Door Boarding in Bracknell
A forced or damaged door is the one opening you can’t leave until morning. Our door boarding service in Bracknell makes it safe: we secure the damaged door, frame or lock, board across what can’t be trusted, and leave the property closed up until the permanent repair is arranged. A person answers the phone 24 hours a day, and we attend nights, weekends and bank holidays. If the door is open to the street right now, our 24-hour emergency boarding page covers what to do first.
When door boarding is the right fix
Doors fail in different ways, and the work depends on what’s actually broken. We’re usually called for:
- Front or back doors after forced entry. These often have a split frame at the lock side, a snapped cylinder or a door that no longer latches.
- Glass panels in doors. This includes a smashed pane in a half-glazed door, a side light, or a panel in French or patio doors.
- Doors damaged by storms, impact or fire. This means doors that are warped, partly detached or no longer closing properly.
- Shop, office and communal doors. These include entrances to flats above shops, rear fire-route doors and service doors.
Bracknell has New Town estates, pockets of Victorian housing and mixed streets like Market Street, where flats, offices and shops sit together. That means we see everything from solid timber doors in older frames to uPVC and aluminium units. Each takes fixings differently, which is why we ask what you’ve got before we arrive.
Securing the door before boarding it
The most important judgement on a door job is whether the door and frame can still carry a fixing.
If the frame is sound and only the glass or a panel is gone, we board the opening and keep the door in use where that’s practical. If the door has been forced but the frame is intact, we can often secure the door closed and board over it.
When the frame itself is split, pulled away from the wall or rotten, it won’t hold screws reliably. In that case we stop and explain the options before doing anything. That might mean fixing back to sound masonry or framing beyond the damaged section, or boarding the whole opening rather than trying to save the door. You’ll hear what we recommend and why, and you agree it before work starts. We don’t screw boards into a frame that will simply pull out again.
Keeping a way in and out
Boarding a door shut is different from boarding a window. If it’s your only entrance, you still need to get in and out, and nobody should be boarded into a home without a safe exit.
On the call we’ll ask which doors you need to keep using. That determines whether we secure the damaged door fully and you use another entrance, or whether we make the opening safe in a way that still lets you come and go. For empty properties it’s simpler, and our page on securing vacant properties covers that.
Materials and fixings
- Exterior-grade plywood, typically 18mm, is used for full door openings and for boarding over a damaged door. It’s strong, stands up to weather and is hard to break through.
- OSB is used for smaller openings such as a single broken glass panel or a side light.
- Security and anti-tamper fixings are used where the board faces the street or anyone could try to remove it.
- Non-destructive fixing is used where the frame allows. It limits extra damage, so the joiner or glazer has less to put right later.
The van carries boarding stock and fixings, so in most cases the work can be completed on the first visit once the job is agreed.
What happens on the visit
- We look at the door, frame and lock. We check how the door is hanging, where the frame is damaged and what the surrounding wall or framing will take.
- We confirm the plan with you. This covers what we’ll secure, what we’ll board and which entrance stays usable. If anything differs from what we discussed on the call, we tell you before changing the work.
- We make the area safe. We clear loose glass and debris from the doorway so people can pass safely.
- We secure and board. We fix the door or frame where needed, then fit the board with the agreed fixings.
- We photograph and record. We take time-stamped before and after photographs and note the work done.
What you receive
- A made-safe doorway, secured and boarded as agreed
- An itemised invoice
- Time-stamped before and after photographs
- A written statement of the work done
These are the documents insurers usually ask for. Your insurer decides what’s covered, but you’ll have a clear record to send them. Our guide to insurance claims explains how to use it.
After a break-in
If the door was forced, report it to the police and keep the crime reference number. Contact your insurer, and photograph the damage if it’s safe to do so. Avoid handling the broken frame or glass more than you need to. The burglary repairs page walks through the next steps in order.
What affects the quote
The quote is free and given on the call, before any work starts. What shapes it:
- Number and size of openings. This could be a single front door, or a door plus side lights or a pair of patio doors.
- Whether the door or frame needs securing first. A split frame takes more work than a missing glass panel.
- Materials and board thickness. The full-height 18mm ply needed for a door costs more than OSB for a small panel.
- Fixing method. Security or anti-tamper fixings take more work than standard fixings.
- Access. This covers steps, narrow passages, or a door on an upper landing or external stair.
- Debris and glass to make safe.
The pricing page explains these factors in more detail. We don’t publish set prices because two broken doors are rarely the same job.
Once the door is secure
Boarding gives you a safe, closed property while you arrange the permanent repair. That repair might be a new door, frame, lock or glazing, fitted by the right trade once you and your insurer are ready.
We’ve been boarding up for over 10 years. We’re fully insured, with the certificate available on request, and DBS-checked. That matters when we’re working at the entrance to your home or business.
Get the door made safe
Tell us the postcode, what kind of door it is, what’s broken and which entrance you still need to use. Safe photographs of the door and frame help us talk through access and give a clear quote. Don’t step through broken glass to take them. We cover Bracknell and nearby, including Crowthorne, Ascot, Winkfield and Sandhurst, subject to confirming your address on the call.