If you install a security door in your home, you may wonder what guarantee you have that it will work should the worst happen and an intruder attempts to break in. Fortunately, Australian standards, AS 5039, 5040 and 5041, protect you by specifying how these doors must be constructed and installed. If a product doesn't comply with the standards, it can't be labelled and sold as a security door. Here is an overview of what these regulations involve.

What You Can Expect from a Security Screen Door

Firstly, to create the standards, different expert groups combined to have a say. They include, for example, Master Builders Australia, the Australian Windows Association, the National Security Screen Association, and the Master Locksmiths Association of Australasia. These groups helped to define how a security door should reasonably be expected to perform during an attempted break-in. A security door wouldn't be expected to survive a bomb blast. But it should be extremely difficult and almost impossible to get through for a burglar. Thus, with the bar set extremely high, you can be sure that a security door will help keep your home safe.

Testing Procedures

These standards specify several tests that a security screen door must pass. For example, the impact test mimics a trespasser trying to get through a door. To do this, a pendulum weight is swung against the screen to check how it responds. A door must withstand five impacts. Another test is the jemmy test, where a mechanical winch tries to prise the door open. The knife shear test involves a robotic arm applying a knife to the door mesh. A door that doesn't pass the relevant tests can't be sold as a security door. But it can be sold with other descriptions.

Installation Requirements

Of course, the installation of the door is also crucial. There's no point in attaching a door to a frame that can be easily ripped out of the wall. Everything regarding the door and how the frame connects to the building must follow stringent standards.

Other Tests

Thus, you can feel safe with security screen doors installed in your home to protect you from intruders and burglars. However, you might want a security door to also protect you from other kinds of threats. For example, what about cyclones or bushfires? Some doors undergo specific additional tests for these scenarios. So if you want a door that can cope with these conditions, make sure you buy a product that has undergone the relevant test. You can also select a door that has passed a test to check how it fares in the corrosive salty air typical of coastal regions.

Reach out to a local door company to learn more about security screen doors.