Our grandparents used to tell us about the good old days when everyone left their homes unlocked, without the worry of being caught up in crime. Yet this seems to be a false myth: people stole then as much as they do now but the perception of safety was very different.

The fact that, today, one of the first questions people ask as soon as they buy an apartment is “how do I choose a security door” is significant of the importance people place on safety as the number one need related to their well-being.

Needless to say, these issues are more relevant in city settings and, even more so, in large cities, as evidenced by the thousands of rankings that are compiled each year regarding living standards in Italy.

The statistics also underscore something else: in absolute terms, residential burglaries are decreasing, and beyond the spread of increasingly advanced alarm systems, this is also a symptom that, when talking about security doors, the products are getting better and better performing.

There was a time when the function of the security door was pretty much only to direct ill-intentioned attackers to apartments that were easier to open, since burglars with distinguished qualities found no problem in burglarizing what was before them.

Today, however, we come to talk about resistance to burglary classes (according to the standards of European regulations), varying depending on the degree of security we want to achieve, up to very high protection, generally recommended for activities such as jewelry stores, banks, embassies, etc.

Another problem, which was widespread at the time and which, alas, we have inherited, is the quality of the design of security doors. We all have in our eyes the ugly, classic security doors with “medium walnut” color MDF paneling (as the most common definition reports) of which truckloads of apartment buildings throughout Italy have been filled. And it is an image that we will carry on indefinitely, by virtue of the fact that, often, it is not possible to change the aesthetics of the building’s stairwell.

The new generation of security doors are from another planet: security door, security door with glass, exterior or interior doors, inexpensive or high burglary class, classic or designer, today the market offers a range of solutions that, in addition to ensuring maximum security, reflects the best standards of aesthetic quality.

“Open to style, closed to break-ins” is the slogan that best encapsulates the core value of a security door.
We can say that these doors, while fulfilling their main function of security, can become real furniture elements thanks to the widest freedom of choice, which has its maximum expression in the possibility of customization.

If “personalization” is the key word for selecting exclusive products, when we pose the question of how to choose the security door, won’t this freedom complicate things?

Never fear: we start with the criteria and arrive at the right product for each type of situation.

As already mentioned, depending on the type of the environment to be closed, we are going to choose requirements corresponding to the relevant burglar-proof class: from warehouses to nuclear power plants – through “normal” apartments – the choice must first fall on the desired features.

For example, in the case of apartments, whether they are dwellings within an apartment building (with main gates or doormen) or isolated dwellings may place the choice on an intermediate security class, 3 or 4.

A class 3 security door must withstand an experienced burglar who has far more advanced tools at his disposal than the casual burglar’s simple screwdriver.

In those of class 4 it will be necessary to protect against more experienced attackers who, as in the case of detached houses or cottages, may have time to use more sophisticated tools to achieve their goal, should they act undisturbed.

Clearly, the choice is also affected by whether it is an interior door or an exterior door. In this case, it is also possible to focus on doors with larger or smaller glass parts, which condense elegance, lightness and brightness into a single product.

Pay attention to the choice of cladding panels if the door is constantly exposed to direct sunlight.

Security is reflected in the choice of lock, which is obviously one of the key elements of the door.
One type of security for state-of-the-art security doors is electronic locks, up to those that can be integrated into the alarm system and managed remotely with a smartphone. They are in addition to the classic European cylinder and the anti-shock cylinders that represent its evolution.

Again, it is good to ask yourself what requirements you want to achieve in order to make the right choice: from anti-card lock to anti-lever lock, from anti-drill cylinder to the defender, there are a wide variety of solutions to keep us safe.

Once the necessary technical characteristics have been established, here is possible to expand, with creativity, in full freedom of shape (classic door, arched door, etc.) and size to the most interesting choice of finishing panels, which, in the end, are the elements that we look at every day.

Who says a secure security door can’t also look good?

Even in the more constraining case of an apartment within an apartment building, which determines the choice of the exterior panel based on the aesthetics established during the construction phase, inside the room it is possible to customize the cladding according to taste and in full consistency with the desired style.

With the choice of handles, accessories, and additions to increase comfort and safety (such as, for example, large viewers that can be also be used by children to open the door safely), we have finished composing our ideal door.

And if we are still not satisfied and want to know more, let’s take advantage of this link to land on the Cocif catalog where security doors are dissected into all the elements that make up their structure (frame, hinges, panels, locks, handles, etc.): choosing a security door will never be a problem again.