Simple DIY Project Under $3 Makes For Easy and Cheap Home Security Upgrade

Whether you rent or own and whether you live in a house or an apartment, your home should be your sanctuary. You can make your home a little safer with a simple DIY for less than $3.

How Secure Is Your Front Door?

If you're like me, it is second nature to lock the door behind you when you come home at the end of a long day, but have you ever wondered how secure your door actually is? If your door hardware was installed with the factory screws like those pictured below, it may not be very secure at all.

Tiny Little Screws

Have you ever seen the screws that come with a door handle/lock kit? They are tiny! We're talking short and stubby little things. They definitely don't provide much grip to hold the metal plate, known as a strike, to the door frame.

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An Easy - and Cheap - Swap

The good news is that you can swap out the screws that fasten the strike and it is a relatively cheap and easy DIY project. All you need are four 4-inch screws and a drill. A package of 2 screws like the one pictured below costs under $1.50 a pack. So for less than $3 you can reinforce your front door by using the drill to back the old, short screws out and then replace them with longer screws.

Why Longer Screws?

This is something that we did when my daughter moved into her first apartment. It is also something that I did after I bought my home. The reason for using longer screws is that it gives a much stronger and more secure attachment to the house making it harder for a would-be criminal to kick in the door. Will it keep an intruder out completely? Let's be honest here, probably not. However, it will likely make them have to work much harder to get in, and that extra time could make all the difference in keeping yourself safe. Watch the video below to learn more.