Someone kicked in my (steel) front door some years ago while I was away. I didn’t worry much about it then, but as I get older I feel more concerned. The door is steel, but the frame is wood, and that’s what broke.
I did find that steel frames exist but not a lot. Mostly they were for concrete or brick industrial buildings.
So are they used in houses, and is there a good reason not to use one in an inhabited house?
I do have a new 12ga, so I should be okay until I get a serious reply. 
Peace,
mangeorge
I don’t see why you couldn’t use them. If security is your concern, I’ve seen steel door frames that had grout poured into the hollow section of the frame after it was in place. Properly anchored to the wood wall studs, that would be plenty secure.
you do loose more heat through a steel door and frame. in a home it might be uncomfortable in a heating environment unless it is in a closed entry.
the steel frames get placed in during building. to place in wood framing and be mounted to withstand being battered in would likely require opening up and redoing some framing.
As you noticed, steel door frames are for the most part are made to install in a masonry wall…as you build them. You can install them in a wood setting but they’re are a problem to trim out. However, if you have some basic carpentry skills, you can make your door kick resistant without getting too creative.
First, assuming your door opens in, down at the home center they will sell extra long screws (3" or so) which will bite into the framing (instead of the weak probably white pine frame). Don’t try to use long drywall screws or deck screws instead, they’ll be too weak. Door and hinge manufactures sell these screws so they’ll fit the screw nicely. They might be a bitch to get in, put some butcher’s wax on them, we don’t care how easy they are to unsrcew, we care about their shear strength.
If your door opens out, you’ll want to do the above but replace the hinges with “pinned” or security hinges. Some have pins which mate the plates together when they are closed, some have matching bumps and depressions.
Next, the lock side. Some people just use some extra long dry screws on the pathetic plates which come with your lock. Heh, sure like that will stop anything. At the home center again you’ll find nice 1/8-3/16" thick brass plated steel plates which match the standard door knob/lock setup. Measure before you go to make sure.
They’re normally about 1’ long, but some run the entire height of the door (which you may need to cut to match your door). They need to be mortised in but some accurate depth setting on the circular saw and a steady hand will do 99% of the work for you. You can also find full length plates for the hinge side too, which will do everything I said above and more. Properly installed on the inside you just see a nice brass trim along the door which doesn’t scream “Yes, I have a bomb shelter too, and no you’re not welcome in it”
I haven’t installed these kits in a while, but there is no reason why I wouldn’t think they’d be down at your nearest home center (I used to go to a door hardware only store, where else do you get some refurbished trucks and track for a 150 year old 6x12’ sliding door? Yes of course the local home center ran them out of business)
Does anyone import European door hardware? When I lived in Germany, I was amazed at residential doors. Instead do a simple bolt, they they had sliding plates along the door edge. One went upm the other down and each had 3 or 4 steel pins that fit into slots on the door frame.
It was like having dead bolts at top and bottom and another half dozen on the edge. Hinges were similarly rugged.
I’ve never seen them. That doesn’t mean they’re not available but if you can find them they will be very expensive. And, it’s not just hardware, it’s an entire door/hardware/frame system. They cost more than a decent dishwasher in Europe.
I work in new residential construction and have never seen steel frames used for exterior doors and I’m not sure if any are made for that purpose. Steel frames are used for fire doors (the door between house and garage for example) but those are made for interior use and are light weight steel.
Are your windows still made of glass?
Nobody kicked my window in. 
A friend of mine used to live in an old apartment hi-rise from the 1860’s or 1970’s. They used wood frames, IIRC, but the short bolts. They caught some people breaking into apartments once. All these guys did was put their butt against one side of the door frame, their foot on the other side, and push. There was no reinforcing, the frame bent enough that the doors popped open. My friend installed a much longer deadbolt after that.
I second the idea of getting longer screws that will extend into the house framing.
I just bought some larger strike plates for one of my doors. I didn’t buy it for security, but must say, they are quite robust. Much heavier duty than the standard stuff.
I was just wondering. Steel doors are readily available, and quite popular according to the local stores. Why install a steel door 0n a wooden frame? I dunno. Because its easy?
I’m not that worried. The busted part of the frame is still patched up, as it was after my “temporary” fix years ago. 
There are a lot of reasons. Many people buy them for perceived security but a properly built solid core exterior wood door won’t be the weak point in that.
When I say properly constructed is to make sure the parts on the door which are most vulnerable, the strike side followed by the hinge side are built extra strong.
Many people like the look of paneled doors which, if made of wood, CAN be weaker.
Steel doors have various advantages. First in humid climates they don’t expand or contract like a wood door will. Because steel won’t hold moisture like wood, you can give them a nice long lasting paint job.
Steel doors, good ones, also can be better insulating. They have plastic strips to isolate the inside panel from the outside panel to prevent heat from transferring easily from one side to the other, and are filled with foam insulation. Sometimes they are just filled with wood but the better ones are filled with dense foam to give the “weight” “heft” and “feel” of a wood door.
Prehung units are usually complimented with several layers of weather stripping as well. The jamb and frame are usually wood of course, to aid in trimming out, but some I’ve seen (expensive) also have a steel sub frame for security and to help prevent sticking (which a properly installed steel door is much more resistant to than a wood door).
Glues and engineered lumber have taken away some advantages away from a steel door, but a quality one as part of a complete door unit probably has an an advantage in insulation. I’ve even read about doors which are steel on the outside and wood on the inside to try and give a compromise.
You might want to look at this. When you are inside your house, you can also use one of those devices that braces the door under the door knob. I remember seeing locks in New York City that used steel bars that braced against the door but that could be unlocked from outside. It was said (but I cannot confirm) that these locks were illegal and I have not been able to find any. I believe that it makes things difficult for a fireman during a fire (someone is unconscious inside and the fireman can’t get in)
Here is another option - steel reinforcement for wood door frames:
I just installed two of these on exterior doors. They were recommended to me by some window and door companies. Installation was sufficiently easy, and they look like they would do the trick. I also used some of the 3" screws to replace at least one screw in each of the three hinges.
That’s pretty much what ethelbert linked to above. I’ll be looking at those soon when I repair my doorframe. They strengthen just where mine busted.
I’ll probably get them at Ace Hardware, Home Depot annoys me.
Thanks
I was going to suggest making this. You could probably buy thicker steel cheaper and mortice it into place. When I built my garage I framed in a 2 x 6 in front of the strike plate. It’s not going anywhere.
I attached (8- #10 x3" stainless wood screws) a chunk of 3/16 steel angle to the (1919, very solid) door framing. The angle had notches for the latch and deadbolt cut out (yes, it took a while to get that located and cut out).
The bad guy is goint to have to shear the 1/2" steel deadbolt, deromed it enough that it bends back 1/4", pull off that angle, or knock out 6 full dimensions 2x4’s nailed together with 16d every 2 '.
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I fix and replace doors after break-ins regularly.
Properly installed exterior doors should always have long screws into the frame from each hinge and and long #10 or even #12 screws through the deadbolt’s strikeplate into the frame. Every door I install always comes with a #10 long screw for each hinge from the manufacturer. I usually replace these with better quality, longer screws. Schlage deadbolts come with a beefy double strike plate and a couple pretty serious screws, the Kwikset/Weiser deadbolts have lighter single strikeplates, and also lighter screws. A good security plate reinforcing the jamb to the frame is always a good idea. When building custom homes we had a supply of heavy gauge steel plates that we would mortise into the frame and jamb.
Many new exterior door jambs have built in wrap around strikeplates that are quite good. Steel exterior doors are fairly rare now and better quality homes tend to have fiberglass or plastic wrapped wooden doors. These can be gell stained and look really good if done right. There is little to no advantage to a steel door, it is the jamb that fails.
The door jamb should be fir, not finger jointed pine. Pine jambs are very weak but good fir jambs still benefit from security plates. Commercial steel door frames are surprisingly thin gauge actually but at least steel cant splinter like a wood jamb. Commercial frames are hard to adjust and trim. If going this route be sure to buy the whole door and frame to ensure a good fit.