La Habra, CA Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Section 15.60.050, Residential door frames, jambs, strikes and hinges, requires that except for vehicular access doors, every exterior swinging door of a residential building and attached garage, including the door leading from the garage into the dwelling unit, have a jamb installed with solid backing so no voids exist between the strike side and the frame opening for six inches on each side of the strike, horizontal blocking between studs at door-lock height for three stud spaces on each side of wood-framed openings, one-piece door stops on wooden in-swinging jambs, a strike plate for deadbolts of at least sixteen U.S. gauge steel, bronze, or brass secured with at least two screws penetrating two inches into solid backing, and nonremovable hinge pins or a mechanical interlock on out-swinging door hinges.

Section 15.60.080, Residential door construction and locking, separately requires the same doors to be solid-core wood at least one and three-fourths inches thick or with panels at least nine-sixteenths inch thick, fitted with a single-cylinder deadbolt projecting at least one inch with at least three-fourths inch embedment, a cylinder guard, a minimum of five pin tumblers, and connecting screws at least one-fourth inch in diameter; the inactive leaf of a double door needs metal flush bolts embedded at least five-eighths inch; glazing within twelve inches of a lock must be fully tempered or burglary-resistant; and front doors without a clear vision panel need a one-hundred-eighty-degree door viewer mounted no more than fifty-eight inches above the floor.

Both sections trace to Ordinance 1136 from 1981 and remain part of Chapter 15.60's Security Standards for Buildings, enforced by the chief building inspector as the chapter's designated enforcing authority.