How To Make Patio Doors More Secure

In this simple guide, we’ll look at patio door security and focus on how to make patio doors more secure.

Making patio doors more secure is an important aspect of your home security, as in many cases, patio doors are the weak spot due to the nature of what they are.

Below is a table of contents, you can click these topics and it will take you to the relevant place on this page. As an Amazon Associate, we make commisisions on qualifying pruchases.

How To Make Patio Doors More Secure

I’ve got a simple 5 point guide below on how to make patio doors more secure in your home.

Patio doors, by their very nature, are easy targets and a much easier way to access a property than through a window or through a traditional front door that has many more security features built in compared to a patio door.

For many homes, patio doors are the weak link.

And that’s because the design basis means they favour aesthetics over security; with the focus usually being on offering wide angled, unobstructed views of gardens from within the home itself.

Patio doors are also usually located at the rear of a property, which again is another weak point especially if you don’t have adequate outdoor security lighting or adequate side gate security.

Unfortunately, this makes patio doors more vulnerable to break ins and burglaries.

But here’s 5 things you can do to make your patio doors more secure and less prone to break ins.

1. Home Security Audit

If you are wondering how to make patio doors more secure, then looking at a specific thing like patio door security in isolation is entirely the wrong approach.

We need to look at the bigger picture before improving the security of your patio doors, and that means a brief audit and asking some simple questions.

I’ve got a much more in depth article here on how to improve the security of your home that covers 75 points, but for this article we will keep it simple and start with this list of things to do to make patio doors more secure by first, looking at the bigger picture:

These are basic questions and basic principles of security, and the principle of these questions all surround the deterrent factor from the outset.

If I can simply walk off the street, and down the side of your house and into your back garden, the first thing you need to do is install some tall wooden gates or fencing, and some form of lighting.

As I always say, a physical barrier is a superb deterrent.

And that’s because an opportunist criminal will nearly always choose the path of least resistance. Walls, gates and fencing add resistance, so it’s well worth exploring the possibility of new gates or fencing – your local DIY store will be able to help with this.

The same goes for lighting – if external parts of your property are in darkness, then there is no deterrent present. It’s then a much more inviting prospect for someone who doesn’t want to be seen and who wants to use the cover of darkness to access areas of your property that you don’t want them to access.

I have this article here on how lighting can improve security around your property.

2. Lock the Door!

An easy way how to make patio doors more secure is to simply lock the door.

When you are not near your patio doors, close them and lock the door with the key or locking system.

A large proportion of burglaries and thefts are committed through open or unlocked doors, especially in summer months when doors are left unattended.

Sneak in burglaries are common in the UK in spring and summer months. All it takes is you to be in an upsatirs room for just a few minutes. Maybe you have been sat in the garden, and you nip to the upstairs bathroom without shutting the patio door.

Next thing, you return downstairs and at worse there is somebody there stealing your valuables, or someone has already been in and out of your home within seconds, stealing valuables before you’ve even realised.

Reduce the risk of this happeneing by simply shutting and locking patio doors when you are not near them.

3. Keys In The Door

When going out for day or going to bed, lock the door with the key, and remove the key from the lock.

Have a place in your house nearby your patio doors where you store your key, whether it is on a hook or on top of a counter or wherever – just make sure it is not in the lock.

Make sure everyone in your household knows this specific place so in the event of a fire it can be reached quickly and easily.

But why?

Having a key in the lock means that any would be burglar can simply smash a small piece of glass, for instance, nearest to the key, reach in and then simply unlock the patio door.

This same advice goes to any door or window with keys in the locks. Remove them, and it makes things harder.

4. Additional Locking Capabilities

There are some cheap but extremely effective aftermarket products you can purchase to make patio doors more secure and give you extra piece of mind. (Read also: Best Patio Door Handle Locks).

If you have a single, sliding patio door for example, an excellent product is a simple extendable brace or jammer (Read: What Is A Door Jammer?) which prevents the patio door from being slid open – whether it’s locked or not. Simply drop it into the rails in front of the non sliding portion, and you have an extra layer of protection.

If you have the type of patio door that is a double door and the doors lock into each other, a simple solution for your circumstances is to buy a sliding bar lock.

These simply fix over your handles, essentially locking them together.

5. Alarms

Don’t dismiss an alarm system.

We are not talking about a full alarm system costing thousands of pounds, we are talking about an affordable DIY solution that will alarm when certain circumstances are met.

There’s two choices here. You can buy a contact alarm, or a vibration alarm.

A contact alarm will sound a loud, audible alert if the contacts are broken on the alarm. Not only does it alert you, neighbours or anybody in the vicinity, but an audible alarm will also deter the the person who is attempting to break in.

A vibration alarm is also a good option, and will sound a loud, audible alert if any shock or vibration is felt, through jemmying, drilling or smashing.

This is also a visibile deterrant as it is placed directly on the glass.

There’s also the more comprehensive system available if you wish like, full DIY security systems you can install yourself and add to whenever necessary.  If you are interested, read this here: Home DIY Security Systems UK Top 3.

Summary

I hope you have found some value in this article on how to make patio doors more secure in your home, and you’ve taken away at least one or two actionable ideas to ensure your security arrangements are the best they can be.

As I’ve already said, patio doors are a great feature of modern homes in the UK, allowing huge amounts of light to flow into your home.

And as long as you look at the bigger picture of home security, then they will continue to be a great feature whilst also offering you peace of mind that they are as secure as possible.

Other Articles You May Like

Here’s a small selection of articles you may also like from this site:

• – 75 Ways To Improve Home Security
• – Home Lighting – Best of
• – How To Improve Side Gate Security
• – DIY Home Security System -UK Top 3

Here’s the complete list of products and links mentioned on this page.

• – All links are included above.

Here’s the sources used for this article on how to make patio doors more secure:

• – Yorkshire Police – Don’t Make Your Home An Easy Street

Questions And Comments?

Hopefully, you’ve got a couple of simple ideas on how to make patio doors more secure in your home, and you’ll go and implement them and hopefully improve the general security of your property.

Or maybe, you have your own ideas and tips on how to make patio doors more secure – if you have, we’d love to hear them below, along with any questions or comments you may have.

And if you want a more in depth look at home security, don’t forget to check out my Ultimate Guide To home Security – there’s 75 tips in there that will help target harden your home and make it a less than attractive proposition to anyone thinking of committing a criminal act against your home.

Stay Safe. Stay Secure.