When we tell people we make steel security doors, they usually picture ugly doors with nothing unique about them whatsoever. We don’t blame them — this is what most people think of because that’s what they’ve seen on businesses or homes. But that’s not at all what we make at FBS.
Our steel security doors are works of art made by experienced artisans in Italy. Each door we make is specifically designed for you — your design aesthetic, your tastes, your home’s color palette, and the type of statement you want to make with your front door, or interior doors. They’re the kind of thing you have to see to believe (and we have plenty of examples to show you).
Your steel security door doesn’t have to be ugly, and we’re here to prove it to you. Here’s how we transform security doors into showstopping centerpieces of your home.
Typical Steel Security Doors
When you research steel security doors, what you typically find are products that look a lot like industrial screen doors. Some are more decorative than others, but overall, they’re simply steel bars that are installed on the outside of your exterior door. You’ve probably seen them before. They’re frequently on businesses in high traffic areas, as well as low-to-middle class homes near major streets. For the most part, they’re a deterrent to intruders not only because they create an additional barrier between them and the inside of the house, but they’re more difficult to kick in.
In many ways, they’re simply screen doors with a higher level of security. In addition to the steel bars instead of mesh (which can obviously be cut through with almost anything sharp), the locks are more like actual door locks with a deadbolt as opposed to a cheap piece of metal that flips down over a latch. Overall, they’re on the lower end of the quality spectrum and even though some of them are quite pretty, these types of steel security doors aren’t what people want to buy for their luxury homes. They simply don’t look right on refined, elegant homes.
Revolutionizing Steel Security Doors
At FBS, we make steel security doors, but they don’t look like the ones you’ll find at big box stores. In fact, you wouldn’t know by looking at our custom doors that they’re security doors at all — and that’s the point. You don’t want to flaunt your security measures out in the open for just anyone to see. Your home security should be hidden as much as possible so no one has the opportunity to try and game the system. (Not that you could game our system — you can’t.)We’re not interested in creating products that look like something everyone else has, or something anyone can buy at their local hardware store. After all, that’s not how luxury homes are built. They’re carefully planned, meticulously crafted, and customized down to the very finest detail.So that’s how we build our steel security doors. Every single detail — from the inside out — can be customized to meet your standards of beauty, strength, and personal preferences. One of the most fun parts about our doors is that they’re essentially two doors in one: the interior side of the door can be its own design with specific color palette and patterns, while the exterior side of the door can be something completely different and unique on its own.We have four classifications for our door coverings to make sure you’re getting exactly what you want in each and every door, whether it’s for your front entrance, garage, slider leading out to your patio, or your bedroom.
Essential Coverings
Essential coverings include our most basic, cost-effective options. They include smooth panels affixed to the outside of the steel door to hide the impenetrable security inside. The panels can be wood veneer finished in many shades and patterns, or a multilayer laminate finished with lacquered color (including Pantone® colors using our FBS PerfectMatch™ System).The most important thing to know about essential coverings is that they’re designed for interior use only. The laminate and the wood veneer aren’t suitable to withstand potential harsh weather or temperatures outside. But of course, because our doors are basically two-in-one, these coverings are suitable for the interior side of any exterior door you want to create. 
We often use our essential coverings on interior doors — most frequently bedroom doors as part of our Sanctuary™ System. Another common use is on fire doors leading from the garage to the main part of the house, but they can be used anywhere inside the home.Just because this is our lowest level of covering doesn’t mean they look or feel cheap. Quite the contrary, these materials look elegant, sleek, and perfectly fitting in any luxury home. To see a gallery of our essential coverings on real steel security doors we’ve made for clients, click here and look under the “essential coverings” section.
Enhanced Coverings
Enhanced coverings are the next step up. These offerings include panels made of wood composite or anodized aluminum. Both of these materials are approved for outdoor use, provided that the door is covered by some sort of awning, such as a portico, a porch, or an overhang. The wood composite comes in multiple shades ranging from very light to very dark, including finishes such as light or dark okume, pine, fir, oak, and mahogany. Of course, these could be combined to form a pattern. For example, one of our clients liked both the light and the dark okume, so our architects alternated the two shades and created a V-pattern for this gorgeous, stylized arched door.To see some of our enhanced coverings on real doors we’ve made for clients, click here and look under the “enhanced coverings” section.
Elegant Coverings
Elegant coverings provide a rather sizable jump in terms of luxury and class for your steel security door. These finishes include solid wood, decorative glass, and Italian gres. All of these materials are approved for outdoor use, even when they’re not covered by some sort of awning. The wood can be stained any shade you’d like, including custom mixing to match any existing wood in your luxury home. The decorative glass can be left clear, made opaque for privacy, or even stained any color you’d like. The Italian gres is simply breathtaking, and is the perfect way to add a little extra something to your doors — especially if you’re designing a front door.None of these materials require a lot of maintenance, but because these coverings are frequently used on the exterior side of doors, we’ll check on them during our first annual maintenance visit to make sure they’re still in good shape, and then every year afterward if you renew the Platinum Level Service Plan. To see how we’ve incorporated elegant coverings onto real clients’ doors, click here and look under the “elegant coverings” section.
Extravagant Coverings
Extravagant coverings are the ultimate in decadent luxury for your steel security door. Incorporating hand-stitched Italian leather or precious stones (such as marble, onyx, agate, obsidian or even Swarovski® crystal) into your design transforms your door into a work of art, rather than a regular door. 
Because of the wide variety of precious stones we offer, we can’t say with certainty that they’re all approved for exterior use. This will depend on what you’d like to incorporate, where you live, and what kind of harsh weather you may encounter.While most of our clients don’t opt for decking an entire door in Swarovski® crystal (though, one client did!), people typically incorporate precious stones in their design to add a decorative element to their steel security door. After all, who would think that a security door has such a decadent design?To see how extravagant coverings have been incorporated into our clients’ doors, click here and look under the “extravagant coverings” section.
Putting Them All Together
Most of our clients choose selections from more than one of these covering classifications. They might choose a wood veneer panel that is broken up by anodized aluminum, or wood composite that is broken up by decorative glass inserts.Regardless of what your preferred design aesthetics happen to be, or what your current luxury home looks like, we’re confident we can create a steel security door that completely amazes you. We’re also willing to bet that your guests will stop and ask you about your door — how many other companies can make such a claim?
Steel Security Pivot Doors
Pivot doors are all the rage, and with very good reason. On a very basic level, they’re impressive because they’re different. When you walk up to a door and pull on the handle, you expect the door to open at the very edge — you’re expecting a normal hinge door because that’s what’s on so many buildings, whether commercial or residential. But when you pull on the handle of a pivot door, it surprises you. Pivot doors don’t have hinges. They literally pivot on a designated point that is determined by the size and weight of the door. Typically, the pivot point is about one-quarter to one-third of the way in from one side of the door, but it can also be placed in the middle. Regardless, our pivot doors are always perfectly balanced so they don’t require a motor to open them (though, we highly recommend a motor because it’s so much fun to open a door that you don’t have to touch).Our pivot doors are also steel security doors. They are just as secure as a regular hinge door, and can also be hurricane-certified. In fact, we’re currently working on a stand-alone hurricane-certified pivot door, meaning that it doesn’t require a special drainage system or an awning. (Stay tuned!) Furthermore, our pivot doors can be stylized using any of our coverings, from essential to extravagant, and be upgraded with any of our technology and convenience options, such as facial recognition, motors that automatically open and close your doors, and our specialized and completely customizable Sanctuary™ Management System.
Designing Your Own Steel Security Door
When you’re ready to design your steel security door, our architects will sit down with you to discuss exactly what you’re looking for. Whenever possible, they’ll actually travel to your home (wherever it is) to physically see the space for themselves. This helps them get a feel for your home and assess the architectural style more accurately. They’ll go over your materials options (depending on the location of your luxury home and where in the house the door will be located) and help you make decisions based on their breadth of knowledge of the product selections. After that, they’ll draw up a few different designs for you to choose from.Once you’ve made your selections and finalized the design, we’ll send it to the artisans to make sure they’re good to go. We’ve yet to design a steel security door that they couldn’t make to our exact specifications — even when they think we’re crazy! As soon as they’ve approved the design, they’ll get to work. In a few weeks’ time, your custom steel security door will be delivered directly to your home.If you’re interested in learning more about our doors (or windows), please don’t hesitate to call us. We love talking to people about their luxury homes and determining how we can best help them achieve their goals. If you’re in the area, we’d love for you to make an appointment to see our showroom. In the meantime, check out our common questions page to see if you can find any immediate answers there. Feel free to read through our articles to learn more about our products. And please check out our videos for product demonstrations. We’re confident we can create a steel security door that no one would believe is a security door — and if you’re in Miami-Dade County (or any other hurricane zone), we can make sure it’s hurricane-certified as well. We hope to hear from you soon!
