Steel door installation

[Fox red lab]

I want to get a steel door and keyless entry to replace the builders grade door on my furnace/storage room in my basement. What would be the best way to get this done? Could get the door at Rona and then who do I call for installation? Carpenter I'm thinking. Sorry for the dumb question.

[kargor]

You can arrange for installation where you buy the door

[Fox red lab]

Any advice as far as framing or deadbolts. Want this to be as burglar proof as possible.

[CaberTosser]

Any advice as far as framing or deadbolts. Want this to be as burglar proof as possible.


Typical framing around doors leaves some leeway to use shims in order to level the door & frame during installation, these gaps do not help with strength. In building my house I had our front door custom made and installed it myself, it is thicker than normal and weighs well over a hundred pounds being a laminate of thick white oak over a parallam core, save for the panels which are solid. The frame for it is solid white oak and I reinforced the frame behind the strike plate with a long + wide piece of 10 gauge steel plate that is fastened into the douglas fir 2" x 6" I used instead of spruce, so any attempts to kick it in would result in a broken leg. The hinges are similarly reinforced and over length #12 screws were used there.

Essentially when trying to harden a target you may just wind up redirecting a determined thief to another entry option such as a breakable window, but in your basement room you might not have any other entries available, save for right through the drywall. Are you reinforcing the walls with plywood and or any wire mesh or such (rebar, steel pipe, concrete..)? Having the walls around the door sheeted with plywood can help against pry attacks, where the aim is to simply pry the door jamb back far enough to disengage the dead bolt and allow the door to swing open. Using screws and PL400 adhesive will beef that up substantially. Commercial steel doors are better than a residential one, but are still fairly easy to defeat unless a person takes a few measures such as multiple dead bolts and special hinge pin fasteners. Will the hinges be exposed to the exterior or will the door be 'inswing'? There are hinge reinforcement pins that can keep a door in place if someone manages to drive the hinge pins out from the outside, these basically screw into the door hinge and as one closes the door the protruding pin mates with a corresponding hole in the opposing hinge plate screwed to the framing.

A person can go to all kinds of lengths, such as proper vault doors made to look like normal doors, or a real vault door behind a normal door. How much is enough, or how much is too much?

[RockyRidge]

Give Action Lock n Key a call 403-279-3888 they put on a keyless deadbolt for me and has worked without any problems for the last 10 years, as for the door I don't know who you would call

[Jamie Black R/T]

Find a reputable door company and get a commercial steel door and frame installed.

the residential steel doors you will find at a hardware store are no better than the builder grade junk they put in all new homes today. its super thin steel skin and foam core will not stop a well placed boot. Even if the cheap finger jointed pine frame could withstand it.

Get a 18ga or thicker steel framed door and dont look back.

[Sneeze]

On a storage room its easy to do simple things that will make it difficult to break into.

An outswing door is pretty much impossible to kick in - it is possible to kick through it however. Plus, your security is only as strong as the drywall next to the door. If you decide to go get crazy with a steel door and deadbolt, you should also be doing something to keep thieves from going through the drywall right next to the door!

I would change the door to an outswing if it isn't already. Another option is to leave the inswing on the jamb and add an outswing. Its ridiculously awkward to kick through two doors with an inch of space between them! Order a solid core door to match the other doors in your basement. You could hide the deadbolt on the inner door.

Mill the door and jamb to accept a dead bolt. Or just use the inner doors milling for the passage knob. Beef up the finish nails holding in the door stop with screws, beef up the interior side of the jamb with screws into the framing. Put some blocking in between the jamb and framing where you can. The nice thing is - you do not have to be concerned with finishing (painting) the screw holes on the inside of the outswing - as it is into your unfinished room.

If this isn't enough security, look at home alarm systems, they will be cheaper than rebuilding door jambs, putting in lumber to prevent thieves from going through the wall & milling / installing a steel door. The few layers of difficulty you can add gives the home alarm enough time to go off in theory preventing smash and grabs.

Good luck, PM me if I made no sense.

[crunchiespg]

Buy this.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-business-industrial/edmonton/safe-vault-door-chubb/1051787626?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

Reinforce the surrounding walls. Enjoy your nice new gun room.

[dmac]

If your furnace room is anything like my furnace room, anyone wanting to get access would simply have to kick in the drywall, open a hole and walk right in.

[baz]

Shanaghans door in Calgary will have what you want. Steel commercial door and frame.
Baz