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SW Iowa | I got a new front door a few years ago and since I was planning to get new knobs/locks anyway did some research on the best way to increase security a bit at the same time. Everything I found indicated that a decent quality deadbolt with a box strike and long enough screws to tie it into the framing was the best practice to make the door reasonably secure. It also seemed unanimous that locking knobs of any price/quality were basically worthless for keeping out anyone but honest people. I ended up switching all my doors to passage knobs + deadbolts and have been quite happy with the setup... the only way to lock the door is with the deadbolt so you can't get lazy and just lock the knob, and needing a key to lock from the outside also prevents locking yourself out.
I ended up with a fiberglass door, but really liked the looks of the Wausau-Taylor steel doors. Their whole door is made out of a single sheet of steel so there's only one seam on the inner hinge side, making it basically impossible to split out on the latch side like the cheapie steel doors that are just steel skins over a wooden frame are prone to do. I did not see or get a sales pitch on anything with a steel frame, so can't help you on that part of the equation. | |
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