Want to Install a Pet Door in Your Security Door? 4 Points to Consider

If you have a pet who needs to come in and out of your home when you are not there, a pet door may be just what you need. Unfortunately, if you have a security door such as a Crimsafe door, you want to think carefully before you embed a pet door in that door. Here are a few points to consider:

1. Installing a pet door may void your warranty

In some cases, installing a pet door may void your warranty on your security door. If you are buying a brand name security door from a dealer or installer, check with the installer about his or her warranty policy and whether or not a pet door would void it.

In some cases, the manufacturer may make that decision. In other case, individual dealerships can set their own warranty policies, and they may even be willing to install the pet door for you.

2. A pet door may make the door less secure

Even if a pet door doesn't void your warranty, it may make your security door less safe. Security doors are designed to be a certain thickness and not have holes in them; a pet door ruins this basic premise as it puts a potentially unsafe hole in the door.

If you have a security screen, the hole may make the mesh less taut and thus easier to cut or penetrate. Instead of putting the pet door in your security door, consider putting it somewhere else in your home. For example, if you put it in a wall that may be more effective than putting it in the security door.

3. Pet doors next to security doors can also be risky

Even if it is embedded in a wall, your pet door's location has an impact on your safety. Imagine someone with long arms reaching through your pet door. Then, ask yourself if he or she would be able to reach the doorknob from there.

Keep that scenario in mind as you choose the location for your pet door. If you don't want your pet door to compromise the impenetrability of your security door, locate the pet door in a part of your wall relatively far from your security door.

4. Automatic pet doors may be a safer option than flap doors

If you want your home to be secure and you have decided to put the pet door in a wall rather than inside of the security door, you should consider an automatic pet door. These doors open and close when activated by an electric signal transmitted via a device on your pet's collar. They can be safer than pet doors covered by a flap your pet simply walks through.

If you want to make your automatic pet door even more secure, talk with the security door company like XL Screens & Awnings Pty Ltd about making a pet door out of the same material they make their security doors with.