What is the door chain good for?

Short answer: not much.

The door chain is a poor substitute for the peephole, intercom, or CCTV. It is also unlikely to deter any trained burglar.  Door chains are frequently included with short screws - and a swift kick from a neighborhood teenager should be sufficient. Even using sturdier screws will normally not be successful.  The door has to be properly constructed to handle mounting hardware. In addition, doors are usually surrounded by trim pieces on the frame - and those will just tear off.

Door chains do make an affordable child deterrent.  So long as the chain isn't mounted sturdy enough to become a fire hazard (check your local regulations), it can be mounted high enough on your door so that young children must make substantially more effort to escape. Enough effort, one would hope, that the noise would attract adult notice.

Initial interest in security.

On my Facebook page dedicated to security, I ask some initial questions to get a sense of how seriously people are considering home security: whether they feel safe and what measures they may be taking to achieve that sense of safety.

Click here to take that survey.

This blog page will be receiving the majority of my effort as I think it's a superior platform from which to provide advice and tips, as well as link to primary source material. As much as possible, I'll copy links of my articles to the FB page HERE.

Thanks for visiting!