Exterior Door Locks and Security: The Frame and the Strike Beat the Lock, Multipoint Locks, Smart Locks, Patio Door Bars, Laminated Glass, and What a Boot Actually Tests

Windows & Doors

Door Security: The Lock Is Fine. The Three Quarter-Inch Screws Holding the Strike Plate Are the Problem.

A kicked-in door almost never has a broken lock. It has a split door frame where a half-inch of pine and two short screws were holding the strike plate, and the deadbolt went through the wall still locked. The lock industry sells locks. The thing that stops a boot is the frame, the strike, and the screws, and that costs $20. Here is the whole of it, from the $20 to the $650 multipoint.

Installed Ontario prices, October 2026, before HST, for hardware on a new door or added to an old one.

The numbers

$20reinforced strike plate and 3-in. screws
$400multipoint lock on a new door
$350foot bolt and upgraded handle on a patio slider
Grade 1 or 2ANSI/BHMA deadbolt grades worth buying

What a boot tests, in order

  1. The strike plate screws. Stock: 3/4 in., into the jamb only. The jamb is 3/4 in. of pine. Replace with 3-in. screws through the jamb into the stud behind it. This one change roughly triples the force the door takes.
  2. The strike plate itself. A stock brass plate 2 in. long. A reinforced strike is 6 to 12 in. of steel with six screws into the stud. $15 to $40.
  3. The jamb. Finger-jointed pine on a cheap door system splits along the glue line. A composite or solid jamb, or a steel jamb reinforcer wrapped around the strike area, holds.
  4. The deadbolt throw. 1 in. into the frame, not 5/8. Grade 1 or 2 by ANSI/BHMA; the grade is on the box.
  5. The hinges. Three, with at least one long screw into the stud on each. An out-swing door’s hinge pins should be non-removable.
  6. The door. Steel and fibreglass both hold; the foam core does not matter. A hollow interior door hung as an exterior is the only slab that fails.
If you do one thing today: take the two screws out of your strike plate and put in 3-in. ones. Ten minutes, $2, and the deadbolt finally has something behind it.

Multipoint locks

One turn of the handle or key throws bolts at the top, middle and bottom of the door, into three strikes. Standard on European doors, an upgrade here. On a tall door (8 ft) or a French door it does two jobs: it spreads the force along the frame instead of at one point, and it pulls the door tight against the weatherstrip along its whole height, which fixes the warp-at-the-top-corner draft that steel doors get. +$400 on a new door, and the door has to be ordered with it; it cannot be added later. Worth it on every front door I spec.

Smart locks

Any new entry door with a standard 2 1/8 in. bore and a 2 3/8 or 2 3/4 in. backset takes a smart deadbolt. Order the door with “standard bore, no lock” or with the smart lock named, and it fits. Multipoint systems are the exception: they need a smart lock made for that system, and only some makers offer one; ask before you buy the door. A smart lock changes nothing about the frame and the strike; a keypad on a jamb with 3/4-in. screws is a convenient door that still kicks in. Batteries last 6 to 12 months; keep the key.

Patio doors

A stock slider has a hook lock into a thin aluminum strike and a panel that, on old doors, can be lifted off its track from outside. The fixes: a foot bolt or a pin through the sliding panel into the frame, $60 to $120; a security bar in the track, $30; anti-lift blocks in the top channel, $10; and on a new door, the heavier rollers and the two-point lock that the better series carry. French doors need flush bolts on the inactive panel that actually go into the sill and head (not the plastic ones), and a multipoint on the active one. Sliding vs. French.

The glass beside the deadbolt

A sidelight or a door lite within arm’s reach of the thumb-turn is the way in: break the glass, turn the lock. Options: laminated glass in the sidelight (it breaks but stays in the frame, +$150 to $300), a double-cylinder deadbolt that needs a key inside too (with the key on a hook you can reach and the fire risk understood), or a lock without a thumb-turn. Privacy or decorative glass helps less than people think; a hammer does not care about the texture. Sidelights.

Where homeowners go wrong

  1. A $300 lock on a $0 strike. The lock goes through the wall with the frame still attached.
  2. Trusting the “security door” label. Ask about the jamb, the strike and the screws. If the salesman does not know, it is not a security door.
  3. Smart lock on a multipoint door that was not ordered for it. It will not fit.
  4. Clear sidelight, thumb-turn 8 in. from it. See above.
  5. Lights and cameras instead of screws. Cameras record the door being kicked in. Screws stop it.

Questions people ask

What is the most secure type of exterior door?

Any solid steel or fibreglass door in a solid or composite frame with a reinforced strike, long screws, a Grade 1 deadbolt with a 1-in. throw, and laminated glass if there is glass near the lock. The slab is the least of it.

Are multipoint locks worth it?

On tall doors, French doors and any door that has a draft at the top corner, yes. On a 6-ft-8 steel side door, a reinforced strike does most of the job for $20.

Can I add a smart lock to my existing door?

If it has a standard deadbolt bore, yes, in twenty minutes. If it has a multipoint lock, only with the manufacturer’s matching unit.

Order the hardware with the door

The door calculator has the handleset, the multipoint and the smart lock as a menu, and the scope asks for the strike and screws by name.

Price my doorSteel or fibreglass

Sources and further reading