In today’s post, I’ll be telling you a very simple modification that you can do to greatly increase the security of exterior doors.
The best part of what I’m about to tell you is the cost – less than one dollar per door.
When people think of security for exterior doors, they automatically think of dead bolts and other door locks, even going as far as spending big money on high-security deadbolts.
The problem is most people overlook the door hinges. (People use this kit to reinforce the jamb, hinges and locks on your door.)
Not all exterior doors have security hinges installed. Security hinges have a protrusion that lines up with the hole in the opposite side of the hinge. When the door is fully closed, the protrusion will be inside the hole, preventing removal of the door, even if the hinge pins were to be removed.
Some hinges have non removable pins but most are removable.
Buying quality security hinges can get expensive, so the method I’m going to tell you will save you a
lot of money.
Let me tell you exactly what you’re going to need to get the job done.
You will need a drill, two different size drill bits, I’ll go over the sizes in a minute, an old lip stick, an Avery label and a hammer.
To do this job, you’re going to be using tension pins, quarter-inch OD, 1 inch long, the drill bits that you’re going to be using, one is going to be slightly smaller 7/32 and the other one is going to be slightly larger at five sixteenths.
So how exactly to install the tension pins.
For this modification you’re only going to be working on the top and bottom hinges of the door.
The first thing you’re going to do is prop the door open.
You’re going to take the smaller drill bit and you’re going to apply the Avery label or if you have a
drill stop you can use that as well.
You’re going to set it for about three-quarters of an inch, so when you drill through the hinge into the door jamb you’re going to know exactly when to stop.
The next thing you’re going to do is take the tension pin, position it over the hole that you just drilled and then you’re going to hammer it all the way in until it sticks out about a quarter of an inch.
Do not go less than a quarter of an inch because some doors have ply on the side of the door and if there is ply they may be able to still remove the door with the hinge attached. So make sure it sticks out no less than one quarter of an inch.
Now that the tension pin is installed, the next step is to take the lip stick and you’re going to apply it to the end of the tension pin.
Once that’s done, you’re going to close the door until you feel resistance. That means the tension pin is making contact with the other side of the hinge.
Open and close the door a few times. Then take a look to see if the lipstick is transferred to the opposite side of the hinge to give you a very good indication of where you should be drilling.
Once that spot has been marked, you’re going to drill the hole using the smaller bit first and once that’s done, you can switch to the larger bit, which is 5/16 and you’re gonna make a nice clean hole.
As a result, the pin on the left now will line up perfectly with the hole on the right when the door is fully closed.
Because of that, removing the hinge pin will not allow you to take the door and pull it out of the door jamb.
You’re now going to repeat exactly what I told you with the bottom hinge.
Once that’s complete, you’re done!
