Are we being stupid? (door locks and garage doors and stuff)

Walking Man

Walking Man

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Okay,
so my wife and I live in our new home that we bought, of course.
As it turns out the key to the door into the house from the garage IS NOT the same as the front door, and the key is nowhere to be found.
My wife claims that we are perfectly safe because no one can just open the garage door. (and there isn't any other doors into the garage from the outside.
What I'd like to know is, are we taking a stupid risk? and should I get a new lock on our door, or are we no more susceptible to a break-in than any other house in our allotment? Thanks all advise appreciated.
 
My personal opinion would be to replace all the locks so they are keyed alike for convenience. If someone wants to get in your house bad enough they will find a way in regardless of what locks you have (short of you being home and willing to shoot them).
 
REDDOG79 said:
My personal opinion would be to replace all the locks so they are keyed alike for convenience. If someone wants to get in your house bad enough they will find a way in regardless of what locks you have (short of you being home and willing to shoot them).
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I agree. Relock your home. When I moved into my house it was first thing I did. All doors are keyed alike. It cost me a bit but only carrying one key is nice.
 
Rekey your home. The keys have passed through too many hands and may include neighbors, friends and relatives of the previous owner. Rekeying your home is a prudent preventative measure.
 
From something I recently read, a popular way of gaining entry to a home is to get into the garage. After that, it's normally only two sheets of sheetrock separating you from the inside of the house. I'd re-key the locks, but it might not do a lot of good.
 
Always rekey or replace locks when moving in, always.

Most builders use "builders locks." These are cheap and only have about ten keys which makes it easy for workers to get into houses during construction... and after. Replace these locks.

Obviously, if you are moving into an existing house, you have no idea how many keys exist and who has them. Rekey or replace depending on the quality of the locks.

Now is a good time to assure that all of your doors have deadbolt locks. Any glass within about five feet of a door should be polycarbonate. And make sure that strike plates are screwed in with long screws that set into solid wood. When I moved into this house, I found the strikes screwed in with 3/4" long screws. They're in with 4 1/2" screws now.
 
Beyond the locks, well lit areas around the house with motion sensors should be your next project and if you can, CC Cameras that hook up to your computer have become available at very affordable prices.
 
We bought this home from a older gentlemen who wife recently died.
He is part of the in-laws family.
I am not concerned about extra keys floating around,
but I am concerned about having a motorized garage door as the only secure door into our house.
.
Thanks for everyone's advise.
 
It's not just that you should not trust the gentleman's family, nor is it an issue of keys floating around... it's about making your house as hard a target as possible, thereby allowing you to rest easily in your own home. You're an intelligent individual. Think of every scenario and then enact a deterrent to it. Proact, not React.

Oh, and congrats... enjoy your new home.
 
I changed the front door locks and the back gate padlock when we moved in. I would have changed the back door lock but it has an unusual door with an unusual lock cylinder and I couldnt figure out how to change it without replacing the door. I did fit hinge bolts to it however, thats a good idea on any outward opening exterior doors.bWe dont have a garage (theyre somewhat of a luxury in the UK...)
 
You should definitely replace the lock. While you are "hardening" your home take a look at your doors. All exterior doors and all doors to rooms you want to be secure (bedroom, office, knife storage :) etc.) should be solid-core, well-made, and thick.

Jeremy
 
Absolutely rekey. There are ways to get through garage doors and once inside, like someone mentioned eariler, there's only two sheets of sheetrock to get through to get into your house. Plus, once someone can get inside your garage and shut the door again, they have all the time they need to get through to the house.

The other thing you could do is keep an angry pit bull in the garage! :eek:
 
I'd recommend reinforcing the garage door panels around the knob/lock.
I've seen these kicked in. Then the BG reaches through the hole and unlocks the mechanism from the inside.
 
It's really easy to accidently leave the garage door up overnight. That's bad in itself, because people can easily steal stuff from your garage. If the door from the garage to your house is unlocked too though, then that could cause real trouble.
 
I've handled many burglaries in my career. Yes, going in through the garage is a favorite technique. Pull your van right in, neighbors think it's the washer repairman. Fill up and drive away.

Truth to tell, with the way most homes are now constructed, even very good locks will do little to stop a determined burglar. The weakness is the cheesy door-frame, or even the door itself. A couple of healthy pokes with even a small wrecking bar will make short work of most.

Make sure any dead-bolt locks you buy have a long bolt throw, at least 1 1/2".
Good solid wood or heavy-guage steel doors are best, but expensive.

Consider an alarm system. Even a "fooler" (LED indicator, keypad, etc.) is better than nothing. Why bother with an alarm when there are so many homes without? In my career, when the home-alarm buisness was just firing up, I never saw an alarmed home get burglarized. However, I only saw alarms installed AFTER the owner got "kicked in."

Get tight with your neighbors, and tell em' when you're going to be gone.
Leave some lights and maybe a TV on; electricity is a lot cheaper than a new TV.
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
From something I recently read, a popular way of gaining entry to a home is to get into the garage. After that, it's normally only two sheets of sheetrock separating you from the inside of the house. I'd re-key the locks, but it might not do a lot of good.
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Yep. I now a house where there's a hole into the basement through the garage that's just filled with packed insulation. Was filled with packed insulation. :rolleyes:

Definately use an alarm system.
 
The weakness is the cheesy door-frame, or even the door itself.
Click to expand...

Almost all new homes these days are built with "prehung" doors where the whole door comes as a single assembly and just gets nailed into an opening. The problem is that all to often it is just nailed in with four or six small nails. It doesn't matter how strong the lock is. If someone tries to kick in the door, the whole door assembly will kick in.

The solution is to go to Home Despot or wherever and buy the LONGEST #8 flat-head, Phillips screws they have, 4" long at least. Remove ONE screw from each hinge where the hinge is screwed to the house, use a long drill bit to drill a pilot hole as deep as the screw, and then use a power screw driver to drill attachment to sink that 4" screw in in place of the 3/4" screw that was originally there. This 4"+ long screw will go all the way through the pre-hung door frame and all the way through the shimming that was put in between it and the framing of the house and all the way through the 2x4 that makes up that framing and join all that together. That means that the hinge-side of the pre-hung assembly is now tied into the framing in three solid places. Along the top of the door jam, drill two evenly-spaced pilot holes as deep as your screws and drive screws into them. Now, the top of the pre-hung unit is bolted to the framing of the house. Along the lock-side, remove one screw from each side of each strike plate (the passage set and the deadbolt) and replace the standard 3/4" screw you removed with one of your long ones (again, drill a pilot hole first). Then, similarly sink two more of these long screws, one about halfway between the deadbolt and the top of the door opening and one about halfway between the passage set and the bottom of the door opening. Now, that side of the pre-hung unit is bolted into the framing in six places.

Turning on outside lights by doors is very important. Photoelectric fixtures and timer switches are easy to install.
 
I've often been amazed by "security" hardware. I bought a shackle/hasp set once that looked like it would stop a depleted-uranium tank round, but it was furnished with dinky little 1" screws.
Gollinick's advice is good. Another easy point of entry is the sliding glass patio doors so many homes have now. The aluminum frame and cheezy locks are easy to pry apart. Get one of those bars that go into the channel if you have a setup like this.
Glass panes in security doors are a bad idea too. Often you'll see a little glass pane installed right next to a thumb-operated deadbolt.

Burglars generally won't break large sections of glass; noisy and there's always the danger of getting cut. (pesky DNA...) But small panes can be covered with a jacket and smashed almost noislessly.
 
If you're going to install deadbolts don't use "double-keyed" deadbolts (the ones that have a keyhole on BOTH sides of the door) unless there is a window nearby where a burglar can reach in and turn a latch. You won't be able to get out in case of a fire if you can't find the key.
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
From something I recently read, a popular way of gaining entry to a home is to get into the garage. After that, it's normally only two sheets of sheetrock separating you from the inside of the house. I'd re-key the locks, but it might not do a lot of good.
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Yes and there are usually tools that will assist you, and privacy in the garage also.


I would still re-key the whole house. The neighbors ner-do-well teenager might have made a copy of the key the previous owner gave to the neighbors in case they locked themselves out.

Drew
 
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