You walk into your house at the end of a long day, eager for a hot shower and some much-needed rest. You grab your keys from the table and head to the kitchen to find something quick for dinner.
Suddenly you feel that unmistakable feeling of being watched. You turn around quickly, but there’s no one there—just an eerie silence in every room. Your heart starts pounding as you run up the stairs…only to realize everything is just fine: it was just a key left in the lock on your back door because you forgot about it when leaving today!
The relief is so great that you laugh out loud with joy; then immediately regret doing so when you hear someone walking outside and realize how vulnerable this makes both yourself and your family.
Home Security is Very Important
For most people, making sure their home remains safe and secure is an important concern. Having a home security system is certainly one way to accomplish that, but there are other things you can do as well—such as changing the locks on your doors so that they have better protection against forced entry or having it re-keyed so that the locks work with different keys.
However, it is important to realize that these types of home security measures are only as good as your door lock—and if you’ve been using a basic deadbolt for most of your life without changing or upgrading anything, then there may be an opportunity for you to do both at the same time.
Home locks have come a long way in the past decade alone. What was once considered by some to be an area you should stay away from (kind of like home plumbing before it became more common for people to learn what their “P”, “C” and “K” valves were), has suddenly become one of the most important parts of your home’s security.
New technologies have allowed us to design locks that are not only safer but also more convenient too.
A Very Good Lock Design: The Deadbolt
Here’s a quick lesson on how door locks work because it’s important for you to know what makes up your lock and its benefits so that you can make the best choices when deciding whether or not to upgrade.
Your basic, run-of-the-mill lock design will have several main parts inside it: a bolt moving back and forth; a locking mechanism that controls how the bolt locks into place; a cam built into the side of the door itself (this is what allows the door to be opened up from the inside, even when the bolt is in place); and a cylinder built into the top part of the door (the keyhole).
Let’s take an example of a more modern design: the deadbolt. This type of lock is fairly easy to use; you only need one hand, which means you can hold something in the other and still unlock your door. Here’s what makes a deadbolt work:
The bolt will go into a hole on one side of the door but only come out of the hole on the other side. This prevents anyone from trying to force their way through that opening (which is where the majority of door damage would occur). The bolt will lock automatically when you turn it; because of the way that it moves, and how its parts are made, there is no way to open the door from the other side without a key.
This prevents anyone from opening your door freely if they just push on it hard enough (and note that in this example, there is also a built-in alarm that triggers if the door is breached). The bolt itself moves all of the ways into the hole on one side of your door; therefore, even someone with enough tools to get their hand between the door and frame (the weakest part of most doors) will not be able to pull it back out; the design will prevent it automatically. So, in this case, there is also a built-in alarm that triggers if the bolt is removed forcibly with tools.
The cylinder at the top of the door (the keyhole) rotates and only allows you to unlock your lock from one direction; anyone else trying to unlock your door from another side will not be able to do so, because the cylinder will only rotate in one direction. There is a cam built into the side of the door that slides past your bolt as you unlock it; this action allows you to open your door free from the inside by sliding the bolt all of the ways back out once again and rotating your cylinder like normal.
However, if someone were to try and open your door from the outside, they would not be able to because of that bolt; it will only come out the other side.
A Very Good Lock Design: The Lever-Style
As you can see, all of these things together make for a very good lock design. Now let’s do another example (this time with a lever-style lock):
The bolt itself will be lever-shaped and must be pulled back in order to unlock your door. This is a pretty cool design because it’s old enough that you can still see original versions of these online, but new enough that they are much stronger than the typical deadbolt. The levers have curved edges and angles on them so that no one can get a tool inside or underneath and pull them back out again.
They have locks built onto the end of each lever to prevent anyone from even being able to do that much. Because you must use two hands with these types of locks, they are not as convenient; however, they are also more secure because there is no way anyone can get between your door and frame to attempt to yank the bolt back out again.
The lever itself is actually a separate, connected piece that slides in and out of place (it’s not just part of the door); because it is separate from the actual locking mechanism, you can slide it all the way forward even when the lock is activated.
This means that you can get out of your house even if someone just breaks a window and tries to open the door because you can still slide the lever forward (it has a built-in alarm in it that will trigger if this piece is removed forcefully).
Find a Reliable and Trusted Locksmith in Silver Spring, MD
As you can see, both of these examples use different designs; however, they both accomplish the same thing: keeping any bad guys (or even just strangers) from walking into your house. This is why you have locks on all of your doors, and it’s important that you use the most secure ones you can get.
If your door gets broken into or damaged in any way, you need to get it repaired ASAP. Most of the time, you will want to replace your door entirely if it is destroyed; however, if you can make repairs yourself, that’s always a better option than trying to find someone (you may not know anything about) who can do it for less money. However, these options are not always feasible, and sometimes you end up having to pay a lot for repairs anyway.
The best thing to do is find yourself the best locksmiths in your area as soon as possible so that you have them on hand when anything happens (and they will be able to give you advice on choosing more secure doors/locks, etc).
If your door gets broken into or damaged in any way, it’s important to get it repaired ASAP. Most of the time, if a door has been destroyed and needs repairs made by someone other than oneself, people typically opt for replacing their entire door instead of repairing it.
However, this option may not always be feasible depending on how expensive the replacement process might be.
The key takeaway here is making sure one has themselves good quality locksmiths nearby who can help with both lock installation and repair should something go wrong with your door.
Get in Touch with Us
Locks are a necessary part of any home, and you should always have at least one on every door. When it comes to purchasing locks for your doors, though, there are many different types – so which is best? The most secure lock type would be the “deadbolt” style; this has been around since before the 1900s but is still just as strong today.
If you need new locks or want to repair an existing deadbolt system, contact us today!
