Door Brace Guide

Brace Yourself: Your Guide to Buying a Security Door Brace

Sure, there are dangers out there, but does that mean you won't live your life to the fullest? You don't have to let fear dictate your life. When it comes to invasions and break-ins, the best way to ensure your safety is to secure your enclosures entry points. In this article, learn how you can use a door brace to create a secure safe-room in seconds.

There are many reasons and options for improving your home security. Ideally, your home or building has a security system and window alarms to alert authorities in the event of a break-in. However, that is rarely the case.

Most residential buildings feature minimal security elements like alarms and cameras. Even those that have such systems are not impenetrable. Apartment complexes may feature a coded entry-gate, but once inside the complex security measures become much more physical.

This is also true of residential homes, office buildings, and schools. Physical means, like locks, door chains, and deadbolts, secure entry points.

Security Door Brace - The First and Best Line of Defense

Most often, thieves attempt break-ins and invasions through doors. Hence, you lock your doors at night, but what about in broad daylight? What about public buildings where you can't control who comes and goes? Often, a perpetrator is one with personal access to the location where a crime takes place.

On April 20, 1999, the Columbine High School shooters entered the school through open doors. By the time the school knew what was happening, only a classroom, library, close, and cafeteria door stood between the shooters and victims.

In the years since that tragedy, many more mass shootings have taken place, in schools and public spaces, without safer infrastructural security measures being implemented. Since Columbine, the Washington Post reports that school shootings have impacted over 200,000 students.

Today, a fallacious argument is being made for teachers to carry guns in schools. Indeed, the same logic applies to those who argue for open carry laws. The impulse to protect oneself and their loved ones is just. But, fighting guns with guns ends up with more people shot. The more firearms present, the more innocent bystanders whose lives are at risk.

A firearm is not an adequate first line of defense. If the shooter cannot get in, they can't hurt you. Outfit your classroom, home, office, or hotel room with a security measure that will provide true protection from invaders: a door brace.

The Locked-Door Conundrum

Isn't your home or office door strong enough to keep out intruders? Well, no. A special report by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from 2010 looked at victim statistics in household burglaries. Almost 30% of the time, a member of the house was home when the burglary occurred.

The only way to ensure your safety is to keep out the danger. Criminals can pick locks, disable security systems, and, if all else fails, gain entry by brute force. Brute force invasion presents the most threat to traditional door locks and deadbolts. At the end of the day, enough force will open a locked door--but not a braced door.

What is a Door Brace?

Ever seen a movie where someone runs into a room and shoves the back of a chair under the doorknob to keep someone from coming through? A door brace is the better version of that. The principle is the same, but if you've ever tried the chair method you'll know that it's harder than it looks.

A security door brace is purpose-built to secure your door from unwanted entry. The design of the brace varies, depending on the level of security and mobility you need. Door braces, jammers, and bars reinforce inward swinging doors against kick-ins and brute force entry.

The majority of door braces accommodate doors that open into a room, but not doors that open out. Standard construction practice entails doors designed to swing into a room for the reason of security. Almost all commercial buildings have doors that are compatible with inward swinging door braces, jammers, and bars.

Simple door jammers are small enough to fit into a purse or bag, which is perfect for traveling and hotels. Heavy-duty bracing systems include reinforced hardware that fits on your door frame, which is great for residential homes. All bracing systems work by increasing the pounds per square inch of pressure that is necessary for an intruder to break the door.

Types of Door Braces

Whether the threat is burglary, home invasion, mass shootings, or lockdowns, door braces enable you to barricade any door. Door bracing comes in five main types. The type of door, its location, which way it swings, and the amount of reinforcement desired are key to choosing the correct security solution.

DIY Easy Installation of the Door Bull - Powerful Brace

Portable Door Jammers

If you travel for work and often sleep in a hotel room, a portable door jammer provides a strong deterrent to break-ins. They are ideal for college dorm rooms, urban apartment units, and individual rooms in a residence.

Portable door jammers brace the door from the base. The unit wedges under the far corner of any door that opens inward. Increasing tension on the jammer works to increase the durability of the door to forceful entry.

Portable door jammers come in a range of models. Some have an anti-theft alarm system that alerts you when triggered. These also act as an audio deterrent, producing a loud siren. Portable door braces are great for travel but are not impenetrable. For securing your home, office, or a safe-room a more durable system is preferable.

Door Security Bars

Door security bars are similar to door jammers but more secure. Like the jammers, security bars are portable and lightweight. The units collapse to a portable size of around two feet, and measure between one to two inches wide. Like the movie, with the chair under the handle, door security bars do the same thing.

The bar extends at a 45-degree angle, down from the door handle. The top-end fits under the doorknob or handle, and the bottom end angles to produce tension between the door and the floor.

Door security bars are stronger than jammers because they produce a wider angle of resistance. They do not fit in a bag but provide a higher level of security. When implemented, security bars add hundreds of pounds of resistance to your door. However, they provide a small margin of error when setting up. And, door bars, like jammers, only work on inward swinging doors and sliding doors.

Floor Bolt Locks

The next level of door security bracing is a floor bolt locking system. Whereas a deadbolt provides secure resistance on the far swinging side of the door, floor bolts provide a secure lock to the door's bottom edge. An additional bolt can attach to the top side of the door, parallel to the floor bolt.

The system features a vertically sliding bolt, which brackets to the bottom edge of the door. From the closed position, a locksmith drills an adjacent hole underneath the location of the bolt. A steel bracket with a pre-drilled hole goes over the bracket slot and fitted flush to the floor. When the bolt slides into the bracket slot beneath.

The resistance pressure afforded by floor bolts depends on the size of the bolt. Small bolts look nice for bedrooms but provide less resistance to intruders. Larger floor bolt systems are perfect for entryway doors and backdoors. Since most door bracing systems only work for inward swinging doors, floor bolt locks are the best system to reinforce outward swinging doors.

Door Barricade Bars

Barricade bar systems are simple to install and effective for securing inward swinging doors. It is a method of security invented thousands of years ago. The system involves three parts: two brackets, and a barricade bar.

The system requires you to place a three-sided bracket to the right and left of an inward swinging door. In the olden days, a hardwood timber would fit inside the level brackets. When the barricade bar is in place, the door cannot open. Today, door barricade bar systems are made of reinforced steel.

These systems are perfect for securing an entry point to your home or office. It is also a strong reinforcement to bedrooms and safe-rooms. Many systems feature a hinged barricade bar that enables you to lock it down in seconds. Combine a door barricade bar with floor bolt locks to create the strongest defense against unwanted entry.

Door Closer Security Covers

Most homes do not come with door closers, but they are very common in offices, hospitals, and other commercial buildings. Door closers are devices with triangular arms attached to the top inner corner of doors. They provide tension resistance when opening, automatically closing the door, and can lock.

With the door closed and deadbolt locked, it provides a significant boost to the security of your door. The added resistance is, in part, due to the triangular shape of the arm design. When the unit locks with a security cover, entry is impossible without dismantling the door.

However, with enough force, this system will give way. By implementing an additional door barricade system, the door closer durability increases.

TIP: Reinforce the Door Frame

The integrity of the security of your door is only as strong as the weakest piece of hardware. If you have an impenetrable door attached to cardboard, it won't put up much of a fight against an intruder. If you are installing any type of door brace system we recommend you reinforce the frame of the door. Reinforced door frames improve your door brace's durability and increase the strength of resistance.

Final Thoughts

Secure the safety of your home and office by designing a secure space that works to ensure your peace of mind. New door brace systems, are being developed for schools, workplaces, and residences by inspired individuals. They represent a non-violent solution for circumstances beyond your control. Secure yourself by implementing a door brace system. It is the first and last line of defense against unwanted intruders.

If you want to protect yourself and your family, check out our door security items today. We have everything you need to secure your home.