Locksmithing and Security

I’ve just put the finishing touches to my own door. (Don’t worry, though, I won’t take over two weeks on any of your jobs.) The locks have been moved, the keeps have been moved, holes have been filled in and the door’s been re-painted. (And I hate painting, so among the many jobs I’d love you to ask me to do for you, I’m afraid you won’t find painting.)

The last job was to re-attach the “chain”. And that’s what prompted this post. My chain is actually a hoop, a door restrictor, like the one pictured here.

And, in a television program I was watching just after I’d finished, someone came in through their front door and put a titchy little door chain on.

If you’re thinking of adding a door chain, don’t bother; they’re not strong enough. Fit a restrictor instead. And chuck away the miserable little screws that come with it; use some decent sized ones instead, especially on the frame which is what takes the pull force.

And think about whether you can actually see through the gap when you open the restricted door. If you want to see who’s calling, consider a spy-hole instead. In a typical hall-way, the only thing you can do is talk through a restrictor or chain. If you can’t fit a spy-hole and you can’t see though the gap, consider a small mirror on the wall near the frame.

I happen to have attended two jobs in a row where poor quality hinges have been the culprits. If you are having a new door or work done on your door, as well as asking about the quality of the locks being fitted, be a nuisance about the hinges.

A heavy door needs three good quality hinges. Two flimsy, pressed pieces of nonsense fabricated with zero quality control in China are going to give you problems down the line (and the line could be as little as a few weeks long).

The first door today had been set up for hinges of 2.5 mm thick steel. Someone had replaced them with 1.5 mm brass hinges. Firstly they weren’t strong enough, there already being signs of bending; and secondly, the door couldn’t actually close! The hinge-side of the door met the frame while the door was still ten degrees open. The poor hydraulic door closer I’d been brought along to adjust, was being asked to close a door that Hercules would have struggled with.

The second door had a kind of latch that we don’t see very often — one with “chain” built in. When you shut the door, a four-inch bar automatically grabs a little projection such that when you next open the door, it’s limited to opening just enough to see your visitor/assailant. Unless, that is, someone replaces the hinges with ones half as thick, the door ends up 2 mm further from the frame than it used to be, and the bar can no longer grab the projection.