Window and door security, and upgrades.
Most break-ins happen through a window or door — and standard glass is quick and quiet to get through. The good news: a few practical upgrades to your glass and window hardware make your home a much harder target. Here are the five that make the biggest difference.
This is the biggest single improvement. Laminated safety glass has a tough plastic interlayer bonded between two panes, so even when struck hard it cracks but holds together — there’s no quick, quiet way through it. For most intruders, that’s enough to make them give up and move on.
1. Upgrade to security glass
It’s especially worth fitting on ground-floor windows, ranchslider doors, and any glass beside an entry door where someone could smash and reach through to the lock.
2. Add security stays
Security stays (also called restrictor stays) limit how far a window can open — typically around 100 mm. That’s enough for fresh air, but not enough for anyone to climb through. They’re ideal for bedrooms and bathrooms where you want ventilation overnight, and for families with young kids they double as a fall-prevention safety measure.
3. Strengthen your door hardware
A solid deadlock on entry doors, a proper patio bolt on ranchsliders, and hinge-side security screws all close off the easy options. Ranchsliders in particular are a common weak point — many older ones can be lifted off their tracks, and a simple patio bolt stops that completely.
4. Don’t forget the old glass
Older homes often have thin 3 mm glass in doors and side panels — it’s fragile, it’s not up to today’s safety standards, and in many locations it wouldn’t comply if the joinery were installed today. Replacing it with laminated or toughened safety glass brings your home up to modern safety glazing standards (NZS 4223.3) and removes your weakest point in one job.
Why layered security works
No single upgrade makes a home impenetrable — the goal is to make breaking in slow, noisy and difficult. Security glass means the glass won’t give way quietly.
Window handles fail in predictable ways. Worn handles that no longer pull the window tight, snapped wedgeless fasteners, and locking handles are a safety issue. In most cases we don’t need to replace the whole window — just the hardware. We carry a range of handles, fasteners and window stays (also called security stays or restrictor stays).
If your handles are being replaced, it’s a good time to upgrade to security stays. They cost only a little more than standard handles, they’re a strong deterrent against break-ins, and many insurance policies look favourably on lockable window hardware. For families with young children, we can also fit window stays that restrict how far a window opens — around 100 mm is enough for fresh air but not enough for a child to climb through.
A window that won’t close properly isn’t just annoying — it lets warm air out, cold draughts in, and moisture into your home all winter. Worn hardware is one of the cheapest problems in your house to fix, and the difference is immediate. We service all of Auckland from our East Tamaki base, with same-week appointments available for most hardware repairs. Call us or request a quote online, send us a photo of the broken handle if you can, and we’ll tell you straight away whether it’s a quick fix.