How to Reinforce Your Door Locks With Longer Screws

Unfortunately, home burglaries are something homeowners need to think about. According to FBI statistics, there are over 1,000,000 burglaries committed in the U.S. every year, with over half of those burglaries involving forcible entry.

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Since a standard front door can be kicked in within seconds, it’s no wonder that 34% of burglars enter homes through the front door. Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy way that you can prevent this from happening, and it only costs about a dollar.

• 3-inch wood screws
• Electric drill

What to Do

The weakest part of your door assembly is the edge of the jamb, where the handle latch and lock bolt are secured when the door is closed and locked. Most door jambs are only 1 inch thick, and the striker plates that house the latch and bolt are anchored to the jamb with tiny, 1/2-inch screws. When someone kicks or strikes a door, all of the force is concentrated on the small surface area of the latch and bolt, which is then transferred to the thin jamb and small plate screws. As a result, the jamb often breaks and the striker plates rip out, causing the door to open.

To strengthen this area, you can replace the 1/2-inch screws with longer, 3-inch screws. The 3-inch screws will penetrate the wall stud behind the jamb, effectively anchoring the jamb and striker plates to the sturdy structure of your home’s framing.

The process involves nothing more than using a power drill to remove the existing screws from the striker plates and installing 3-inch screws in their place. Before driving the longer screws, it’s often a good idea to drill pilot holes into the stud using a drill bit that has a slightly smaller diameter than the screws. Doing so will help prevent splitting the stud, which will compromise the strength of the attachment.

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Other Ways to Reinforce a Door Lock

Replacing the screws on your striker plates is the cheapest and simplest way to reinforce your door lock, but there are several additional steps you can take to prevent forceful entry.

Security Striker Plates

Security striker plates are longer than standard striker plates to help distribute any striking force they’re subjected to over a larger surface area. Security plates are available for the latch and lock bolt individually, or as single plates that encompass the latch and bolt. Security plates that combine the latch and bolt are generally stronger, but they may not work with some latch and lock configurations. In either case, they often come with 3-inch screws for anchoring the plate and jamb to the wall stud, and they have several more mounting holes than standard striker plates so that more screws can be used.

You can also purchase a jamb reinforcer that’s essentially an extra-long striker plate — often several feet in length — that covers the entire length of the jamb. A jamb reinforcer can also be used to repair a broker jamb, like one that was damaged after a forceful entry.

Wraparound Door Reinforcer

The edge of the door panel where the latch and bolt project out can break for the same reason as the jamb: All of the striking force is concentrated on the small surface area of the latch and bolt. To reinforce this area, a wraparound door reinforcer can be used to replace the striker plates on the door panel. They’re three-sided plates that wrap around the front, outside edge and back of the door to offer a larger surface area for striking forces to be distributed across.

There are several different types of wraparound door reinforcers, ranging from varieties that are installed around the latch and bolt individually, to those that envelop the entire door handle and lock cylinder. The larger options offer the greatest strength and security. However, they are usually the most expensive, and some people find them unattractive.

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Door Reinforcement Kit

Door reinforcement kits include wraparound door reinforcers and either security striker plates or jamb reinforcers in a single package. Purchasing a kit is often more affordable than buying each component separately, but they’re not practical if you want to select each part individually based on functional or aesthetic characteristics.

Upgraded Door Lock

Once you’ve strengthened the door and frame, upgrading to a stronger lock will help to prevent the lock itself from breaking during a forceful entry attempt. Door locks are rated between builder grades 1 through 3, with grade 1 locks being the strongest and grade 3 being the weakest. Since most residential doors have grade 3 deadbolts, upgrading to a grade 1 or 2 lock can significantly reduce the chance that the lock will break.

Grade 3 deadbolts have been tested to withstand two blows from 75 pounds of force, grade 2 locks have been tested to withstand five blows from 75 pounds and grade 1 can withstand 10 blows from 75 pounds.

In addition, Grade 1 deadbolts have a 1-inch “throw” (the length that the bolt extends into the door jamb), and grade 2 and 3 locks have a 5/8-inch throw. The longer throw on the grade 1 locks provide more surface area for striking force to be distributed inside the door panel and jamb to reinforce those areas even further.

Grade 1 and 2 locks are also more resistant to lock picking, which is another method a burglar can use aside from forcible entry.