Article Summary
- Steel security doors apply to interior applications as much as to exterior ones.
- Comparing the features of external and internal steel security doors helps you evaluate your options.
- Many say that Hidden Door Store’s models are the best steel security doors for inside the home and workplace.
Are Steel Security Doors Just for External Use?
Steel construction is a common feature of entry and garage doors that attracts many property owners. The metal’s strength inspires peace of mind since no intruder could easily kick a locked door down.
While steel security doors make a reliable first layer of defense, they aren’t just for external use. Interior security doors are practical and worthwhile. Hidden Door Store (a leading provider of unassuming high-security in addition to hidden doors) explains how steel doors for inside the home or a commercial space bolster security.
Why Internal Steel Security Doors Make Sense
Between 2019 and 2021, the FBI received over 580,000 home burglary reports in a single year. Spending good money on internal security door installation isn’t an overreaction to rising crime. It’s a logical response to boost security where you see fit.
Everybody views security differently. Some are content with high-security steel front and back doors, while others may want an impregnable barrier to a concealed room to reduce their anxiety about a potential break-in.
If you have a limited budget or want to avoid creating the impression that your property is overly fortified, prioritize these use cases when investing in discrete security doors or bulletproof steel doors.
Protecting High-Value Rooms
Not every security threat happens at the front door. Some rooms inside your property may need extra protection. Examples include:
- Home offices with sensitive documents
- Gun rooms
- Safe rooms
- Retail stockrooms
- Server rooms in offices
- Utility areas with critical infrastructure
- Childrens’ bedrooms
Any space with priceless assets others may want to steal — like trade secrets, expensive merchandise or high-value electronics — merits a steel security door. It’s one of the most effective deterrents to crime, complementing surveillance cameras with infrared sensors and built-in lights, prominent signage, window security film, and heavy-duty safes.
Steel security doors for high-value rooms are bulletproof, tamperproof and impact-resistant, encouraging criminals to pick another target and neutralizing attempts to compromise them.
Limiting Access to Certain Areas
Internal steel security doors for residential and commercial properties help control people’s movement within a building. Even if malicious characters get past the main entrance, break-in protection doors can restrict access in:
- Multitenant buildings
- Warehouses
- Schools
- Homes
- Health care facilities
- Short-term rental properties
Areas reserved for authorized individuals deserve the protection you expect from steel security doors for safe rooms. These barriers can protect valuables and save lives during burglaries, shootings and other dangerous situations.
Increasing Privacy Without Sacrificing Style
Steel security doors for gun rooms and panic rooms aren’t all industrial and plain these days. Many don’t even look like ballistic-rated doors on the surface.
Decorative raised panel wood skins can be provided to precisely match the conventional doors in the building, allowing the steel security door to emulate the style of nearby wood doors. Prehung units have customizable details to fit your property’s interior design.
Concealed steel security doors seamlessly blend into the surroundings. Hidden interior doors — whose visible seams are less than 1/16 inches thick — provide discreet security, disguising themselves as wall panels or furniture like bookcases and full-length mirrors.
External vs. Internal Steel Security Door Features
The line between external and internal tamper-resistant steel doors is disappearing, as more property owners start seeing the security benefits of installing steel security doors inside. Here are some key factors of internal and external steel security doors.
Weather Resistance
Weather-resistant steel doors have a sloped threshold to keep out the rain and a mechanical drop seal to prevent any tool or gas from sliding under them. Hidden Door Store clads external steel security doors with marine-grade plywood to withstand the elements, while it incorporates raised panels and milled lumber with a nicer grain pattern for internal doors.
Fire Resistance
In jurisdictions that require fire doors in properties, external and internal units must have fire-rated materials to meet local building codes. Fire-resistant steel doors like the Hidden Door Store’s Armored Fortress Series single or double door can provide reliable fire protection, equivalent to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 90-minute fire rating.
Break-In Protection
Doors optimized for break-in protection are independently verified to pass FE5/FE15 tests for forced-entry resistance. Their steel frames, advanced locks, tamperproof hinges, and UL Level 3 or 8 armor enable them to withstand relentless attacks from multiple individuals for five to 15 minutes.
Style Customization
Customizable details enhance specific qualities and understate security features, causing potential criminals to underestimate them or miss them entirely. While an external bulletproof door may have to be unobscured to mark a building’s entrance or exit point, an internal ballistic-rated door can use camouflage to fulfill its purpose. Undetectability is a kind of defense in itself, so the more hidden nature of disguised internal steel doors can better thwart criminals.
When to Choose an Internal Steel Security Door
Consider investing in one or multiple interior security doors if you have valuables, important documents or firearms in your home or if you run a business and need to safeguard merchandise or sensitive data. A steel door offers protection against bullets, impact, fire and the elements, making it essential for a safe or panic room.
Hidden Door Store doesn’t outsource any of its labor and fabrication to foreign companies, ensuring stringent quality control and adherence to strict American environmental guidelines to reduce air and water pollution.
The best security doors for inside homes and businesses are the Armored Embassy Series and Armored Fortress Series doors. Hidden Door Store provides the former with forced-entry resistance in mind, incorporating up to 20 security bolts and armored locks. The company conceptualized the latter for maximum ballistic protection, withstanding attacks using common handgun calibers and rifle fire. Both models are customizable to beef up their standard features and minimize weaknesses.
Elevate Property Security With Interior Steel Doors
Install high-security doors where necessary to protect what you value most. To discuss the most suitable door models for your unique situation, contact Hidden Door Store today.