Best Front Doors for Security – Is Your Home Really Protected?

Most door specialists agree that composite doors are the best front doors for security currently available to residents because they are built using multiple resilient materials. A composite door contains a solid timber core combined with reinforced layers of UPVC and fibreglass and a string of other tough constituents. While timber doors are liable to warp, crack and weaken the older they get, composite doors in Yorkshire suffer none of that.

No composite door worth its salt would be without a multipoint locking mechanism, robust glass and high-security hinges. This group of components are what make composite doors vastly stronger than basic UPVC doors and traditional timber doors. Food for thought then when choosing a front door for security.

The door material is a major factor in the reliability of a front door at protecting against intrusion, as is the lock employed, which needs to be tamper resistant.

Secure front doors generally have a solid, reinforced core, making them supremely difficult to force open when locked, even if subjected to the most brute force.

• What Front Door Material Is Most Secure?
  Again, it would be composite doors that industry experts rate as the most secure front door material, offering incredible durability and defiance in the event of being attacked. The composite solutions produced by Orion Windows include solid steel hook locks that slide into steel and a 3-star locking cylinder.
• What Kind Of Lock Does A Secure Door Have?
  Locks share the same level of importance as the door material, both playing a vital role in protecting residences. You want a high-security lock that fulfils British Standard BS3621. A multipoint lock is present in most composite and UPVC doors, which secures them in different places along the frame.
• Is A UPVC Door Secure Enough?
  UPVC is certainly strong and sturdy, qualities that every secure door must possess. Inclusion of a multipoint locking system amplifies its secure attributes.
• The Toughest Front Door To Break Into Is…
  You guessed it – composite doors! However, this is dependent on them also having an intelligent lock, which they do if bought from Orion Windows.

While analysing the many replacement doors that exist today, search for one with a strong material, high-security locks and reinforced frames. These are indispensable features if you expect a door to thwart a break-in.

Further evidence of the secure nature of a door will be demonstrated by it having received the PAS 24 certification and Secured by Design status.

Here follows a little summary of some of the most common materials and a handy insight for anyone eager to find the best front doors for security:

On first being manufactured and fitted, traditional wooden doors are impressively strong, but they lose much of their strength as time moves on and are renowned for warping and weakening. Modern engineered timber doors can keep their stability over many decades.

As well as being very affordable, UPVC offers solid performance in security. It’s also a low maintenance material and will combat issues like warping, assuring you of long-term excellence.

In a strength test, aluminium doesn’t disappoint and its natural resilience is perfect for safeguarding home security.

It needs a series of materials to craft a composite door and meshed together, they make for a formidable design. The reinforced core and impact-resistant outer layers reliably protect against forced entries.

The 5 key security features of a front door are:

Doors that have a strong core, like a composite door, are so much harder to break than hollow or weak doors.

A multipoint lock does as you would expect and secures a door at multiple points along its frame, limiting the possibility of a forced entry compared to doors with only a singular lock.

Your front door is unlikely to be kicked or forced open if it has a sturdy frame and reinforced strike plate.

Common burglary techniques will be futile as these locks are anti-pick, anti-drill and anti-snap.

These powerful and tamper-proof hinges (particularly with hinge bolts) put the block on doors being forced open or taken off their frames.

The best lock for a front door would be cylinder locks and lever locks as they both satisfy high-security standards. It’s a minimum requirement that the British Standard BS3621 rating is met.

The cylinder lock operates by using the grooved edge of a key to shift spring-loaded internal pins within the cylinder on the turn of the key.

A lever lock functions with a bitted key. That lifts each lever to a precise height, which allows the locking bolt to slide into the metal boxed strike plate inside the door frame.

Other locking mechanisms exist, such as the mortice lock and rim lock (also known as a nightlatch). You fit a mortise lock into a door’s edge and it’s secured with a bolt that slots into a boxed strike plate. A rim lock is a surface-mounted lock operated by a key on the outside and a thumb turn on the inside, typically paired with a mortice lock.

It’s in your long-term interest for security reasons to only buy a door with a multipoint locking system, as it’s the best form of defence.

It’s as essential that you select the right lock as it is to find the strongest front door. In this country, these are the common lock types, each providing varying degrees of security:

• Mortice Locks
  Regularly chosen for wooden doors, a mortice lock is lodged into the door, making it remarkably secure.
• Rim Locks/Nightlatches
  Placed into the door surface instead of within it, nightlatches are a common fixture in wooden doors. Offering convenient locking from inside, you’re best to use them alongside another high-security lock.
• Cylinder Locks
  Present in a lot of UPVC and composite doors, cylinder locks are a very modern choice of lock, particularly if twinned with a multipoint lock. With a 3-star cylinder lock you’re guaranteed resistance against snapping, bumping and drilling.

We keep stressing the importance of BS3621 certification as security varies between locks and this accreditation is given to locks shown to offer sufficient protection against forced entries.

When evaluating composite door vs upvc, be advised that certain home insurance providers insist on external doors having BS3621-compliant locks, safeguarding against picking, drilling etc.

In general, glass doors are a safe product, but that’s on the assumption that they have reinforced and laminated glazing that’s double or triple glazed for supplementary strength. Standard glass is a safety risk as it’s easily broken and removed, increasing the risk of a break-in taking place.

Doors containing toughened or laminated glass are significantly harder to break than those with standard glass. Beaded glazing also stops glass from being lifted out of a frame.

If glass is positioned close to a lock, that’s another safety threat, as a thief could smash the glazing and then reach in to access and undo the lock. The solution is to select a lock requiring a key from both sides, such as a double cylinder lock, or finding a door with the glass and lock well-spaced from each other.

Glass panels are present in most front doors, both for decoration and to entice light into a hallway. So long as the glass is reinforced or double or triple glazing, it won’t pose any kind of security issue.

Buying the strongest front door that you can afford, incorporating an intelligent lock and various security-focused add-ons, will be one of the wisest decisions you ever make.

Reading this article will have hopefully made you want to go check out your current door’s security and determine whether it’s up to scratch. If it isn’t, speak to Orion Windows about organising a replacement.