Are Glazed External Doors Safe?

The difficulty of breaking into a glazed door will depend on both the size of the glazed panel and the type of glass that is used.

With patio doors that feature large glass panels, it is incredibly important to get doors with treated, toughened glass to prevent a break-in and add extra security. A front door with a single glazing panel is a lot less secure.

Course, there are plenty of ways to make sure your glazed external doors are secure, whatever size they are.

Double or even triple glazing will also offer a much more high-security option than the single glazing you see in older doors. Having double glazing in your glazed doors will also help improve the energy efficiency of your doors, which is another big bonus.

If you are concerned about the security risks posed by a glass door, there are a couple of steps you can take to make your glazed external door more secure.

Get Strengthened Glass

The first is getting a door with double-glazed laminated glass, as this is the hardest glass to get through. This is because laminated glass stays in place even when it’s broken. Tempered glass is designed to crumble when it breaks (a safety feature that can limit its security) but when laminated glass cracks it stays whole, so intruders won’t be able to force their way in.

Add A Security Film

For glazed external doors made with safety glass, it is possible to recreate the effect of laminated glass using a security film. This clear film will not impact the look of your toughened glass, but it will improve the security by keeping your glass in place if someone tries to break it. As toughened glass is already strong enough to resist most impacts, this will create an impressively secure door.

Obscure The Glass

Another issue often levelled at glazed external doors is that they leave the interior of your home visually exposed. From a security point of view, this can help highlight any weaknesses to potential intruders, including reachable keys.

Choosing a door with frosted or decorative glass will help tackle this. Frosted glass will still let natural light fill your entrance hall, but it will blur the sightlines and make it impossible to see your belongings. It can also help bring its own visual appeal to your new front door and the overall look of your home interior design.

A solid front door will always be the safest and most secure door option available. This applies to front doors too, when a composite door with a strong locking system is the most secure option available

However, you can also choose a front door with one of two small glazed panels towards the top of the door without having to worry about the glass compromising your door security at all.

With smaller glazed panels in this position, even if the safety glass does break it is unlikely to offer easy access to your home. As long as you keep items like keys, handbags and car keys out of reach of the doorway anyway. Smaller panels are also less likely to break, giving them an advantage all round.

Having the glazed panels towards the top of the door will also make it difficult for any intruders to reach through and grab the door handle or reach the lock.

For front doors with larger glass panels, you should consider using laminated glass or placing security film on the panes. You should also make sure you keep your important belongings even further from the door, so they are not easy to spot or reach.

When it comes to security, solid external doors are the most secure.

Composite doors and wooden doors in particular are both strong, robust door materials which make them a fantastic choice when you’re looking for a safe and secure external door, whether it’s glazed or not. In particular, the hard surface of glass-reinforced plastic that coats a composite door can withstand a heavy impact without taking any damage. This makes it low maintenance as well as a more secure door choice than other materials.

uPVC doors are not as strong as other door materials but can still be modified to improve their security. Making sure they have a multipoint mortice lock, fit well in their frame and have their hinges on the inside will all help make them harder to break in.

Even with glazed doors, a lot of different factors contribute to how secure the doors are. Things you should look at include:

Locks

One incredibly important factor is the locking system on your door. Current building regulations highlight the minimum level of security a door should provide, but you should always look for a five-lever mortice deadlock. These are a lot more secure than a simple cylinder lock.

Cylinder locks are commonly used in uPVC doors but are generally considered a security risk as the lock can easily be snapped off. If this does happen, the lock is left useless and will not stop anyone from entering your property. A mortice lock is a lot more secure as it makes multiple points of connection.

Door Frame

Another important step to having a secure door is having a strong, secure door frame. This is not something homeowners necessarily consider when weighing up the security of their home, but it can be as important as the door itself, particularly wooden ones.

You should regularly inspect your door frame to check for any damage or weak spots. You can also install a reinforcer which will add extra support to your frame against impact.

Hinges

External doors should be hung with their hinges on the inside of your home as standard. You should also make sure your hinges use screws that are at least 2 1/2 inches long. These will help anchor the hinge to the door better, helping it hold up to impact

You can also install hinge bolts as a further way of reinforcing your hinges.

When picking out a glazed external door for your home, potential intruders may not be the only safety concern you have. Particularly if you have a family – you won’t want heavy hands or accidental slamming to smash the glass and leave sharp shards in your home.

If a door is built to meet current building regulations and prevent a break-in, it is built to reduce the chance of the glass breaking. This means they are a safe choice too.

Toughened safety glass is treated at high temperatures to make it 5 times as strong as standard glass. This means it is easily able to withstand the most accidental impacts, from footballs to foreheads. And, as we discussed above, even if it does get broken it will fall to the ground in ‘crumbs’ which have soft edges that won’t cut or pierce your skin when you clean them up.