Locksmithing and Security

I’ve just got back from a job at a new block of apartments in Wandsworth. Every rimlock was fitted upside-down. Some builder who hadn’t got much of a idea as to how doors and locks work – surprise, surprise – and worse than that, whose supervision must have been non-existent – had worsened things with a decision to fit all these locks production line style. Drill all the cylinder holes, screw all the back plates on, fit all the keeps, etc. Nasty shock time would have been when the time came to put the first cylinder in and he (or she) discovered that they should have used the template that comes with the lock as none of the locks were lined up with their cylinder holes, and the only way out was to fit every cylinder upside-down.

Lots of new apartment blocks sprang up around here during the boom years, while New Labour was carrying where the previous government left off in its efforts (along with the Americans) to set up the spectacular bust we have just witnessed. (At least the Americans were up-front about having an idiot “running” the executive.)

Anyway the build quality of these blocks, as you would expect, is lamentable. The problem that brings customers to me is the quality of the front door and its furniture. I’ve already mentioned the door furniture, so on to the doors themselves. Chipboard. Even at its best it’s not strong enough to resist a good kicking. At its worst not enough resin of the right formulation will have been used and you’ve effectively got a thin-walled box of sawdust guarding your apartment. Add to that the use of the thinnest door they can get away with and the mortice deadbolt lock will simply burst right out of the door when it’s kicked.

Yesterday, I had to go to a new block where several apartments had been broken into, and where the builder had been as bad as ever and the architect had been even less security-conscious than usual. The doors were chipboard with very little resin. And each pair of apartment doors were closed off from the corridor behind an extra door thus keeping the thieves warm, comfortable, and out of sight and earshot as they kick the apartment door in.

What can you do? You can consider fitting a new solid door of course. You can fit mortice lock strengthening plates, which will help strengthen things a little bit. And if the block is absolutely new, form an action group to harry the architect and builder.

One of the most frustrating things in this job is visiting property after property where developers or builders have done a poor or half-assed job.

There are a large number of new and developed properties around South London where the doors have all been fitted out the same way. They have a “architectural quality” roller-bolt latch and a deadbolt. First of all though, let’s deal with this euphemism “architectural  quality”. I’m afraid it means cheaply bought in bulk and not of the best quality.

The roller-bolt latches in this case are not too bad as architectural quality fittings go. And in my opinion roller-bolts are an excellent choice for a latch lock. You can pop out to the rubbish bins closing the door to the wind and the neighbour’s cat but without having to take your keys because the door will push open again when you return from the bins. Even better, when you’re going out for a while you can use your key and deadlock the roller-bolt so that it can’t be pushed open. However, all this is only true if the roller-bolt latches have been fitted correctly. And in these places they haven’t; they’ve been fitted too far away from the door edge and don’t hold the door properly when latching.

Another thing to drive me nuts at the two most recent jobs for these properties is where a decorative moulding is used to hide the gap between the plasterboard wall and the door frame. That’s common enough. But builders habitually fit it in the wrong place. They place it centrally over the gap. This means it’s too close to the frame edge. This means that they then have to hack a chunk out of the moulding in order to fit the latch bolt keep. And it also means that when I come along to fit a “London bar”, there isn’t room. If the builders had left, as they should, 20 mm of moulding-free frame, the keep would fit nicely and I could fit a “London bar”.

I’ve put a page up on the main web site, offering a pre-purchase inspection of new or developed properties in order to locate any areas where builders or developers have made your new residence impossible to secure.

(What is a London bar? It’s an inexpensive strip of strong steel to reinforce the doorframe and its keeps agains a kicking, shouldering or battering ram attack. It’s one of the most important things you can do to improve your security.)

And painters (and housefolders instructing painters): please put masking tape over locks when painting doors. And this includes the face plate of the mortice deadlock. Firstly it’s usually a nice piece of brass and should be left as such. Secondly and more seriously, paint jams up the rollers in the bolt. The bolt rollers are there to stop villains sawing through the bolt. The saw can’t get past the rollers — unless the rollers don’t roll any more because of paint.