Building your dream house is one of the many milestones of adulthood. Those minimal railings and seamless walls and doors are pleasing to the eye. Sliding door handles, made of brass or gold-plated metal, are must-haves for a touch of luxe.
It’s always nice to have a house with an easy-access sliding door to your backyard or patio for those weekend barbecues or for swimming with your family and friends. But once you have a baby, it’s anything but convenient. It’s a door you sometimes wish you didn’t have.
But it’s not a problem for smart parents such as yourselves. Sliding door locks have been tested and proven to secure your doors from your baby’s tiny, sticky hands. This article will tackle these safety issues with 100% proven solutions for the safety of your little one.
Sliding Door Safety Concerns
The number one hazard for babies is your sliding doors. These doors might be stylish, but they can give you a migraine just thinking of ways to keep your baby away from them. These are the possible safety issues you might encounter.
Loose Locks
Generally, sliding glass door locks have springs that push bolts to open the door and lock the door. Unfortunately, the locking mechanism loosens after years of locking and unlocking your sliding doors.
Easy-to-Open
Perhaps, your lock is completely fine, but you had forgotten to lock your sliding door. It’s designed to be opened with ease for adults and your curious little ones.
Visible
A sliding glass door gives you and your baby a nice clear view of the luscious garden or the starry night sky. But, of course, your baby wouldn’t help but get a closer lock of those gorgeous flowers or twinkling lights by going through the sliding doors.
Run Down Tracks
One of the sliding doors downsides is having built-up dirt and debris on its door tracks. As a result, it’s hard to close the door. Your little one might attempt to close the door and hurt themselves.
Serious Injuries From Sliding Door Accidents
Anything that’s not meant for babies to touch is dangerous for them to use, especially doors. There are plenty of unfortunate accidents that can happen if your little one gets a hold of one of your glass doors.
Get Hit by the Glass Sliding Door
Accidental impacts are very common for toddlers and even grown children. Your child will most likely get struck by or against a glass door by:
- Walking into the sliding glass door because they can see right through it
- Being pinned under the crevices of the glass door
It might sound minor, but these accidents can lead to broken bones or trauma to the head, neck, or spine. Aside from external injuries, your baby can get a concussion or suffer from internal bleeding.
Cuts and Puncture Wounds
Modern architecture is filled with sleek, straight lines and defined corners. But sliding patio doors offer new ways to hurt your young one.
If your child happens to close your sliding glass doors with their hands, feet, or head, these can happen to them:
- Bleeding
- Numbing fingers or feet
- Feeling extreme pain
- Losing consciousness
Falls
For babies who have just started to walk, it’s great to have play mats around to cushion their falls. However, if your child can open your patio door easily, your child can get to the backyard stairs right away. Falls can result in serious swelling, bleeding, or difficulty in breathing.
Ways to Secure Your Sliding Glass Doors
Now that you’re aware of the dangers of having sliding doors, you can do your part to secure them. Luckily, there are affordable and easy solutions to safeguard your child and your entire family.
Clean or Replace Your Door Tracks
You should regularly remove any dirt, stones, or leaves collected on the door’s tracks so they won’t destroy the gears. It is the simplest way to make sure that you can slide your glass door without leaving the door ajar. Even if your sliding glass door is not your patio door, other obstructions like socks or plush toys can block the door tracks.
If your sliding glass door is hard to close or open due to wear and tear, it’s better to replace its door tracks immediately. We suggest you ask someone to help you carry these heavy door panels or hire professionals.
Make Door Adjustments
There are times when you need to make adjustments to close the sliding door completely. You should begin with the door latch, the rollers, and the strike. You’ll need a screwdriver for the screw located above the latch when fixing the latch. If you want to make the latch hook longer, turn it clockwise. Then, turn it counterclockwise to make it shorter.
If adjusting the latch doesn’t work, you move onto the strike of your sliding glass door. With the door almost closed and the latch extended, mark the side of the jam. You want the top of the strike cavity to be slightly below the top of the latch. After loosening the screws, you can adjust the strike up or down to correct the lock position.
If both latch and strike adjustments aren’t solving your door jam problem, your rollers might be the issue. You can raise or lower your sliding door with the screws located at the bottom of the door panels. You may need to ask someone to lift the door to take the weight off the rollers in this step.
Upgrade Your Lock
There is a range of sliding door locks available to secure your baby from dangerous areas of your home.
The most commonly used lock for sliding glass doors is the Mortise lock. This type of lock offers a seamless look to your glass door. In addition, there are locks such as the spring-loaded patio and loop locks installed at the top and bottom of your door frame. Others are your standard keyed locks. These can prevent burglars and babies from opening the doors.
Install More Locks
Are you not satisfied with just one sliding door lock for your baby? You can buy more than one lock if you feel your sliding door isn’t babyproofed enough. More locks will give you more confidence in letting your baby wander around your house.
Add a Security Bar
Security bars, made of aluminum, act as a stopper for sliding glass patio doors. Unlike pressured-mounted bars, security bars are screwed into the door frame so that it won’t shake loose or fall. It’s ideally suited for burglars, but it keeps your adventurous baby from opening your sliding doors.
Strengthen Your Glass Doors
Having a glass door is chic, but glass is also fragile. For example, if your children swing their rubber bat or run towards the glass door panel, it might shatter.
There are durable materials such as polycarbonate panels that look like glass but function as impenetrable doors for any high-impact forces. It will withstand your baby’s countless attempts to break free, and it can also hold out against storms.
Set up a Security System
Installing an alarm with motion-sensing cameras can be quite expensive, but we highly suggest this option if it gives you peace of mind. For example, some alarms go off if the sliding door is opened by force or if the glass breaks. You can monitor not only your baby but any intruder who might enter your home.
Use Baby Sliding Glass Door Locks
Babies can be too smart for their good, so a few extra locks, specially made for your little ones, are good to have in the long run. There are sliding glass door locks that can be screwed onto the topmost part of the door or secured with adhesive tapes. Here are the top things to look for in a quality sliding door lock for your child’s safety:
- Purpose: We use sliding door locks to keep our babies safe from off-limit areas and stop burglars from entering our homes. Plenty of door locks provide your baby and family with additional security.
- Easy Installation: There are plenty of sliding door locks that require minimal effort to install.
- Durable Design: Metal locks have wear and tear issues due to corrosion and rust. Plastic and acrylic ones can break easily. It would be best if you took note of the lock’s quality and proper handling instructions to make the most out of your door lock.
- Type of Sliding Glass Door: Aside from the glass material of your sliding door, it also has a door frame made out of aluminum, wood, or vinyl. Metal locks will be most useful with aluminum door frames, while the hook and the flip latches are recommended for wooden framed doors.
There are also babyproofing items that can be used on the glass itself, regardless of the door frame.
Babyproof Your Home With Ashtonbee
Do you want to call someone to install your security lock for your sliding door? Hiring a professional to babyproof your sliding doors wastes time and money. Instead, there are plenty of high-quality sliding door locks that are seamless and effortless to install.
You can install your child lock in under a minute. Many door locks have long-lasting adhesives that you can place directly on the glass, meaning no extra drilling and realigning.
A safe home is a happy home. Shop safety items for your adventurous baby today!
