lock conumdrums

[Penners]

my plan to use the existing iron bar on our door. If I didn't already have the iron bar I would probably fit a couple of big bolts inside.

The reason that insurance companies require a 5-lever mortice lock is that it makes entry into the house by that door difficult. However, that's not the whole story. They also reason that the final exit door is normally the quickest exit from the house, and if that door is secured it makes a quick escape more difficult for a burglar who has already got into the house.

I don't think your iron bar or bolts would be acceptable on the final exit door, for this reason.

 

[Moo]

So, on that basis, shouldn't all ground-floor exterior doors have mortice locks?

 

[Flyfisher]

Interesting point, but surely a rear door would be more attractive to a burglar? I've always assumed that the final exit door needed a good lock because that would be the only method of securing that door, whereas all the others are likely to have bolts of some description that could not be easily released from the outside (perhaps I need more experience in breaking and entering).

Another reason for checking the insurance small-print very carefully.

 

[Penners]

Moo - ideally, yes. Our insurer requires the back door to have one, too. All other exits (french windows, etc.) must be secured by concealed bolts when not in use - the kind that you have to wind in and out with a splined key.

But I don't think all insurers require this. As I said above, I believe the thinking is that the main exit door is likely to offer the quickest exit route for anyone inside the house for nefarious reasons (ie: straight on to the street) and so should not allow this.

 

[Penners]

Another reason for checking the insurance small-print very carefully.

Dead right. I wonder how many people don't bother to do this, and leave themselves at risk of having a claim refused because they haven't complied with some condition or other.

 

[NT]

http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/community/comsafety/Home+Office+Publications+on+Crime+Reduction.htm


NT

 

[Cloudscape]

How you secure a ledge-and-brace door, when the wood isn't thick enough to allow you to insert a 5-lever lock?

 

[Ian Bond]

Here's one way to do it:

A yale type lock will provide minimal security, but you obviously have to remember to turn the key in the mortice locks to secure the door when you leave.

 

[Penners]

Plant a well-secured (ie: screwed and glued) framing piece on the opening edge of the door, thick enough to allow the mortice lock to be inserted. If you fit the framing piece snugly between the two ledges, it needn't look too unisghtly.

You'll do yourself a favour if you cut the mortise into the side of the framing piece (and if necessary into the edge of the door) before you plant it on. IMO this is easier than cutting the mortice out afterwards.

 

[Penners]

You beat me to it, Ian!

 

[Ian Bond]

We must have been replying at the same time to that one Penners!!!!

That's a good technique for disguising modern locks anyway.

 

[Cloudscape]

Ah... thanks very much for that, both.

 

[thiambal]

No, ideally you have a door that is normally open. The postman can put packets too big to fit through letterbox into the house and neighbours who visit can come in and put the kettle on before going off to find you in the shed or garden. Glad I don't live in Kent. Sounds like a bad land

Indeed, the thought of opening the door to all and sundry, let alone having the neighbours wander through the house whilst I am in the shed, fills me with a sense of forboding.

It is going to be a bloody yale night latch isn't it!!!

 

[Nemesis]

We arrived home after a week's holiday this summer to find one of us (not the one typing this) had left the front door and the porch inner glass door wide open.

No, nothing missing. Not that we have much of value to nick really, unless you are keen on books. Doubt that a volume or three of Pevsner is worth much in the local boozer.

 

[Chris1roll]

Well for 25 years we have managed with a thumblatch on the front door, with a rimlock and a sturdy bolt on the inside. same for the other two doors. The insurers, (NFU) have no problem with this, I believe the original conversation between my mother and the insurers went something like this

Do you have 5 lever mortice dealocks
NO
Do you have window locks
NO
Do you have a burglar alarm
NO

Ummm, what do you have then?
A rimlock and some bolts....

They came and had a look once, must cost a bit more to cover us, but at least if there is a fire (or, another one - trust me once in that situation you would never set a deadlock again) we'll still be able to get out.

At the end of the day if someone really wnts in, theyre coming in. I however, don't want to be trapped in our windowless cross passage with it rapidly filling with smoke.