Improving Sliding Door Security

Sliding doors make a beautiful and convenient addition to any home and/or business, with fantastic ease of use, and the beauty of adding a huge amount of light flow to compliment the mood of any space. However, these doors are commonly overlooked in consideration of any residential or commercial security plan, and thus constitute a large security risk. Here’s a guide from the security and access control experts here at UTS Group on some ways to heighten the security of your sliding doors.

Track Blocking
Simply insert a bar into the tracks of the door to prevent it from being able to be opened – this works ideally with horizontally sliding doors. The bar should be solid, and made of dense plastic, metal, or wood. This is a very cost effective and security effective option for improving the security of your sliding door. Many personnel at home improvement or hardware stores are aware of this security strategy, and they should be happy to help provide you with the necessary materials – and cut it down to size if need be. However, it is important to know the measurements of the door’s track opening beforehand just so you can make sure that it’s the right size. Make sure that the bar is also long enough to not allow any wiggle room for the door as that can potentially be exploited by criminals to gain access.

Chain the Door
This strategy also works best on horizontally sliding doors – and ideally doors that separate at the center to slide away from each other – known as double sliding doors. Install a small chain with a solid fastener; run a short chain link between each door handle, and then lock them together – make sure it is tight enough to restrict any wiggle room, but not so tight that it exerts too much pressure on the door handles that could potentially break them. If your door only has a single handle and opens to one side, you may want to drill another handle to the wall closest to the door in order to retrofit this chaining strategy.

Window Security Film
Apply strong window security film to reinforce your sliding door glass. This strong glass film sometimes comes with tinting that prevents others from looking inside your home while still allowing you to look outside. This film is designed to withstand huge amounts of pressure – with protection from both burglary and natural occurrences like high winds and hurricanes. It’s an ideal solution that provides immense peace of mind in knowing that your property is protected.

Anti Jimmying Door Plates
This technology is usually applied to normal doors, but can also be installed on sliding glass doors. Simply purchase an anti jimmy door plate at your hardware store that can help secure your door in place but still allow you to slide it open from inside at your convenience. These plates are ideally installed into the empty space in the upper door tracks.