And insurance policies commonly give discounts for homes with deadbolts. Determine Whether You Want a Smart Lock The price alone might be enough to make you scoff at buying a smart lock, but before you dismiss it, consider the convenience it delivers. Smart locks solve those problems by way of smartphone apps and optional remote locking and unlocking features.
Just know that remote access usually requires the use of some sort of WiFi bridge, at an additional cost. Beef Up the Door Frame and Lock Weak doors—in particular, hollow-core doors—may give way before the lock does. Whichever type of lock you buy, be sure to use a box strike made of heavy-duty metal and install it with the screws provided. Another option is to install 3-inch screws on your existing strike plate. Hinges should also be secured with 3-inch screws.
You might not want to spring for a double-sided lock, though; many municipalities consider them to be a fire hazard because you need a key to unlock the door from inside, which creates the possibility of being trapped.
But they can offer peace of mind if installed on a door adjacent to glass sidelites by robbing a would-be burglar of the ability to break the glass and reach in to unlock the thumb-turn. Here are a few lock features that can add security and convenience to your home. Many nonconnected and smart locks can be rekeyed for use with new physical keys or to make one key open all the entry doors in your home, saving you from having to hire a locksmith.
These locks should come with instructions and special tools or a master key for rekeying. Many smart locks allow you to create and distribute electronic or virtual keys that guests, maintenance workers, and others can use, either indefinitely or for a limited amount of time.
Some smart models generate time-stamped access logs of who has locked and unlocked your doors based on their unique electronic keys or user accounts. With a companion smartphone app and a WiFi hub or adapter, you can remotely lock and unlock smart locks from anywhere—provided you have cell service. A few smart locks have tamper alarms built into the lock body to scare off burglars trying to break into your home.
Some models will also send you a notification when the alarm goes off. We respect your privacy. All email addresses you provide will be used just for sending this story. Sign In. Become a Member. Remember Me. Forgot username or password? Not a member? Need further assistance? Please call Member Services at Door Locks. Sign in or Become a Member.
Secure Your Home With a Trustworthy Door Lock We test, evaluate, and compare the latest door locks for drilling, picking, and kick-in protection. What We Found Very few locks we rate earn a high Overall Score, and some locks prove to be far more susceptible than most to brute-force attacks. Cons: They lack the convenience and extra features of smart models.
How to Choose a Door Lock 1. DIY Rekeying Many nonconnected and smart locks can be rekeyed for use with new physical keys or to make one key open all the entry doors in your home, saving you from having to hire a locksmith.
Electronic Keys Many smart locks allow you to create and distribute electronic or virtual keys that guests, maintenance workers, and others can use, either indefinitely or for a limited amount of time. Photo: Yale. Access Logs Some smart models generate time-stamped access logs of who has locked and unlocked your doors based on their unique electronic keys or user accounts. Their answers were swift and unanimous:.
In short: Schlage has the confidence of every professional we spoke with. And faced with the B60N, most thieves would look for other points of entry—like your windows—or, more likely, simply move on to a more vulnerable home. One complaint is that it comes with a very basic strike—a pierced metal plate that leaves the bolt-hole lined with unreinforced wood. To that end, we also have a pick for a reinforced strike you can pair with this lock.
First, simply by replacing your deadbolt—and thus, replacing your house keys—you gain a significant measure of basic key control, because nobody with a set of the old keys a babysitter, for example can unlock your door anymore. Second, to gain complete key control, you have to buy into high-security locks, whose keys can be copied only by certified locksmiths after a positive ID of the owner.
A reinforced strike is a cost-effective security upgrade that experts consider nearly as important as the deadbolt itself. Spend money on this first: Make the connection to the frame stronger. Crucially, like them it features an integral metal-lined bolt-hole, which adds strength against kicking and other forms of forced entry. A typical strike plate on a cheap lock lacks that metal lining; it simply has a hole with a thin metal strip around it, and the wood of the doorframe holds the bolt in place.
Another upgrade over a standard strike: The Battalion mounts to the doorframe with four screws—two through the face like any strike would have and then two more through the bottom of the bolt-hole pocket. One complaint: The screws the Battalion comes with are just 2 inches long, but longer screws mean a stronger attachment to the doorframe. Installing either of them involves little more than a drill, a screwdriver, and perhaps a hammer and chisel, to make room for the strike plate by clearing out a bit of wood on the door jamb.
The Kwikset was our primary measure of comparison for the Schlage locks. Every expert we spoke to said stealth entry, like lock-picking and lock-bumping, is not a major concern for homeowners. Rather, robustness against forced entry is the main concern. When you take into account the total package, it is easier by far to defeat the Kwikset deadbolt.
I can do do that in about 5 minutes. That theoretically adds a layer of security: If your keys are lost or stolen, you can generate a new, different key yourself, rather than buying a whole new deadbolt with a different key.
Watch a video of the process. But after its introduction in , SmartKey came under widespread criticism for being vulnerable to physical attack due to its design; in the most infamous demonstration, Vancouver locksmith Terry Whin-Yates opens one in seconds.
The change is a reshaping of the sidebar that keeps it from being twisted out of its groove by force, as Kwikset demonstrated to security journalists last year. All this said, the revamped SmartKey deadbolts are considered excellent by many independent reviewers. Perhaps the last word should go to Tobias, the security expert. He infamously in the locksmithing world savaged Kwikset in a DefCon demonstration. He has since, as he stated openly in our interview, consulted with Kwikset to help them improve.
We dismissed the ultra-cheap deadbolts sold at big-box stores under names including Defiant, Gatehouse, Faultless, Weslock, and Delaney.
They just—supposedly—exceed some of the test measures. Locksmith Winton favorably mentioned the security strike made by Door Jamb Armor. But installing it is more work than most people would consider reasonable. We did not make a high-security deadbolt pick, because they a are all universally excellent; b generally have to be purchased at a dedicated locksmith shop, and often have to be professionally installed; and c are more than most homeowners need.
And the , , and series deadbolts are more heavily built than the B60N, and come with a metal-lined strike. Finally, the series adds key control: Only the lock owner can authorize a locksmith to cut additional keys. In reality, most lockpicking is done by locksmiths helping people who lost their keys.
But the idea of a thief using lockpicks to sneak into a home long ago caught the public imagination. And picking is a possibility among burglars—though not a likely one—so lockmakers have taken steps to make their locks very hard to pick.
In the case of pin-tumbler locks—like our pick—lockmakers often replace the traditional cylindrical pins with spool-shaped pins or other variants. The end goal is the same: to make it hard for a lockpicker to accurately feel what is happening inside the tumbler as they work. As you move up into the high-security lock realm, lockmakers today also often add a second set of pins, operated by a second set of teeth or a sidebar on the key, that also have to be correctly set before the lock will open.
This pushes their pickability into the realm of near impossibility for all but the most skilled expert. In the past decade or so, a second form of stealth entry has caught the public imagination: lock bumping.
At the same time, the would-be thief twists the bump key in the lock. You can find all manner of YouTube videos showing people bumping locks. Newspapers and shows have covered the technique often and breathlessly.
But is it a serious threat? Does it work? Is it easy? Not even close. This may put it in perspective for you: I have never, ever used a bump key to help someone who was locked out of their home. A key operated multi-point lock system is fitted into the body of the door and locks into the door frame. When the lock is engaged multiple bolts will engage into the door frame , usually with a minimum of 3 points and sometimes 4 or 5 points.
The mechanism is usually operated with a euro cylinder lock to which the key inserts. On properties with multiple occupancies, ie. Remember if your locking system does not lock properly, your insurance may not cover for your losses. Burglars wander around streets and gardens during the night trying door handles, because they know most people do not lock the doors correctly.
A rim automatic deadlatch nightlatch is fitted on the inside of your door, with the key locking cylinder to insert your key to open the door located on the outside of the door. The difference between a Rim lock and a Mortice Lock is that a rim lock is fitted on the surface of the door, whilst a Mortice lock is fitted in the door edge.
Fitting a Night Latch that is British Standard approved will improve the security of your door. More info: for about this type of lock read our guide on Nightlatches here.
For advice on fitting the most secure euro cylinder lock click here. The best type of front door lock depends on a few factors such as the type of door and also the building type. Building Type — A door lock on a flat or apartment or a dwelling with a single exit will have different escape requirements compared to a domestic house lock. This is a reason why a vetted, inspected and competent locksmith should be specifying and fitting your door locks.
We also recommend your door lock is independently tested e. To read our guide on British Standard Locks click here. The brand of lock you choose is a personal choice, we recommend any lock has been Independently tested meaning a lock has met minimum security and durability needs.
The best lock for a wooden door is a lock that meets the requirement of BS , the type of lock fitted can be a night latch, mortice deadlock or mortice sash lock. A non-tested night latch can be used for access but it must be supported with a tested lock so you would have two locks on the door. It should be noted that if a non-tested night latch is used on its own, the door is not securely locked and is in just a latched state and vulnerable to attack.
Live in a flat or apartment? If the door is on a single exit dwelling flat or apartment then the lock should meet the requirement of BS
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