Entry point
The Back Door
Anybody with a second door onto a garden, yard or side return that is not overlooked. It assumes a hinged door rather than a slider; if yours slides, the sliding glass door page is the one you want. Much of this also applies to a basement door.
What constrains the work
- A back door is very often the household’s second way out, which changes how any interior restraint should be used.
- Garden fences and planting that give you privacy give the same privacy to anybody at the door.
- Outdoor cameras and lighting at the back frequently overlook a neighbor’s ground, which is a conversation worth having early.
Start with what costs nothing
These come before any purchase on this page, and on most doors they do more.
- Lock the side gate, every time.
- Move the ladder, bins and anything else that can be stood on away from the walls and windows.
- Cut back the planting that makes the back door invisible from the neighbors.
- Start actually locking the back door during the day, which in most households is the single largest gap on this page.
Deter
Change what the place looks like to somebody deciding whether to bother.
At the front, deterrence is about looking attended. At the back it is almost entirely about being visible: from the house, from a neighbor, from anywhere at all. A back door that can be reached without crossing open, lit ground is the single most attractive feature most homes have.
Do first
- Stand at the back door at night and note where somebody could stand without being seen. That is the area to change.
- Move the ladder, the wheelie bin and the garden furniture away from the wall. Anything that is a step is a step.
- Fit or switch on a light that covers the approach rather than the door itself, so the walk in is lit rather than the last two feet.
- Lock the side gate. It is usually the cheapest change on this list and the most often skipped.
Jobs that add this layer
- Place an Outdoor Camera — Drilling required, 1 to 2 hours per camera
Where hardware is genuinely needed
- Security Cameras — seeing what happened, and knowing where the footage lives
Detect
Know that something is happening while it is still happening.
Nobody rings the bell at the back door, so detection here is not about announcing a visitor. It is about noticing presence in a place where presence is unusual, which means the alert has to be rare enough to be believed.
Do first
- Decide what a legitimate reason to be at the back door looks like, and set any alerting around that rather than around motion in general.
- Check whether the back approach is already covered by a camera aimed somewhere else. It often nearly is.
- Keep the alert list short. A back-door alert should be worth walking to the window for.
Jobs that add this layer
- Place an Outdoor Camera — Drilling required, 1 to 2 hours per camera
- Place an Indoor Camera — No tools, 20 minutes, renter safe
Where hardware is genuinely needed
- Security Cameras — seeing what happened, and knowing where the footage lives
Delay
Make the opening take longer and louder to get through than it looks.
Exactly the same physics as the front door, applied to a door that usually got the cheaper hardware when the house was built. Back doors frequently have a latch and no deadbolt, glazing close to the handle, and a frame that has taken years of weather.
Do first
- Check whether there is a deadbolt at all, or only a handle latch. On a lot of houses the back door has never had one.
- Look at the frame where it meets the ground for soft or swollen timber. Weather does more damage here than anywhere else on the house.
- Take out a strike screw and measure it, as at the front. The answer is usually the same and the fix is the same.
Jobs that add this layer
- Measure Your Door First — Basic tools, 10 minutes per door, renter safe
- Reinforce the Strike Plate — Basic tools, 15 minutes, renter safe
- Fit a Deadbolt Properly — Drilling required, 1 hour for a straight swap, longer for a new bore
- Add a Door Reinforcement Lock — Drilling required, 45 minutes, plus the time to check whether you are allowed to fit one
Where hardware is genuinely needed
- Deadbolts & Keypad Locks — controlling who has a key, and what happens when the battery dies
- Door Reinforcement Locks & Bars — buying time at the door, without blocking the way out
Document
Keep a record that still exists when somebody asks for it.
A camera at the back has a harder job than one at the front: less light, a wider area, and nobody standing still in front of it. Placement along the approach path matters far more here than resolution.
Do first
- Point any camera down the route somebody has to walk rather than across the whole garden.
- Check the view at the time of day the sun is behind it, which is when the footage will be worthless if the angle is wrong.
- Decide where the footage lives before buying, not after mounting.
Jobs that add this layer
- Place an Outdoor Camera — Drilling required, 1 to 2 hours per camera
- Choose Local or Cloud Storage — No tools, 30 minutes of thinking, before you buy anything, renter safe
Where hardware is genuinely needed
- Security Cameras — seeing what happened, and knowing where the footage lives