Safety and Security of uPVC Doors
One of the many reasons for replacing your existing doors is the excellent safety and security features offered by the very latest advanced uPVC door systems.
Old wooden doors tend to have poor locking systems and glazing which is fixed into the frame with either putty or an external quadrant bead held in with panel pins.
Even the early uPVC frames offered very little in the way of resistance to potential burglars, with poor locking systems, external beads and frames without reinforcement.
For the best in safety and security, the latest uPVC doors should all have: –
• At least 70 mm frames (the thickness back to front) to add improved stability and strength to the door
• Internal steel or aluminium reinforcement, not only to strengthen the window frame but also to ensure that fittings such as hinges and locks are screwed into the internal metal, not only the uPVC outer frame
• Internally glazed doors (sealed units installed into the frames from inside rather than outside) so that the glass is more difficult to remove from outside, without breaking it
• Multi-point, shoot bolt and hook bolt locking systems to deter or severely delay entry by a burglar
• Doors should be fixed into the house walls with proper screw fixings, not just fixing foam, otherwise the whole frame could simply be cut away from the surrounding brickwork
• Door panels should also be reinforced. Wooden doors often have thin wooden panels which can be kicked in by a burglar and early uPVC doors had uPVC panels with no reinforcement which allowed them to be kicked in, cut through or even burnt through.