Ginger, my oldest daughter called me up the other morning. Seems someone had tried to break into the front foyer of her apartment building in the area of North Oakland where she lives with my other daughter, Julia, her sister.
We had discussed reinforcing the door jamb for her back door, which had no striker plate and looked like it could be kicked in easily. I had sketched out a plan for reinforcing the door.
the plan, a drawing of how the bolt would go through the door jambThe plan
drawing of a T-nutT-nut explained
see text at rightThe door jamb with T-nut and one bolt cut and installed, showing in the upper T-nut the drill bit used to make the recess
see text at rightThe bolts available were 8" and needed to be 7.5" so I threaded a spare T-nut onto the bolt and used the grinder to cut the bolt
see text at rightCloseup of the cut. I tapered the bolt to compensate for the slight misalignment of the drilled hole.
see text at rightCloseup of the T-nut installed in the recess in the door jamb
see text at rightThe 1/2" thick steel strap on the inside of the door jamb
see text at rightBoth bolts installed
Installed strap from outside
Installed strap from inside
door closed showing how strap prevents the door from being easily kicked inFinished reinforcement
Simulated intruder kicking door while Ginger sticks out tounge etc.
Another simulated door kick
Ginger