Cover Glass USA Blog | Frameless Glass Doors

How to Fully Secure Your Glass Doors

Written by Matt Cohen | Mar 31, 2020 8:53:00 PM

 

With the decision to outfit the house with glass doors often comes some concern over safety and security. It is much easier to break in through a patio door than through a wall. It’s all a matter of doors and lock features (and to some extent, our locking habits). 


According to the FBI’s UCR Program (Uniform Crime Reporting), there were an estimated 1,401,840 burglaries in 2017, 57.5% of which involved forcible entry and 6.3 percent were attempted forcible entry.

 

Attempted forcible entry is a real keyword here. What steps can you take to make sure that a burglar’s attempt will result in failure?

 

Vulnerabilities of Common Glass Doors

Most glass doors are either French, top-hung or bottom-sliding, fitted with outdoor locks. We can spot a few weaknesses in that shortlist:

 

  • Locks on the outdoor can easily be picked or broken
  • Frames can be shaken off balance
  • Wood frames get weakened by weather and may rot to the point of dust
  • Exposed hinges may not resist that much under well-applied pressure from tools
  • Sliding panels can be lifted off the bottom track

 

You can see already that, regardless of how you lock your glass door, it may not be a match against a criminal’s will to enter your home. 

 

To add insult to injury, mainstream locks are not necessarily made of top-shelf materials, resisting breakage, corrosion, or mechanical force. Lock design may also be kept to the simplest, being a simple latch that even the wind can rattle, pushing or pulling the doors open. In fact, if your patio door frequently swings open, you can be assured locking it will not make a difference.

 

Some DYI solutions to make the house more secure at glass doors entry points is to install a blocking rod in the tracks. Note, however, that this applies to bottom-sliding systems, and does not quite cover all your bases.

What About Glass Strength?

The question bears merit. You can install multiple locks, all inside, no hardware showing on the exterior, and still allow uninvited guests in because the glass is weak. Even double-glazed doors cannot be guaranteed 100% secure. 

 

One solution is to have a protective film installed, a sort of thin shield that will hold the shards on both sides should someone be able to break your door.

 

Here too, qualities differ, and you need to decide how much of the natural light you are ready to lose, as it does curtain some off. The other question to ask if you go with this option is the durability of such a product. It may end up becoming expensive if you have to replace it often due to sun, rain and wind damage.

 

Both glass strength and lock performance concerns can be mitigated with the installation of an alarm system. Sensors are installed on several points to detect tempering, opening or breaking. Any time a gap is detected in what should be a closed-door or window, the alarm triggers a sound, a recording (if you add video), or/and a call to the security company.

 

Sound alarms may not be as a deterrent to burglars as they once were. Crafty thieves know they have time to do some damage before they risk being caught by responders. Silent alarms may contribute to keeping them longer on the premises, but come with negatives, nonetheless. You have to be available to answer the call from security to give your password (should that be a false alarm), or let the time elapse until they take action should you be unresponsive. In the meantime, your belongings are not protected, and neither are you if you are home and hurt.

Cover Glass Ultimate Benefits

Cover Glass takes pride in offering the safest and most secure glass door systems to its clients.

 

  • All metal hardware is corrosion-resistance stainless steel, so time doesn’t weaken any part of the door.
  • All our frameless sliding glass doors lock from the inside, both at the top and bottom of the first panel, although you may choose to add additional locks on other panels.
  • Hinges and most hardware are not accessible from the outside, eliminating the opportunities for tampering. Here again, we can install handle locks with a key access on the outside if that’s your preference.
  • Our top-hung system is secure at the top by being completely encased and at the bottom by sliding into a slim track. Simply put, our residential sliding glass doors, are virtually impossible to pull or lift out of the guiding channels, as are our commercial systems.

 

If you are concerned about winds being too strong on such a wide expanse of glass, know that our products surpassed the EN 12211 highest requirements for wind load resistance. To put things in perspective, this test rates the door’s structural strength by measuring its resistance to pressure. We topped the max applied pressure of 2,000 pascals/127 mph. As a reference, the Beaufort Scale rates winds that exceed 74mph as hurricane-force gale winds.

 

Concern for safety and security is very high in our company. Our glass material is one of the strongest on the market: tempered double glazed with industrial lamination in between. No golf ball flying about will break it, nor will an elbow, or a baseball bat. 

 

We have conducted (and keep doing so regularly) numerous tests to evaluate the safety and strength performance of our glass doors. It simply will not break, no matter how hard we try and what we throw at it.

 

In fact, one of our dear clients in Newport Beach has been the victim of attempted forcible entry while she was home. She later called us to tell us that Cover Glass had kept her safe. That’s the only kind of testimonials we need.

Wrapping up

Cover Glass wants you and your family to live in the highest levels of safety and security without having to compromise on design:

 

  • Toughest glass
  • Protected hardware
  • Inside double deadbolt lock
  • Secured top and bottom tracks
  • Alarm-system compatible
  • Options available to suit preferences

 

Secure and beautify your home today and enjoy the benefits of frameless glass doors and windows. Request a quote.