You can get cling film in a variety of patterns to frost the side panel. I have it on my front windows to block my reactive dog from "chasing" everyone away from walking in front of my house.

I really don't think that the glass sidelight is a security issue. Most burglars look for unlocked doors and doors that are hidden (i.e. back doors, garage man doors, open windows on the BACK of the house, etc) As a general rule - they are crimes of opportunity. If they wanted to break the sidelight, they could just as easily break a window.

"If you are really worried about someone breaking the glass and opening the door you can get a deadbolt with an inside key lock. We had that on a backdoor with a window in it."

Locking yourself or your children inside a burning building is a really, really bad idea.

Rwiegand, we had a door like that, and we usually left the key in the lock. When we went out and sometimes at night, we hung the key on a hook nearby. A burglar couldn't reach it, but we could easily. But a burglar works quickly and quietly and goes for unlocked doors.

Here's the front door of a house I sold.

For privacy, I had opaque plastic panels cut to the exact size of the glass and secured them with 1/8 round trim.

The buyers had a break-in the first year. Just a swift booted kick to the front door got them in. Ditto the neighbours on both sides.

Most dead bolts slide maybe a half inch into a hole drilled into a pine 2 by 4. An aggressive hip check is about all u need to splinter that wood.

International Residential Code

R311.2 Egress door.

At least one egress door shall be provided for each dwelling unit. The egress door shall be side-hinged, and shall provide a minimum clear width of 32 inches (813 mm) when measured between the face of the door and the stop, with the door open 90 degrees (1.57 rad). The minimum clear height of the door opening shall not be less than 78 inches (1981 mm) in height measured from the top of the threshold to the bottom of the stop. Other doors shall not be required to comply with these minimum dimensions. Egress doors shall be readily openable from inside the dwelling without the use of a KEY or special knowledge or effort.

First, you need to go by code regarding locks. Second, I would get glass that allows light AND privacy. I would only do film if the house was a rental or short-term living arrangement.

If you can trace back to find out where the communication went wrong, maybe you could get the change in glass augmented by the responsible party, if there is one.

The glass lights are not cheap to replace.

Also-will you have a storm door that you can lock, too?

Floor deadbolt:

You can get it frosted, acid etched. It makes the glass translucent, so you can see shapes but not detail. The security issue will not go away completely as long as you have doors and windows.

WRL

Yes the key was hung nearby but out of reach of the window, No problems

Pier glasses are definitely a break-in concern. First, as you said, they're easy to knock out -- just turn around and put your elbow through the window. Unless someone's walking by the house, no one's going to see or hear. Second, look at the picture just above my post -- you can see where the deadbolt above the doorknob is located; it's only inches away from the glass. Imagine the deadbolt extending into this bit of wood; the wood isn't all that wide or sturdy. Put another way, if the burglar can break the door frame, the lock doesn't matter much; however, breaking the frame would be more noticeable than breaking the window. Finally, the glass allows the burglar a good view into the house, giving him a pretty good idea of whether you're home or not.

Burglars break into houses in all sorts of ways. Why make it easy for them? Realistically, any house can be broken into ... but if your front door is more secure and looks like it'd require lots of effort, the burglar will go on down the road to find "easier pickings".

Options:

- Go with a single pier glass, and put it on the hinged side /not the doorknob side.

- Use reinforced glass or a design with metal decorations.

I wouldn't be concerned about fire safety for the above type of deadbolt. We have such a mechanism on our two doors, and no key is required; rather, you just turn the latch instead of turning a doorknob -- when you live in the house, you're in the habit of just what to turn.

As for the dog, I'd put a thin sheer curtain /anchored at both top and bottom over the window.

One of my dogs still barks at movement through our etched side glass!

Or you could do hurricane glass which is a lot harder to break.