A clean doormat, decorations, and accessories such as a coat hanger by your door will all improve the aesthetic appeal of your home.
But what these kinds of things won’t do is keep you safer or deter intruders from breaking into your home.
Most homes in general are fairly easy to break into because most people don’t take the necessary precautions to fortify their homes or make them easier to defend.
The front door represents one of the most obvious entry ways into your home, so it should be the part of your home that you seek to defend first.
Here are fourteen things to keep by your front door at all times:
Handgun
Some people may be anxious about the idea of keeping a firearm right by the front entrance of your home.
What if someone walking in through the front door saw the pistol, for instance?
A burglar in particular would be quick to snatch it up.
At the same time, however, if you find yourself confronting armed and violent intruders at the entryway, a self-defense firearm could mean the difference between life and death. Otherwise, you may have to run back upstairs or into another room to access your home defense gun.
Related: The Guns the Government Doesn’t Want You to Have
The key is both to hide and secure the gun by the front entrance so it’s easily accessible by you and you alone. We’ll talk more about how to do this in a bit.
A handgun would be a better choice to keep at the front door than a rifle or a shotgun because it can be brought into action quicker and is easier to wield in tight spaces.
Pepper Spray
If you’re not fully comfortable with keeping a firearm by the front entrance of your home or if you would prefer an alternative non-lethal self-defense weapon, a canister of pepper spray will be your best bet.
Flashlight
Always keep a good flashlight by the front entrance of your home.
One of the best kinds of flashlights to use would be a Maglite or something similar.
These flashlights shine very brightly and can also be used as self-defense clubs as well due to their extra heft.
Safe
Above, we talked about hiding and securing your handgun by the front entrance. The way to do this is to use a handgun safe that you can bolt to the wall by the front entrance.
Then you can hide the safe with jackets, coats, or clothes that you have hanging by the entrance as well so it’s not obvious to intruders or casual visitors. You can keep your handgun, flashlight, and other self-defense tools in this safe.
Steel Door
All the same, most wooden doors can easily be broken through by anyone armed with an axe, sledgehammer, or a mallet. A metal or steel door will ensure that this can’t be done.
This is why all doors leading outside your home should ideally be replaced with steel doors, with the entrance door being the most important to replace first.
Security Signs
Security signs will always make potential intruders think twice about making an attempted break-in into your home.
Make sure the security signs you use are realistic and professional looking.
Make sure they are clearly visible to anyone who comes onto your property.
⇒ Why You Should Never Put a Tall Fence Around Your Property
Door Brace
A good brace is designed to have one end placed under a door knob and the other end on the floor. You can then tighten the brace to secure it. This will help to hold the door shut against an attempted brute force break-in.
Boots or Good Outdoor Shoes
Boots or good outdoor shoes that you can slip on quickly should be placed by your front door at all times.
This is because you may need to respond to an emergency outside of your home, and it’s crucial to have good shoes at the ready.
Heavy Duty Locks and Hinges
Ideally, all of the doors in your home leading outside should have the locks and hinges replaced with heavy duty steel versions.
Any burglar who knows what they are doing will be able to kick open a door, but heavy duty hinges will help make this attempt much more difficult.
Privacy Film
Clear glass by your front door will allow anyone to peek inside. By installing privacy film on your front windows, you will make it much more difficult for anyone to peek in.
This is important because it will help throw into doubt if anyone is home for a burglar, and it will also make it more difficult to see what valuables are inside as well.
Cameras
Security cameras are a lot like security signs in that they will always give intruders second thoughts before attempting to break into your home.
Related: 6 Signs Your Neighbor Will Become A Looter As Soon As SHTF
Installing real cameras would be best because they actually give you 24/7 surveillance of your property, but installing realistic-looking fake cameras will also effectively serve to deter criminals.
At the bare minimum, less-experienced or more nervous would-be intruders will think twice.
Video Doorbell
On the same note as the above, a video doorbell can help to deter criminals as well.
A video doorbell is simply a doorbell with a video camera attached that will notify you when someone approaches the front door, and also records a video of the individual. Many burglars will avoid homes that they see video doorbells attached to.
Motion Sensor Lights
Motion sensor lights act like security signs and cameras in that they will help to deter potential break-ins, at least at night.
Look for lights that can pick up motion out to at least forty feet away. This will ensure that any intruders are ‘caught’ before they get to the front door.
Radio
Last but not least, leave a radio near the front door and keep it running when you’re not at home. This will make potential burglars believe that someone is still home.
The above measures will make your front door many times more defensible than most other homes in your neighborhood. Your goal should always be to adopt measures that will dissuade intruders from making a move, as well as to have the necessary defensive measures in the event they decide to attempt to break in anyway.
You may also like:
The Most Realistic Prepper TV Series You Need To Watch
How to Build the Invisible Root Cellar for Cheap (Video)
Veggies You Only Plant Once and Harvest Forever
I keep a 7.5 inch AR15 556 pistol AR with me at all times. It has a 100 round beta c drum and a laser and red dot
Your nutball overkill is just the attitude that the anti gunners use for socialists for disarmament. Remember the quote. “Walk softly but carry a big stick”..
you sound like a anti gunner my friend… I am sure you voted for Reagan
Going to stay with my bazooka and two extra shells hidden in the flower pot
What about setting up a 20mm Gatling gun at the front door? That would sure repel any home invaders. There’s be nothing left to clean up.
I’ve been wanting to purchase a beta drum. Have you loaded it to capacity and run through all 100 rounds? How about stoppages? Who made this? Thanks.
Who made the beta drum ? Mine are Korean and they work fine.
I usually have a beer in my hand.
One thing most overlook is simply replace the wimpy screws in the door hinges with longer ones..
Buy a minimum of 4 solar powered perineter alarms (think driveway alarms), that cover all sides of your home and will warn you if anyone approaches. Each unit sounds its own unique alarm so you know where the activity is instantly. Add a 5th one that sounds a barking dog recording at your most vulnerable entry point. Works like a charm.
@ken: Where to get the perimeter alarms and barking dog alarms?
if you mean those small alarms put on trees, they will sound at EVERY bird or butterfly or deer that passes….not so much fun. I had them for awhile, but they made me crazy. Even heavy rain would activate them!
Important to set up warning levels
doors , window s , inside , dogs , lites on motions , proximity
and most important outside motion lites
natural barriers out of range of front door
lites in yards on motion
lites in driveway on motion ‘
lites in walkways on motion
lites which can be overridden with switch or alarm
audio speakers you can trigger to say programed voice messages
inside areas you can get to easily from any room behind areas for keeping Guns, ammo, pepper spray , tazers
if your afraid to use the guns , then us pepper spray ( bear spray , high strength )
Remember criminal s have NO Conscience and will take you out in a minuite
there is no restraint
a lot of the illegals coming directly from prison to your country dont care about you
get a clue , loose your save the planet , save the moron attitude so they cannot keep going to someone elses hse after you let them go
one thing is for sure : to stop a bully , there has to be pain , suffering , consequence
no remorse , no stopping them
you must follow thru , once engaged with the criminal
Repentance is before the door , consequence is after the door
There are no good criminals , until they have stopped, and are truly sorry to repentance and change of life ,
change in attitude
change in idealogy
Get Ready , They are coming at an alarming Rate of invasion
Can also use wasp spray for longer distance if you are against or afraid of guns.
Lol wasp spray doesn’t work on people
Hitting people in the face and eyes with wasp and hornet spray blinds them temporarily and they’re incapacitated for about half an hour.
Nomoremarxist that is not even remotely true…. a simple youtube search will show you how wrong that is…
Stop giving out stuipid infomration
Will these things also work for the traitor cops who are perpetrating an Act Of Terrorism on you & your family?
There are a lot of bad cops in our area who have turned traitor and are now doing the dirty work for the traitor feds!
It seems that after the George Floyd defund the cops riots, there are no Good Cops left! No one is safe in our area anymore, and the cops have made it very clear that it is simply Too Dangerous to call 9-1-1 ever again!
are cops ever useful ?
I keep cans of wasp spray around. They reach out 15-20 feet.
and do nothing…
“Then You? … or Than you?
How about a steel baseball bat?
How about a steel baseball bat?
I tend to agree with most of what Richard Williams wrote above. A steel door alone without reinforcing the frame and walls around it is a waste of money and a poor excuse for peace of mind.
As a police SWAT officer, I made numerous forcible entries into dope houses. Most doors were plain old regular doors and a one-man ram was more than sufficient. I was on a two-man ram once when we hit a steel door with a regular old frame. The door literally exploded out of the frame into the living room, startling everyone there into inaction. However, the guard Pitbull was stirred into immediate action, screeching in terror and running away from us. Found him hiding under a work bench in the basement. We just left him alone since he was leaving us alone.
Do regular B&E men run around with rams? Never known of one in 24-years of police work, but not to say it couldn’t or didn’t happen. When we raided a dope house or in a barricaded gunman situation, we always brought along a selection of forcible entry tools. One and two-man rams, 10-lb and 20-lb sledgehammers, a Halligan tool, regular prybars/crowbars, window rakes, ladders, and some other goodies. We could also get the Sheriff’s SWAT team to help us with an armored vehicle with a winch and a bloody great ram on the front. We never needed it, but the Sheriff’s team did a few times. Also, think that an attacker might just drive a car into the side of your house too. Even a concrete block wall usually won’t stand up to a car or truck at ramming speed.
If your attackers have the time and tools, there is very little you can do to barricade your house to keep them out. If the attackers are police, or military, even shooting at them will just cause them to up the ante dramatically. Explosives could be next, especially if the military is involved. Google videos taken of dynamic entries being made into Iraqi houses by the Army and Marines. The average Iraqi house was much sturdier than an average American house and they still couldn’t stop the troops from entering if they really wanted in. As we said when I was in the military: Nothing works better than a suitable application of high explosives.
Nothing created by man can’t be defeated by man. As I said, they just need the time and tools. The trick to the best security you can make (but still not invincible) is to build concentric rings of security to force your attackers to spend more time, energy, and people than they can afford to breach your defenses.
Sometimes the best you can hope for in the case of a full SWAT or military assault is to buy time. A trip wire across your front door will force the attacker to pause. If you do a good job of imitating a real booby trap you have bought some time to escape if possible or prepare for the fight.
Real trip wire alarms and traps away from your immediate perimeter will buy time too and alert you to incoming.
Plan your escape in advance and also plan your retaking of your premises as well. If you find you are forced to retreat from your home, make sure you have a plan as what to do and where to go while you prepare to route the invaders. When preparing range cards for your property, make sure you have prepared range cards for when you are in the woods and your house is the target.
Plan, practice, review, repeat.
U make me laugh, in London drug houses we simple installed a secondary door a half a meter behind the first one opening in the contra other direction als hinged on the other side. Pigs bash in the first and so block acces to the secondary and it usually takes em 30 minutes with the complete gang so we just walked to the first floor to jump thru he window on top of their van, Ripp their radio out and off with it to listen in from another place to whats going on to know when its safe to go back, and laughed we did!!
KDC,
Do they even make steel baseball bats? HEAVY! I know they make aluminum bats. I’ve seen aluminum bats used on people and they tend to bend. I don’t know how well composite bats hold up to a good old fashioned beating. Never saw one used when I was a cop. Wooden bats and ax handles tend to stand up better while administering a good flogging.
Louisville slugger by my door …. and my cross bows …..and my boar spear.
Hockey stick inside of door. Silent but deadly.
Jack,
You could use a hockey stick or a baseball bat, but I prefer a hickory ax handle. In the immutable words of Clint Eastwood as the Preacher character in Pale Rider: “Nothing like a good piece of hickory.”
As part of my weapon collection, I also have a Zulu iklwa (their short stabbing spear) and a Zulu assegai (their longer throwing spear, but still suitable as a stabbing weapon). However, I don’t expect to use either, but you never know.
Just use a damn gun…..
Agree. The stock screws supplied with most hinges are the bare basic attachment fasteners. Many times you can go up one entire screw diameter and the hinge hill still close just fine even though the countersunk head sits just a tad higher in the hinge plate. Upsize, and if the door was installed full vertical length support on the hinge side, run screws long enough to take advantage of that fact. Usually 3-4″ long screws will let you bite pretty deep into some substancial wood. Coupled with an extended length, or full length, strike plate, you can beef up an ordinary door quite a bit. Don’t have a deadbolt? Add one to your door and don’t make the common mistake of putting it right next to the doorknob. 8 to 10″ above the knob is best. If at the outset you just realize that you have a tired wooden door that really can’t be made strong enough, go with a steel door from the get go. Steel door, and they make a bunch of patterns of them, are a big security plus from the start. Full length strikeplate, long screws into jam, good heavy duty deadbolt and top and bottom spring loaded vertical sliding latches at the upper and lower latch-side corners of the door and you’ve got a pretty heavy-duty setup. However, do not fool yourself into thinking this will stop an LEO with a 2-man battering ram. It won’t. Can you get a door that will stop them? Yes. Can you add on to an existing, normal residential entry door to be battering ram proof? Really, no you can’t. While it’s possible to reinforce the walls for a couple feet on each side and custom build a genuinely strong frame to put a Security Door in, it’s not cheap or easy to do. And every situation is unique. If you live in a rental of some kind they may not let you add on a dead bolt! The other side of that is a new home build or major renovation project and they just THROW $ at entry doors. You can have a beautiful, ram-proof door for about $15K to start, per door that is. Realistically, if you’re able and handy with tools, you can buy and install one really tough Security door, on the low end, for around $2000. That’s a good steel door with properly installed steel frame, deadbolts and latches with medium to very good keyed alike locks. The neighbor kid that’s been trying his hand at “locksport” likely will not be able to get through them. Keep in mind a great front door is only as good as a great rear door. Steel core door on front and wood panel hollow core door on rear won’t cut it. Moral of this long comment is that almost all entry doors can be strengthened anywhere from a little to a darn lot more. Careful appraisal of existing door, patience, some degree of physical effort and above all else, learn what’s out there and available that can help your individual situation.
One of the best Deterrents is a simple Sign – posted out front and back that Reads :
“THIS PROPERTY PROTECTED BY VIDEO SURVEILANCE (Even if you don’t have it). “I” have them Front, Back, and Sides. And Actual – Motion Sensing /”Alerting” & Audio Feed – Cameras and Lights(Motion Sensing). I am State and DHS Certified Defense of the Home Instr. A Full Size 9mm, Competition Pistol w/Mounted Light in Night Stand. A 13″ AR Barrel-Down & full load 30rds HP’s, in corner 2 steps from my bed. And a 9mm Carry Gun. And at least 1 Reload Mag. by/with each gun. Motion activated Lights outside. All loaded – Condition 1(Round in Chamber – Ready). But I am Highly Trained, I also shoot Multi-Gun – Combat Competition every Mo. for 10yr+ now. If that is not enough well I am just SOL.
YAWNING
Highly trained sure
Avoid houses made of wooden sticks like in the story of The Three Little Pigs. Buy or build a brick house and only use the best and sturdiest materials. Use solid doors and windows. A tall property fence, if allowed, is another plus.
An expensive front door is useless when you typically have a picture window a few feet away that can be broken in a second!!!
I have all 150 mph hurricane windows and doors throughout the house. Yes they are reinforced with 6 in screws as required by the insurance co. Screws go all the way into the cement block. Saw a 6,2 230 lb man at HD try to get through one and he destroyed it but was too tired afterwards to climb through the door and window. If the Police or Military have a need to enter your house you really are screwed! Hide all the important stuff, open the door, and let them have the rest!
Stay Safe And God Bless…
So many silly people, a steel table with small 9mm, Ruger Max9 size, mag locked under it. Out of sight, easy access. and if you live in a less than safe place then a steel door with a camera, NEVER use a peep hole!
Just live on the second floor. You can see them coming from further out and engage as necessary. You can still bug out the back if needed and the 6 foot drop wont even hurt.
I have almost all the listed items. I have a flashlight, boots, pepper spray, an air horn, a taser; the door is steel. I just invested in some privacy film to put on the doors as they have top windows in them. (Wanted for the light, have since realized it wasn’t a good idea!). I intend to add longer screws and, from another post, change out my locks for better ones.
I do have those door stops, used mostly when traveling
for motels, but will get some for the house doors. I already have storm screen doors, they were installed by stupid workers who had no idea how to install them, but I keep them locked: it won’t help much, but give a few extra minutes to get prepared to ward off intruders another way.
Security signs are a good idea, I’ll get a couple. I might
invest also in some inexpensive cameras to be installed indoors…had new motion sensor lights installed, but, even though they weren’t cheap, they stayed on all the time. Now I have to get an electrician in to install ones that will actually WORK.
There is a cheap light you can get on amazon that flashes to make it seem like a TV is on…planning to get one.
When I do leave, I leave a radio on for the sound.
I have heard horror stories about outside video cameras: they can be confiscated by authorities and not only them, but your inside privacy ones as well….
Good post!