Home Security - Door Stopper Installation

Here's a picture of the product and packaging. The manufacturer's website states that the device can be purchased at The Home Depot although we weren't able to locate it there. A call to the manufacturer's toll-free number confirmed that Home Depot no longer carries the product. We purchased three packages to secure three doors for a total of $35 from Elliott's Hardware.

In speaking with the manufacturer, they've explained that they're in the process of building their online store and in the interim will accept and ship orders that are made via their toll-free number (877-291-2741).

These are the tools that were used to perform the installation. After reading the very basic instructions and gathering tools it took about 20 minutes to secure three doors. The drill bit is 3/16" and we'd strongly recommend that you use a Phillips-head driver in the drill to run the screws into to the jamb. Doing this work with a screwdriver can be done but it will take awhile as the screws provided are 4" in length.

All doors in this installation have a basic deadbolt lock (top) and a double-knob style latched door catch. This is a picture of the door-jamb that will receive the "slotted strike plate" that is a part of the kit.

Our state building codes require that the device be installed no less that 36" from the floor and no higher than 48". This requirement will allow a child to remove the device in case of fire and keeps the device somewhat centered on the door overall – making it harder for a burglar to kick the door in.

We decided to mount the top of the slotted strike plate 45" from the floor to stay within code and this will allow the device to clear the existing locking hardware. The garage-entry door was an exception and was installed at 48" – its locking hardware is located higher than the other two doors in the home.

The slotted strike plate is the part that is screwed to the door jamb. The top of the slotted strike plate was held at 45" high and the interior plate (the round piece) was installed to get a feel for where the screw holes needed to be drilled. Since all door openings have molding that surround them the molding was used as a gauge to determine how far the slotted strike plate should protrude.

During day to day usage the interior plate slides on and off the slotted strike plate. We were careful to allow for a little extra clearance between the molding and the back of the interior plate so that installation and removal wouldn't scrape the molding or cause the interior plate to bind when it is removed or installed. The top mounting hole of the slotted strike plate was marked for drilling after determining the final position of the device.

With the top screw installed the slotted strike plate was tweaked to make it level and square with the door jamb and the final holes were drilled to accept the remaining screws.

Here's the completed installation with the interior plate installed. The kit includes a chain and hook to hang the interior plate near the door so that it's always accessible. The hook that is supplied is not a well thought-out solution. If there are kids in the house we don't believe it would last a day before it gets ripped from its wall mounting. With adults-only it might last a week. Besides, hanging it on the wall isn't a decorating look we're after. We did install the chain for the garage-entry door and used a screw to secure it to the door molding rather than the tiny little hook that was supplied for drywall mounting.