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Installing Locks and DeadboltsBy Jim Sulski Summary: Locks will often deteriorate long before your wooden door. Increase your home's security by replacing your locks and installing a deadbolt. Nothing beats the look of a solid wood exterior door.
From a security standpoint, they also provide a good amount of protection not only from the cold but from burglars and thieves. An old saying, however, is that a door is only as good as its lock, and most locks on older solid-wood doors aren't the best, especially compared with a modern door. We'll take a look on how to best improve the security of older, solid doors. According to crime experts, the simplest way to upgrade the security of an older exterior door is to leave the current hardware intact and add a deadbolt above or below. Often, the doorknob locks on old homes are huge locks. If you try to replace them with a new lock, you will have a huge hole where the old lock was. It is also tough retrofitting a new doorknob lock in its place. The strongest type of security you can place on a door, experts say, is a single good-quality deadbolt with a mortise lock, where the bolt of a lock slides from the side of the door into a hole in the door jamb. Such locks start at about $50 without installation. Because older doors usually feature a lot of glass, the experts recommended a double-key or double-side deadbolt, which requires a key on both side to manipulate the lock. The double-sided lock prevents anyone from breaking through a window, reaching in, and opening the lock from the inside - as long as the key is not in the lock. If you install a doubled-sided deadbolt, police and fire experts recommend leaving the key in the inside lock at all times when you're in the house. That will allow for an easy exit in case of an emergency such as a fire. There are deadbolt keys that have large knobs on the end so they're easy to turn. When you leave the house, simply place the key away from door and lock the door from the outside. To match the patina of the existing door hardware, deadbolts are available in a variety of ornate finishes at decorative hardware stores. If aesthetics are not important, than you can upgrade a mortise doorknob lock with a new cylindrical door lock available at home improvement stores. Start by completely removing the mortise lock. This will require, of course, removing any locking mechanisms from the door (you may want to install a temporary hook lock for overnight jobs). Using the template guide enclosed with the new lock, drill the needed cylinder hole. Install the new latch assembly into the side of the door and the new strike plate in the jamb of the doorframe. This way require additional chiseling of the door and/or frame; or patching of spots with wood putty. Cover any markings from the old hardware with an escutcheon or plate. The slide the new doorknob in place. There are also numerous new cylindrical locks that offer an antique design. Again, they may require decorative plates or escutcheon to cover the markings of the previous door hardware. Because of the complexity of this installation, it may be best to have a locksmith handle the work.
© by Jim Sulski. All rights reserved. June 20, 2005. NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher. © 2005 by Ilyce R. Glink. Distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate. |
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