Best Ways to Secure a Bedroom Door

When people think of improving their homes’ security, they think in terms of the main entryways. But situations often occur where a person may want to secure only one room in the house.

The reason could be because the person lives in a house/flat shared with non-family members, for example, tenants in a shared flat, explains McGuirePropertyManagement.com. Or they want more control and privacy. Whatever the reason, it is relatively easy to secure a bedroom door, and the security measures used should be effective against:

Kicking or ramming: The door must be able to withstand brute force attacks that attempt to use kicking and ramming to gain forced entry.

Cutting: It should resist break-in attempts to cut through the metal that extends from the door lock into the strike plate.

Bypassing: The door must be able to resist attempts to override the lock by using a credit card, a tool inserted at the door bottom, or other methods of illegally opening a door without using force.

Bumping: The lock must have anti-bumping features; it cannot be bumped open. Bumping uses a bump key, a device commonly used by criminals to gain access.

Picking: The lock must be tough to pick open with some other devices apart from its key. Picked locks are hard to detect because the doors/locks are undamaged.

Drilling: The lock must be hard or impossible to drill through. Criminals will often drill through the core of a lock or certain drill points to gain access to a room.

Best ways to secure a bedroom door lock

Here are the most reliable methods for anyone looking to make their bedroom door lock more secure. These solutions vary significantly, and the best one will depend on the security concerns of each person.

They include solutions that can be used inside a room when the occupant is at home and solutions that secure the door when the room is unoccupied. Knowing the kind of threats a room is exposed will aid in choosing the most practical solution.

• A keyless door reinforcement lock

The keyless door reinforcement lock works best for when the room occupant is in the bedroom. A simple device is installed on the door jamb to prevent it from opening even when the door lock is open or breached. It turns the room into a haven, and some models can withstand up to 800 lbs. (363 kg) of force.

• Security bar

A security bar is another solution that works when the occupant is inside the room. The security bar does not need any installation. It is a simple adjustable device fitted between the knob of the bedroom door lock and the floor. It has a cup that fits under the knob and a padded foot that rests against the floor. A security bar will prevent break-ins.

• Strike Plate Lock

A strike plate door lock makes the bedroom door lock less vulnerable to kick in attempts. A good model will withstand up to fifty kicks. A strike plate lock uses longer screws that hold the strike plate in place. It is closer to the door lock, and one part of the device hooks to the door handle/knob. You can only use it from inside the room.

• Door Barricade

This solution also works from inside a room. It uses the floor’s strength to make the door impervious to kick ins and other forms of forced entry. They are especially useful for emergency lockdowns, such as an overnight home invasion. Door barricades have two parts that go into the door and floor. During emergencies, a bolt embeds into the floor to make the door immovable.

• Smart Lock with keypad and deadbolt

A smart lock works whether the occupant of the bedroom is inside it or away from it. These locks have thick and heavy steel/bronze/brass bolts that extend deep into the door frame. You can lock them with a key, knob, or an app. Replacing the standard bedroom door lock with a smart lock allows you to lock the room from anywhere by simply using the smartphone app.

• High security locks

There are a variety of locks that come under this category. All of them offer improved security, whether a room’s occupant is inside it or not. The key features of these locks are; they come with hardened metal construction, thick & heavy deadbolts, a range of smart features and anti-picking, as well as anti-bumping capabilities.

• Improved strike plates

An improved strike plate comes with longer screws that help hold the strike plate in place against kick in attempts. The strike plate itself is also longer to help it disperse the force of blows throughout the length of the door jamb. It means that more screws are needed to install the strike plate, offering more points of resistance against brute force attacks. An improved strike plate is a highly effective way to improve bedroom door lock security. It can work alongside the other solutions listed above.