Persuasive Essay On French Door Safety

French Door Safety For Children and Pets

There are few better ways of bringing some extra light and warmth (both literally and figuratively) to your home than a set of french doors. However, with exterior french doors especially, families with small children or pets might want to think about the potential safety problems installing these doors might incur, especially if you intend on leaving them open on a regular basis. Here we'll give parents and pet owners a few options that should help waylay any serious fears.

French Doors: Child Safety

Lock – The actual locking mechanism on your french doors might seem to complicated for a baby to manage, but you'll be surprised how adventurous they can be. As such, you'll want to make sure your french doors have been installed with a decent multi-locking system and you keep the keys out of their reach at all times. Extra bolts are also not a bad idea. If you're still worried that your child will somehow be able to open your french doors, there are extra baby-proofing options available such as door knob covers,
handle locks and pinch guards.

Safety Pens – A great idea that will allow you to keep your french doors open without having to stumble over a gate every time you yourself want to head outside is a safety or play pen that you can install in your kitchen, living room or conservatory as a sort of holding areas for your young kids.

Baby Gate – In the summer months, you're going to want to leave your french doors opens from time to time in order to fully enjoy the weather, but the last thing you'll want is hear your little ones howling when they stumble over the door threshold or find themselves coming face-to-face with a nettle in the garden. If you have a small child or baby and live in a home with more than one floor then you probably already own a baby gate and have it installed across the stairs in order to keep your young ones from falling down up up them. Using a similar safety gate to section off your french doors is certainly one option to keep your children inside when you have them open.

Fire Guards – Whilst they haven't been expressly designed for the purpose, this is a more affordable option. These are the extendable guards that you use to place in front of the fireplace, which could also be quite easily used to keep your children from wandering or absent-mindedly crawling outside without your permission.

French Door Safety For Pets

Cats – The great thing about french doors for cat owners is that they can be customised to include cat flaps, even if they are double glazed!
Fitting a cat flap is a simple job that can be undertaken on any UPVC panelled, double glazes, single glazed, wooden, aluminium or metal french doors, though prices will obviously vary. Note, however, that in a double glazed unit, the glass will need to be replaced. Of course, having a cat flap installed could also leave your home exposed to unwanted feline intruders besides your own cat, so make sure you're familiar with all the cats (and even smaller dogs) in the area before you take the leap. Because it's a lot easier to install a cat flap than it is to remove one! If you're worried about your cat getting our at night (if, for example, you live in an area near a busy road) you could also install a cat flap with a lock that you leave open during the day and lock at
night.

Dogs – Dogs are, by their very nature, a lot less independent than cats, so you'll need to take even greater precautions when securing your french doors for them. The most obvious option is a dog gate. These operate in much the same manner as a baby gate, only they are built to be more easily retractable, as dogs lack the opposable thumbs and dexterity to operate the locking mechanism. You could also buy an exercise pen, which will give your dog an element of freedom and allow it to run around at leisure whilst you leave the doors wide open and let the sunshine and warm sumer air into your home. If you have a dog and a cat, you could even buy a pet gate with an added cat flap, though be warned that your dog will probably resent the cat just a little bit for being able to come and go as he or she pleases.

Keeping French Doors Open

One of the most common ways small children and pets are injured by french doors is when they are forced closed or open by a strong gust of wind, resulting in trapped fingers and/or paws. This could also prove problematic if the doors slam shut when your child or dog is outside and can't make it back in! The most thorough fix is a french door restrictor, which is a kind of metal arm attached to the doors and the doorframe that stops them from opening all the way. You could also purchase a door wedge or stopper to hold under the door when it's open to stop it from closing, though this might not protect you from a particularly strong gust of wind. Another option would be to install a door stop or wind catch hook on the exterior of your home to stop the door when it's blown open or hold it open during strong winds. One final (and perhaps more ambitious) option could be an awning attachment, which sits above your french doors and uses a clamping system to keep your french doors open.

Conclusion

All children and pets are different of course, so how you handle your french door security will depend on the owner. If your kids/pets are particularly confident explorers who are constantly getting themselves locked in and out of places, you might want to spend a little extra. On the other hand, if your children and animals are generally well behaved, shelling out on a load of extra security devices might be unnecessary and needlessly cumbersome. Either way, there are so many options that you'll never need to resort to less reliable DIY options.