How to choose a lock on front doors

Recommendation points

• Selection of locks by type of entrance doors
• Best combination of locks
• What are reprogrammable locks
• Choice by class of burglary protection and manufacturer
• Mandatory requirements for installing the lock

We all want to secure as much as possible not only ourselves, but also our property, therefore a good lock on the front door is a mandatory attribute of any safe home, and not a luxury item. In this article we will tell you everything about locks that meet all modern security requirements..

The lock should not be confused with the locking mechanism. Traditionally, these concepts are united, and almost all modern locks have their own crossbars – pins protruding from the canvas into the eyelet of the box. However, in the narrow sense, a lock is a device for accessing a locking mechanism. And it is from this point of view that it should be considered, because it often activates the locking device of the door itself – the so-called crabs or deviator.

On the one hand, the complexity and reliability of the castle is directly proportional to the value of the material values ​​it protects. At the same time, locks cannot provide absolute protection, therefore their effectiveness is reduced to the time it takes for the device to be hacked, as well as the amount and complexity of equipment involved for these purposes..

Selection of locks by type of entrance doors

There are three main types of doors. The former include wooden and tin doors with honeycomb insulation. One should not seriously talk about the resistance of such doors to burglary, therefore, the locks for them should be chosen the simplest. Usually these are cheap Chinese locks with 2-3 own bolts and a double-sided pin cylinder. A burglar will break one of these in 30-40 seconds without noise, and if the lock turns out to be a little more difficult, the door will be corny broken or pressed.

The second type should include reinforced doors made of thick sheet steel with additional stiffeners and a frame. The thickness of the metal in them is not less than 2 mm, which is already a serious obstacle on the way of the attacker to the castle. However, this design is extremely simple and with appropriate efforts the door can be simply removed from the hinges..

The most protected are complete doors, in the depths of which there is a deviatorial opening mechanism, pushing powerful crossbars to 2, 3 or all 4 sides. The function of the lock in such doors is purely nominal: it sets in motion the system of locking devices, and its own crossbars only enhance the locking. It is almost impossible to dismantle such doors in a short time and without noise, therefore, their resistance to burglary depends entirely on the quality of the lock..

Best combination of locks

Locks are also distinguished by their design. In household use, two types are most popular: lever and cylinder, therefore we will consider them.

The parts of the lever locks are very large, which increases their resistance to mechanical stress. Access to parts of the mechanism is also more free due to the wide turnkey borehole, which is sometimes interpreted as a lack of burglary protection. However, this small defect is more than compensated for by the high complexity of the mechanism, which can have traps, trickery, functions for recognizing lockpicks, blocking when trying to break, and much more at the mechanical level. Including all kinds of radio-electronic components that add work to intruders.

The parts of cylinder locks are very small and compactly located, and it is difficult to implement protective functions in them. Manufacturers often tweak simple core designs by fulfilling a number of additional secrets. However, in general, the lock with a cylinder core is designed in such a way that it is always poorly protected, and the sense of all the tricks is leveled by a simple vandal break.

The truth lies somewhere in between: cylinder locks are good for everyday use, they have compact keys, and their cylinder is easy to replace. Lever locks protect better: they should be installed as the main ones for entrance doors and used to lock rooms for a long time and in the absence of people. It is better to install a middle-class cylinder lock with a strip cylinder for 10-11 pins on a steel entrance door, protect it from drilling with an armored plate, and use a 6-8-lever reprogrammable high security lock for the main deviator.

What are reprogrammable locks

One of the modern solutions has deprived leveler locks of their last drawback. A lever lock installed in the door body, when replaced, requires tearing off the decorative panel from the inside, which leads to a deterioration in the heat and sound insulating properties of the door leaf and, in general, is not very practical.

Programmable locks are designed in such a way that they adapt themselves to the key profile once and then always work only with it. In practice, this is very useful when a key is lost or stolen; good lever locks rarely fail..

If the key is lost, it is necessary to make a new set and reset the lock with the “master key”. After that, the lock can be reprogrammed for new keys with a single turn. Locks can be reprogrammed almost an infinite number of times, and the cost of making keys for them is even less than the price of a replacement cylinder.

The number of variations is also quite large, so it is basically impossible to pick up the key to the lock, at the same time, breaking it remains difficult with the classic tricks of the lever mechanism. Programmable locks can be safely sent to the door manufacturer for installation or entrust temporary keys to builders: there is no point in making casts from them.

Choice by class of burglary protection and manufacturer

The basic rule for choosing a lock: the class of its burglary protection should not be lower than that of the door. The above is possible, but then another rule applies, stating that if the entire canvas is dismantled it will be faster than a vandal breaking of the lock – this is exactly what will happen.

In general, each manufacturer of locks has products of all household classes and each solution individually is more or less successful. Locks made in Israel or Finland will be optimal in the price-quality ratio. Austrian and Swiss locks will cost a little more, but their burglary resistance and security level are much higher.

Some manufacturers have their own patented opening technology, which is practically completely protected from manipulation with master keys or picking a key. For example, CISA and VACHETTE use floating head keys, and some ISEO and Mul-T-Lock models have up to 2 million possible key hole combinations..

Mandatory requirements for installing the lock

Manufacturers of quality entrance doors often offer to install the type of lock chosen by the customer in the factory. If there is such an opportunity, you should use it, and if you put it yourself, do not forget about some important points:

1. Be sure to protect cylinder locks with armored pads.
2. Do not use decorative trims with the logo of the lock manufacturer for keyholes..
3. The lever lock can only be fastened to the stiffeners, frame frame or door leaf. The presence of traces of fastening (including streaks from welding) on ​​the front surface of a closed door is unacceptable.
4. If there is an opportunity to arrange a reinforced pocket or end protection for the lock, do not neglect it.