You lock the front door at night, hear the deadbolt turn, and go to bed. Most people stop thinking about the door at that point, because a locked door feels like a secure door.

The lock is only one part of it. A front door is held shut by the door, frame, strike plate, hinges and lock working together, and a weak spot in any of them can let the door open even when the lock is good. This guide shows you how to check each part yourself, and which fixes to do first.

Why a good lock does not make a front door secure

When a front door is forced open, the lock is usually not the part that breaks. The door is kicked or shouldered near the lock, and the wooden frame splits where the bolt goes into it. The deadbolt can still be locked and undamaged while the door swings open.

That is why the frame side of the door matters as much as the lock. The bolt needs something solid behind the strike plate

Check the strike plate and the screws that hold it

The strike plate is the metal plate on the frame that the deadbolt slides into. On many houses it is a thin plate held by two short screws. Those screws only reach the door jamb, which is a strip of wood about three quarters of an inch thick. Behind the jamb there is a small gap, and then the wall stud.

You can check this in two minutes. Take one screw out of the deadbolt strike plate and look at its length. If it is about an inch long or less, it is not reaching the stud. Replacing them with three-inch screws usually anchors the plate into the framing of the house, and it is one of the most useful changes you can make to a front door.

A reinforced strike plate helps too. It has four screws and often a metal box that the bolt sits inside, so the force spreads across more of the frame.

Check what the front door itself is made of

An exterior door should be solid wood, steel or fiberglass. Knock on the middle of yours. A solid door gives a dull, heavy sound, and a hollow door sounds like a drum. Hollow-core doors are made for bedrooms and closets, and they occasionally end up on an outside opening after a renovation.

Look at the edge of the door around the lock as well. If the wood there is cracked or has been patched, the door can split at that point under force. A metal wrap plate that fits around the lock area strengthens it without replacing the door.

Check the hinges and the frame on the other side

The hinge side matters just as much as the lock side, and it gets even less attention. Open the door and look at the hinges and the frame around them, because a problem here can undo the work you did on the strike plate. These are the things to check:

Make sure the deadbolt goes all the way into the frame

A deadbolt on a house door extends about one inch, and it only protects the door when it is fully extended. Lock the door without leaning on it and see whether the thumb turn reaches its full stop. If it stops short, or if the deadbolt only locks when you push the door, the bolt is hitting the strike plate or the hole behind it is too shallow.

Use the deadbolt every time you leave, including short trips. The lock in the knob or lever only holds a spring latch, and that latch is not built to resist force the way a deadbolt is.

If the deadbolt itself is old, loose or a light builder-grade model, that is the time to look at the best locks to prevent home burglaries. A Grade 1 deadbolt is a good choice for a front door.

Glass in or beside the front door

Glass panels and sidelights need a separate decision. If someone can break a pane and reach the thumb turn, they can unlock the deadbolt from outside.

There are two common answers. One is a double cylinder deadbolt, which needs a key on both sides. It stops the reach-through, but you also need the key to get out, so many families decide against it because of the risk in a fire. Ask a locksmith whether one is suitable for your main exit door before you install it. The other answer is security film or laminated glass, which holds the pane together when it is hit and lets you keep the ordinary thumb turn.

A sidelight also changes the advice on screws. When the glass sits right beside the lock, there may be no wall stud behind the jamb at that point. Long screws do not help there and can damage the sidelight frame, so that door needs a reinforced strike or a frame repair made for it.

Small changes at the front door that also help

Hardware does most of the work in front door security, but a few habits and small additions also help. They make the doorway less attractive to someone looking for an easy house, and they give you more control over who has a key. These are worth doing:

Which front door fixes to do first

If you are deciding where to start, do the work in this order. Replace the short screws in the strike plate and the hinges first, because it is the smallest job and makes the biggest difference. Next, make sure the deadbolt extends fully. After that, look at a reinforced strike plate and the lock itself. The door and the glass come last, because they are the largest jobs.

Texas Premier Locksmith checks a front door in the same order, starting with the frame and the strike plate before suggesting a new lock. That applies to the older homes handled by our locksmith in San Antonio and to new construction in other Texas cities. Once the front door is done, the same checks apply to the back door, and a sliding glass door needs its own hardware.

Have your front door checked before you buy a new lock