Door Jamb Armour, Security Screen Door , Install and review.

[2005RedTJ]

Just another idea. Last week I went to a structure fire and was tasked with forcing entry on the house's front door adjacent to the fire room. Well it kicked my butt:) I usually can take a door in a hit or two, but I had to get a halligan and the engineer to help. UGH!!! Anyway the door jam was all plexiglas. with a piece of 1X3, screwed not nailed, as the trim piece inside the house. So maybe someone else has experience with plexi or another type of plastic???

We used Lexan at a glass shop I worked at years ago. A piece of 1/2" Lexan is seriously tough, 3/4" is darned near indestructible.

In the middle of all my remodeling I haven't got the opportunity to do the door armor upgrade yet, but tonight I did swap out the little 3/4" long screws that come factory in the door jamb for some 2 1/2" deck screws. Definitely tougher than what was in there. Gotta finish fixing another door yet and install deadbolts. The other door is the one that was kicked in during a break-in right after my fiance bought this house. The alarm system ran them off and they didn't take anything but the door has been screwed shut ever since in the meantime.

[Laager]

I want to thank you for the review (complete with pictures), I recently ordered the same kit from Lowe's (item was not carried in stock at my store either and I had to order it, then pick it up from the store as well).

I'd been meaning to get around to it, but put it off until I saw your post.

Again thank you for the post, it really helped me out.....now I have to order two more kits for my house and then install the ones my daughter purchased.

[Resolute]

Thanks for the extra info on where to find it. I'm going to order that soon - an easy upgrade to a crappy door frame. Glad my bump helped people find this again! Thread necro FTW!

[Marlene]

Excellent thread! By chance has anyone looked into the screens that were linked, and/or have a price for them? Wondering how many nickels we need to save to afford some of those bad boys...

[unslung]

Excellent thread! By chance has anyone looked into the screens that were linked, and/or have a price for them? Wondering how many nickels we need to save to afford some of those bad boys...

Marlene, the price for the security screen doors is in the post. This post was made a couple of years ago so add a few bucks for inflation. Last time i checked those same screens were about $130... or ... $140. The locks were still about $50 last time i noticed. By the way two and a half years later they are still solid and look great. My long term assessment is that it was money and time well spent. I would do it all over again.

[Shadow_Man]

Good JOB!

I had a similar project on the first house I purchased. The previous owner had kicked in side door to garage and garage door into kitchen at some point. Totally shattering the cheesy 3/4"x3 1/2" door frames!! The hinge screws barely went through the door jambs and there were only two or three places where longer wood screws secured the door fame to a two by four through a bunch of thin wood shims. In other words...a very weak and cheesy set up.

I was determined that such rinky-dink construction was not going to be repeated. To that end I totally rebuilt the entire frame and door jambs with 2"x6"s. Also instead of the standard three light weight exterior hinges I put in a total of four heavy duty steel door hinges and anchored them with lag screws solidly into the 2"x6"s and into the frame of the house. The cheap exterior doors were replaced metal clad solid wood doors. The outer garage door had the traditional heavy duty door handle and dead bolt to which I added two more dead bolts on the inside high and low.

That gave me four points of contact on the hinge side and four on the door handle side. Lag bolts anchored the hinges to both the door and through the two 2"x6"s giving essentially a 4"x6" door jamb all the way around the door which was intern anchored soundly to the house frame. It would have been easier to simply bash your way through the side of the house than that door.

[zombiegristle]

I had someone try to shoulder open the front door of my apartment about three nights ago, at like 2AM. Fortunately, the crappy old deadbolt somehow stopped them (pussies), and being the night owl that I am I was already wide awake working and I already had my gun within arm's reach. Still, I about shat myself when I heard it go down, and now I'm ordering a set of this stuff just to be on the safe(r) side. I'll post if I have trouble installing it, so you guys can help my stupid ass out.

[Vicarious_Lee]

Hi guys. Just got an email from armorconcepts.com , the makers of Door Jamb Armor. They've had a massive expansion and things have settled down, they've got a host of new products in several different finishes instead of just primer white.

In addition, they're offering 25% off all their products until December 31st using the code "web1212" when ordering.

So, yeah. This is good, economical stuff. Just thought I'd share. They said to pass the code on to friends and family, and so I pass it on to ZS.

[feedthedog]

Hey,

Lots of mentions about the Tapco screens in this post. I bought two french door kits from them and hed them professionally installed. They run around $1200-1500ish per set of french doors, but they are awesome.

The screens are almost indestructible, and the doors are looked together with four bolts. You have to be on the inside to lock three of those bolts, but unless you use the door as your primary entrance, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The screen is a good bit darker than a traditional fly screen, so I wouldn't put them on the front of my house, because it would look strange. If I had more cash, then I would do some of the side windows as well.

As for door locks, I wanted something less traditional , so I have one of these sitting on my dining room table right now. Hopefully the new door comes in on Monday so I can attempt to get it installed.

Door jamb armor looks great. I think I need to find a way to use it.

[Vicarious_Lee]

Hey,

Lots of mentions about the Tapco screens in this post. I bought two french door kits from them and hed them professionally installed. They run around $1200-1500ish per set of french doors, but they are awesome.

The screens are almost indestructible, and the doors are looked together with four bolts. You have to be on the inside to lock three of those bolts, but unless you use the door as your primary entrance, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The screen is a good bit darker than a traditional fly screen, so I wouldn't put them on the front of my house, because it would look strange. If I had more cash, then I would do some of the side windows as well.

As for door locks, I wanted something less traditional , so I have one of these sitting on my dining room table right now. Hopefully the new door comes in on Monday so I can attempt to get it installed.

Door jamb armor looks great. I think I need to find a way to use it.

I just went to Tapco's site and can't find any pics of the French Door kits. Can you take pics of yours? I'm not sure, do they actually secure the doors or just make the windows over the French Door screens smash-proof?

I want to get Tapco window screens but damn, that is one HUGE leap up in price for additional security. That's why I prefer DJA first. It's cheaper and more bang-for-the-buck.

[feedthedog]

Hey,

Lots of mentions about the Tapco screens in this post. I bought two french door kits from them and hed them professionally installed. They run around $1200-1500ish per set of french doors, but they are awesome.

The screens are almost indestructible, and the doors are looked together with four bolts. You have to be on the inside to lock three of those bolts, but unless you use the door as your primary entrance, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The screen is a good bit darker than a traditional fly screen, so I wouldn't put them on the front of my house, because it would look strange. If I had more cash, then I would do some of the side windows as well.

As for door locks, I wanted something less traditional , so I have one of these sitting on my dining room table right now. Hopefully the new door comes in on Monday so I can attempt to get it installed.

Door jamb armor looks great. I think I need to find a way to use it.

I just went to Tapco's site and can't find any pics of the French Door kits. Can you take pics of yours? I'm not sure, do they actually secure the doors or just make the windows over the French Door screens smash-proof?

I want to get Tapco window screens but damn, that is one HUGE leap up in price for additional security. That's why I prefer DJA first. It's cheaper and more bang-for-the-buck.

Look here: http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97250

I think it is pretty much the only reasonably attractive way to secure a french door. For a single door, you have tons of options, but not so much for a french door.

[Vicarious_Lee]

Hey,

Lots of mentions about the Tapco screens in this post. I bought two french door kits from them and hed them professionally installed. They run around $1200-1500ish per set of french doors, but they are awesome.

The screens are almost indestructible, and the doors are looked together with four bolts. You have to be on the inside to lock three of those bolts, but unless you use the door as your primary entrance, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The screen is a good bit darker than a traditional fly screen, so I wouldn't put them on the front of my house, because it would look strange. If I had more cash, then I would do some of the side windows as well.

As for door locks, I wanted something less traditional , so I have one of these sitting on my dining room table right now. Hopefully the new door comes in on Monday so I can attempt to get it installed.

Door jamb armor looks great. I think I need to find a way to use it.

I just went to Tapco's site and can't find any pics of the French Door kits. Can you take pics of yours? I'm not sure, do they actually secure the doors or just make the windows over the French Door screens smash-proof?

I want to get Tapco window screens but damn, that is one HUGE leap up in price for additional security. That's why I prefer DJA first. It's cheaper and more bang-for-the-buck.

Look here: http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97250

I think it is pretty much the only reasonably attractive way to secure a french door. For a single door, you have tons of options, but not so much for a french door.

Yeah, you could throw a cat at a set of French doors and get them to open. Also, bumping this because DJA is awesome and offers tremendous bang for the buck in terms of door hardening.

[feedthedog]

Hey,

Lots of mentions about the Tapco screens in this post. I bought two french door kits from them and hed them professionally installed. They run around $1200-1500ish per set of french doors, but they are awesome.

The screens are almost indestructible, and the doors are looked together with four bolts. You have to be on the inside to lock three of those bolts, but unless you use the door as your primary entrance, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The screen is a good bit darker than a traditional fly screen, so I wouldn't put them on the front of my house, because it would look strange. If I had more cash, then I would do some of the side windows as well.

As for door locks, I wanted something less traditional , so I have one of these sitting on my dining room table right now. Hopefully the new door comes in on Monday so I can attempt to get it installed.

Door jamb armor looks great. I think I need to find a way to use it.

I just went to Tapco's site and can't find any pics of the French Door kits. Can you take pics of yours? I'm not sure, do they actually secure the doors or just make the windows over the French Door screens smash-proof?

I want to get Tapco window screens but damn, that is one HUGE leap up in price for additional security. That's why I prefer DJA first. It's cheaper and more bang-for-the-buck.

Look here: http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97250

I think it is pretty much the only reasonably attractive way to secure a french door. For a single door, you have tons of options, but not so much for a french door.

Yeah, you could throw a cat at a set of French doors and get them to open. Also, bumping this because DJA is awesome and offers tremendous bang for the buck in terms of door hardening.

By comparison, my pair of Cane Corsos like to stand up against the Tapco screens and bark at me while I watch TV. Thats a combined 300ish pounds of dog bouncing off the screens, with no discernible damage. The screens are not even scratched, although it does seem to grind down the pup's front claws.