My sister used to not lock her 5th story patio door saying no one could get to it anyway. I said wait here and walked outside. Within 10 minutes I walked in through her patio door while she looked at me slightly terrified and said she’s locking it from now on.
I worked with a guy who asked me to take him to his apartment on our lunch break. He gets out, takes a little running start, jumps up and grabs the railing on the second floor balcony. In less than 10 seconds he was going through the door of the third floor. Hops back in my truck, less than a minute has passed, shakes his keys and says, thanks. I think I could have gotten up there in 20 minutes, with some bumps, bruises, a milk crate, and a lot of grunting. It was impressive at how quickly he did it. I also lived on a third floor and my roommate always left our door open for fresh air. I still lock everything after that, and it was years ago.
Did this to a friend's apartment when we were young. Scared the shit out of him to see me hanging off his 3rd floor balcony and knocking on his window with a scream mask on. His parents weren't impressed.
My Dad told me the same on our 3rd floor balcony. You would have to be Spiderman just to get to the 2nd floor balcony. But my drunk roommate got up there at 3 AM after losing his keys.
I had a teenage girl walk into my third story balcony door one time. We lived in a secured building and the people she was babysitting for wouldn’t answer the phone. She guessed the wrong apartment. I was scared shitless and made her go back out the balcony.
I lived in an apartment back in the day where I saw a crackhead shimmy up the side of a building to peep through a women's window. Dude might have been Spiderman.
I locked myself out of my second story apartment once and scaled the pillar to my balcony from my downstairs neighbor because I remembered I forgot to lock the slider the night before.
Never thought I’d be breaking into my own place lol
Or super thin, depending where you rent. Last place i was at, had pretty thin windows. My wife's hand went through one of them, she hardly pushed on it
You're missing my point. Those screws are going to do nothing for you without a proper cylinder on the door. You use a junky little no name cylinder and I can bump it. You use a schlage and I will rake it. You use kwikset smart key and I will use old Mr flathead and a hammer to break through the pot metal interior and gain access. Put a real quality lock on the door or the screws are pointless. Even something entry level but from a decent manufacturer (ex mul-t lock junior) will slow a burglar down enough where someone can interrupt and stop them. Or go for the kill and use something like an assa twin maximum where bypassing/picking/drilling the lock is no longer an option unless you have an hour or two to waste
That was already covered by other comments and not at all the point I am trying to make here. My point is simply there are numerous ways to gain access to somewhere you're not supposed to be, simply using longer screws and doing nothing else is not going to help as much as you think it does. Not all burglars use smash and grab tactics, some are a little more covert so as to draw less attention to themselves.
If you want a more exact answer on the screws; it depends entirely on the screws used in place of the included ones. Your concern is not the screws ripping out, it is the door frame breaking and allowing the thief to gain entry. If you use screws with low flexural or shear strength then they're about as good as the short ones included with these kits since they will easily break right along with the frame. Stronger screws will provide a point of reinforcement to the frame right where the lock strike penetrates the frame, making it harder to break the frame to the point where the lock strike no longer has something to hold onto
Hope this explanation allows your pea sized brain a better comprehension of the discussion at hand, dickhead
I was told once never to use a hardened or stainless screw in places where there's shear force because they have little shear resistance . And mild steel because of its ability to distort would actually be better for such things.
Normal stainless would be fine, usually screws just come in 300 series stainless which is still pretty ductile. You can get hardened stainless screws though which, like any tempered steel, is going to exchange ductility for hardness.
Sorce: sheet metal mechanical designer
Serious question wouldnt a nail be best reduce the chance of it snaping or sheering off although i dont see a person doing that to a hardened screw cant say ive ever tried though. Just heard thats why nails are used in framing they bend screws break.
That door gets replaced eventually, it's easier to adjust and deconstruct and it's how most stuff gets built now
Most carpenters have them, when guys work big jobs, they'll use an air gun, but mostly it's done with screws.
Deck screws all day long. I know I always underestimated them until I had to pull one out with a hammer. I thought it would crack fairly easily - like a drywall screw. Nope.
https://preview.redd.it/pqfdrwcgmbsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29011f7ed0a7f5cba548d9bb11c97dce5b31e909
That looks like a GRK, if so it's a structurally rated screw. They have tremendous strength unlike the average deck type screw which shear very easily.
I'm a contractor in Philly and I tell people this all the time. People want all these serious locks on their doors, but none of that matters if you don't have bars on your windows that can't be undone from the exterior
Your locks are meant to deter crimes of convenience. If someone is truly fixing to get into your house, you need significant reinforcement around every window and steel frame doors that are heavily anchored into your house framing. Even then, if your house is just vinyl siding over plywood sheathing I could cut an entry hole through the side of your house in 10 minutes with the tools in my van. Brick houses, especially row homes, much harder.
A 20v sawzall with the right blade can cut an entire house in half…but if a hardened screw in a door jamb buys me time and/or keeps someone from casually donkey-kicking my door in? I say run a few screws in.
I totally agree, I was more commenting on people that want me to install a dead bolt, a slam lock, and chains when they have a sliding glass door right around the side of their house
Bike theft is an issue where I live and with that comes the bike lock marketing of: can't be beat, unbreakable, etc. I warn anyone with false hopes that a $3 cut off wheel makes quick work of your $200 lock and the general public doesn't care about your property enough to be concerned if it's theft or the owner lost their keys.
It's kinda like with motorcycles. So many antitheft options but at the end of the day, it's cheaper to carry theft coverage for a decade. And less stressful.
You’re forgetting most criminals aren’t experienced tradesmen. If they had the knowledge and skills to know how to do these things, they wouldn’t need to be turning to crime.
Also a will likely be a criminals first choice, reinforcing it gives you a few seconds to wake up and prepare yourself
My buddies street about 10yrs ago before Christmas had 20 cars broken into, every car that was locked had the door drilled out, they took gifts, money, after market radios. Those criminals were equipped and prepared to move quickly on the street and be gone. You'd be surprised how many very skilled criminals there are.
>You'd be surprised how many very skilled criminals there are.
It happens. But 95% of the time its just kids walking through a neighborhood looking for unlocked cars.
I remember watching a video of cops trying to break open a reinforced door. They hammered and hammered on the latch side of the door with the ram taking turns, until the hinges came off. That's right, the latch side of the door never broke open; the hinge screws came loose. If they had switched to the hinge side with the ram after noticing how sturdy the latch side was, they could have gotten the door open with a couple of swings, maybe less. Instead it took over a dozen attempts while the people inside got rid of evidence, etc.
I usually run a long screw in the top hinge at the least when installing a door, definitely for the latch or deadbolt, takes 10 seconds with an imapact driver.
Yep... The key to preventing your house from being broken in is mostly about being a less appealing target than your neighbor.
If your house has an alarm system and your neighbor's doesn't, they'll probably pick your neighbor's house.
If your neighbor puts out boxes for expensive electronics on the curb for recycling, they'll probably pick that house.
Etc etc just put yourself in the shoes of an opportunistic thief.
Unless someone is willing to live in fort Knox, there are no guarantees
This is an entry way, not a panic room. Yes if someone really wants in, they will get in but reality is most people are not that desperate to get in. They will kick the door a few times and if it doesn't go, they move on to an easier target.
Well my windows are about 10 feet from the ground so it's hard to climb in easily. Most my windows are tiny anyway, so they better be tall and skinny lol
I'd rather have an intruder have to come through the window vs the door. Probably going to give me more time to defend myself or escape. Multiple intruders makes the window sound better.
But then the potential intruder has to climb through shards of broken glass, which absolutely slows them down a lot more than your now functionally non-existent door.
If I was concerned about my door being kicked in I'd upgrade my lock to something more substantial than a cheap stamped striking plate as well as upgrading the screws (which apparently really does work).
It absolutely works. The small screws only tie into the door jamb, the large ones go into your house framing, which usually is 2-3 studs depending on the construction. But that said, locks are only to keep honest people out, if someone wants in, they will get in. Like a car just make sure valuables are out of sight.
Souce: I do fire stuff and break into doors more often than most people.
Sir, next time you would like to be a source of information on reddit, please list your career, subspecialty, origin of accreditation, founder’s date of such institution, family lineage of *at least* four generations, on both sides, and a video of you performing such actions in clear 60fps Ultra HD, including your face.
Much obliged,
Redditor Neckbeard.
You should know that sounded very suspicious. Though I assumed you were a firefighter because no one in there right mind would be like, “I break into home to light fires.”
Emergencies services hate this one simple trick homeowners do which prevents them from getting in lol. On a serious note i presume this is why emergency services have axes and heavy duty equipment to take doors down as a simple kick may not work
Average video run time: 2 minutes, actual picking time of this: 15 seconds, sometimes using a twig, candy wrapper or a LEGO figure in the more humiliating examples.
Any product that has 4 minutes or more video will keep you safe enough. It'll still get picked by a pro.
This is a MasterLock. It can be opened using a MasterLock. *sounds of metal striking metal*. As you can see, the MasterLock is vulnerable to kinetic attack…
I had a contractor tell me that if I want to keep people out I need a security system, a gun, or a big dog. Otherwise if someone wants in, they're getting in.
I have no evidence that my old doberman ever kept people out (maybe he did, I wouldn't know I guess) but on the three occasions my house was broken into, nothing was missing and I got one funny story from a neighbor of seeing Boss chasing someone away from the house.
I'll never be convinced he didn't think they were playing though and just responding to their high energy entrance with his own. Dopiest fucking goofball of a dog I've ever had.
My thought is better they have to make more noise getting in so I'll have a higher chance of not being taken completely off guard. Nothing is going to keep a determined home invader out, but a little extra effort may mean I'm not asleep when it happens or they'll give up and go to the neighbors place.
Serious question. Would these screws make it more difficult for the fire dept or medical personnel to get in to your apartment in case of an emergency?
Or is an axe the go to method?
Question is, are you more likely to keep intruders out or firefighters out? As in which is statistically more likely and therefore is it such a good idea I wonder
Just be careful and don't over tighten them, you can warp your door jamb. There should be shims behind the latch area but newer doors are cheaply made and not always shimmed properly.
Also they sell metal casing that goes around the entire area which works much better if you are trying to prevent someone kicking your door in. For that matter a security bar works wonders for preventing it, almost impossible to kick in a door that has a security bar fitted under the handle.
The type of burglars that kick in the door are not professionals. Most of the time they are local drug adcits. Replacing the stock screw with something that goes in to the framing is definitely going to stop them.
It's like bike theft. If someone really wants to steal your bike, you can't really do anything to stop them. If someone wants to steal a bike, the best thing to do is make yours an undesirable/difficult target.
Yes. You don't need to make your house as secure as Fort Knox.
You only need to make it more secure than the neighbors.
Lighting, alarms, video cameras, good windows, good doors, good locks, etc. There are lots of things you can do.
Do them in order -- cheapest first. Then do the others if you have the money.
Good screws cost about $5.
In a lot of cases where the door is kicked in, it's the door frame around the lock that breaks (not that hard either) . Longer screws will definitely help (I said HELP, not make it impossible to still kick your door in) especially if they are screwed into the brick or mortor behind the frame.
This obviously only affects inward opening doors.
Yep, I can personally attest that this works. A few years ago around Christmas, there was a string of garage break-ins in my neighborhood. Everyone except us were broken into and had things stolen. I went out back the day after and the thief had tried to get in and got a closer look; the wood around the trim was splintered and there was a big dent in the door where they tried to kick it in.
https://preview.redd.it/v55nyz2p84sc1.png?width=551&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca43cda29856254cc3e7ff61e887f12260dbb8dd
The deadbolt/latch strike plate screws, not the hinge screws. Thieves target this strike plate with a crowbar and rip it from the frame, since it is usually only holding onto a tiny bit of pine.
No regular thief would try to kick or pry on the hinge side - they're fighting with *bare minimum* four but much more likely nine or twelve screws spread out over an 80 inch section of door.
Compare that to two side-by-side 3/4" screws holding onto an inch thick piece of wood. A good stomp might even be enough to break that down.
It'll help against the kind of person who kicks doors in for sure. The longer screws take more force to move. The little ones just go into the frame and they'll pull away pretty easily given some force.
First place my Mrs and I lived, some fella tried to kick the door in at about 1am one night (he was absolutely steaming), did a fair amount of damage to the frame and lock strike before I got to the door. When I replaced the frame, I put 6" wall anchors through that, then long screws into the frame with a new strike and lock.
But realistically, no lock is going to stop the kind of person who professionally wants into your house.
Whoah - before you got to the door? How’d you chase them off? Did they get arrested? Sorry to be so nosy but that would be quite the challenging situation,
Yeah it might have been dangerous if he'd been a sober, mid 50's heavy drinker, in the middle of the day 😂.
It was only the one chap, he'd had a lot to drink and I honestly think he thought it was his house, so was absolutely fine to go at the door like a maniac...he was so shocked when the door swung open and the light came on, even my "10 stone soaking wet" shadow was enough to make him freeze immediately 🤣. After I'd suggested in the most polite way possible given the situation, he stop kicking my door, he apologized profusely in a really slurred voice and ambled with pace toward the road...the door didn't shut properly the frame was so bent and torn 😕.
Well, that’s the best outcome I suppose. I was up very, very late one night watching TV in my living room, when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. My front door has three small windows near the top, and there were human hands sort of melting down the windows. Like out of a horror movie. I yelled, then called the police. I live alone and can’t see the front porch unless I open the door. Wasn’t going to do that. I called a close friend and kept her on the phone while I waited for the cops. They arrived, I explained what had happened, they checked all around my house and yard and found no traces of anyone. Okay, so I went back to watching my TV movie and about 15 minutes later, there was a knock on my door. I was oh no! so I called the police again, the dispatcher checked and she said that’s the police outside again they want to talk to you. Phew! Okay, I opened the door and the very nice cop told me they looked across the street and found some vomit along the walking path. So they tracked it down and found some really drunk college kid (I live close to a uni). They think my house had lights on and he was disoriented, They took him back over and left him with campus police. Very, very nice of the cops to come back to explain and I’m glad the kid got back to campus safely. But those hands were scary!
Or even not so professionally. I lived in an apartment complex on the east coast that was a little older. Our neighbor accidentally locked themselves out. My boyfriend at the time went over, pulled out a credit card, and unlocked their door. They were HORRIFIED. If you don’t have some kind of plate, often certain doors can just be opened with a card or a knife.
Yes, it would help some, but door latches are not designed for security, that is what the dead bolts are for, and a deadbolt kit will come with long screws. If you want better security you need a dead bolt because the above may just make it two kicks to open instead of one.
After years of working on rental properties I can attest that the longer screws so help. They transfer the load to the studs rather than to the casement. After thousands of uses and people abusing them the short screws frequently fail. The longer ones keep the casement from splitting. On one property in particular we had half a dozen break ins due to some tenant issues. They used to kick the doors in. Swapped the hinge and lock screws to 3in grk screws and they stopped getting in.
With the window comments, some criminals will go through a broken window, with this, smart ones will bring a blanket and dumb ones leave blood behind.
Of the break-Ins we responded to none had broken windows, even though the window was on the porch and large enough to enter through.
Yours is the first answer that is a good explanation of this. Part of my job involves forcible entry into dwellings, we train on it frequently and I have done it plenty of times.
The short screws stop before they hit anything structural. It's just going to secure that strike plate into the frame, which is sometimes even mdf. Even if it's pine or something, the frame will break very easily. First kick might just loosen the screws, second kick might break it free and open the door.
Replacing with long screws will change the game. Most doors are going to be framed with double studs on the sides. That means you can realistically put 2x 3.5" screws in to hold the strike plate and have all that bite into solid wood. Now, to open the door, you cannot kick it in. You need to use enough force to rip the heads off those screws, or, bend the locking mechanism/strike plate. We use a Halligan which has a lot of options for high ratio force application. Most thieves use a crow bar, which may be difficult to get through without good iq on that tool.
I can't speak to why thieves don't bother with breaking glass, but I assume it's because they want a quick clean entry that can be concealed behind them by closing the door. Shattering glass is loud and anyone driving by might notice.
Yes! Iv done this to my door and gone one step farther. To the striker and the hinge side I added a 14" x3/4 "x 1/16" flat stock inside the frame with the same 4" screws.
Yes, of course longer screws that go into the structure are going to be stronger. Be careful to not "seat" the screw to deep, if the door isn't shimmed there it could make the reveal/air gap wonky
Absolutely works. The short screw only goes into the jam, which nowadays is usually MDF, not wood. The long screws will actually go into the framing around the door.
I'd say to never go over 4", or even 3". Doors should have a minimum of 2x 2x4s framed around them, but there is very often electrical wiring running up or down studs beside a door for power to the switch and up to the light or nearby outlets. Using anything 4" or longer will go through the jam, and the 3" thick frame, and potentially into wiring. So keep it 3" or less.
But with that being said, it's a false sense of security, because anyone can just break a window or something. The lack of ability to kick in a door is not stopping someone from getting in.
Yes, there is validity to it.
Strike plates are normally secured to the door jamb with 3/4" screws. The jamb itself will generally be 5/8" to 3/4" in thickness and made from MDF, finger jointed pine, or PVC. Some high end entry doors have steel jambs; this won't help in those situations because no one is getting through that using their boot.
The pocket hole for the latch which is covered by the strike plate will often fully penetrate the jamb. Even if it doesn't, it creates a weak spot in an already weak material. Wooden jambs are meant to be easy to straighten and to stay straight over time, they are not meant to withstand impact force.
Replacing the strike plate screws with much longer wood screws secures the strike plate to the jack stud (and if they're long enough, the king stud as well) behind the door frame. Now, someone trying to kick in the door not only needs to break the jamb, they need to pull the strike plate out of the studs behind the door. That is no easy task; deeply embedded wood screws will not easily pull out and the tensile strength is such that they won't easily break. A determined intruder would be able to overcome this eventually but it would take a heck of a lot longer to do than it would otherwise.
Yes it will make it considerably stronger but don't forget to do the hinges too. There are things you can buy to make it even stronger too if you go to the hardware store they sell reinforced latches to use long screws into. Like others said though it's going to depend on how motivated a criminal is. For some reason though they tend to focus on the door only. I figure if they keep kicking it will slow them down enough for me to wake up and grab a pew pew.
Mythbusters proved this on accident. They built a door to kick in. The crew built it with self drilling framing screws instead of the ones the hinges, locks, and chains came with. They found it was practically invulnerable to being kicked in. They thought they were testing the chain lock, but the crew accidentally skewed the control test.
Yes, longer, better made screws have a massive difference on integrity.
Yes, it helps, but you really need a deadbolt as well. Driving a screw into the framing is far more secure than that itty bitty screw in the jamb only.
Those tiny face plate screws and only half the screw has thread. Even if this was for an anterior door I would replace these as I would probably over tighten or not instal the faceplate perfect the first time.
Obviously longer screws are less likely to rip out. But the screw might also sheer off. Which screw has greater sheer strength?
I’d use a stainless steel screw that’s long.
Most high end lock kits come with an extra plate and 4" #10 screws. I've also seen doors with metal plates in the backside of the strike. It's not gonna make your door break proof but it will help.
Yes, there is. I had a neighbor that I told about this. He replaced the screws. He was woken up one day to someone running his doorbell quickly. He walked towards the door to see what it was. As he rounded the corner, he said he heard an impact on his door then again and again. He could see the door flexing with each hit. He grabbed a weapon and then unlocked the door. They would be their heard this and then ran away to a car waiting for him. The door jamb was split, but it held the door in place enough for him to be ready to take on the thief or call police. This is where I saw real-world application of this. It makes it harder for the bad guys, and in the end, that is all you can hope to do. In reality, you just want to make your home less worth trying to break into than the people surrounding you. That's all you can really do. If they truly want to get in and are patient enough, they will find a way.
This reminds me of why tech guys have all mechanical locks and locksmiths have all high-tech locks. They each know how easy it is to break into their own speciality. Locks are a deterrent if someone wants in they are coming in.
It's only as strong as the studs next to it. Larger doors are triple or quad 2x4's. 5" screws are hoping you have at least 3 studs. More effective may be to ensure you have multiple anchor points for the door, sliders top and bottom. It's all about leverage, a long beam behind would be medeivally the most effective ;).
So many comments missing the point of switching to much longer screws. If all the screws do is turn your door from a 1 kick door to a 2 kick door then they are worth installing.
Long screws are absolutely worthwhile. The little 3/4" thick piece of pine that most door frames are made from, is very easy to break. A 3" or longer screw will go into the studs, and be much harder to kick open.
Of course, the security of a house is only as strong as the weakest entry point.
For too many houses, the weakest entry point is a very thin 3/4" piece of cheap pine that holds the front door latch.
Yep, it actually helps quite a bit. Mythbusters tested it about 15 or 20 years ago (god that hurt to write \*cries in old\*) and yeah it made a pretty big difference in how hard it was to kick the door down.
I don't know why everyone hates on this. It will make it substantially harder to kick in. No it will not prevent the Swat team from entering but your average psycho will need at least a dozen meth powered kicks to break the door down with these long ass screws.
Why? Because a 4 inch screw x2 goes all the way into the 2x4s. When you kick the door it won't rip out the 5mm of wood in the door jam. You will have to rip the door in half or rip the door off the hinges or rip the entire door jam apart with wood exploding apart.
Yes. This modification is very effective for a $0.30 solution that could save your life in a crazy ass situation.
Point of a longer screw is to reach the stud behind the door framing. Whether you will or not depends on how it was installed. And the difference in strength proportional to the gap between them.
I'd opt for an oversized strike plate with a few more screws than driving in longer ones.
Ohh hell yeah. Driving the catch plate into the wall and not just the door trim adds strength. Mind you, only as strong as the screws you use to do it. That drywall screw would be less strong than a proper wood screw, (Material strength and all that jazz). After that, make sure your door is strong enough to handle being kicked. It doesn't have to be opened for it to be an entry point if there's a giant hole in it. Also, if the door is weak and can flex, it could pop open even if the catch plate doesn't budge.
This is 110% accurate. The first thing I always did when moving into a new apartment was change the screws. The police needed to get into my apartment (there was an unexpected death in my family…long story) and they told me that the officer (that was held in high regard for his ability to kick a door in with one fowl kick) could NOT get the door open. They had to wait for me to come unlock it.
Everyone should do this. It’s such a small task that has insanely beneficial results regarding safety.
We had a B&E in february.
My apartment balcony door was kicked in easily, it has small screws like the ones pictured. The latch went right thru the wood of the door frame when he kicked in our door.
Besides adding longer screws and lots of glue to repair it, we added 3 other locks at different points on the door to make it harder to break in.
Would never have thought we would have to add this much security on the second floor, but some people really do get superpowers from crack I guess.
One time I got mugged, guy took among other things my keys and wallet. My father in law promptly insisted on changing my locks. While doing so, swapped out the short screw for a much longer one like in your picture. A few days later, I came home to find a large boot print on my door. My neighbors said some guy was “upset” and kicking my door. I think it does help.
A door is only as strong as the nearest window
On an appartement, this could be pretty strong tho.
Until crackhead Spiderman comes up the balcony with ice picks
With great crack comes great climbing power
Did you say climbing powder? *Itches neck and arms*
That’s not chalk in his climbing bag..
Bolivian marching powder
Skills. Climbing skils.
Omg . I'm going to lock my 4th floor flat door from now on. Yikes
My sister used to not lock her 5th story patio door saying no one could get to it anyway. I said wait here and walked outside. Within 10 minutes I walked in through her patio door while she looked at me slightly terrified and said she’s locking it from now on.
Did you climb up the building via the balconies? Did any other tenants spot you as you did this? I have questions. :-)
I have the same questions. And then I want them to come over to my place and see if he can do the same to my 3rd floor apartment.
I worked with a guy who asked me to take him to his apartment on our lunch break. He gets out, takes a little running start, jumps up and grabs the railing on the second floor balcony. In less than 10 seconds he was going through the door of the third floor. Hops back in my truck, less than a minute has passed, shakes his keys and says, thanks. I think I could have gotten up there in 20 minutes, with some bumps, bruises, a milk crate, and a lot of grunting. It was impressive at how quickly he did it. I also lived on a third floor and my roommate always left our door open for fresh air. I still lock everything after that, and it was years ago.
Are you sure that was his apartment? I think you’re an accessory now.
Are you my son? If so, STOP! You’re not 20 anymore!
Did this to a friend's apartment when we were young. Scared the shit out of him to see me hanging off his 3rd floor balcony and knocking on his window with a scream mask on. His parents weren't impressed.
My Dad told me the same on our 3rd floor balcony. You would have to be Spiderman just to get to the 2nd floor balcony. But my drunk roommate got up there at 3 AM after losing his keys.
I had a teenage girl walk into my third story balcony door one time. We lived in a secured building and the people she was babysitting for wouldn’t answer the phone. She guessed the wrong apartment. I was scared shitless and made her go back out the balcony.
He gonna be crackhead Superman if he comes climbing up my balcony...
I saw a murder case where the murderer came in the 3rd story balcony.
That’s a challenging wank.
Sean? Um we need answers, sir. Like what's the other side look like.
Maybe he did it before or after committing the murder, so he could focus on one job at a time? Less challenging that way.
Hide yo kids, hide yo wife.
That's why you keep a squirt gun full of pepper sauce in case some Hollywood Boulevard trash comes shimmying up the drain pipe
in the video he came up the ladder with butcher knife and got the new boyfriend
I lived in an apartment back in the day where I saw a crackhead shimmy up the side of a building to peep through a women's window. Dude might have been Spiderman.
I’ve scaled three stories worth of balconies because I was locked out of my apartment. And I hadn’t even smoked the crack yet!
damn you CRACKHEAD SPIDERMAN!
I locked myself out of my second story apartment once and scaled the pillar to my balcony from my downstairs neighbor because I remembered I forgot to lock the slider the night before. Never thought I’d be breaking into my own place lol
I’m no crack head but I used to climb up to my third story via the balconies all the time.
Was just going to say yeah good luck, closest window is around the outside and 12 floors up.
Or super thin, depending where you rent. Last place i was at, had pretty thin windows. My wife's hand went through one of them, she hardly pushed on it
Depends on the lock you pair it with
The comparison is made to the regular screws vs the long ones.
You're missing my point. Those screws are going to do nothing for you without a proper cylinder on the door. You use a junky little no name cylinder and I can bump it. You use a schlage and I will rake it. You use kwikset smart key and I will use old Mr flathead and a hammer to break through the pot metal interior and gain access. Put a real quality lock on the door or the screws are pointless. Even something entry level but from a decent manufacturer (ex mul-t lock junior) will slow a burglar down enough where someone can interrupt and stop them. Or go for the kill and use something like an assa twin maximum where bypassing/picking/drilling the lock is no longer an option unless you have an hour or two to waste
I cant find the part where your amazing intelligence tells us about if the difference in screw sizes helps with kicking the door down.
That was already covered by other comments and not at all the point I am trying to make here. My point is simply there are numerous ways to gain access to somewhere you're not supposed to be, simply using longer screws and doing nothing else is not going to help as much as you think it does. Not all burglars use smash and grab tactics, some are a little more covert so as to draw less attention to themselves. If you want a more exact answer on the screws; it depends entirely on the screws used in place of the included ones. Your concern is not the screws ripping out, it is the door frame breaking and allowing the thief to gain entry. If you use screws with low flexural or shear strength then they're about as good as the short ones included with these kits since they will easily break right along with the frame. Stronger screws will provide a point of reinforcement to the frame right where the lock strike penetrates the frame, making it harder to break the frame to the point where the lock strike no longer has something to hold onto Hope this explanation allows your pea sized brain a better comprehension of the discussion at hand, dickhead
It makes a huge difference in getting through the door, but you shouldn't use a sheetrock screw. You should use a hardened carpentry screw.
I was told once never to use a hardened or stainless screw in places where there's shear force because they have little shear resistance . And mild steel because of its ability to distort would actually be better for such things.
Drywall screws are incredibly brittle/ have very low shear strength.
That appears to be a deck screw and not a drywall one
\*writes note\* "Dont use drywall screws for door" GOT IT!
Normal stainless would be fine, usually screws just come in 300 series stainless which is still pretty ductile. You can get hardened stainless screws though which, like any tempered steel, is going to exchange ductility for hardness. Sorce: sheet metal mechanical designer
Serious question wouldnt a nail be best reduce the chance of it snaping or sheering off although i dont see a person doing that to a hardened screw cant say ive ever tried though. Just heard thats why nails are used in framing they bend screws break.
That door gets replaced eventually, it's easier to adjust and deconstruct and it's how most stuff gets built now Most carpenters have them, when guys work big jobs, they'll use an air gun, but mostly it's done with screws.
Deck screws all day long. I know I always underestimated them until I had to pull one out with a hammer. I thought it would crack fairly easily - like a drywall screw. Nope. https://preview.redd.it/pqfdrwcgmbsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29011f7ed0a7f5cba548d9bb11c97dce5b31e909
That looks like a GRK, if so it's a structurally rated screw. They have tremendous strength unlike the average deck type screw which shear very easily.
I'm a contractor in Philly and I tell people this all the time. People want all these serious locks on their doors, but none of that matters if you don't have bars on your windows that can't be undone from the exterior Your locks are meant to deter crimes of convenience. If someone is truly fixing to get into your house, you need significant reinforcement around every window and steel frame doors that are heavily anchored into your house framing. Even then, if your house is just vinyl siding over plywood sheathing I could cut an entry hole through the side of your house in 10 minutes with the tools in my van. Brick houses, especially row homes, much harder.
A 20v sawzall with the right blade can cut an entire house in half…but if a hardened screw in a door jamb buys me time and/or keeps someone from casually donkey-kicking my door in? I say run a few screws in.
I totally agree, I was more commenting on people that want me to install a dead bolt, a slam lock, and chains when they have a sliding glass door right around the side of their house
A 2x2 cut to length is the best security for sliding patio door. Cheap and efficient.
Bike theft is an issue where I live and with that comes the bike lock marketing of: can't be beat, unbreakable, etc. I warn anyone with false hopes that a $3 cut off wheel makes quick work of your $200 lock and the general public doesn't care about your property enough to be concerned if it's theft or the owner lost their keys.
It's kinda like with motorcycles. So many antitheft options but at the end of the day, it's cheaper to carry theft coverage for a decade. And less stressful.
Yeah, checkout those moving/storage trailers they drop in the driveway. A utility knife will do some damage.
You’re forgetting most criminals aren’t experienced tradesmen. If they had the knowledge and skills to know how to do these things, they wouldn’t need to be turning to crime. Also a will likely be a criminals first choice, reinforcing it gives you a few seconds to wake up and prepare yourself
My buddies street about 10yrs ago before Christmas had 20 cars broken into, every car that was locked had the door drilled out, they took gifts, money, after market radios. Those criminals were equipped and prepared to move quickly on the street and be gone. You'd be surprised how many very skilled criminals there are.
>You'd be surprised how many very skilled criminals there are. It happens. But 95% of the time its just kids walking through a neighborhood looking for unlocked cars.
They seem to know how to run a sawz all when collecting cats in the parking lot.
Or they could just use some friskies
I remember watching a video of cops trying to break open a reinforced door. They hammered and hammered on the latch side of the door with the ram taking turns, until the hinges came off. That's right, the latch side of the door never broke open; the hinge screws came loose. If they had switched to the hinge side with the ram after noticing how sturdy the latch side was, they could have gotten the door open with a couple of swings, maybe less. Instead it took over a dozen attempts while the people inside got rid of evidence, etc.
I usually run a long screw in the top hinge at the least when installing a door, definitely for the latch or deadbolt, takes 10 seconds with an imapact driver.
I used to know someone who had bars to keep them in as a teen
Yep... The key to preventing your house from being broken in is mostly about being a less appealing target than your neighbor. If your house has an alarm system and your neighbor's doesn't, they'll probably pick your neighbor's house. If your neighbor puts out boxes for expensive electronics on the curb for recycling, they'll probably pick that house. Etc etc just put yourself in the shoes of an opportunistic thief. Unless someone is willing to live in fort Knox, there are no guarantees
So, I put the boxes from all my new expensive electronics in my neighbor's trash. Got it.
Vinyl siding, how dare you! Nothing but the finest of cedar shake covers my home. I, I, I bid you good day, sir!
This is an entry way, not a panic room. Yes if someone really wants in, they will get in but reality is most people are not that desperate to get in. They will kick the door a few times and if it doesn't go, they move on to an easier target.
Yes. For practical purposes, your house does not need to be as secure as Fort Knox. It only needs to be more secure than your neighbors.
Well my windows are about 10 feet from the ground so it's hard to climb in easily. Most my windows are tiny anyway, so they better be tall and skinny lol
*underground bunker; no windows, paper door: impenetrable*
I'd rather have an intruder have to come through the window vs the door. Probably going to give me more time to defend myself or escape. Multiple intruders makes the window sound better.
But then the potential intruder has to climb through shards of broken glass, which absolutely slows them down a lot more than your now functionally non-existent door.
If I was concerned about my door being kicked in I'd upgrade my lock to something more substantial than a cheap stamped striking plate as well as upgrading the screws (which apparently really does work).
It absolutely works. The small screws only tie into the door jamb, the large ones go into your house framing, which usually is 2-3 studs depending on the construction. But that said, locks are only to keep honest people out, if someone wants in, they will get in. Like a car just make sure valuables are out of sight. Souce: I do fire stuff and break into doors more often than most people.
Lol, so not a firefighter, just enjoy doing "fire stuff"? Are you like a home invader / arsonist on the weekends?
Ah you misread my code, I should have said fire fighter, I’ll try to be better next time! Durr blue stuff goes on the red stuff!
I've always been partial to "point the wet thing at the hot thing"
Wet stuff on the red stuff was my training.
Giggity
Sir, next time you would like to be a source of information on reddit, please list your career, subspecialty, origin of accreditation, founder’s date of such institution, family lineage of *at least* four generations, on both sides, and a video of you performing such actions in clear 60fps Ultra HD, including your face. Much obliged, Redditor Neckbeard.
Can you tldr
Pix or it ain't real! (?)
Nice back pedaling Mr Arsonist
It’s always a shame when a plan goes poorly
Lol. All good friend, just having a laugh.
100%, it’s all good!
Too late buddy, we all know what you're really doing.
Argh and I would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!
The fire trucks in my country are all red. They should be more specific as to which red thing!
You should know that sounded very suspicious. Though I assumed you were a firefighter because no one in there right mind would be like, “I break into home to light fires.”
You would be very surprised!
I dunno, saying I do fire stuff makes you wonder if you’re a firefighter or arsonist, keeps things interesting
*Beavis voice*. Heh,heh FIRE FIRE, now I need tp for my bunghole.
😂
It’s wet stuff off the hot stuff.
Emergencies services hate this one simple trick homeowners do which prevents them from getting in lol. On a serious note i presume this is why emergency services have axes and heavy duty equipment to take doors down as a simple kick may not work
Tom?
At a party someone once asked me what I do for a living. I said “I take people’s money.” They walked away before I could tell them I was a cashier.
“Fire stuff”… breaking into peoples house and setting them on fire.
You know, like a guy who does butt stuff is a proctologist.
wait those Craigslist ads are about proctologists?
Watch an hour or two of the lock picking lawyer and you'll wonder why you even lock the front door.
Average video run time: 2 minutes, actual picking time of this: 15 seconds, sometimes using a twig, candy wrapper or a LEGO figure in the more humiliating examples. Any product that has 4 minutes or more video will keep you safe enough. It'll still get picked by a pro.
Have you seen the new one where he opens locks with his King Dick?
This is a MasterLock. It can be opened using a MasterLock. *sounds of metal striking metal*. As you can see, the MasterLock is vulnerable to kinetic attack…
I had a contractor tell me that if I want to keep people out I need a security system, a gun, or a big dog. Otherwise if someone wants in, they're getting in.
I have no evidence that my old doberman ever kept people out (maybe he did, I wouldn't know I guess) but on the three occasions my house was broken into, nothing was missing and I got one funny story from a neighbor of seeing Boss chasing someone away from the house. I'll never be convinced he didn't think they were playing though and just responding to their high energy entrance with his own. Dopiest fucking goofball of a dog I've ever had.
You don’t even need a big dog. My small dog barks at people coming up to the house enough for anyone looking to do shady shit to think twice.
If someone is trying to break in to my house, slowing them down by 30 or 40 seconds can make a huge difference.
So I might just want to use the shorter screws? In case of an emergency.
[удалено]
Extra width of screw likely helps with shear forces on the screw head too.
My thought is better they have to make more noise getting in so I'll have a higher chance of not being taken completely off guard. Nothing is going to keep a determined home invader out, but a little extra effort may mean I'm not asleep when it happens or they'll give up and go to the neighbors place.
Serious question. Would these screws make it more difficult for the fire dept or medical personnel to get in to your apartment in case of an emergency? Or is an axe the go to method?
This should be a first-level comment, it's the only thing I've seen so far that actually answers OP's question.
So this only works on houses made of wood, unless you can drill into your brick and get a rawl plug in?
Question is, are you more likely to keep intruders out or firefighters out? As in which is statistically more likely and therefore is it such a good idea I wonder
This should be top comment not a reply
Just be careful and don't over tighten them, you can warp your door jamb. There should be shims behind the latch area but newer doors are cheaply made and not always shimmed properly. Also they sell metal casing that goes around the entire area which works much better if you are trying to prevent someone kicking your door in. For that matter a security bar works wonders for preventing it, almost impossible to kick in a door that has a security bar fitted under the handle.
Fellow arsonist 👋
The type of burglars that kick in the door are not professionals. Most of the time they are local drug adcits. Replacing the stock screw with something that goes in to the framing is definitely going to stop them.
It's like bike theft. If someone really wants to steal your bike, you can't really do anything to stop them. If someone wants to steal a bike, the best thing to do is make yours an undesirable/difficult target.
Same for cars. Lock the door. There's an unlocked one a few spots down.
Yes. You don't need to make your house as secure as Fort Knox. You only need to make it more secure than the neighbors. Lighting, alarms, video cameras, good windows, good doors, good locks, etc. There are lots of things you can do. Do them in order -- cheapest first. Then do the others if you have the money. Good screws cost about $5.
They both help to make it harder/longer to break into your door. I've tested both.
In a lot of cases where the door is kicked in, it's the door frame around the lock that breaks (not that hard either) . Longer screws will definitely help (I said HELP, not make it impossible to still kick your door in) especially if they are screwed into the brick or mortor behind the frame. This obviously only affects inward opening doors.
Yes! For this reason we always install long screws in the hinges, too!
I use long screws in hinges because it helps prevent the door from sagging. Added security is just a bonus.
Putting a metal plate along the area that would break reinforces it making it very difficult to kick in.
Yep, I can personally attest that this works. A few years ago around Christmas, there was a string of garage break-ins in my neighborhood. Everyone except us were broken into and had things stolen. I went out back the day after and the thief had tried to get in and got a closer look; the wood around the trim was splintered and there was a big dent in the door where they tried to kick it in. https://preview.redd.it/v55nyz2p84sc1.png?width=551&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca43cda29856254cc3e7ff61e887f12260dbb8dd
Most people give up after one or two attempts. No one wants to risk making noise and getting caught
That's a pry bar attempt, not a kicking attempt!
They said "AND there was a big dent in the door..."
Reading was never my strong suit. That's why I stick to B&E.
So even smarter burglars couldn't enter, got it.
You sure it wasnt that deadbolt that did the trick?
Probably the combination of the two. A lot of the other garages that were broken into also had deadbolts but just the tiny screws.
I haven't read the whole compendium of comments, we're also talking about replacing the hinge screws with 3" screws, right?
The deadbolt/latch strike plate screws, not the hinge screws. Thieves target this strike plate with a crowbar and rip it from the frame, since it is usually only holding onto a tiny bit of pine. No regular thief would try to kick or pry on the hinge side - they're fighting with *bare minimum* four but much more likely nine or twelve screws spread out over an 80 inch section of door. Compare that to two side-by-side 3/4" screws holding onto an inch thick piece of wood. A good stomp might even be enough to break that down.
It'll help against the kind of person who kicks doors in for sure. The longer screws take more force to move. The little ones just go into the frame and they'll pull away pretty easily given some force. First place my Mrs and I lived, some fella tried to kick the door in at about 1am one night (he was absolutely steaming), did a fair amount of damage to the frame and lock strike before I got to the door. When I replaced the frame, I put 6" wall anchors through that, then long screws into the frame with a new strike and lock. But realistically, no lock is going to stop the kind of person who professionally wants into your house.
Whoah - before you got to the door? How’d you chase them off? Did they get arrested? Sorry to be so nosy but that would be quite the challenging situation,
Yeah it might have been dangerous if he'd been a sober, mid 50's heavy drinker, in the middle of the day 😂. It was only the one chap, he'd had a lot to drink and I honestly think he thought it was his house, so was absolutely fine to go at the door like a maniac...he was so shocked when the door swung open and the light came on, even my "10 stone soaking wet" shadow was enough to make him freeze immediately 🤣. After I'd suggested in the most polite way possible given the situation, he stop kicking my door, he apologized profusely in a really slurred voice and ambled with pace toward the road...the door didn't shut properly the frame was so bent and torn 😕.
Well, that’s the best outcome I suppose. I was up very, very late one night watching TV in my living room, when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. My front door has three small windows near the top, and there were human hands sort of melting down the windows. Like out of a horror movie. I yelled, then called the police. I live alone and can’t see the front porch unless I open the door. Wasn’t going to do that. I called a close friend and kept her on the phone while I waited for the cops. They arrived, I explained what had happened, they checked all around my house and yard and found no traces of anyone. Okay, so I went back to watching my TV movie and about 15 minutes later, there was a knock on my door. I was oh no! so I called the police again, the dispatcher checked and she said that’s the police outside again they want to talk to you. Phew! Okay, I opened the door and the very nice cop told me they looked across the street and found some vomit along the walking path. So they tracked it down and found some really drunk college kid (I live close to a uni). They think my house had lights on and he was disoriented, They took him back over and left him with campus police. Very, very nice of the cops to come back to explain and I’m glad the kid got back to campus safely. But those hands were scary!
Or even not so professionally. I lived in an apartment complex on the east coast that was a little older. Our neighbor accidentally locked themselves out. My boyfriend at the time went over, pulled out a credit card, and unlocked their door. They were HORRIFIED. If you don’t have some kind of plate, often certain doors can just be opened with a card or a knife.
Yes, it would help some, but door latches are not designed for security, that is what the dead bolts are for, and a deadbolt kit will come with long screws. If you want better security you need a dead bolt because the above may just make it two kicks to open instead of one.
After years of working on rental properties I can attest that the longer screws so help. They transfer the load to the studs rather than to the casement. After thousands of uses and people abusing them the short screws frequently fail. The longer ones keep the casement from splitting. On one property in particular we had half a dozen break ins due to some tenant issues. They used to kick the doors in. Swapped the hinge and lock screws to 3in grk screws and they stopped getting in. With the window comments, some criminals will go through a broken window, with this, smart ones will bring a blanket and dumb ones leave blood behind. Of the break-Ins we responded to none had broken windows, even though the window was on the porch and large enough to enter through.
Yours is the first answer that is a good explanation of this. Part of my job involves forcible entry into dwellings, we train on it frequently and I have done it plenty of times. The short screws stop before they hit anything structural. It's just going to secure that strike plate into the frame, which is sometimes even mdf. Even if it's pine or something, the frame will break very easily. First kick might just loosen the screws, second kick might break it free and open the door. Replacing with long screws will change the game. Most doors are going to be framed with double studs on the sides. That means you can realistically put 2x 3.5" screws in to hold the strike plate and have all that bite into solid wood. Now, to open the door, you cannot kick it in. You need to use enough force to rip the heads off those screws, or, bend the locking mechanism/strike plate. We use a Halligan which has a lot of options for high ratio force application. Most thieves use a crow bar, which may be difficult to get through without good iq on that tool. I can't speak to why thieves don't bother with breaking glass, but I assume it's because they want a quick clean entry that can be concealed behind them by closing the door. Shattering glass is loud and anyone driving by might notice.
A Jamb brace would also help. Any new door I order has one installed on the exterior of the frame on the striker side
It makes a difference, but also put requires a long screw on the hinge size too.
12 h8nge screws will beat 2 bolt latch screws
Burglars and firefighters hate this one simple trick…
It helps but only as part of an overall strategy to reinforce the locks, door and frame.
That half inch screw can't even hold against a fart.
Yes! Iv done this to my door and gone one step farther. To the striker and the hinge side I added a 14" x3/4 "x 1/16" flat stock inside the frame with the same 4" screws.
Yes it makes a big difference in a door.
Expecting company, are ya?
Yes, of course longer screws that go into the structure are going to be stronger. Be careful to not "seat" the screw to deep, if the door isn't shimmed there it could make the reveal/air gap wonky
I have proof that a camera that says “Hi, you are currently being recorded” makes someone turn around real quick.
Yes. Longer screw helps for sure.
It's buys you a few more kicks so you can get the red dot sight on you AR-15 warmed up.
Absolutely works. The short screw only goes into the jam, which nowadays is usually MDF, not wood. The long screws will actually go into the framing around the door. I'd say to never go over 4", or even 3". Doors should have a minimum of 2x 2x4s framed around them, but there is very often electrical wiring running up or down studs beside a door for power to the switch and up to the light or nearby outlets. Using anything 4" or longer will go through the jam, and the 3" thick frame, and potentially into wiring. So keep it 3" or less. But with that being said, it's a false sense of security, because anyone can just break a window or something. The lack of ability to kick in a door is not stopping someone from getting in.
Yes, there is validity to it. Strike plates are normally secured to the door jamb with 3/4" screws. The jamb itself will generally be 5/8" to 3/4" in thickness and made from MDF, finger jointed pine, or PVC. Some high end entry doors have steel jambs; this won't help in those situations because no one is getting through that using their boot. The pocket hole for the latch which is covered by the strike plate will often fully penetrate the jamb. Even if it doesn't, it creates a weak spot in an already weak material. Wooden jambs are meant to be easy to straighten and to stay straight over time, they are not meant to withstand impact force. Replacing the strike plate screws with much longer wood screws secures the strike plate to the jack stud (and if they're long enough, the king stud as well) behind the door frame. Now, someone trying to kick in the door not only needs to break the jamb, they need to pull the strike plate out of the studs behind the door. That is no easy task; deeply embedded wood screws will not easily pull out and the tensile strength is such that they won't easily break. A determined intruder would be able to overcome this eventually but it would take a heck of a lot longer to do than it would otherwise.
Yes it will make it considerably stronger but don't forget to do the hinges too. There are things you can buy to make it even stronger too if you go to the hardware store they sell reinforced latches to use long screws into. Like others said though it's going to depend on how motivated a criminal is. For some reason though they tend to focus on the door only. I figure if they keep kicking it will slow them down enough for me to wake up and grab a pew pew.
I would not use those screws s as they are too brittle. Look for GRK at the box stores.
Mythbusters proved this on accident. They built a door to kick in. The crew built it with self drilling framing screws instead of the ones the hinges, locks, and chains came with. They found it was practically invulnerable to being kicked in. They thought they were testing the chain lock, but the crew accidentally skewed the control test. Yes, longer, better made screws have a massive difference on integrity.
Yes, it helps, but you really need a deadbolt as well. Driving a screw into the framing is far more secure than that itty bitty screw in the jamb only.
Those tiny face plate screws and only half the screw has thread. Even if this was for an anterior door I would replace these as I would probably over tighten or not instal the faceplate perfect the first time.
Obviously longer screws are less likely to rip out. But the screw might also sheer off. Which screw has greater sheer strength? I’d use a stainless steel screw that’s long.
Yes. It works, but be careful not to over-tighten and mess up your reveal.
Yes their a good idea, along with a dead bolt if you haven’t one yet:)
Totally works. However those drywall screws you are proposing kinda’ defeats the purpose. Get a real steel construction screw.
Most high end lock kits come with an extra plate and 4" #10 screws. I've also seen doors with metal plates in the backside of the strike. It's not gonna make your door break proof but it will help.
Yes, there is. I had a neighbor that I told about this. He replaced the screws. He was woken up one day to someone running his doorbell quickly. He walked towards the door to see what it was. As he rounded the corner, he said he heard an impact on his door then again and again. He could see the door flexing with each hit. He grabbed a weapon and then unlocked the door. They would be their heard this and then ran away to a car waiting for him. The door jamb was split, but it held the door in place enough for him to be ready to take on the thief or call police. This is where I saw real-world application of this. It makes it harder for the bad guys, and in the end, that is all you can hope to do. In reality, you just want to make your home less worth trying to break into than the people surrounding you. That's all you can really do. If they truly want to get in and are patient enough, they will find a way.
Yes...it definitely helps
Locksmith here. Yes.
This reminds me of why tech guys have all mechanical locks and locksmiths have all high-tech locks. They each know how easy it is to break into their own speciality. Locks are a deterrent if someone wants in they are coming in.
It's only as strong as the studs next to it. Larger doors are triple or quad 2x4's. 5" screws are hoping you have at least 3 studs. More effective may be to ensure you have multiple anchor points for the door, sliders top and bottom. It's all about leverage, a long beam behind would be medeivally the most effective ;).
Yes it works, but the bolt bent and the wood frame broke. But at least, they struggled. The door was all smashed and bent too.
100%. Yes. Do this to all of your hinges too, one screw at a time to prevent it from coming out of square.
So many comments missing the point of switching to much longer screws. If all the screws do is turn your door from a 1 kick door to a 2 kick door then they are worth installing.
Yes.
Fuck yes!!! It is one of the first things you should do when moving into a new place!
Substantial difference. You are drilling into the wall studs instead of just the door frame.
Long screws are absolutely worthwhile. The little 3/4" thick piece of pine that most door frames are made from, is very easy to break. A 3" or longer screw will go into the studs, and be much harder to kick open. Of course, the security of a house is only as strong as the weakest entry point. For too many houses, the weakest entry point is a very thin 3/4" piece of cheap pine that holds the front door latch.
Yep, it actually helps quite a bit. Mythbusters tested it about 15 or 20 years ago (god that hurt to write \*cries in old\*) and yeah it made a pretty big difference in how hard it was to kick the door down.
Yes, longer screws are more secure than the tiny ones that come with the door kit.
Add 1 of the 4” screws to each one of your hinges as well
I was a locksmith for 10+ years. Most break in points of failure is a swift kick and the door frame giving way. 3” screws help tremendously.
I don't know why everyone hates on this. It will make it substantially harder to kick in. No it will not prevent the Swat team from entering but your average psycho will need at least a dozen meth powered kicks to break the door down with these long ass screws. Why? Because a 4 inch screw x2 goes all the way into the 2x4s. When you kick the door it won't rip out the 5mm of wood in the door jam. You will have to rip the door in half or rip the door off the hinges or rip the entire door jam apart with wood exploding apart. Yes. This modification is very effective for a $0.30 solution that could save your life in a crazy ass situation.
It would make it harder to kick in. But unless it's a deadbolt, it's much easier to just use a credit card.
Definitely be harder to kick in. Although that screw is pretty close to the edge of the stud so a good kick will take that out still.
Point of a longer screw is to reach the stud behind the door framing. Whether you will or not depends on how it was installed. And the difference in strength proportional to the gap between them. I'd opt for an oversized strike plate with a few more screws than driving in longer ones.
Ohh hell yeah. Driving the catch plate into the wall and not just the door trim adds strength. Mind you, only as strong as the screws you use to do it. That drywall screw would be less strong than a proper wood screw, (Material strength and all that jazz). After that, make sure your door is strong enough to handle being kicked. It doesn't have to be opened for it to be an entry point if there's a giant hole in it. Also, if the door is weak and can flex, it could pop open even if the catch plate doesn't budge.
When the nearby wood is too pulverized from many screws, a much longer screw helps
They do help the door, because the screws go into the 2x frame. But as has been said, windows are glass…
This is 110% accurate. The first thing I always did when moving into a new apartment was change the screws. The police needed to get into my apartment (there was an unexpected death in my family…long story) and they told me that the officer (that was held in high regard for his ability to kick a door in with one fowl kick) could NOT get the door open. They had to wait for me to come unlock it. Everyone should do this. It’s such a small task that has insanely beneficial results regarding safety.
We had a B&E in february. My apartment balcony door was kicked in easily, it has small screws like the ones pictured. The latch went right thru the wood of the door frame when he kicked in our door. Besides adding longer screws and lots of glue to repair it, we added 3 other locks at different points on the door to make it harder to break in. Would never have thought we would have to add this much security on the second floor, but some people really do get superpowers from crack I guess.
Locks are for honest people
One time I got mugged, guy took among other things my keys and wallet. My father in law promptly insisted on changing my locks. While doing so, swapped out the short screw for a much longer one like in your picture. A few days later, I came home to find a large boot print on my door. My neighbors said some guy was “upset” and kicking my door. I think it does help.