Sliding glass doors are a popular choice because they allow lots of natural light to enter. However, they also give potential intruders a good view of what’s inside the home. Plus, since the doors are often in the backyard, the criminals can work unseen. If you have a sliding glass door and you want to better protect your family and home, check out these four tips to help boost door security.

1. Choose a Durable Door
Traditional glass doors are durable, but you can choose options that will boost the strength and durability of the glass even more.

One way to add durability is to carefully choose the materials used for your door. Sliding doors made of wood with clad exteriors or fiberglass are two of the most durable materials used for sliding glass doors. Clad Wood doors are much heavier than many sliding glass doors yet still operate easily. Fiberglass doors do not expand and contract with temperature extremes and provide years of predictable performance and smooth operation. Multi-Point locking systems are also available to add durability and extra security.

2. Maintain the Door
All the doors in your home need regular maintenance or else they can weaken from wear and tear, making it easier for an intruder to gain access. If you neglect maintenance of your sliding glass doors, they can become easy to manipulate from the outside. Intruders can jiggle the lock loose or knock the door off the tracks if necessary.

For this reason, you must maintain your sliding door to keep it in good condition, which will make it harder to unlock or break. Start by ensuring the track and rollers are clean. You may even need to actually remove the door to fully clean the track and rollers.

Doing this, however, will ensure the door stays flush in the track, keeping it steady. Not only does this make it easier for you to use your door, but it makes it harder to knock it off the tracks. Don’t forget to lubricate any moving parts, including the latch.

3. Install Additional Locks
Sometimes, the best solution is to simply add more locks. The easiest lock to add is a stick. It may not be fancy, but putting a thick piece of wood or metal bar in the track prevents the door from opening at all, making it much harder for burglars to get inside. If your existing lock is old or worn, you may also want to replace it.

Adding a loop lock is another good idea. Loop locks are installed at the top or bottom of the glass door. Once the lock is in place, it’s much harder for intruders to jiggle the door to unlock it or dislodge it. Upgrading your existing lock to one with a bolt makes it impossible for the door to be wiggled open.

4. Install Alarm Sensors
Adding locks is a great idea, but you can make your door even more secure by adding some alarm sensors. If you’re worried about the cost, you should know that you can do this pretty affordably since you don’t need to pay for an entire security system — you can pay for just a few small alarms.

Small alarms can be added near doors or windows, and they will alert you if the door is forced open for any reason. Some more advanced systems can even detect the sound of shattering glass. While these alarms won’t prevent someone from gaining access to your home through your door, they could scare off intruders or help you prevent theft or harm by warning you about what’s going on.

Sliding glass doors are beautiful, but they can also be an invitation to intruders. If you would like to know more about secure sliding doors, or if you want to replace your existing door with something more durable, contact us at Fischer Window & Door Store today.