To wonder what has happened to my front door?

[SinkGirl]

Just been to the shop and when I came back noticed these weird marks / holes on the front door next to the lock.

They can’t have been there more than a couple of days as they’re so obvious.

What on Earth is this?!

This is probably silly but could some sort of critter have made them?

Two sets of two near-identical punctures.

It's something like a claw hammer. You couldn't make such similar marks any other way... Unless you've got something living locally with very pointy teeth

Just looked again. They're made with the same tool. The measurement between their central points is identical.

I think Shatners has it (oh, I've always loved your username).

Staples make perfect sense

A new door? A claw hammer?! It'd be the smallest one I've ever seen.

The paint has been caught by something. Not worth panicking over.

Maybe not a new door but I would get a new lock fitted at least - Yale locks are crap and really easy to break into, so that would be enough to worry me.

new lock and seal the holes.

check the hole door and frames. Wood Worm damage can look that way in the begining.

Whole not hole oi 😎

I did say I thought it could be staples but if so the location is extremely odd. You can see the line down the door where it meets the frame - only a couple of centimetres of space between the keyhole surround and the door frame. What on earth would you try and staple there, twice?!

I agree it’s been made with something that makes two holes, they’re identical apart from the fact the top pair is deeper. And I think they’re recent as I think they’d look more aged if they’d been there over a year? Pretty sure the last owners painted the doors just before marketing the place - there’s a couple of tiny holes in the back door (totally different to these) where they’ve obviously replaced an old handle / lock and the paint goes into the holes.

I’m thinking about this way too hard 😂

I should add that we live in a row of terraces so not at all secluded, definitely not where I would choose to break in. The back is accessible via an alley from a side road with a gate into our garden, and it’s a lot more secluded.

woodworm?

I'd definitely think drunk neighbour accidently trying to get into the wrong house!

This looks like someone has been moving furniture and it has hit your door as they passed. Looks like the corner of something hit the door and as they tried to stop it, it bounced then hit again but not as hard. Say something like corner of a wardrobe or large heavy framed pictures etc.

Someone leaning on the door with a heavy package with staples sticking out whilst the used the other hand to ring bell.
Doesn’t look suspicious

This....

I want this mystery solved lol. Have you taken any other photos of the front door since you moved in? If so can you zoom in and see if these holes were there before and you just haven’t noticed them.

When it’s the kids birthdays we always celotape banners to the door as it’s upvc, could the previous owners have done the same but with drawing pins or staples? Are there any other marks on the door where the other end would have been attached? Or even just a note to a delivery driver attached with a drawing pin, sometimes you can’t push them in enough in one spot and have to try again.

Or could the people before you attempted to put the lock there and it was too close to the edge so moved it and used wood filler in the holes and painted over but the filler has come out so look like new holes.

@BreakfastAtSquiffanys
WTAF is that

It's what Google produced in response to "double punch tool". It's for sale labelled as a double punch tool but with no explanation as to what or why it is punching!

I think previous owners stapled something to door, and subsequently painted the door so that a layer of paint covered the staple holes. Something has caused the paint to flake off. Heavy door slamming?

Do you have a long key on one of your key rings that could have stuck the holes in as you turned the one in the lock?

Maybe contact your local crime prevention team at police station.

I don’t want to scare you but criminals sometimes mark target houses in some way. I’d change the lock and look at adding another one which meets British Standards - a five lever mortice lock for example. Repair the holes and paint over.

wow I’m pretty sure they don’t. Surely making a note of the address would be more efficient... And even if they did, this wouldn’t be visible from far enough away!