Home Fortification: Hardening Your Doors on a Budget

Most home invasions happen through the front or back door. Standard residential doors are terrifyingly weak. A swift kick will shatter the door jamb (the wood frame), sending the deadbolt flying. You don't need steel bars on the windows to be safe; you just need to upgrade the hardware.

Here is how to harden your home for under $100.

1. The 3-Inch Screw Upgrade ($5)

Builders use tiny 1/2-inch screws to attach the strike plate (the metal metal plate the deadbolt goes into) to the door frame. These only bite into the soft trim wood.

• The Fix: Remove those screws. Replace them with 3-inch hardened steel screws.
• The Result: These long screws bite deep into the structural 2x4 stud behind the trim. It makes kicking the door in 10x harder.

2. Door Armor / Reinforcement Kits ($80)

Even with long screws, the wood can split.

• The Fix: Install a product like Door Armor MAX. It wraps the jamb in steel.
• The Result: It essentially turns a wood door frame into a steel one. Police battering rams have trouble with these.

3. Window Security Film ($150+)

Glass is the weak link. A brick goes right through it.

• The Fix: Apply 4-mil to 8-mil Security Film to ground-floor windows.
• The Result: It works like a car windshield. The glass shatters but holds together in the sheet. It forces an intruder to hack and tear at the window for minutes, creating noise and delay.

4. Landscaping (Nature's Barbed Wire)

• The Fix: Plant nasty, thorny bushes under ground-floor windows.
  • Rose bushes
  • Holly
  • Blackberry
  • Bougainvillea
• The Result: It is a psychological and physical deterrent. No one wants to hide in a thorny bush.

5. Light Discipline

• Motion Lights: Solar-powered motion lights are cheap. Install them on all corners. Light is the enemy of the predator.

• Interior: Keep blinds closed at night. Don't "fishbowl" yourself (where you are lit up inside and can't see out into the dark).

The "Layered Defense" Concept

You aren't trying to make your house Fort Knox. You are trying to buy Time.

• Time for you to wake up.

• Time for you to arm yourself.

• Time for you to call 911.

• Time for the intruder to decide "this is too hard" and go to the neighbor's house.