Secure windows and doors for Melbourne homes: laminated glass, security screens and locks

Most break-ins aren't clever. They come through a door or window that was easy to open: left unlocked, held by a simple latch, or glazed with glass that breaks out in seconds. Here's what Victoria's own figures say, and the three upgrades that make the most difference: locks, laminated glass and security screens.

What the figures say

Victoria's burglary numbers are coming down after a bad year. In the year to June 2025, the Crime Statistics Agency recorded 30,545 residential burglaries, up 13.9% on the year before (RACV). In the year to June 2026, Victoria Police reported that burglary offences fell 19.9% and residential aggravated burglary fell 27% (Victoria Police).

It still adds up to a lot of homes. Victorians lodged about 3,900 home theft and burglary insurance claims worth about $57 million in 2025-26, more than any other state. The Insurance Council of Australia called it "a risk we can control" (The New Daily, AAP).

How homes are entered

Two things stand out from police and crime agency data:

• Unlocked doors and windows are the easy way in. Victoria Police intelligence found that, in hotspot areas, a large share of aggravated burglaries (estimates have ranged from about two-thirds to eight in ten) came through unlocked doors or windows, or were abandoned when the offender found the home locked (Crime Stoppers Victoria).
• Doors more than windows, but windows still count. In Crime Statistics Agency data, doors were the most common recorded point of entry (40.9%) and windows next (17.1%) (Crime Statistics Agency). Back doors, sliding doors and rear windows out of sight of the street are the usual targets.

So the first job is simple: lock up, every time. The upgrades below make locking up quicker and make a forced entry slower and noisier.

1. Locks that actually lock

Many Melbourne homes have windows held shut by a simple latch and sliding doors with a basic hook lock.

• Keyed window locks stop a window being opened from outside even if the glass near the latch is broken. Fit them to every window you can reach from the ground, a fence or a roof.
• Sliding door locks. A worn sliding door often drops on its rollers so the lock no longer catches properly. Fixing the rollers and fitting a keyed lock (or an extra bolt) gives you a door that locks every time. Our guide to a sliding door that's hard to open explains the roller repair.
• Deadlocks on external doors. Choose locks that open from inside without a key. Victoria Police warns against deadlocking yourself in, because you need a quick way out in a fire (Victoria Police).

Renting? Victoria's rental minimum standards already require external entry doors to have a lock that opens from inside without a key, and every openable external window to have a working latch (Consumer Affairs Victoria). If yours don't, ask your rental provider.

2. Laminated glass: it cracks, but it holds

Ordinary glass breaks into an opening. Toughened glass is strong but shatters completely into small pieces once it goes. Laminated glass is two sheets bonded to a tough plastic interlayer. When it's hit, it cracks, but the interlayer holds the pieces together in the frame. Getting through takes repeated blows and a lot of noise, which is exactly what someone breaking in wants to avoid.

Where it makes the most sense:

• Glass in and beside doors, where a broken pane lets someone reach the lock
• Ground-floor and rear windows out of sight of the street
• Large sliding doors to the backyard

A thicker laminate holds up longer than the common 6.38 mm grade. Laminated glass also blocks most UV, which protects floors and furniture, and cuts outside noise. Our guide to quieter, warmer windows covers that side.

One thing to know: the safety glass standard, AS 1288, is about protecting people from injury, not about stopping intruders, and Australia has no current burglary rating for glass. Be wary of glass sold as "burglar-proof". Laminated glass slows a break-in down; it doesn't make a window impossible to get through.

3. Security screens: check the standard

A good security screen lets you leave a window or door open for a breeze and still keep people out. The difference between a real security screen and a flyscreen in a heavy frame is the standard it meets.

• The Australian Standard for security screen doors and windows is AS 5039.1:2023. It sets tests for impact, levering at the lock and hinges, pulling, probing and cutting the mesh. Installation is covered by AS 5039.2:2024 (Standards Australia). (These replaced the older AS 5039, AS 5040 and AS 5041.)
• Ask for both in writing. A screen that "complies with AS 5039.1, installed to AS 5039.2" is what you want. "Tested to" a test method on its own doesn't say whether it passed.
• Stainless steel mesh gives a clearer view than a grille, and the frame and fixings matter as much as the mesh.
• Bedroom windows: a screen on a window you might need to escape through should open from inside without a key.

Where to start

1. Walk around the house and note every door and window you could reach from the ground, a fence or a roof.
2. Fix what doesn't lock properly: sliding doors on worn rollers, broken latches, sticking sashes.
3. Add keyed locks to reachable windows.
4. Upgrade the glass in and beside doors, and on hidden rear windows, to laminated.
5. Fit security screens where you want to leave windows or doors open.

Get a security quote

We fit laminated glass, security screens and window and door locks, and repair sliding doors that no longer lock, across our Melbourne service areas. We measure on site and quote in writing, door by door and window by window, so you can do the most important openings first. See our window and door repairs or ask for a quote.