chickencam Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 We are looking at replacing our 25 year old double glazing at the moment, but we are uncertain about what to do about the doors. A neighbour's daughter had her house broken into in the early hours of the morning by having her lock 'bumped' this is a method by which burglars can open the locks fitted to most UPVC doors with a filed key and a screwdriver and they can open the door without any sign of forced entry, therefore it is hard to make an insurance claim. We have looked into this further and discovered that these locks can also be easily snapped, removed and then opened with a screwdriver. One of the main reasons to change the doors would be to make them more secure, does anyone have any expertise in this area? The first salesman we had out was a nice chap and I was quite keen to go with his company, but he seems to know nothing of this despite the police telling our neighbour's daughter that it is increasingly common and we have found loads of references to it on the internet including on police websites. Thanks in anticipation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I am in the trade & can tell you that UPVC doors are pants. They can be (the cheaper ones) very easy to break in to & often are flimsy & nasty looking too. Go for a composite door - much,much tougher & very secure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I fitted quite a few composite doors for a local council housing depot a couple of years ago and a few were 'opened' by the police and to be honest they they had to work very hard to 'open' them but the composite doors were top of the line the one that sticks out had 18 hits off of the ram they use and that one held. you really need an anti bump cylinder in the lock through and not a lot of companies fit them as they are at least twice the price off the normal ones and 4 times that of the ones that most companies use P.S there are composite doors and there are composite doors I took some out that were no were near as good as upvc doors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAJ Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Living locally we used these people: http://www.countrysidewindows.co.uk/ decent grade A windows, plus a composite door that was made in Worcester, at a good price - I would recommend them. Tracy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 Thanks for your advice The guy that came round last night seemed to know what he was talking about and can fit anti bump and anti snap locks, apparently Yale make one now. It is a composite door that we are looking at, I had my terminology wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 That's interesting about the locks Liz, will bear that in mind. At some stage (when I've saved up) I am looking to replace my ghastly UPVC back door with a wooden, double glazed stable door; I intend to have some fairly hefty locks on it... but then anyone breaking in would have to run the gamut of two lurchers, and I wouldn't mind betting that my dogs can run faster than your average crim! BTW, when the neighbour locked themselves out recently, another neighbours (rather dodgy) son removed the double glazed glass panel to reach the key inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
