uPVC Door break in- how to secure??

kpbryww

Hi,

House broken in to last night via Upvc front door. The door was levered with a screw driver just below lock, very little damage to door or frame or lock.

Any ideas how I can secure Upvc door in the short term so its not so easy to open. The door has 5 latchs when door is closed so I'm not too sure how the door was so easy to open, although the gardi said they see a hugh amount of breakin's via this type of UPVC door and they recommend replacing with solid wood door.

Any ideas the best way to secure UPvc door so its not SO EASY to break in and any ideas on best type of replacement secure door??

antiskeptic

kpbryww wrote: »

Hi,

House broken in to last night via Upvc front door. The door was levered with a screw driver just below lock, very little damage to door or frame or lock.

Any ideas how I can secure Upvc door in the short term so its not so easy to open. The door has 5 latchs when door is closed so I'm not too sure how the door was so easy to open, although the gardi said they see a hugh amount of breakin's via this type of UPVC door and they recommend replacing with solid wood door.

Any ideas the best way to secure UPvc door so its not SO EASY to break in and any ideas on best type of replacement secure door??

The problem with upvc door is that they are so weak and flexible. The 5 point latch in all likelyhood involves a locking bar with 5 notches sliding down from above onto some pins or notches in the frame (or such like). Great security if pushing the door in - but easy to bypass if you lift the door upwards from the frame! Lever the door sideways away from the receiver in the area of the lock the same time as lifting it ... and you're in.

Preventing access to that lever point would be a start. I'd bolt a robust steel plate to the outside frame of the door and let it protrude out to cover the face of the door by an inch or so. Make the plate from >=3mm thick steel x 2 foot tall, bolt it right through the frame with dome head (tamperproof) bolts centring it heighwise around the latch receiver. A metal fabricating shop would be able to knock up such a plate and drill a few mounting holes for 20-30 quid

The door can be lifted at various points: a lever placed under the door or a shoulder under the handle - so look to see whether there's a possibility to restrict this upward movement by placing a spacerblock on the top of the door or on the underside of the top frame so that the lifted door hits it before much movement has taken place.


Then I'd stick a bolt on the door for nighttime use.

It won't look great and you'll probably knock yourself off rhe plate now and again but until the door get's changed...

There are any number of door suppliers around but solid/wooden as the guards say

kpbryww

Excellent thanks for the information. I found some more info online relating to the lock itself which appears to be a very weak point. All in all the Upvc doors appears to be a disaster from a security point of view . My wife has arranged for a security guy to call out and advice as it appears the back doors have the same issue. Looks like the actual break in will be least expensive part of this event. Thanks again.

antiskeptic

kpbryww wrote: »

Excellent thanks for the information. I found some more info online relating to the lock itself which appears to be a very weak point. All in all the Upvc doors appears to be a disaster from a security point of view . My wife has arranged for a security guy to call out and advice as it appears the back doors have the same issue. Looks like the actual break in will be least expensive part of this event. Thanks again.

Commiserations..

But don't be rushed too quickly in to a super-expensive solution. It's a change of doors you want and there are lots of people looking for business in that dept these days.

Idbatterim

is it a solid PVC door? also does it open inwards or outwards?

paddy147

Why didnt your house alarm go off then???

kpbryww

Door opens in. Alarm was off, wife just popped out she was two minutes away, they were in and out in minutes, just after cash and gold.

danjo-xx

So are ye saying that all kinds of pvc doors should be replaced with sold timber doors for better security.

paddy147

kpbryww wrote: »

Door opens in. Alarm was off, wife just popped out she was two minutes away, they were in and out in minutes, just after cash and gold.

You do know that you will have a big problem explaining that to the insurance company with regards getting money back,as they will not pay out as the alram wasnt turned on/activated when your wife went out of the house.


You ALLWAYS turn on your house alarm when leaving the house.

paddy147

danjo-xx wrote: »

So are ye saying that all kinds of pvc doors should be replaced with sold timber doors for better security.

Thats total bullsh!t,who ever said that.:rolleyes:

johnwd

We were broken into a couple of years ago. Thieves pried out the outer casing of the handle/lock cover (the rectangular piece - about 5 inches long and half inch wide). This gave them a great access to the then exposed lock barrel which they got thru no problem ("ISEO" in make -forgive me for not going into too much detail about just how they did this - don't want to "educate" the wrong people!). So much for the great 5 point locking mechanism etc. We got an alarm since but still have the same lock problem. I believe there are some lock barrels out there that might not be as easy to get through but we never looked into it. Gardai at the time said that there were frequent robberies in our area using the same "method". Wooden or PVC if the lock mechanism has a flaw it won't make any odds IMHO. We have several access doors to the house - at some stage I think I'll investigate if I can prevent all but one of them having an outside lock mechanism. Anyway op commisserations to you and yours - it's not a pleasant experience.:mad: