The best security for your home or business is a three-inch screw. I have been a locksmith for 25+ years and have seen my share of break-ins both in residential and commercial properties. I want to concentrate on talking to you about your home and its basic security. Most people are surprised to discover their family and belongings are protected with a lock and strike plate installed with half inch screws, or worse yet no deadbolts.
Locks on your home buy you time and forces the intruder to go that extra step to defeat such lock mechanisms. Take a look at your perimeter doors on your home and specifically how the strike plate and door jambs are installed. Many pre-fab doors and or handyman installations have subpar mounting hardware for the locks. It is a good idea to have deadbolts on your perimeter doors because these type of locks are deadlocking and cannot be "jimmied" open easily. The deadbolt should be of good quality with a solid bolt and well-made strike plate.
I have seen many forced entrys where the deadbolt and jamb have failed, kicked in, etc. One way to combat this is to make sure the jamb and door is well made and secure. The best would be a steel door and steel frame. This is uncommon for most homes and frankly is not very attractive. The best choice is a solid core wood door with a heavy duty strike and 3-inch screws to engage beyond the door jamb and into the stud framing.
The next step would be to install jamb jackets to reinforce the frame and door. It is all about surface tension and the more screws and steel you have the more difficult it is going to be to kick the door in and split the door jamb. there are a few manufactures of these type of products, I prefer: https://www.majormfg.com/c-8-jamb-jackets.aspx You will need to know your door thickness and desired length of jacket. These can be as short as 16" up to 72" (full length), the idea is to make the door jamb as strong as steel. You can also purchase plates to wrap around the edge of the door to support the lock and help prevent the door itself from splitting.
One last area are the door hinges. Replace a few or all of your door hinge screws with three inch screws to help strengthen and make the door/frame more rigid.
GET THOSE SCREWS INTO THE STUDS!
This is just a simple idea and easy way to help improve the security of your existing hardware without much cost. If you have any questions please feel to reply.
