Do you lock your door when you are at home ?

[starrynight19]

Never thought about this but we never lock the door other than when we go to bed.
Talking to friends it seems that this is quite unusual , is it ?

Yep burglars are opportunists. If your door is locked they will move on to one that isn't.
Like I keep telling my elderly parents who only lock up at night.

Yes.

No. Unless I'm in a part of the house/grounds that would mean I wouldn't hear. Otherwise there are three country bumpkin dogs that go crazy with over excited barking if someone comes to the door.

Front door is a yale so always locked. Back food is upvc and I keep it locked.

Always locked. I worry about my back door as it has a two single panes of glass, easily shattered whilst im i a deep sleep.

Our installer told us to keep the door locked otherwise if the lock isn’t engaged the seal round the door won’t be active. So not only would we have draughts, but in the long term the door itself would warp.

I often have the front and side doors open to cool the house, ( Australia) but always have the screen door locks flipped over. The screen doors are high security mesh (sounds hideous but isn't) so getting through the mesh to flip the lock is not going to be a casual burglar's idea of fun. I live in a low-crime suburb, and opportunistic open door/open garage thefts are more likely, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

Only so the toddlers can't walk off. I don't like the idea of being locked in, but it's a safety measure for now.

If you get burgled and there's no forced entry, insurance will not pay out, whether you're on the premises or not. Think about it, if you're upstairs and someone quietly opens your door and steals your handbag, then sneaks out without you noticing... You could easily be lying when reporting to police/insurance to commit fraud. There's absolutely no evidence of a crime.

Yes, always.

My parents forgot once and my dad came downstairs to the car stolen off the drive as they'd come in, had a nice wander around and stolen mum's handbag with purse, cars and keys from the living room at the back of the house. They'd gone through at least three internal doors and My parents never heard a thing.

I thought everyone locked their doors until I came on here and started reading threads about people's families just walking in.

Live rurally but still lock my back door when in the house. Many delivery people pop round the back to drop things off if I don't hear the front door and my thoughts are that it only takes one dodgy person to realise you leave a door unlocked and come back to burgle

I do because I have young DCs

And also because I would not feel safe otherwise

Porch door is always locked, inner door locked when we go to bed. Back door always locked unless someone's in the garden.

I grew up in houses with a latch so the door would always need a key from the outside. We also had an additional lock and chain, and still had these even when we moved somewhere with a porch. I locked myself in the porch on the way to school once by forgetting to pick up my keys but only realising when I pulled the door with the latch shut though so that might make a case for leaving the porch door open...

Front door locked always.

Back door and back gate I used to leave unlocked during the day when I was in until someone came in a couple of years ago. Our living room is upstairs and I was in there with the dog when he ran downstairs to the kitchen and started barking. I assumed out of excitement as my husband was due home. He ran upstairs to me a couple of times and stared before running back and barking. I thought I’d better go and say hello and there was a teenage boy in the hall, he’d been involved in a fight in the village and had been chased onto our estate and had tried various doors to try and find a safe place. He was quite badly beaten up, was shaking and upset and his phone had been smashed. He asked me to call the police and they took him home.

Yes. NDN were burgled during the day. Now I always lock.

Timely thread.

We never do. Grew up with the door unlocked (cul de sac), moved into military accn with the door unlocked and now in a quiet village. Front door can't be opened from the outside but side and back doors can. Always left them unlocked (and often the cars too).

This week my elderly parents (who have lived in a lovely quiet, safe suburb for more than 60year) suffered a home invasion. Large, masked man burst through the door, ran up the stairs, then back down shouting for a neighbours son. Parents absolutely terrified - dad managed to shout at the bloke to clear off, but it's left its mark on them (Neighbour whose son it is then suffered the same fate later - even though their son hasn't lived at home for more than 10 years).

Police aren't interested in the slighted.

Parents now have a locking front door and chain that they have promised to keep done up - but that scares them for a different reason.

Lock your doors people. There are too many bastards out there.

Front door always locked because we never use it.

Back door never locked when we are home. I am in and out a lot to the garage, the bin, with the dog, hanging out washing etc.

We live fairly rurally though and there are no paths by my house. If someone came up the drive the dog would bark to let me know.

Yes. I have a Yale lock and a main lock. I don't feel safe with the door unlocked.

My family always call each other before we come over, I hate it when people turn up unannounced and I'd be pissed off if someone just walked right into my house without letting me know they're coming.

Yes I always lock and keep the door locked. We've had experience in the past where someone tried to open our front door (we lived near a park and they were drunk). Maybe it was one of the neighbours but you never know! Luckily the front door was locked that time as my husband did it, but otherwise it used to be left open!

Funnily enough, I often leave it unlocked if I'm nipping down to the farm shop or collecting my DD from the school bus as we are so rural I can't think anyone will bother.

But I work from home and usually lock it when I'm in as if anyone did bother, it would take far too long to get any help!

This threads always make me realise that I have the assumption all front doors have latches.

Certainly never lived anywhere that had an 'ordinary' lock on the front door. I'll have to inspect other people's locks now!

Yes I always lock my door, I grew up in London though so I'm quite security conscious. My dh family do not though. Once I was sat in the front room at my mil and her next door neighbour walked in by accident, said sorry and walked out. It freaks me out knowing anyone can walk in at anytime.

Never used to but we got burgled over night last year and when the police showed us how easy it was to open the door we've kept it locked ever since.

not locked, but we have a yale lock, so it can't be opened from outside without key.

Yeah I thought that too. We have a UPVC porch door and then a wooden door with yale lock. Burglars opened both with no noise and no damage.

The police showed us how easy it is to do. The yale lock was even easier than the upvc door. They just slide something between the lock and the door frame.