Door lock recommendations

Mark M

Mark M

Mark M

Soldato
Joined
6 Jan 2006
Posts
3,437
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne
It seens more and more people are sadly getting burgled so thought its about time to up the security in the house a little. First thing I thought of was replacing the door cylinders in the front and back upvc doors for something better? Any recommendations?

Also I am going to put a solid wood door on the living room door and put a lock on there too so any recommendation for an internal door lock too would be great.

I already have an alarm which is serviced yearly and the doors are never left unlocked and the windows are always double checked before we go to bed to make sure they are shut and locked but any other advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Most burgulars don't pick the locks, so changing your barrels won't achieve anything. They get in through open windows or windows that can be pried away from the frame allowing them enough room to get an arm in to open said window. So you're better off with deadlocks at the top and bottom of the doors and around the window frames.
 
Oh I see, it was just that someone showed me that they could pick a standard euro barrel lock with a hacksaw blade which didnt fill me full of confidence!
 
You can pick locks with lots of things if you take the time to learn. The average burglar doesn't. They'll kick the door in before they spend 5 minutes trying to work the lock. The thing about burglary is you don't want to hang about. Kick the door in/climb through window, ransack the place and get out. Not spend 5 minutes working at the lock waiting for the feel of the teeth in the barrel clicking into place, ****ing up, having to start again, just so you don't damage the lock. You can also get door braces that you place under the door handles that help against people trying to kick or smash the door in.
 
Brian8bit said:
Most burgulars don't pick the locks, so changing your barrels won't achieve anything. They get in through open windows or windows that can be pried away from the frame allowing them enough room to get an arm in to open said window. So you're better off with deadlocks at the top and bottom of the doors and around the window frames.
Click to expand...

I second this.
Also in my local newspaper a guy had a wooden door in his front room and a burgular just kicked it in...
i suppose if they want something they will do anything to get it
 
I'd make sure the locks aren't trivially easy to pick(*), but other than that I'll echo what Brian8bit has written.


* I once called out a locksmith because I'd left my keys at work. It took him 30s from getting out of his van to being in my house without causing any damage. Actually getting the door open took no more time than it would have done with a key. Some burglars would go that route if they could because it's much less likely to attract attention than breaking in, so there is some value in having non-trivial locks. It might in some cases make the difference between "I'll do this house because I can get in easily" and "I'll do a different house because I might be seen breaking into this one". It won't make much difference, but it's something and it's not expensive.
 
What you want are things to slow the burglars down, impossible to keep them out if they want your shinies :)

i.e. animals, security lighting outside, visible alarm system. With the door thing, you can go as far as putting a bar on the door (castle gate style)

Dad has a great one, when he goes on holiday, he puts all manner of furniture against ground floor windows and doors, just to slow them down enough.
 
Replace door with a solid steel block and weld parts on so the lock is inaccesable. Sounds OTT but I know some companies in the local area that do this because theives will try anything + cctv + a couple of locks on each door + all windows with gratings on the inside. Or on our front door we had locks that could only be unlocked from the inside with something similar to an allen key, mostly as a fail safe if the lock was picked/ tried to kick the door in as it is another renforcing point.
 
One of the things I got was FakeTV, although statistics vary on how many burglars are put off by alarms/locks all statistics are nearly consistent in that most won't attempt to burgle a property they think is occupied.

Obviously most of them are wise to timers controlling lamps etc, however light from TV isn't possible with a timer as they won't switch the telly on. This replicates the light changes/colour changes and pattern of a tv light. Set it up and point it at a window and it looks like someone is watching telly inside.

Only £20ish and I got mine from Amazon where they have a video showing it in action.
 
When I was broken into they jimmied the two locks with something (eg credit card trick), and chipped away some of the wooden molding on the outside door to get better access. So deadbolts are win, or if not get decent molding that stops people sliding cards down the side. We now have a lock where the outside bit spins so they can't drill the barrel out either. Windows have window alarms now so if someone jarrs them they go off very loudly, they also have a little red label on the back of them so burglars know they're there.
 
http://www.abs-secure.co.uk/

These are supposed to be good. Anti bump and snap. They are quite expensive though.

If you have any windows or doors with toughened glass downstairs then apply some security film. Toughened glass can be broken in seconds and is almost silent. With the security film on it will make it a lot harder to get in, but more importantly you otr your neighbours are more likely to hear them as they will have to smash their way through.
 
Last edited:
TheYoungster said:
I second this.
Also in my local newspaper a guy had a wooden door in his front room and a burgular just kicked it in...
i suppose if they want something they will do anything to get it
Click to expand...

1. Install a steel door, such that it opens outwards and the hinges are inaccessible.

2. Make it look like it opens inwards.

3. Paint it so that it looks like a wooden door.

4. Install CCTV so that you can point and laugh when their hop, skip and flying kick ends in agony.

5. Profit.*


* Or not. You will probably be successfully sued by the newly crippled burglars.
 
Police used to say 'never lock internal doors,' as once they're in, they can spend time breaking internals without disturbance; dunno if that's true but seems logical.
 
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