Front Door Quality / General Security

Hello

We're having a porch built and it have front door with sidelights. There will be a floor to ceiling window on the side (in red). The options from the builder for the composite front door is DoorStop or Palladio. The porch is north facing and is under a canopy, so not in direct sunlight.


DoorStop I feel is very standard, mid-market, value product.

Palladio seems marketed as more premium and in-line with Solidor or Rockdoor. With triple glazing, thicker, more secure, but about £1000 more.

We love the idea of increased security, but in reality does it make that much difference? My thoughts are:

1. I don't know how long a door will take to force, but is the difference likely to be something like 6 minutes second vs 4 minutes? Or 15 minutes vs 4 minutes?
2. The floor to ceiling window on the side would probably be quite easy to smash and strikes me as the key security weakness.
3. The back of the house has upc French windows, again I assume these aren't overly secure and will be pretty easy to force or smash.

The existing front door doorway will lead from the house to the porch. From a security point of view, do you think it's worth replacing this will with another external door or just an internal one?

If someone got into the porch, they'd be hidden from view so wouldn't necessarily need to rush - but it could delay them somewhat and would be forced to contend with the external (house to porch) door rather than smash the side window like with the porch.

Sorry, I feel this is rambling a bit but I couldn't find a way to make it more concise.

Thanks.

The way I see house security is that if they want to get into your house they will no matter how secure you think it is. Don't get me wrong I have a house alarm and new "high security" doors and windows because my house insurance says I should have these, but I could get into my house from outside if I had to and so could anyone else.

Fred Blogs said:

my house insurance says I should have these

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Yes, check what insurance requires. Same for locks, window locks etc.

Lupus said:

The floor to ceiling window on the side would probably be quite easy to smash and strikes me as the key security weakness.

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Laminated glass might be an option as the outer panel.

@crank39 or @ronniecabers might be able to advise you.

Since 2015 new build extensions and 'porches' should comply with Approved Doc Q and should meet PAS24.......IF the porch exceeds 30sqm i think, PAS24 is basically laminated glass in all the downstairs doors and windows, outer pane only, low level glazing is already covered under Approved Doc K for protection from impact but usually toughened glass is used and not laminated and as you say if a burglar is just going to break the glass and walk in then a £100k vault door wouldn't make the house any more secure so laminated glass stops them from just walking in. From my time in the trade, 35 years in total, 16 of those doing 24hr callout work after burglaries, never have i been to a job where a burglar attacked the front door, NEVER! Also never even seen a burglar attempt to drill or snap a euro cylinder to gain entry either

Ask if the door has been tested to meet PAS24, also ask if the glass in the side panel will be PAS24 compliant rather than just meeting doc K

Front door is usually last place a thief will try to force entry .

Thanks for the response guys.

I'll certainly ask about laminated glass. Is there a specific thickness I should go for? 6.4mm laminated (outer pane)- spacer - 4mm (toughened) or is it worth going thicker? Is it worth going triple glazed laminate, or that pointless overkill?

Very few companies offer 6.4 now , to comply with Doc Q and PAS 24 it would need to be 6.8 Laminate anyway. Honestly 6.8 lami outer pane, 4mm Tough inner will be sufficient i would have thought. It all honestly depends how much you want to pay, triple glazing is much more expensive as you've effect got two sealed units stuck together ( obviously that would.be 4 panes of glass but you get the idea ). Changing the inner pane to a 6mm tough or a 6.8 lami would also incurr extra costs.and as one pane of glass will also need to be ' Low e', normally this is the inner pane, and further more ,if you are after obscurity then you are limited on the choice with 6mm glass and Laminates.
As others have said , the chances of any burglar going through the front door/porch is incredibly slim, even those french doors at the back are less likely, if they are intent on getting in, they will smash a window that is not easily seen.
And totally agree with Crank , never come across a ' bumped ' door barrel , and only door barrels ive ever come across are ones ive snapped as the home owner has lost the keys!
Point to note, to my knowledge , every door lock in Upvc/Composite doors made in the UK conform to UK insurance company requirements

Clear adhesive film applied to interior glass renders it almost Bomb proof .

Police will open your door if needs be, maybe not 100% of it as they use stihl saws, chain saws etc. as well as the ram.

Theives will get in if they want to, if you have anything like a big stone, a brick, a shovel etc. in the back garden then they will smash glass, if there is no glass then they are happy to rip your door to bits to get in.
They will climb drain pipes to get to windows, even those on the roof if they are open at all.

I was once robbed, they tried stripping my back door but gave up as it obviously took too long (it was a reinforced wooden door).
They eventually came round the front and kicked it in on new years day (many years ago).

Since then I'd use big crews, hinge pins, big bolts et all. They will still get in if they want to.

Thanks for the help guys! Much appreciated!