PATIO DOOR SECURITY

ChocolateLab33

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
1,276
Location
Sarasota, FL
I'm posting this here because I know my fellow CPF members can help me. (well, a friend of mine)
Ok, a friend of mine recently moved and has a sliding glass patio door that opens from both ends. She needs to know what she can do to make it secure so nobody can break in. There are holes drilled through the frame so a metal 'pin' can be inserted so they can't be opened but the doors are old and the 'pin' isn't wanting to line up. The owner does not want to drill new holes for fear of breaking the glass and having to replace the door. (he is cheap) A board in the track of the door won't work because it opens from both ends. Aside from an alarm, what can be done to secure these doors??? Please help!

Thanks!
 

z96Cobra

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Messages
308
Location
IN
...has a sliding glass patio door that opens from both ends.... Aside from an alarm, what can be done to secure these doors??? Please help!

Thanks!

Not much you can do if you can't drill any more holes. Even if you do secure the door with locks, chains, bolts, whatever, it is still a glass door and can be broken very easily. You're going to need to get the old locking system working, or install new hardware and drill some holes.

Just my $.02
Roger
 

knot

Banned
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
731
Location
SW Washington
**edit - so one track is on the outside and won't lock. The only thing I can think of, without drilling holes, is securing a stick on the inside door and using the handle of the other door and jambing a piece of wood (or metal) against the other door that is blocked from opening. People will break in if they want to no matter. Placing alarm stickers on windows may make them seek an easier target.
 
Last edited:

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
5,078
Location
on an island surrounded by reality
wait... both sides of the door open? Aren't sliding doors usually one fixed panel and one sliding panel? What do you mean that both sides open?

The first thing you need to do is to fix the side that isn't supposed to slide...

Once you've got a regular door you can install one of the bars to block the sliding door. Dont just put a pole in the bottom though, this actually makes it EASIER for someone to break in. IF there is a pole in the bottom, you can push the door against it and actually life the door up at an angle, get a tool under it and lift the whole door off!

What you need is one of the bars that installs in the middle of the door. They fold up when you want to open the door, and fold down to lock it. They are not expensive and easy to install. YOu do have to drill a couple of screw holes to install the holder caps for them, but they are easy to do.
 

greenlight

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 18, 2004
Messages
4,298
Location
chill valley
The door frame is aluminum, and will not resist your drill bit. Drilling the hole will be easy. If you line it up with the existing hole, you won't risk breaking the glass.

I don't think it's a very good security plan, though. How about a sticker on the door that says "protected by S&W"?


BTW, my mom liked sliding doors, and my house has 8 of them. The front door is the only one that is a traditional 'hinged' door.
 

Diesel_Bomber

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
1,772
Failing mechanical security, I have two ideas:

Loan your friend one of your dogs. The meanest one you have.

Tape a human-silhouette target riddled with large caliber bullet holes to the inside of the door, facing outwards.

Good luck. :buddies:
 

gorn

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
859
Location
The Big Valley, Calif. USA
One of the simplest ways to make a sliding glass door more secure is to take some self tapping sheet metal screws and drill them into the top of the door frame. This makes it so the doors can't be lifted off of the tracks. The screws obviously must be put in deep enough to allow the door to slide but not much deeper than that. The best way is with the screws and pins.
 

scott.cr

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 10, 2006
Messages
1,470
Location
Los Angeles, Calif.
My folks' house had this type of door when we first moved in (two sliding panels). It originally had a pin to secure both doors to the frame, but check this out, when I was 11 years old I locked myself out of the house. Know how I got in? I just shook and rattled the sliding door until that pin worked itself out. Even at 11, I knew the pin was the weak link, and this scrawny kid was able to defeat it in less than five minutes.

Our back door also had a rusty doorknob from being hit repeatedly with sprinklers. I wrenched the knob loose one day, bare-handed, again because I was locked out of the house.

In the end we installed two locks on the sliding door. The "knob" to the lock screwed into the frame of the sliding sections and the "latch" screwed into the door frame/jamb. Given the inherent security weakness of a sliding glass door, to this day I still think these were an excellent alternative to permanently fixing the door in place.

If you go this route you might consider adhering the knob to the door frame with plastic epoxy in addition to the screws... the screws will be screwed into a soft architectural aluminum and will not have great shear strength.
 

z96Cobra

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Messages
308
Location
IN
She could protect the glas with a thin special foil, so it would be unbreakable.
This is a link to the manufacturer, sorry but it's in German:

http://www.haverkamp.de/site/html/d...technik.html?gclid=CK2Xiq-P_40CFQPclAodHEX8PQ

Best regards

____
Tom

I've watched them install that stuff on the Discovery Channel show "It Takes a Thief". I've always had one concern with it though. It works great at keeping the glass from breaking, but what happens if there is a fire and you need to break it to get out?

Roger
 

gadget_lover

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
7,148
Location
Near Silicon Valley (too near)
The coating that makes the glass unbreakable should not be a problem. If you are inside you open the door and step through. Same with windows. Unlock it, slide it open and step through. I would hate to break a glass door to get through. It would take a lot longer than opening it.

The Firemen arrive with breaker bars and axes. The film will not slow them down much.

Back on topic;

You can break the glass while installing a new lock mechanism, but it's usually when driving a screw into the aluminum and not when drilling the hole. Most drill bits will stop when they hit glass. Re drilling in the original spot is not a bad idea.

Typically, the inside panel is stationary, the outside moves. This makes the broomhandle trick ineffective. A screw through the base of the inside panel down though the threshold (the base frame) will stop it from moving in any direction. My door is attached at top and bottom. A modern locking door handle actually interlocks with the latch so it will not move up or down. Older locks would rotate into position but could be rocked out of the latch by lifting the door.

Daniel
 

z96Cobra

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Messages
308
Location
IN
The coating that makes the glass unbreakable should not be a problem. If you are inside you open the door and step through. Same with windows. Unlock it, slide it open and step through. I would hate to break a glass door to get through. It would take a lot longer than opening it.

The Firemen arrive with breaker bars and axes. The film will not slow them down much.

Daniel

It isn't always possible to open doors and windows in a fire. Things heat up and swell (and become stuck), handles/latches become too hot to touch, you are pinned to the floor by smoke/heat... etc. Sometimes the only thing you can do is break a window/door to let some of the smoke and heat out, but this also allows even more oxygen in to feed the fire. You may be unconscious and someone may be trying to get to you from the outside. I have seen the stuff take repeated blows with bats and axes, and it didn't do much, because that is what it is designed to stop. If anyone wants to see video of this stuff in action go to www.shattergard.com or www.armorcoatfilms.com I'm sure that the chances of your house getting burglarized are higher than a house fire, but I like to look at both sides of things.

I am a Volunteer Firefighter and have been to many house fires over the years, but I (nor anyone else on my Dept.) have never encountered this stuff yet. If someone was trapped in a room protected by this stuff, I'm not sure how quickly we could gain entry. Pike poles and axes would be the best option, but we may have to pull the window out of the wall instead of just busting out the glass.

Roger
 

tarponbill

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
84
Location
South Florida
We installed hooks in the door jambs, look like an upside down J. Have the same kind of doors, they open from both ends, put a hook on each end. Going to be tough, since I had to drill the doors and the jamb if the owner won't go along.

I got them at Ace Hardware for $8 each.
 

turbodog

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 23, 2003
Messages
6,425
Location
central time
Take the side than you don't want to move, slide it open, put a crapload of caulk/epoxy/etc in the track, and close the door.

Let it dry.

Use a stick to keep the other door from opening.
 

Wyeast

Enlightened
Joined
May 6, 2005
Messages
322
chucknorris1su3.jpg

:crackup:

I agree with finding a way to fix the outer panel pronto. You can probably do a fair job fixing it closed with some screws with any goofy driver head like a Torx or Robertson or Spanner - something that isn't likely to be carried by the casual thief.

Use them to screw down a metal bar into the track to keep the outer panel from sliding open - then install screws into the top track as greenlight's suggested to keep someone from lifting it out of the track.

Then put a strong bar into the track on the inside. Then slap on a battery powered motion alarm as the last ditch onto the door.

Then get a dog. A big one. :D
 

UncleFester

Flashaholic*,
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
1,271
Location
Desert Hlls,AZ
Lisa you mentioned the original pin holes don't lineup. If it's the height that is the misalignemnt problem it might be adjusted. On the edge of the door that fits into the door jamb there is usually a hole near the corner to allow acess to the height adjustment screw in the wheel mechanism. That adjustment screw is probably buried pretty far in there. Maybe if a person had a flashlight she could look in the hole to find the adjsutment screw.......
I hope this helps.
 
Top