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Hardware · Deadbolts, strikes, sliders, screens, smart locks
Stronger Doors, Deadbolts and Slider Locks for El Cajon Homes
New and stronger hardware where it actually helps: the front door of a 1950s ranch house, the patio slider on a Rancho San Diego tract home, the steel screen door on a stucco duplex. Calm advice, no scare tactics.
(619) 837-7178Where break-ins really start
People in El Cajon are talking about crime more than they used to, and the worry is fair. The practical answer is smaller than it sounds. Most forced entries into homes are not clever.
- A kick at the front door. The deadbolt holds; the door frame doesn't. The strike plate is fastened to a half-inch of pine trim with short screws, and the jamb splits on the first kick.
- A slider lifted out of its track. Old patio doors with a worn latch and no anti-lift block can be popped from outside in seconds.
- An unlocked side gate and an unlocked side door. The gate that never gets latched leads to the garage-entry door with a knob lock and no deadbolt.
- A window left cracked for the heat. In August in The Box that's every third house. A window lock that lets you vent two inches and no more solves it.
Fix those four things and you've handled most of what actually happens on a residential street. Everything below is one of those four.
Deadbolts and strike plates
This is the quickest upgrade for an older El Cajon house. Grade 1 or Grade 2 deadbolt, one-inch throw, on a proper bore. Then the part most installers skip: the strike plate. We replace the short screws with 3-inch screws that reach through the jamb into the wall stud, and on doors that take a beating we set a box strike, a steel pocket that wraps the bolt instead of a flat plate. The difference on a kick is the difference between a scuffed door and a splintered frame.
On a 1950s or 60s ranch in Fletcher Hills or Granite Hills, the door is often original, the jamb is hollow trim, and the strike is held by two 3/4-inch screws. We see that setup every week. Reinforcing it is an hour's work and the parts are cheap. We'll also fix the hinge side if the hinge screws are short, because a door is only as strong as its weakest side.
If you already have a decent deadbolt and only the strike needs help, we'll say so. Reinforcing the strike is a line item on its own, not a reason to sell you a new lock.
Sliding patio doors
Rancho San Diego, Blossom Valley and the tract streets in Granite Hills are full of houses whose back wall is mostly glass slider. The factory latch on a slider is a hook the size of your thumbnail, and it wears out. We replace worn latch hardware, add a keyed or thumb-turn secondary lock in the track, and fit an anti-lift block at the top of the frame so the panel can't be raised out of its rail. A charley bar, the hinged bar that drops across the door, is the simplest add-on and you can see from across the room that it's set.
A slider in good order with a secondary lock and an anti-lift block is no longer the easy way in. That's the goal. We don't sell glass sensors or alarm systems.
Security screen doors
Steel security screen doors are an East County staple: stucco duplexes near downtown, fourplexes in Bostonia, single-family homes on the flat streets off Madison. They let you leave the wood door open for air and still have a locked door between you and the street.
The weak spot is the lock. Many screen doors ship with a light-duty latch and a cylinder that's easy to jiggle. We install proper deadbolts and keyed cylinders on screen doors, and we can key the screen door alike with the main door so it's one key for both. If the existing screen door is solid but the lock is worn, a cylinder swap is usually all it needs.
Smart locks, when they make sense
A keypad or app lock is a real upgrade for some people and a nuisance for others. It makes sense for a landlord who's tired of rekeying between tenants and can change a code from their phone, for a family with kids who lose keys, and for a short-term rental host who wants each guest on their own code. It makes less sense for a rarely used side door or for anyone who doesn't want to think about batteries.
Trade-offs we'll tell you before you buy: batteries die, usually in the rain; Wi-Fi models need a decent signal at the door; some app features need a subscription; and a smart lock is only as strong as the deadbolt behind it. We install smart locks on a properly bored, reinforced deadbolt prep, and we'll tell you if the door needs work first. We're glad to install a lock you bought yourself, and we'll say up front if it's a model that gives people trouble.
Windows and side gates
Window locks and vent pins let you leave a window cracked for the Santa Ana heat without leaving it open. Keyed sash locks for older wood windows, pin locks for sliders, and simple secondary latches for the aluminum windows on 60s ranch houses. For side yards we install gate latches that actually lock, padlock hasps that can't be unscrewed from outside, and shrouded padlocks that a bolt cutter can't get around. On the semi-rural streets in Crest and Dehesa, that extends to outbuildings, ranch gates and the workshop nobody checks for a week.
Renting? Upgrades you can take with you
Most of the above needs the landlord's OK because it changes the door. A few things don't. A charley bar or a portable slider lock sits in the track and leaves no mark. A door security bar braces under the knob. A portable travel lock holds an in-swinging door from the inside. None of them are as strong as a reinforced strike, but they're yours when you move.
The better move is often just to ask. Landlords are required to give you a working deadbolt already, and many will pay for a strike reinforcement when a tenant asks, because it protects their unit. The tenant rules are laid out plainly on the rekey page. If you want the landlord to call us directly, hand them the apartments page.
What you'll hear on the phone
Deadbolt install $85 with your hardware · $145–$225 with ours, plus the trip charge
Strike reinforcement, slider locks, screen-door cylinders and smart-lock installs are each their own line on the pricing page. A 15-minute door check is free with any install: we walk the doors and windows with you, point at what matters, and skip what doesn't. Doing a whole complex? Account pricing is here. Wondering if we come to your street? Service area.
Questions homeowners ask
Do I need a new door, or just a better lock?
Almost always the lock and the frame, not the door. A solid or even a hollow-core door with a Grade 1 deadbolt and a reinforced strike holds up to a kick far better than a new door on the old strike. We replace a door only when it is rotten, warped, or cut so badly around the lock that nothing will seat in it.
Will a stronger deadbolt fit my 1950s door?
Yes. Older El Cajon doors usually have the standard 2 1/8-inch bore, and a modern Grade 1 or Grade 2 deadbolt drops in. When a door was bored small or off-center years ago, a wrap-around reinforcement plate covers the old holes and gives the new bolt a solid seat. We bring both to the visit.
Can I do this myself?
The deadbolt, sure. The strike is where do-it-yourself jobs go wrong: the long screws have to hit the stud, not the gap behind the trim, and a box strike needs a clean chisel mortise or the bolt binds. If you have already bought hardware, we are glad to install it, and the free door check tells you which doors are worth the trouble.
Locks are fine, you just can't account for the keys? Keep your locks and change the key: rekeys start here.