French / patio doors: what options to make them a bit more secure and resistant to burglaries?

[SouthLondonDaddy]

In a mid-terrace Victorian house, the French/patio doors from the kitchen to the back garden are a weakness in terms of security, in the sense that it would be very easy for a burglar to break the glass and enter the property from there.

I appreciate that quite a few people feel it's not even worth thinking about it. However, for those who think otherwise, what have you done, what are the options (in addition to a monitored burglar alarm as deterrent)?

These guys sell European glass security doors, with CE certification, but that's overkill: the doors will be insanely expensive, and smaller than typical patio doors (so less light)
www.kensingtonsecuritydoorsandwindows.co.uk/sun-light/

Retractable Security Grille grilles might be an option: www.samsondoors.co.uk/collapsible-folding-security-grilles

External shutters, maybe? www.rochesecurity.com/domestic-roller-shutters/

Fixed bars or metal gates would be too ugly.

To be clear, we are not in an insanely dangerous area, nor have we been targeted by stalkers , hate groups, etc - we'd just like to understand what some realistic options can be.

Thanks!

Personally I'd just invest in a visible alarm - that puts them off in the first place, and PIR sensor lights that totally flood the garden + CCTV that notifies your phone. If they want to get in they will. .

Oh and sturdy 6ft fencing + prickly pushes between you and next door / house behind. They won' want to climb over into rambling rose bushes.

I've seen something called a 'patlock' advertised. It slips over the internal handles and locks. It can be googled.

Are the doors plastic? It's not a strong material.

If they have Eurocylinder locks (which are easily defeated) I'd suggest having the key cylinder only on the inside, and a plain handle with no keyhole on the outside. You can fit supplementary keylocks that may make it harder to force the doors.

Mine are aluminium and fitted with Laminated glass, which is much more difficult to break than toughened glass. However it is heavier and more expensive.

Do you remember where you got the glazed window and how much you paid for it? Does glazed mean there is some kind of layer in the middle (plastic?) which should help hold the glass together (to a point) if some gentleman tries to smash it?

Also, what did you mean about the euro cylinder? What would be better and why?
I have often heard that British standard locks, like the Banham or Yale ones, should be better than euro cylinders, but how true is that? There are many kinds of euro cylinders. The most recent ones are meant to be more resistant to drilling, snapping (breaking the cylinder in two) and bumping (putting a blank key and hammering it inside to open the lock). After all, euro cylinders are used in CE level 3 and level 4 certified security steel doors, which are quite common on the continent - we are talking about steel doors which can easily weigh more than 50 kgs, with multiple locks, and in comparison to which even the most expensive Banham door and lock are a joke.

Also, in Britain euro cylinders are rated up to 3 stars (not all cylinders are the same)
www.westyorkshire.police.uk/euro-cylinder-advice

www.locksmiths.co.uk/faq/lock-snapping-most-secure-lock-cylinder/

The most significant improvements you can make are to replace the glass with laminated glass (6.8mm with a security laminate interlayer rather than standard 6.4mm laminate) and then change the lever handles to security handles such as this one. It is fairly easy to change the handles as long as the fixing positions are the same as your existing handles. If you can't find a match then you may have to drill some new holes in the right position. These security handles have cylinder guards which protect the cylinder from attack.

Another option, which isn't quite as good, is to just replace the eurocylinder with a 3* security cylinder. Just make sure you get a cylinder with the same depth dimensions as your existing one.

www.screwfix.com/p/mila-type-a-high-security-type-a-door-handle-pack-white/19263

Thanks.
It's an extension, so doors will have to be chosen from scratch

British Standard locks go through a testing and evaluation process. There ar a small number of cylinder locks that meet it, they are several times more expensive than BS 5-lever locks.

5-lever deadlocks are intrinsically immune to the simple methods of defeating a Eurocylinder, which an intelligent 12-year old could master in half an hour or so.

If a Eurocylinder lock is good enough, and passes the British Standard test, it will be awarded the BS mark. Can you find one?

"5-lever deadlocks are intrinsically immune to the simple methods of defeating a Eurocylinder, which an intelligent 12-year old could master in half an hour or so."
Which is? Picking like in the movies? Bumping (inserting a blank key and pushing it with a hammer)? Drilling? Snapping the cylinder in two in the middle?
AFAIK the newer euro cylinder are resistant to these attacks.

By the way, I have been trying to figure out what the British standard actually means, and what the tests really involve, but I am not going to pay £126 to read a dry, technical document:
www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/search-results/?q=bs3621
If you are familiar with the standard, could you please explain what the testing really involves?

The Era cylynders do meet the British Standard and have the kitemark logo:
www.erahomesecurity.com/mechanical-security/3-door-cylinders/
Era is a British brand so of course it will test its products for compliance with the British Standard. Many other brands (Cisa, Mottura, etc) sell mostly on the European continent, and little to nothing in the UK, so it is understandable if they are not interested in testing their products against the standard of a country in which they do little to no business, and which standard would mean nothing to the vast majority of their clients. This doesn’t mean their products are automatically inferior.

Are you really saying that the typical British front door, with glass panels and a little wood, is safer than the typical German Spanish Greek or Italian security steel door, with a CE certification that AFAIK no wooden door passes, just because the former has a British Standard lock?

"Are you really saying that the typical British front door..."

I don't recall commenting in this thread on the comparative costs and benefits of different nations' doors.

But you said that British Standard locks are safer than euro cylinders (which are used abroad), yet didn't really explain why. Look, I have no interest in challenging your opinions for the sake of it - I would just like to understand what makes a safer door and why. Everyone keeps telling me that BS locks are better but no one can really explain why.

Shortly after moving to our new house I managed to lose the only back door key. Front door was locked and deadlocked from the inside. It took the locksmith over an hour to get in through our patio doors. Drilling out a lock isn’t as quick and easy as it sounds.

Basically don't buy whatever generic lock body you can get as they are really easy to snap off. First thing is throw away the lock that comes with your door unless it's a decent one, and get a resistant one. We have abs Avocet locks which are one of a few with a good rating. Of course like all locks they can be defeated but you just have to be less attractive than all the other houses.
Agree with the points about lighting and also don't leave too much on show. Also try to drive an old car as people break in for car keys or even use the car to assess how rich you are.

A lady of letters: remember a lock Smith wants to do it with minimum damage, a burglar might not be so bothered. It look me about 15 minutes to snap the lock on our old conservatory as it had no key and was unlocked when we bought the house. I did slightly bend the door in the process, but i knew we went keeping the conservatory more than a year.

That’s true John.