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I was really surprised that several people told me that they have nothing on their slider doors other than the original locks. Those locks are trivial to defeat - they door can usually be lifted up and over very easily.

You can buy professional kits, but just putting a snug fitting bar in the door track improves your security a lot. I bought an eight foot length of plastic wood from Lowes or Home Depot. It's 1.5 inches wide and 5/8 inch thick - that fits perfectly in the track of my slider.

You can cut this stuff easily with a handsaw or a hacksaw. Or get them to cut the length you need at the store. It's already white, strong, a little flexible, and won't rot.

Empty track.

With bar in place.

With this bar in place, our door can't move - even without the lock!

Picture from Stuart Forman showing his anti-tilt block (see his comment below):

Same thing at the top of my door:

Comments:

Author: StuartForman Sun Jul 26 13:18:17 2009

When we moved Oak Point over three and a half years ago I noticed this problem and thought it was just my home and my door. The sliders are reversible so they can be used left or right opening by flipping them. Missing the upper wheels enables the door to be lifted up off the track and therefore unlatching the locking mechanism. If the extra wheels were there they could have be adjusted up so the door could not be lifted. (some doors come with wheels both top and bottom like the screens). What I did was install a small piece of plastic wood as shown in the picture so the door cannot be lifted which was quick and easy.


The past idea of securing the door by placing a piece of wood in the track can be beaten with the use of a hack saw blade with the end broken off sharply and wedged between the door to lift up the wood in the track. The thin verticle plastic strip that keeps the drafts out will just break off to enable the hack saw blade between the doors. I have installed many "Charlie Bars", the latching security bar", in homes and apartments in the past since the wood slat or broom handles in the track were defeated. I am sure there are handy men in the area that can place the block in the upper track or install the latching bar for anyone.

(picture added to article above)

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Author: TonyLawrence Mon Jul 27 07:16:42 2009

I added the block Stuart suggests. I needed a piece of plastic wood 5/8 inch thick, so my neighbor trimmed a piece of what I had with his bandsaw.

The picture I added above shows it before adding the second screw.

We still use the bar also. Stuart is probably right that it can be defeated, but that does at least take extra work.

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