Do you lock your front door?

[BuildingHope]

Hi I've an ANCIENT front door desperately needs replacing, some lovely new bifold doors with my extension and I always leave the keys in the locks of the new ones even when locked. I never double lock my front door - which you can't from the outside anyway, it's just Yale..

I just realised yesterday [I promise I'm not normally dim] that basically unless the front door is double locked it's perfectly possible to smash the glass and just reach the front door lock albeit a stretch. Ditto the bifolds but if you broke the glass you could basically walk in regardless.

It occurred to me because I was thinking about switching the front door out for a stable door I already have in the garage, but the reach to handle is easier with smashed glass. I would always be a bit wary of locking myself in and not being able to get out in a fire etc in the night.

What am I missing... or perhaps overthinking, or locks do funkier things these days? Do you double lock stuff overnight?

Just curious really

My front door is always locked

I stay in a nice village with an incredibly low crime rate but id still never leave it unlocked

Yes

I only lock my front and back door when I go to bed. Can’t double lock either door as they just have one lock. Have a massive dog though who probably would turn on someone and nothing worth pinching

I have both a Yale and Chubb style lock. During the day if I am in the house the keys are normally in the door, sometimes locked, often not - you can't open it from outside either way. At night or if I am out it's locked with keys kept close to the door but inaccessible to someone trying to break in.

We lock both at night and the keys go in a drawer.

Front & side doors are always locked with keys kept in an easily accessable place inside the house (but not next to the doors).
Back door is usually unlocked (and often open in mild weather) so Ddogs can come & go as they please. It is shut (and locked) if I am going to be upstairs for a while (although that does not happen much during the day).

Doors are always locked night and day. In the day the key is left in the door. When we go to bed its taken out

The doors are always locked here and the keys are accessible, but not left anywhere near the doors.

We rent in quite an urban area and I get regular Facebook posts from the local police warning about garden theft and opportunistic home invaders.

In the hot weather, I regularly have the back door open, but only if there is someone in the kitchen. I admit, this is more to do with a local cat which follows me around when I go outside, rather than the risk of burglary by persons unknown...

I once left my front door at my previous house unlocked for over 6mths. Didn’t know until I leant on the handle while chatting and it opened 😄. We rarely used it as we used the side door but had had a workman come and quote who’d needed access to it and we forgot to lock it when he’d gone.

I lock it where we live now as the door is old/crap and can blow open when it’s windy. My DH regularly forgets to lock it though.

My mum has always left her doors wide open but has several dogs that would put off anyone who thought they could sneak in.

Never locked unless overnight and on holiday

I live in centre of a market town
13 years and counting

Yes always.

Front and side door are always locked, patio doors open in the day for the dog but the back gate is locked - plus he goes bananas if anyone comes round so no chance of him being dognapped from the garden!

always double lock - I’m not sure if we would be insured if we didn’t. I always have had to write down what locks I have, so presumably if my house wasn’t double locked and we were burgled, the insurance company would use that to get out of paying.

Yes. 'Nothing ever happens around here.' Until it does.

It's not as much about if someone could break in another way (breaking the glass) but the fact you're removing the opportunistic option of someone being able to simply walk in. Keep your doors locked everyone.

Always (except when I forget...) and key left in it.

Probably easier to smash a ground floor window in that case... if a theft is that keen to get in, he will find a way regardless of the lock.

I always lock doors properly and remove the key. When we were burgled they threw a brick through my French doors and stepped through the gaping hole but at least insurance paid out. I have added a monitored alarm and cameras since that we turn on at night too. Cost me a fortune but at least I feel safe again

I was told off by a firefighter friend for locking doors and removing the key. You should always be able to exit all doors immediately in the event of a fire.

Not in the day time when we are in the house, just at night (we live in a quiet cul de sac and don’t really get passers by)

At one time we didn’t always remember to lock it at night…until we got burgled 😬 Luckily we hadn’t got much to steal but it made us more conscious of locking up.

We have a pvc door. Once closed you can't open it from the outside. However, I always lift the handle then double lock in whether I'm in or out. Key is taken out and hung up but that's mainly so the toddler can't escape.
Back door is left unlocked (and even open the summer) till we go to bed but gate is shut and I'm home.

I lock the doors day and night. I’ve been burgled twice, once with a brick through a landing window, once having the French doors forced. Both daytime.

Back French doors locked at night and when unattended, front door double locked when unattended. Keys always removed.

Sort of related, garage and side gate have a deadlocks on a timer, which also automatically lock when house it unattended, or alarm is triggered. (through Apple HomeKit automation)

Front door always locked, we use the side door which is locked when we’re out or if I’m down the garden.
Patio doors usually open or unlocked, back garden is inaccessible from the back, 7 foot fences each side with climbing roses. Back door locked if we’re out but usually open for the dogs to wander in and out.

We live in a quiet rural village. I never locked my doors until ten years ago... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-39259078 This happened two villages from us... Both doors locked all the time now!