A Guide to common locks
The Night Latch
The common Yale Night-latch:
We are all familiar with the night-latch. It is a self latching lock, commonly found on wooden front doors. It is simple, convenient and typically more affordable than more secure options. It comes in a wide variety of models, with different features with pros and cons attached to each. The most basic versions, such as a Yale traditional or Yale 88, is a simple latch, with a snib to hold the lock in the open position. It has no ‘Dead Lock’ facility so is appropriate for communal front doors as it cannot be deadlocked from the outside with a key.
The Yale 89 is essentially the same as the 88, but has the deadlocking facility. [Deadlocking, is a feature where the key can be used to disable the interior opening, with the door in the locked position. It is useful for homeowners who are away, as it disables the door from interior and exterior opening]
Insurance Approved night-latches: These are a step up in price and quality over a basic night-latch, they are made in various models from Yale, ERA and other manufacturers. They carry the BS, British Standard Kite mark, and meet the requirements for most home insurance providers (We would always recommend you check with your own insurance company to check the requirements for your own policy). These have auto deadlocking features to avoid some of the more common break in methods such as drilling and slipping the lock.
Mortice deadlocks
Most of us have used a mortice lock at some point. These are a sturdy lock with nice clunk as the key turns. They are mortised into the door and throw a bolt into the keep, mortised into the door frame. These locks come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and security levels. There is also the Sash lock. This is a variation of the mortice lock which includes a handle operated latch.
Interior doors are often fitted with non insurance approved 2 or 3 lever sash locks. These are ideal for basic security for keeping home office and other sensitive areas away from routine visitors. 5 lever insurance approved locks are usually the minimum recommended for exterior doors. The additional levers make them harder to pick, harder to drill, and they have a larger, more substantial bolt to meet the insurance requirement.
These locks also come in Euro Cylinder versions. This allows you to have a smaller Yale type key, but a more substantial Mortice lock level of security. In some cases, it can offer the option to key alike a deadlock and night-latch to allow you to use one key, for all the doors locks.
UPVC and Composite door, multipoint locking systems
These are found primarily on UPVC front and rear doors, as well as conservatories. More modern composite doors also use a variety of these MPL locking systems. There is almost an unlimited list of shapes, sizes and manufacturers of these systems, but they all work in the same basic way:
They have a central gearbox, operated by the door handle. When pulled, the gearbox retracts a series of sliding bolts (mushrooms), hooks and for some doors shoot bolts (pins that extend on the top and bottom of door). When the handle is lifted, these locking points slide into metal keeps located around the door frame. When the key is turned, the handle is locked in position, and the door cannot be opened. The weakest point on this system is the barrel. These systems typically use a Euro Cylinder for the locking mechanism. Not all Euro cylinders are created equal. Poor quality, low security variants can be bypassed by criminals in a matter of seconds. We will not advertise the techniques, but lock snapping is the most common. It is a simple upgrade to change a Euro Cylinder for a high security barrel which is robust to these attacks, and can also meet insurance requirements. There are many ways to meet these requirements, with either a handle upgrade, a euro cylinder upgrade, or both. (We would always recommend you check with your own insurance company to confirm the requirements for your own policy).
If a key has been lost, you have just moved into a new property, or you want to upgrade for insurance reasons, a euro cylinder change is a simple, affordable upgrade in most cases.
These multipoint locking systems make for a very secure door, as each bolt around the door frame secures the door tight. Unfortunately, it also means if the gearbox fails, it can be quite a task to open the door to make a repair, this can come with an expensive bill. To avoid this we would always recommend you take action before this happens. If the handle feels rough, or ‘crunchy’ when operated, if excessive force needs to be used to lock the door, or you find the key doesn’t easily want to turn when locking or unlocking the door, it is a good idea to take some preventative action. In many cases a clean, lubrication service and door alignment can massively improve the operation, reduce stress on the gearbox and mechanism and extend the locking systems life. We would always assess first, and give advice on how best to proceed if one of these systems was failing.