadbolt on the market would have to be the: 1130/5 Mortice Deadbolt.

Nice and secure, but . . .

Nova Longplate Entrance Sets

French doors do not have a center post, so they are sometimes only secured to each other, an unsafe practice

. . your local area building code may not permit double cylinder locks on exit doors.

The reason being that having to unlock a door with a key may prevent, or slow down, escape in the event of fire.

A single cylinder deadbolt lock is locked with a key from the outside, but a catch or a thumbturn locks or unlocks it from the inside. In an emergency your French doors could be opened quickly without having to hunt for the key.

The down side to having a single cylinder lock is all a burglar has to do is smash the glass near the lock. He can then simply reach in and unlock your doors using the catch.

So what do you do? If you do go against building codes and install a double cylinder deadbolt, (not recommended, you don’t want your family trapped in a fire,) for heaven’s sake keep the key somewhere handy.

This should not be within easy reach of the door. And most important, every member of your family (and house guests) should know exactly where that key is. If you install a single cylinder deadbolt, (easy escape in an emergency,) you could be providing the burglar with an easy way in. However there are one or two things you can do so you can have French door security and a single cylinder lock.

You could protect the glass with window security film.

The film is clear flexible sheeting that is fixed to the inside of the window. This would make it virtually impossible to make a hole in the glass.

If your French doors have individual small glass panes, you may only need to protect those close to the lock. Alternatively, consider replacing the panes with laminated glass.

If you have a Security Alarm System, your French doors should be connected to it. Don’t rely only on an alarm for your French door security, good locks are still essential. With most wireless alarm systems it is a simple matter to add Glass Break Sensors that will alert you if window glass is broken.

French Door Security – Slide Bolts.

As French doors do not have a center post they can only be secured by locking to each other.

If the main lock were the only securing point, this arrangement would be most unsatisfactory.

A push on inward swinging doors, or a pull on outward swinging doors would likely result in the lock bolt springing out of the strike plate, and…. disaster, your door is open.

For this reason flush bolts (sometimes referred to as slide bolts) are fitted to the ‘inactive door.’

With the bolts in place it gives the active door something more solid to lock to. It would be substantially more difficult to force open French doors with flush bolts engaged on the ‘inactive door.’

Some people also use other door bolts including Barrel BoltsReverse Barrel BoltsSecurity Door Bolts or Panic Bolts to secure there inactive french door.

Do you always engage the door bolts when you lock up your French doors? Are the bolts still in good condition and capable of securing the inactive leaf?

Would your French doors be more secure with an extra set of door bolts?

If those door bolts are able to be locked so much the better, there would be no chance a burglar can break the glass and unbolt them. If the locking bolts are on the inactive leaf only then you would still be able to escape a fire.

For an any further queries on these door bolt products, contact the Zanda team on 1300 ZANDA1.

10423sc
10423 Flush Bolt

French Door Security – Enjoy The Benefits.

Yes there is no doubt that French doors tick all the boxes for being visually pleasing. In fact they may even help to increase the value of a home.

But keeping in mind that these doors are nearly all glass, which is why you hear them called French windows, they do pose some security problems.

By ensuring your doors are well maintained and fitted with good locks and door bolts, you will be able to enjoy the benefits with peace of mind.

Read more about this post here; courtesy of Surveillance for Security.