One solution...

[mfree]

I've posted about this before, though it was a while ago. I have a tactical problem with my house.... a glass front door. Bummer for smash-in home invasions. Also a bummer as for a long time I had nothing to cover it with and you could see in the house, but at night, couldn't really see out to see who was at the door.

I hemmed and hawed... how do I fix this, make it safer, without replacing the door ($$$!!!).

Answer: Cheap plastic hanging blinds. Why?

1. It conceals the house effectively from the door's view
2. Doesn't take the overall look of the glass door away from the outside
3. If someone decides to take a running leap through the door, they'll get tangled up in the blinds. When I installed them, I used double reinforcements on the top bar, installed the lower bar retainers as tightly as I could, and I keep the length strings tightened up so the blinds don't sway when I open the door. If someone hits them, arms-legs-head will end up through the spaces in the slats before the thing gets enough pressure to come crashing down. This buys me valuable time and makes valuable noise.
4. I can raise a slat and peek through the door without presenting my entire profile to whoever's outside.

Simple and cheap, the kind of solution I like This adds on to the other "safety" item, the wind chimes hung above the door about 2' inside the house (open the door, even slowly, and you hit the chimes).

Now, to address all the old windows that won't close far enough to latch (even though they're all at least 8' off the ground) by replacing them, and getting some solar lights to line the driveway, and I'm golden.

 

[armoredman]

Make sure the deadbolt has key slots on both side - they can smash the window, reach through and flip open the lock. If you don't really worry about looks, get a metal grate with small holes, and one-way screw it to the entire front of the door....you can see out, difficult for someone to see in, and a measure of security.

 

[Island Beretta]

..there is a special tint on the market that is like a shield..i think it is made by 3M..it holds the glass together kinda like a windscreen when smashed and will definitely slow down any invasion.. check it out

 

[Warren]

Any chance of weaving razor wire in with the blinds?

I recall a woman who put wire throughout her shrubbery that caught a peeping Tom you could catch a leaping Tom.

 

[Kharn]

Tag, my basement has a slider and I'm looking to fortify it more (the 3M shatterguard stuff will probably find its way to my place in a few weeks).

Kharn

 

[YammyMonkey]

The 3M stuff is called Scotchshield if you're interested.

 

[NikoFoxFire]

For all the technical stuff, you seemed to have answered your own question...
The way to go seems to be the things you already did Good work, and happy hunting (of leaping toms that is, they have a tuff time fighting back when tangled in blinds/razorwire)