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

All doors locked, at all times. Unless we need to get out of course. And patio doors unlocked if we’re in the garden. A man walked into my house when I was growing up, just me and my mum in. Lived in a village, but in the countryside at the top of a hill/end of the road with no houses close by. Lucky, he was just a hiker, a bit strange and looking for directions but I’ve never left my door unlocked anywhere I’ve lived since.

Why on earth would I lie?

I have never held an insurance policy that says you have to have the windows shut in rooms you are not in whilst you are at home in broad daylight. Can you show me such an exclusion?

Ironically we had to change the locks as the burglar took them to get out of the front door, which was double locked. And yes, insurance coughed up for that too.

I am actually quite pissed off to be accused of lying. It was really traumatic and caused us a lot of serious difficulties at the time due to what was stolen. I still feel sick thinking about it.

Not all the time. But I have a Rottweiler who keeps the house far more secure than any locked door can 🤣

I was interested enough to have a little delve about the meaning of "forced" entry.

Apparently, for insurance purposes, "force" can mean simply turning a handle or or pulling a door. This Ombudsman's case makes for interesting reading and shows how insurance companies will try to wriggle out of coughing up:

Hi, interesting replies and thanks for feedback. Crikey all my doors are "locked" when I go to sleep or am out only I often leave the back ones actually even open when I'm at home if the weather is nice 😀. I'll start taking the keys out for actual locked scenario!

My question was more about my Yale front door cos you actually can't lock it from outside, it just clicks into the lock. You need a key when it's shut but in THEORY you could reach in to the inside handle. So I can double lock it if I'm in, but if i go away or anything then it's just the lock on puling closed IYSWIM. Might check with my insurance - it's the kind of thing I think that they accept if legacy but not new fit. Obviously if actually open/unlocked I'd not expect cover...

Looked at some new doors yesterday and the stable doors have a second lock way down low out of reach to inside from it but with a second outside keyhole. Maybe that does the thing.

Still interested about the fire escape criterion though, I'd hate to lock myself in. Another one for insurance!

Our front door has a Yale and a separate deadlock. The Yale is unlocked during the day when we are in, locked at night. The deadlock is only locked when we are out.

There’s no glass in the door or adjacent to it.

As part of the small print of my home insurance, my front door must always be locked. All patio doors and ground floor windows much be locked overnight!

Front door has a Yale and a turn-y key big lock (can’t remember the name for that?) and both are locked all day. I chain it if DP is away overnight.

The back door tends to be unlocked when we’re in, but locked at night and then we have a “middle door” for the utility between back door and kitchen which also gets locked at bedtime/when we go out.

My door is unlocked during the day. You can push the handle down from the street and walk in.

You dont need a key to lock it from the inside. Someone could just smash the glass turn the lock and they are in.

I broke my patio door lock that doesn't lock at all .

My front door locks when I close it behind me, without a key. Almost all front doors I've had do that so I've never had to think about locking it. You don't need a key to open it from the inside, you just pull a lever. There is a second lock lower down which needs a key to lock/unlock it, and we don't use it as often as we should, mainly outkf laziness as you'd need your key to unlock it in the morning. House keys are kept away from the door, wherever the adults keep their bag/wallets.
The back door is kept locked unless we are in the garden, and locked immediately when we come back in.

I live in central London on a fairly busy street, and it would be foolish to leave the door unlocked for anyone to walk in. We do have some valuables here but more importantly we also have 2 young children who I want to keep safe.

Mine lo is automatically. I have forgotten to lock the back door before now and have a dog that can open it unfortunately, so was lucky to not be woken by him chasing foxes.

I have had a very drunk stranger try to get in my front door before now, and as it was locked they couldn't get in. I dread to think what would have happened had they managed.

I would worry more about serial assault than burglary and wouldn't ever risk the thought of someone being able to get in when we are sleeping.

I have cylinder locks. First thing must ye know about cylinder locks. They are not all equal. Some are very easy to break into. Some really hard. See Ultion on youtube.

The cylinder lock presents some conundrum. If you have a thumbturn on the inside, it makes it easy to get out in a fire. But anyone smashing the glass can get in easily. If you have another lock point instead of a thumbturn on the inside, you can lock the door from the inside making it very secure. But in a fire unless there was a key handy it would be hard to get out.

I solve this issue by always keeping a key out of sight next to the door. That way I always have a key nearby to get out easily. Of course you need to maintain some discipline to make sure noone steals the key.

I live on a very, very busy road. We lock our doors.

Very naive and unwise! Why would you risk it?

Front door always locked , not the back if we are out in the garden .

Just because some live in hamlets or quiet areas it doesn’t mean they are safer, quite the reverse for an opportunist thief. Don’t be so trusting and naive. Your insurance company still won’t pay out!

Every idiot out there who doesn't bother locking their doors is basically making the houses of people that do safer.

Burglars want easy houses to enter, not to have to spend minutes breaking locks and smashing windows.

The police will say that you make yourself a victim in burglary, and that is 100% true.

It's really hard to stop someone breaking into your house if they really want to. It's much easier to make it so hard that the burglar just basically walks off and goes to a place where it takes no or little effort. And there are enough places where it would take low or little effort around.

Advertising low security is also something that people are particularly poor on.