door security - Base Camp Goods

Most break-ins don’t involve sophisticated lock picks or Hollywood-style alarm bypasses. They involve a boot to a hollow-core door, a pry bar on a cheap strike plate, or a slider lifted off its track. The average residential burglary takes under 60 seconds from entry to inside.

The good news? You can dramatically increase your home’s resistance to forced entry in a single weekend with about $150 in hardware store materials and zero specialized skills. No contractor. No permit. No excuse.

Here’s the room-by-room, door-by-door playbook.

Why Entry Point Hardening Matters More Than Alarms

Alarms are reactive. They tell you (or a monitoring center) that someone already got in. Entry point hardening is preventive — it makes getting in harder, slower, and louder. Most burglars operate on opportunity. If your door takes 30 seconds of noise and effort instead of 2 seconds, they move on. Period.

I’m not saying ditch your alarm system. I’m saying that if you have a $40/month monitoring service but your front door has the original builder-grade strike plate with half-inch screws, you’ve got your priorities backwards.

Step 1: The Front Door — Your Biggest Vulnerability

Your front door is the #1 point of forced entry in residential break-ins. Here’s exactly what to fix:

Replace the Strike Plate

The strike plate is the small metal piece on your door frame where the deadbolt and latch engage. Most builder-installed strike plates are held by two 3/4-inch screws that only bite into the soft door jamb — not the structural framing behind it.

Buy a heavy-duty strike plate (sometimes called a “security strike plate” or “box strike”). Brands like Door Armor, StrikeMaster, or even the generic heavy-duty ones at your local hardware store work fine.
Install it with 3-inch screws. This is the single most important upgrade. Three-inch screws go through the jamb and into the structural stud behind it. A door held by 3/4-inch screws can be kicked in with one solid hit. A door anchored to the stud takes multiple hits and makes a ton of noise.
Time: 15 minutes. Cost: $10-25.

Upgrade the Hinges

While you’ve got the drill out, replace the hinge screws too. Same principle — pull out the short screws, put in 3-inch ones. At least one screw per hinge should anchor into the stud. This prevents the hinge side from being pried or kicked in.

Check Your Deadbolt Throw

Lock your deadbolt and look at how far the bolt extends into the frame. It should be at least one full inch. If it’s less, replace the deadbolt. A Grade 2 deadbolt is fine for most homes — Grade 1 if you want the best. Skip the smart locks that sacrifice bolt throw for convenience.

The Door Itself

If your front door is a hollow-core interior door (yes, some builders do this), no amount of hardware will save you. Knock on it. If it sounds hollow, you need a solid-core wood or steel door. That’s a bigger project, but it’s non-negotiable for security. A steel door in a reinforced frame is extremely difficult to breach without power tools.

Step 2: Sliding Glass Doors — The Overlooked Weak Point

Sliding doors are easy to breach because many can simply be lifted off their tracks from the outside. Here’s how to fix that:

Install anti-lift pins. Drill a small angled hole through the inside frame where the door overlaps when closed, and drop in a pin or nail. This prevents the door from being lifted. You can buy purpose-built security pins, or a 16d nail works just fine.
Use a security bar or dowel. A cut-to-length wooden dowel or a Charlie bar in the track prevents the door from being slid open even if the latch is defeated. Adjust the length so it fits snugly.
Install a secondary foot lock. These bolt into the track and flip up to block the door. Cheap insurance — about $8.

Time for all three: 30 minutes. Cost: under $20.

Step 3: Windows — Simple Fixes, Big Impact

Most windows aren’t forced open — they’re found unlocked. But for ground-floor and basement windows that are locked, here’s what to do:

Pin your windows. For double-hung windows, drill a small downward-angled hole through the inner sash into the outer sash where they overlap when closed. Insert a nail or eye bolt. The window can’t be opened from outside even if the latch is flipped. Drill a second hole with the window cracked 4 inches for ventilation with security.
Apply security film. Window security film (3M, BDF, or similar) won’t stop a determined intruder, but it holds shattered glass together, turning a quick “smash and reach in” into a loud, time-consuming mess. Apply it to ground-floor windows, especially any near door locks.
Don’t forget basement windows. Window well covers and interior-mounted security bars or grates make basement windows nearly impossible to use as entry points. If you go with bars, make sure they have a quick-release interior latch for fire egress.

Step 4: The Garage — Your Biggest Blind Spot

If your garage has an entry door into your house, treat it exactly like your front door — heavy-duty strike plate, 3-inch screws, solid deadbolt. Most people don’t, because it “feels” like an interior door. It’s not. It’s a perimeter door with a giant, motor-operated window next to it.

Disable the emergency release. That red cord hanging from your garage door opener? An intruder can trip it from outside with a coat hanger and a 6-inch gap at the top of the door. Either zip-tie the release mechanism so it can’t be triggered remotely, or install a garage door defender shield over it. There are YouTube tutorials for your exact opener model.
Add a manual lock or slide bolt to the garage door tracks for when you’re home or away for extended periods.
Keep the interior garage door locked — always, not just when you’re away. This is the most commonly neglected rule in home security.

Step 5: Your Weekend Checklist

Print this. Walk your house. Check everything off.

Entry Point	Fix	Cost	Time
Front door	Strike plate + 3″ screws + hinge screws	$15-30	20 min
Back door	Same as front door	$15-30	20 min
Sliding doors	Anti-lift pins + bar + foot lock	$15-20	30 min
Ground-floor windows	Pin + security film	$40-60	1-2 hrs
Garage (interior door)	Strike plate + deadbolt + emergency release fix	$25-40	30 min
Basement windows	Well covers + security bars (with egress release)	$30-50	30 min

Total estimated cost: $100-200. Total time: a relaxed Saturday afternoon.

The Honest Take

Home security is one of those things people overthink and underspend on. They’ll drop $300 on a Ring doorbell and leave the strike plate held in by screws shorter than a toothpick. The camera will give you great footage of someone kicking your door in. The $15 strike plate upgrade would have stopped them.

Cameras and alarms have their place. But physical hardening is the foundation. Without it, everything else is just surveillance of your own break-in.

Your Challenge

This weekend, walk every exterior entry point in your home. Every door, every window, every sliding door, the garage. Knock on each door — solid or hollow? Check the screws in every strike plate — short or long? Try to wiggle your sliding door up off its track. Check if your garage emergency release can be fished from outside.

Then go to the hardware store and fix the weakest link. Just one. That single upgrade puts you ahead of 90% of homes on your street.

Stay sharp. Stay prepared. Security isn’t about paranoia — it’s about making smart, small investments that buy you time, options, and peace of mind. And unlike that gym membership you’re not using, this one actually works the first day you install it.

Here’s a stat that should bother you: according to FBI data, over 55% of residential burglaries happen through a door. Not a window. Not through some Mission Impossible ceiling vent. The front door. Sometimes the back door. Sometimes the garage entry door. But it’s almost always a door.

And here’s the kicker — most of those doors fail because of cheap hardware, bad installation, or things the homeowner could have fixed in an afternoon for under $100.

I’m not going to tell you to buy a $3,000 security system. I’m going to show you five upgrades you can do this weekend, most with a drill and a screwdriver, that will make your doors genuinely hard to kick in.

1. Replace Your Strike Plate Screws (Cost: $0–$5)

This is the single most important thing on this list, and it costs almost nothing.

Go look at your front door’s strike plate right now — that metal piece on the door frame where the deadbolt slides in. Pull it off. Look at the screws. I’ll bet you a six-pack they’re 3/4-inch screws that only grip the door jamb — a thin piece of pine that splits like kindling when someone puts a boot to it.

The fix: Replace those screws with 3-inch deck screws. That’s it. Three-inch screws pass through the jamb and bite into the structural framing (the jack stud) behind it. You’re going from a screw gripping half an inch of soft wood to one anchored in the actual structure of your house.

While you’re at it, do the same for your hinges. Most doors come with short hinge screws too. Replace at least one screw per hinge with a 3-inch screw. Now the entire door is anchored to the framing, not just hanging on the trim.

Time: 10 minutes. Difficulty: If you can use a drill, you can do this.

2. Install a Reinforced Strike Plate (Cost: $10–$25)

The stock strike plate that came with your door is a joke. It’s a small rectangle of thin metal held by those pathetic short screws we just talked about.

A reinforced strike plate is a heavy-gauge steel plate, usually 12 to 48 inches long, that distributes the force of a kick across a much larger area of the door frame. Brands like Door Armor, StrikeMaster II, and Prime-Line make versions you can find at any hardware store or online.

Why it matters: A standard deadbolt with a standard strike plate can be kicked in with about 100 pounds of force. With a reinforced plate and 3-inch screws, that number jumps to over 800 pounds. That’s the difference between one kick and “I’m going to find a different house.”

Time: 20 minutes. Difficulty: Easy — it’s just screws and a plate.

3. Add a Door Reinforcement Kit to Your Jamb (Cost: $50–$80)

If you want to go a step further — and I think you should, especially on your front and back doors — get a full door reinforcement kit. These typically include:

A full-length jamb reinforcement plate (covers the entire lock side of the frame)
Hinge reinforcement plates (wraps around each hinge)
A door edge shield (reinforces the area around the deadbolt on the door itself)

Brands like EverPlus, Defender Security, and Door Armor make kits that cover all three. They’re painted to match standard door colors, so they’re barely noticeable once installed.

My opinion: This is the best $60 you’ll spend on home security. Period. Better than cameras. Better than alarm stickers. A camera watches someone break in. A reinforced door stops them.

Time: 45 minutes per door. Difficulty: Moderate — you need to be comfortable with a drill and chisel.

4. Upgrade to a Grade 1 or Grade 2 Deadbolt (Cost: $30–$70)

Deadbolts are graded 1 through 3 by ANSI/BHMA standards. Most builder-grade deadbolts are Grade 3 — the lowest tier. They’re designed to meet building code minimums, not to actually resist forced entry.

What the grades mean:

Grade 3: Survives 2 strikes in cycle testing. The participation trophy of deadbolts.
Grade 2: Survives 4 strikes. Significantly stronger construction. Good for residential.
Grade 1: Survives 10 strikes. Commercial-grade. This is what you want if you’re serious.

Schlage B60N (Grade 1) runs about $40-50. That’s not a big investment for a lock that’s actually built to take a hit. Make sure the bolt throw is at least 1 inch — anything less and it’s not fully engaging the strike plate.

Time: 15 minutes if replacing an existing deadbolt. Difficulty: Easy swap.

5. Don’t Forget the Sliding Door (Cost: $10–$30)

Sliding glass doors are a massive weak point that people consistently ignore. The factory latch on most sliders is basically decorative. Here’s what to do:

Drop a security bar in the track. A cut piece of broom handle works, but a purpose-built bar like the Master Lock 265D adjusts to fit and won’t roll out. $12.
Install anti-lift pins. Drill a small hole at a downward angle through the inside frame into the outside frame (when the door is closed). Drop a nail or pin in. This prevents someone from lifting the door off its track. $0.
Add a secondary foot lock. These screw into the bottom track and flip up to block the door from sliding. Cheap, effective, and adds a second point of resistance.

Time: 15 minutes. Difficulty: Dead simple.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most burglaries are crimes of opportunity. The guy isn’t picking your lock. He’s not disabling your alarm. He’s kicking your door once, hard, and he’s in. The whole thing takes 10 seconds.

Every upgrade on this list makes that kick harder — or impossible. And the total cost for all five? Somewhere between $50 and $200 depending on how many doors you’re hardening. That’s less than one month of a monitored alarm service that does nothing to physically stop entry.

I’m not saying don’t get cameras or an alarm. I’m saying those are layer two. Layer one is making your doors actually hard to get through. Physical security first, electronic security second.

Your Weekend Challenge

Right now — today — go pull the strike plate off your front door and look at those screws. If they’re short, you know what to do. That one upgrade alone makes your door dramatically harder to force open, and it takes less time than scrolling through your phone.

Then work your way down this list. One door per weekend if you want to take it slow. By the end of the month, every entry point in your home will be genuinely hardened — not “security sticker” hardened, but actually hardened.

Stop decorating your doors with security theater. Reinforce them.

Tag: door security

How to Harden Every Entry Point in Your Home This Weekend — No Contractor Needed