My standard exterior door on my shop (garage) is nearing extinction strength wise and I would like to make one similar to the one I saw yesterday at the boat shop in Beaufort. What kind of material (wood, locally available I hope) would you use for keeping out the bad guys? Harry
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Harry, I'm not sure I would worry too much about keeping the bad guys from breaking in through your garage door. Most often, they will enter through a window or a side (service) door. These are much easier to breach than that big roll-up door. I would just choose a durable material that can withstand the sun, rain, and movement that a garage door has to withstand. HTH,
Sorry, I misunderstood. If you're building a service door, I would think the same thoughts would apply about material. I would focus more on the hardware (Strike plate, door knob, etc.) There is no substitue for strong hardware and LONG screws to attach the strike plate to the facing. The idea is for the screws to pass through the jamb and into the studs. This will make it harder to kick the door in. Most often a swift kick will just rip the strike plate and jamb material right out of the wall. Obviously, the door needs to be strong but most crooks are going to attack the door near the knob/lock.
Hope this helps,
Hope this helps,
To add extra strength to the stick plate on my shop service door I installed a steel plate about a foot long on the side of the jamb and used long screws to secure it to the door framing studs. And the door (steel) has a dead bolt plus the regular knob. Not saying this will stop a really determined "scum of the earth" thief but he will have to kick rather hard.
But then this doesn't help if you leave the big roll up door open (which faces the road) and drive 1/4 mile to the local trash/recycle center to take off the trash like I did last Fall. :BangHead: :BangHead: When I returned about 10 minutes later someone had taken a big plastic tool box out from under my work bench. I guess they thought it was full of tools. There was other WW equipment setting all around the shop but nothing else was touched. The joke was kind of on them, since I only had a set of jumper cables, a emergency road kit and a warning triangle in the box and the box had my name written in big black letters on it. My cousin found the empty box a couple of weeks later about 2 miles from my house where the thief(s) had throw it out in the edge of the woods. And I live out in the country where we never even locked the doors to the house when I was growing up. This drug issue is a big problem for everyone.:eusa_doh: It drive the majority of the crime we see today.
But then this doesn't help if you leave the big roll up door open (which faces the road) and drive 1/4 mile to the local trash/recycle center to take off the trash like I did last Fall. :BangHead: :BangHead: When I returned about 10 minutes later someone had taken a big plastic tool box out from under my work bench. I guess they thought it was full of tools. There was other WW equipment setting all around the shop but nothing else was touched. The joke was kind of on them, since I only had a set of jumper cables, a emergency road kit and a warning triangle in the box and the box had my name written in big black letters on it. My cousin found the empty box a couple of weeks later about 2 miles from my house where the thief(s) had throw it out in the edge of the woods. And I live out in the country where we never even locked the doors to the house when I was growing up. This drug issue is a big problem for everyone.:eusa_doh: It drive the majority of the crime we see today.
Harry,
On that service door... does it swing out? Are the hinge pins exposed? beefing up the strike plate will secure the door one way... but you need to add security to the hinge jamb too. Remove one of the screws from each hinge (both sides of the hinge; door and jamb). Replace that with a 20d nail. Drive the nail into the door all but about 1/2". Cut the head off the nail. Do this for each of the hinges. Then just close the door. The nails have the same effect as the bold on the latch side of the door. You now have bolt or bar that is secured to the door and goes into the jamb on both the latch and hings sides of the door.
Ray
On that service door... does it swing out? Are the hinge pins exposed? beefing up the strike plate will secure the door one way... but you need to add security to the hinge jamb too. Remove one of the screws from each hinge (both sides of the hinge; door and jamb). Replace that with a 20d nail. Drive the nail into the door all but about 1/2". Cut the head off the nail. Do this for each of the hinges. Then just close the door. The nails have the same effect as the bold on the latch side of the door. You now have bolt or bar that is secured to the door and goes into the jamb on both the latch and hings sides of the door.
Ray
Solid dense wood if I were to make it myself. Oak and maple come to mind. Steel reinforcement where you can put it. Thick heavy hinges with extra long screws.
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