Sliding glass doors are usually excellent additions to any home. When installed properly, your sliding glass doors will allow more natural lighting inside your home, making it even more comfortable. Unfortunately, sliding glass doors can make your home vulnerable to burglary. Unlike other types of doors, sliding glass doors can offer relatively less resistance to burglary because they are less fortified. Besides, many homeowners prefer using them as back doors or access ways to their backyards and patios, which means there are fewer chances of a potential burglar being seen entering or leaving your house. However, this shouldn't prevent you from buying these doors. In fact, if you already have sliding glass doors, you can secure them to increase their efficiency for your home. The following techniques should help you with this.

Chain Link the Handles

The first option to make your sliding glass doors less vulnerable to burglary is to chain link the handles. Chain linking works best for sliding doors that part from the middle. A chain link is run through each of the handles to lock them perfectly together. This will make it difficult for anyone outside to part the doors. Some sliding doors open to one side only, meaning they have a single handle. If you want to chain link the handle, consider adding an extra handle by drilling it into the wall.

Impede The Horizontal Movement of Your Sliding Glass Doors

Sliding doors usually move along tracks to open or close. Since most sliding glass doors have simple latches, they can easily be penetrated. Therefore, impeding the horizontal movement of your door is one way to enhance its security in case a potential burglar gets past the latches. To do this, place bars along the tracks to prevent the movement. The bars should be strong and of the perfect size. Therefore, for the materials, choose high-tensile plastic, metal or wood. You don't want the bars to be too short because this may leave some space for the door to move. Therefore, look at how your sliding door fits into the adjoining frame. This should give you an idea of the perfect size of bar. You can buy the bars at your local home improvement store.

Adjust The Height of Your Sliding Glass Door

If a potential burglar can't move the door sideways, he or she may attempt to lift it off the tracks. To prevent this, find the amount of clearing space above your sliding door and try to get rid of it using filler materials such as plastic. You can also use door lift stoppers. This usually involves holes being drilled into the top frame of the sliding door and metal rods being inserted into the holes, making it harder for the door to be lifted off the tracks.

Use Security Window Films

Security window films are helpful in situations where a burglar has resolved to break the glass. A security window film makes it harder to break through the glass. While security films may not make the glass completely unbreakable, they will stall a potential burglar, increasing the chances of him or her being caught.