How to upgrade your door to be vandal proof

There is a fine line between street art and graffiti. The former can add value to public spaces, while the latter detracts from the aesthetic. Furthermore, graffiti remains a highly pressing issue in popular public spaces such as council buildings, public housing, infrastructure, stadiums, parks, public toilets, and other communal areas.

Grafitti in the form of painting on walls and other structures has been around since the stone age. It will remain a part of the urban landscape forever. What's important is the distinction between graffiti and vandalism. For the sake of this article, we will be focusing on vandalism — or the wilful damage caused to public and personal property.

Contrary to popular belief, you can design to prevent vandalism. Larnec has a range of personal access doors that are designed to withstand brute force and vandalism, and still retain their form and function.

What are some examples of vandalism?

There are several types of vandalism that can have varying degrees of impact on public and private spaces. Our focus will be on opportunistic vandalism — where people passively detract from infrastructure both visibly and structurally. These vandals may not be intending to inflict serious damage, but nevertheless, create eyesores.

Here are some key examples of opportunistic vandalism:

• Damage to windows from bicycles leaning against them
• Torn up grass from shortcutting across lawns
• Damage to bathroom doors from being kicked inwards
• Broken gates and fences from forced access

What makes these examples out to be opportunistic vandalism is the fact that they could all be prevented from better design and proper planning. Many people don't want to vandalise, but do anyway because it is the path of least resistance. This is an inherent behaviour that is exceedingly difficult to change.

How do we prevent vandalism through design?

It is up to designers, architects, and planners to change the environment to change the behaviour. Reducing opportunities for damage is the key to achieving this — and much easier than setting out to change a person's inherent attitude towards public and private property.

Here are several ways designers, architects, and planners can reduce opportunistic vandalism:

• Improving lighting around venues to remove opportunities for concealment
• Increasing the presence and visibility of security patrols
• Increasing surveillance and reporting around the community

For those planning and designing buildings, it's important to use materials that are resistant to scratching and marking.

Vandal-proof doors from Larnec

In the case of private property, like warehouses, stadiums, schools, and hospitals, it also pays to install doors that cannot easily be damaged through brute force, like kicking or slamming. When choosing which material to use for doors in spaces such as these, a bit of research is required to ensure that the correct door is chosen.

Ideally, you should find a door that can specifically cater to public areas where a high level of security is required. Here's what to look for in a security door solution:

• High resistance to damage, thus greatly reducing your maintenance and replacement costs
• All parts of the door engineered to provide maximum resistance to attacks
• Hung with top and bottom pivot hinges that are concealed and unreachable to users
• Externally fitted, with quality flush lock as standard
• Fully metal-wrapped and sealed for a clean, durable finish

Larnec boasts a range of doors that can fit and exceed these requirements. Our doors have been specifically designed for a range of applications and industries, allowing you to make the correct choice from the outset.

• Sentry 200.TP Tilt Panel Door — this door is a market-leading industrial access door for garages, warehouses, and industrial buildings, including warehouses, factories, and industrial sheds.
• Sentry 200.BF Box Frame Container Door — ready for installation in custom shipping containers, this door can prevent vandalism in converted spaces used for retail, offices, and food service.
• Sentry 200.PB Portable Building Door — designed to meet the most strenuous demands of the industry, these doors can also prevent damage from dust storms and unfavourable weather.