Let's talk about deadbolts / door locks and home security

This will hopefully be the first of many home threads I start as I'm supposed to close on our first home on Monday. First order of business will be a thorough cleaning (foreclosure....been vacant for a while now) and swapping out some door locks. I will need 3 locks with 3 matching handles (front door, garage door, side door). I want the side door to have a keypad for when I lock myself out.

The front door has a side light so I'm kinda wondering if we want a key on the inside instead of it being unkeyed. The logic is I don't want a thief to smash the side light and just open the front door from the inside. The flip side of that is I HATE that my parent's house is like this because when I want to go out the front door I have to dig through piles of keys to find the right one. I also think that in case of fire this might be a bad idea.

Thoughts? Recommendations on brands?

My uncle went with a cheaper brand for his vacation home, said it saved him $200 over Schlage. He now wishes he went with Schlage. I have no idea why that is, maybe they just work better?

As for the side-light and key, my parents have a small table inside the door that is about 6 feet from the door and window. They leave the key on that in a little dish; it is the only key that resides there.

You can take the lock cylinders out and have them re-keyed at most local hardware stores. Mine charges $5 per each. You get to pick your new key out of a coffee can and then toss your old one in for the next buyer. Did all my doors for $30 and 30 minutes of time.

mikeatrpi wrote: You can take the lock cylinders out and have them re-keyed at most local hardware stores. Mine charges $5 per each. You get to pick your new key out of a coffee can and then toss your old one in for the next buyer. Did all my doors for $30 and 30 minutes of time.

I went that route when I bought my house, except I had the locksmith make a house call because it was just the wife at home at the time. It cost less than a hundred dollars to redo 8 locks.

There's a couple of keypad ones out there but from what I've found Schlag and Kwikset both perform pretty well. Kwikset also has that DIY rekeying feature on them which is really nice if you're going to go all new.

As a professional locksmith I can tell you this. The knob lock is all but useless (good for keeping the door shut on a windy day). All of your security is in the deadbolt. Having said that, unless you put bars on your windows you're only keeping out the lazy thieves and your friends. I had bars on my house when I bought it and took them off, pointless.

I have KwikSet locks on my house, if somebody wants in, they'll get in. Get whatever feels good to you but know that a passive defense (locks) against an active threat (actual home invader) is going to lose 100% of the time.

If you're concerned about security: get a dog.

mtn wrote: As for the side-light and key, my parents have a small table inside the door that is about 6 feet from the door and window. They leave the key on that in a little dish; it is the only key that resides there.

My childhood home was this way. The key was on a nail close to the door but far enough you could not reach it from the broken window and out of view through the window.

KyAllroad wrote: If you're concerned about security: get a dog.

My sister-in-law lived in a bad part of town and never locked her doors. She also had a 100 lb yellow lab who sounded at least three times that size when he was on the other side of the door.

Enyar wrote: The flip side of that is I HATE that my parent's house is like this because when I want to go out the front door I have to dig through piles of keys to find the right one. I also think that in case of fire this might be a bad idea.

That's the reason why double key locks aren't recommended or allowed. If there's a fire you may not be able to find the key, and you may not be able to get to one of the other doors.

As mentioned, get decent quality deadbolts, and do what you can to reinforce the door jamb. Personally I'm a believer in having a monitored security system as well; besides providing a layer of protection against intruders, they typically are also tied into smoke detectors, CO detectors and other things as required (like low temperature alarms in case the furnace goes out, or floor flood detectors in case a water pipe breaks.)

A good .45 acp, my house has a front porch thats 90% windows. Living in a small town full of tweakers i feel safer with the .45 then any locks. We also have a dog that makes alot of noise.

Locks only keep honest people out.

Get a dog and good neighbors

For locks, you get what you pay for.

For security, I've had pretty good luck with these.

Congrats on the new home purchase. The happiest days of my life were when I bought my first and second homes. The next was the day I sold them.

There is something you have to think about with locks. If they can't get in, can you get out (fire etc.)?

Dead bolts that lock on the horizontal are by far the best. The L bracket that holds them up goes into the frame in two directions preventing kick in. At this point the door and the frame are the weak points. Steel door and steel frame next. Essentially you are moving your weak points around.

Chains are damn near useless. My (at the time) 8 year old broke two.

Better than a camera or a gun: motion-sensitive exterior lights. They'll help prevent break-ins instead of just documenting or reacting to them. More effective than always-on lights as it alerts everyone that something has changed. Plus they're also really handy when you get home at night.

Dogs and guns always come up in these discussions, but if you leave the house and bring the dog with you they don't help at all. Video surveillance has its place, but it mainly gets pictures of the thieves taking your stuff out the door - it doesn't do anything to stop them.

Motion lights are great. I added timers to some lamps as well. We always look like we're home.

In reply to stuart in mn:

Don't hide the cameras.

Medico, ASSA. These are the things you need to know about deadbolts. Get one with a Medico or Assa on the outside and your standard non-deadbolt door key on the inside. Extra points for a restricted keyway on the outside. Then a big dog and a big gun and a security camera system. Fixed.

ASSA is fine. Medico is fine. Both are very challenging to pick and very expensive and still totally beside the point for home security. At my facility we use Stanley Best hardware and it's going to stop casual intruders. But unless you put it in a steel door mounted in a steel frame and bar the windows you still aren't "securing" your property. So relax, the odds are in your favor. Get whatever locks you like, use them. Pay up your homeowners insurance. Install some motion detecting lights. And don't fret over something you can't control.

Pretty much mirrors my attitude.

I really don't see the point of any high end locks in a residential setting. Or in many non-residential settings for that matter.

If you're not home and I'm specifically targeting your house, the quality of the lock is irrelevant because I'll just not bother unlocking it to get in. Likewise if I'm just trolling for something easy, locked is locked. Either way the practical difference between a good lock and a crap lock is pretty much zero as far as I can see. Am I missing something?

Whatever you go with mount the jamb plates and door hinges with long screws though the frame and well into the 2x4s. That said, if people want to steal your E36 M3 they will no matter what, short of staying home all the time with a shotgun and a dog.

Making it look like a bad idea to rob you is more important than having it actually be a bad idea. Motion lights, highly visible cameras (don't even really need to work), the dog that sounds like he'll rip your throat out (needn't actually be capable of doing so) every time a strange car is heard rolling up the driveway, things of that nature.

I have cameras up at my house. Though this picture was not intended for showing these cameras, if you zoom in you will see one between the garage doors overlooking the cars and another blatantly placed at the front door.

Wooden door frames are only a swift kick to gaining entry to your domicile, long-ass screws or not.

The documentary on cable 'Cocaine Cowboys' talked about a pepper spray system all around the house - thought that was pretty funny.

I bought a schlage pin kit off evilbay and rekeyed my last 3 houses myself for @$30.

For the new house I bought a keypad dead bolt for the front door and it has been life altering. No more house key to carry, just grab the key for the car I'm driving and go. Best $100 spent in years, and my whole family is getting them for Xmas.