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For those of you that haven’t seen a door get kicked open, it would make you nervous to see how easy it is done. A well placed foot near the handle or deadbolt will force it open. Not that the hardware is weak or breaks. No way…it’s the wood that splits and allows the door to open.
The hardware is held in place with weak ¾ inch screws that barely bite into the jamb. At the very minimum, use long deck screws that penetrate not only the jamb, but the rough framing behind the jamb. If you want to go a step further, install an armored strike plate.
An armored strike plate is a thick metal plate that gets installed into the door jamb in place of the standard flat strike plate. An armored strike plate is much larger and has a pocket to accept the dead bolt’s latch. Long deck screws should be used here also to secure it to the door’s rough framing. This gets mortised into the door jamb so it lays flat with the surface of the jamb.
Even having an armored strike plate installed won’t make the door impenetrable. Where it may have taken 1 kick to open the standard door, maybe now it will take 3 or 4. But it is much more solid.
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