Door Armor MAX Single Door Security Kit, Door Reinforcement Set for Jamb, Frame & Hinges, 5-Piece Door Lock Security, 30-Min Installation, Corrosion Proof, White

This is something you need. It installed without issue and works as advertised. Very good purchase!

We moved in to a new house recently, and I decided the exterior door hardware needed to be upgraded. The strike plates and hinges were attached with 1/2” long screws, which is ridiculous but seems to be common on newer houses. Basically we had privacy doors, one good kick would probably be enough to pop them open. After looking at some options I decided to try the Door Armor product. I initially ordered one set to try installing on the side door going out of the garage, because I wanted to try it out on a door where we weren’t really worried about appearance (which my wife was particularly concerned about).Shipping was prompt and the product arrived well packaged and in good condition. One note about that, the long (40”) door jamb reinforcement piece appeared slightly curved but it turned out the metal is pliable enough that it flattened down just fine when screwed into the door jamb.Installation was relatively straightforward and trouble free. I would say this job requires basic handyman skills. The first set I installed took about an hour, but that included gathering up tools and beer breaks, ha ha. There are a couple of things you need to be really careful about though. First is getting everything lined up properly, and marking where the screws go in with some precision. This is where a helper can be handy. The second thing is DRILL DEEP ENOUGH PILOT HOLES FOR THE SCREWS. Sorry to yell with all caps but this part is really important. These are long (3.5 inch) screws, and only 1/8” diameter. Without good pilot holes there is a pretty good chance of breaking the screws or stripping out the head when trying to drive them in. The first set I installed I only had a standard length drill bit that would only go in maybe 2”, and getting the screws driven all the way down got a little sketchy. For the second set I bought a 6” long bit, it cost $3.00 and I highly recommend it for this project.Once installed, the only thing that can be seen from outside with the door closed is the pieces that go over the edge of the door to protect the lock sets. With the door open the large jamb plate and the hinge reinforcement plates can be seen, but they are not obtrusive or ugly. The color we got matched our door hardware pretty well. When my wife saw what it looked like on the garage side door, she gave me permission to install this on our front door, so I have now installed two sets. I feel a lot better now knowing that if someone wants to break in through our exterior doors they will probably need to bring a battering ram or a sledgehammer instead of just kicking it once or twice.

[Important: be sure to read my edit at the bottom, added 7 years after this original review.]I installed this in under 30 minutes with no problems at all and without having to make any other modifications to the door other than removing the existing strike plates (more on that in a minute). You should be aware that the directions say you'll need a long 9/64" drill bit capable of drilling three inches deep. I had a couple 9/64" bits, but they were only three inches long. After chucking them into the drill, only a couple inches actually stick out. So I went to two hardware stores where I got weird looks for asking for such an odd bit, and nobody had ever seen one. So I settled for the more common 1/8" bit and it worked totally fine. If you're fortunate enough to have a set of vix bits, starting the holes with a 1/8" vix makes the job even easier, but it's not necessary.The satin nickel finish on the Armor matches my existing hardware perfectly, so I didn't need to paint the Armor. However, the long panel that covers the doorknob side of the door jamb wasn't fitting quite right over my existing strike plates so I had to remove those. The bare wood that was exposed looked pretty bad. It was only visible when the door was open, but I'm kind of a perfectionist so I ended up painting those two spots.I wish that the instructions mentioned whether or not it's okay to remove the existing strike plates. The Armor doesn't fit quite right with them still there, but leaving them in place would probably lend more strength to the door. The steel is so strong, though, that I'm confident it is fine. I also think they should change the instructions to require a long 1/8" bit instead of 9/64" - it's much easier to find and works perfectly well. Also, the instructions assume your door has three hinges and tell you to put the Armor over the middle and bottom hinges - but I have nine foot ceilings, so my door is taller than average and has four hinges. I had to think for a while about which two to protect. I finally decided on the middle two so that it would be more resistant to shoulders as well as kicks, since it's unlikely anybody could provide a lot of kicking force to the bottom quarter of the door. The instructions should advise on what to do if you have four hinges, or it should come with three hinge plates. These three complaints are so minor, though, that they don't warrant docking the product a star. I'm super happy and feel that my door is far more secure, and the price is great._____Edit seven years later! This happened a couple years back but I didn’t think about this review at the time. I was going over some of my old reviews tonight and realized I needed to tell this story! We had overnight guests staying in our downstairs guest room, near the front door, the night after Christmas. At about 1am there was a terrible crash that shook the house. My wife and I wondered if they’d knocked down a bookshelf. I figured I shouldn’t go down and ask because I didn’t want to embarrass them, and if they needed help they’d call for it. Well, seconds later, they are running up the stairs saying, “I think somebody just tried to knock down your door!” So I check the security camera that points at our driveway (we didn’t have a Ring yet so no camera at the door). Three guys in hoodies standing there. One walks towards the front door, disappears from view for a few seconds, and then all three run off. I look at the front door and find a foot print right where you’d expect one from somebody trying to kick it in.This product saved my family and guests from a home invasion conducted at night with cars in my driveway. These men knew we would be home and tried to break in anyway. That means they were most likely armed. I’m convinced my door armor saved our lives that night.