Trouble Child-proofing Patio Door

[Easto]

We bought the Door Guardian (http://www.thedoorguardian.com/) Child door lock to keep my 2 year old from going into the backyard unattended. We have a pool, so this is very important.

I drilled the pilot holes as per the directions and discovered there is metal around the door frame under the vinyl.

Now I have 3 holes in the face of my patio door and unable to screw the bracket to the door.

What are my options now?

Is there any way to attach this to the door, or any way to fill the holes if I can't use this lock/

[Techhead]

Sheet metal screws or more comonly known as self tapping screws might be what you need.

The big box stores will have them.

[Easto]

Is this a guarantee it will work?

I just don't want to screw up the door even more

[goofball]

If you're trying to get the screws to go through, self tapping screws are the way to go.

That's crazy your 2 year old will open doors, mine is 3 but has been taught not to open doors and doesn't. None of those knob protectors or any childproof in the house ever :) The childproof work against my wife too much, lol

[Easto]

She won't go outside by herself, but if one of use goes out to take the garbage out for example, she will open the door and go out.

She has never went outside by herself, but knowing she can unlock and open the door and we have a pool that is enough for me to take the next step.

If I didn't have a pool, I wouldn't care.

[Cough]

Give us pics of where you have drilled. Probably just need to drill further into the metal itself but we need to see where on the frame you are drilling.

[Easto]

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg498/SimpleJack1/c88a2f1d.jpg

[Techhead]

Self tapping or worst case, drill right through the frame and use Carriage Bolts OR Elevator Bolts.

The two bolt that I mention will sit mostly flush on the outer side of the frame and should not interfere with the opperation of the sliding door.

Do you not have a fence that surrounds your pool with a locking gate? I think that would be your safest bet to protect your child and others.

Carriage Bolt
http://myword.info/images/ca_bolt_1a.jpg

Elevator Bolt
http://image.made-in-china.com/4f1j00iMoTLtZPCWkJ/Elevator-Bolts.jpg

[Easto]

I have a fence that surrounds my backyard with a self latching gate.

I don't have a separate fence around my pool, my backyard isn't large enough our layout of the backyard doesn't really allow for one.

[coolspot]

I have a charley bar -

http://www.allglassparts.com/product/404122/593339/

The previous owner installed it and seems to work well. Doesn't look like you need to drill very deep, just enough for the bracket screws to hold.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31hWM%2BFKOYL.jpg

[goofball]

I have a charley bar -

http://www.allglassparts.com/product/404122/593339/

The previous owner installed it and seems to work well. Doesn't look like you need to drill very deep, just enough for the bracket screws to hold.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31hWM%2BFKOYL.jpg

I had one of those as well. Works great, and is also somewhat of a deterrent for thieves supposedly. It did fall one day when I was outside though, locking me out of my house, lol.

[jenlad]

The Door Guardian is a great lock, especially intuit situation with pool and kids. My husband has installed these several times (our house and at friends houses). If he encounters a metal frame, he just drills into it. Self tapping screws won't work with this lock.

[Easto]

hmmmmm..... why won't self taping screws work?

[damnsam]

They should work but if you just drill through the frame the supplied screws should work as well. I would be careful with the holes you have marked on the right side though because don't forget that there is glass behind the vinyl. It usually sticks past the vinyl by about 3/4" to 1". There's not usually much to the metal behind the vinyl so drilling through it is not much of an issue.

[Easto]

I got them through the metal, but I am not using the screws on the right side due to the glass and not knowing how far it goes.

Then I mounted the other piece that goes into the track.

The damn piece is too big and stops the door.

So then I had to take that off and there are directions online where you don't need this piece. You can drill a hole for it into the top of the frame.

So I don't have a drill bit large enough to make the proper size hole.

This 10 min DYI job is turning into a half week, LOL

[jacksorbetta]

Maybe try:

http://sliderlocks.com/index.html
or

http://www.thedoorguardian.com/product.aspx

Or to be simple, have you considered putting a sliding screen that locks on the outside? You mentioned you're worried she'll follow out behind you. Well, if you have a screen with a twist lock operated from the outside, that would prevent her from wandering into the pool area. We had a similar one to keep our dog in the house, but added a picket fence type thing on the lower 3 ft of the screen to keep her from running through it. It looked cute actually :)