This way, if the glass is broken out, the deadbolt cannot be opened using the thumb turn.Įven if you are not spending the additional money on a Mul-t-lock, high security lock for your double door, you should at least upgrade the lock to a commercial grade double cylinder deadbolt for improved security. Buy a double cylinder deadbolt that takes a key on both sides. If you are investing in a Mul-t-Lock ( check out the prices on Amazon) for a double French door, you do not want to get one with a thumb turn on the inside of the home. This makes the two doors very difficult to pull apart! In a Mul-t-lock lock, there is a ball bearing in the bolt that will secure and lock into the strike of the other door. The Mul-t-lock has a feature here that is ideal for double doors. We discuss it in our online article, Best Lock Brands. When it comes to high security Mul-t-lock is our favorite brand. High Security Deadbolt Keeps Double Doors Together The Mul-t-Lock Ball Bearing Locks the Latch and the Strike Together. This technique, combined with the How to Reinforce an Entry Door in 6 Easy Steps, will make your double doors as secure as any door or window in the house.īut what if you want more security? You can go further by preventing the glass in the door from being shattered, buy reinforcing the door and/or by installing high security locks. If at some point, you need this door, simply remove the screws, and then reinstall them when you no longer need to use that side of the door. Then screw a small screw into the bottom of the flush bolt so that the bolt can not be opened until the screw is removed. To do this, slide the flush bolt into the door’s frame, securing the door. This simple, cheap, DIY, double-door security improvement will prevent the above mentioned home break-in technique 100%. Keeping that in mind, we recommend screwing screws into each flush bolt so that they cannot be slid open until the screws are removed. Most homeowners only unlock it and use it when they are trying to get something very large into or out of the house. The passive side of the door is very seldom used. Our Tempe service also sees a lot of them because they are a college town and have lots of condos that have them. We see a lot of French doors installed near our Scottsdale location and Gilbert lock shops that have newer and higher end homes. Important: Your secured double door can be unlocked, in just a few seconds, with no visible signs of forced entry, using the above method. It takes just a few seconds to open double doors using this technique. If you position any thin, rigid device into the seam between two doors, you can use it to latch the flush bolt, and then slide it to the unlocked position. All it really takes is a thin screwdriver, drywall hammer, or even a heavy coat hanger to bypass the door locks. There are numerous YouTube videos showing a variety of techniques to unlock a double door. However, the passive side of the door can easily be unlocked. It is viewed as if looking down on the door from the top.Īs long as the passive door remains secure to the door’s frame, then there should be no problem. Should the passive side of the door not be secured to the door frame, the two doors can simply be pushed open without any resistance, even though the deadbolt of the active side is locked into the passive side it will just slide out as the two doors are pulled open. This method of securing double doors is the most common used and relies heavily on the passive side of the door being secure at all times. The active door is then locked in place, by locking it into the secured passive side of the door via a deadbolt. Most commonly this is done using flush bolts installed in the edge of the passive door (see photo). Because the passive side of the door is seldom used, it is secured into the top and bottom of the door frame. The specific security weakness of a French door comes from the fact that the two doors meet in the middle. Once you’ve addressed the specific double-door security weaknesses here, take a look at the above article to make sure that all your doors are reinforced. Slide Bolt or Flush Bolt for Securing the Passive Doorīut French Doors also have specific security concerns that make them more vulnerable to burglary than a standard door.
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