Door SECURE DOORS AGAINST BREAK-INS

HOW CAN I PROTECT MY FRONT DOOR AGAINST BREAK-INS?

In addition to choosing the right door cylinder, there are many ways to secure your front door against break-ins. Security door bars that extend across the entire width of the door, additional door locks for extra security, and security hinge locks that prevent forcible prying open are all good options. Door bar locks are particularly effective for securing older building doors. Each of these solutions addresses specific weak points and increases the overall security of your door.

We have summarised the different types of burglary protection measures you can take for your door:

1. SECURITY DOOR BARS

Advantages of security door bars
Security door bars, also known as cross bars, offer effective burglary protection for several reasons: their robust metal construction makes them resistant to forced break-in attempts. They lock the door at several points simultaneously and across the entire width of the door, making it much more difficult to break open. Internal installation protects them from external attacks and makes tampering more difficult.

Additionally, you can fit a door guard to your security door bar, which allows the door to be opened by a small gap.

Selection tips
When choosing the right security door bar, consider the door type and size. Decide whether you want to lock the bar only from the inside (e.g., for a side entrance) or if you also want the option to lock it from the outside using an additional door cylinder.

ABUS offers a wide range of products to meet your individual requirements. Professional installation is recommended to ensure the full security effect.

2. ADDITIONAL DOOR LOCKS

It can be challenging to navigate the numerous door security locks available for retrofitting. We have summarised the most important differences for you:

Series 7000
Our Series 7000 additional door locks can be easily retrofitted to the locking side of the door. These locks can be locked and unlocked with a door cylinder from both the outside and inside. You can also order our ABUS products with keyed alike locks, allowing you to operate both the main door lock and the additional lock with the same key.

The additional door lock variants with an integrated door guard are particularly practical. They allow the door to be opened just a crack to see who is standing in front of it, offering significantly more security than a simple door chain guard.

These door locks are available in white, brown, or silver to match your door. You can also choose whether to lock the lock from the inside with a key or simply with a knob. Additionally, the locks are available with an optional alarm function.

Series 7500 - Extra Narrow
For doors with glass inserts, there is often less space to fit an additional lock. In this case, we offer our Series 7500 locks, which require only 8 cm of space on the door leaf. Otherwise, all locks in this series are also available in the versions mentioned above.

Security hinge lock
The burglary protection on the hinge side of doors is often neglected, as burglars can potentially lift the door off its hinges.

To prevent this, we offer security hinge locks, also known as anti-lift security locks.

We recommend our TAS112 security hinge lock, which is VdS-certified and equipped with the highest ABUS security level. The integrated claw bolting provides pressure resistance of over one tonne.

More about the TAS112 security hinge lock

3. THE DOOR CYLINDER

When considering burglars opening a locked door, the method of lock-picking often comes to mind. Special tools like lock picks or tensioners manipulate the pins within a lock to release the mechanisms holding it closed. However, this type of break-in is more common in movies than in reality. Learn more about break-in methods and how to protect yourself here

Since "cracking" the door cylinder is not commonly favored, relying solely on a door cylinder may not provide adequate protection against break-ins. Nevertheless, it's important to consider the following aspects for your door cylinder:

New tenants moving into an apartment are strongly advised to replace the cylinder to ensure no unauthorized copies of keys are in circulation. Door cylinders equipped with a security card, such as the EC660 or the XP20S, offer protection against unauthorized key duplication, requiring the presentation of the security card for any key copies.

Another critical consideration is proper installation: a cylinder should never protrude more than 3 mm from the door. Using door fittings or escutcheon plates with pulling protection becomes essential in such cases.

FURTHER MEASURES

Besides installing security doors, there are additional measures you can take to secure your front door against break-ins:

Instead of focusing solely on securing the front door, consider implementing the following burglary protection measures:

Whenever you leave your house or apartment, whether for a vacation or work, it's crucial to observe the following precautions. Ensure all windows are locked securely, not just closed. Particularly on the ground floor, windows should be well secured, as they are common entry points for burglars. Additional safety tips for when you're away on vacation can be found here