Internal French Door Safety

How to Keep Internal French Doors Safe for Pets

If you have any pets, French doors can still be an option for your home. Cat flaps can be fitted into your external French doors, even if they are double glazed. They can be fitted to all of the French door materials, though the cost will alter. If you are installing when you have double glazed glass, the glass will need to be replaced, or they can be customised before you buy to include a cat flap. 

Cat flaps are much more difficult to remove than to install, so be sure you’re going to want it in a few years or it could potentially cost a lot of money to remove. You can also find cat flaps with locks on if you don’t want your cat sneaking out at night.

Dogs are considerably less independent than cats so you’ll need to take more precautions just in case your dog is following you through your door, as a quickly closed door can result in trapped paws.

If you like to leave your doors open, you can find pegs that hook onto your door and screw into your wall. These hooks can keep your door open so you don’t have to worry about trapped doors or your dog being trapped outside. Or, you can find dog gate, which is essentially a child gate, but it is built to be easily retractable, better than baby gates. If you don’t want a dog gate, you could try an exercise pen. This means that your dog can have a sense of freedom and room to run around, without you having to worry too much. This also means that you can keep your doors open, so you can let the fresh air and light into your home without the worry. This is perfect for warmer days. If you have a cat and a dog, you can buy exercise pens that have a cat flap.

How to Keep Internal French Doors Safe for Kids

french door handles and locks. When they become tall enough, you can guarantee they will be playing with the lock on your French doors and even if you think they won’t open it, they may unconsciously figure it out, especially if the door isn’t actually locked and all they need to do is pull the handle down.

The first tip to help child-proof your French doors is to ensure the doors are locked and the key is out of the reach. It is also handy, especially as they’re growing to have a second lock that is further up the door, making sure they can’t reach and unlock the door.

If you still think that your experimental child will be able to open the door, there are a few child proof things that you could invest in. Things like knob covers, handle locks and pinch guards, which are always handy around young children.

If you want to keep your French doors open but don’t want to bump into a gate every time you walk past, safety pens could be for you. They can be installed all around the house and they’ll ensure your child is safe.

One of the great things about summer is being able to leave your French doors open, so you can let the fresh air and light in. Baby gates can be used like they are on stairs, if you have young children and live in a two or multi-storey home, then you know that baby gates are incredibly helpful. They can be used for your French doors too. It means you can keep your children inside and safe while still enjoying the lovely weather.  There are also little locks that cling onto the handles, meaning that the handles won’t budge unless the lock is taken off.

You have also most likely seen a fire guard, very handy for curious little ones, but did you know that you can use these for your doors too? This also includes no clipping; just simply put your guard up against the door. You can attach it to your door if you have a suspicion that your child will it down.

If you’re having some fun in your garden with your doors open, it only takes a gust of wind to slam the door shut. There are quite a few ways to solve this issue and slam-proof your doors. The first one is to use a simple door stop, to keep the door open. Or you can use door hooks, this screws into your wall and hooks onto your door, keeping it secure to the wall. Or, you can attach a metal arm to your door and door frame which stops the door opening all the way.

The last solution is to get an awning attachment that sits above your doors and keeps them open using a clamping system.

Every home is different, so some solutions will work better than others. It also depends on how experimental your children and pets are. If you child likes to pull things down, maybe a baby gate is better than a fire guard. Also, you want to make sure that the exercise and safety pens are big enough for your dog. You don’t want them to be able to jump out of it. There are many options and one is bound to work for you and your home.