This. A thousand times this. When there’s a fire seconds count. I’ve worked with firemen who have found corpses of people by doors who were unable to get out. Smoke fills space very quickly indeed and not only obscures vision but is itself a killer.
A real fire officer will be along shortly to give chapter and verse.
These are only good moves if the door is solid. Otherwise the burglar will break the glass or the plastic panel and reach through for the key.
Again, not a good idea. If the deadbolt is near the ground the burglar can apply more leverage to the door to force it open.
(Yes, I have been burgled.)
Why? Did somebody pull the fire alarm?
If you’re worried about the locks then change them and upgrade your window security as needed.
I have two such locks plus a massive lockbar on my commercial grade windowless steel back door. Thor and his hammer couldn’t get through. In my house, with the room layout that I have, I very rarely use that door and I’m very worried about security with that entryway. It’s hidden from street view and I’ve had a forced entry there before I upgraded the security. On the other hand, my front door is much more exposed to the street. On that door I use a keyless entry lock like this plus a standard deadbolt with interior knob. The deadbolt only gets thrown when I know I’m in for the night or when I know I’m going to be gone for a few days.
Good luck to you both! We’ll hold the fort down.
We’ve had this kind of deadbolt on the main door for 17 years. When we’re home, we leave the deadbolt unlocked and just lock the doorknob. It’s unlikely that someone will break in when we’re asleep and the cars are in the driveway. When we leave the house, we lock the deadbolt.
If a burglar breaks the window … they don’t need to unlock the doors … replace them with normal deadbolts … it only takes dying once in a house fire to ruin your retirement plans …
The double keyed deadbolts are good for adjoining hotel rooms … so folks can rent both rooms and have easy access between the two … but here there’s emergency egress through the main doors or out the fire escape … as pointed out above, it is a code violation …
Thanks, all. I’ve bought a set of replacement deadbolts and unkeyed knobs and will be installing them in the next few days. I’ll look into the ways of upgrading the security of the windows after that.
Not a problem if I’m home. When I leave I take the key out of the lock.
As explained to me many moons ago, the purpose behind the double key deadbolt is to prevent anyone from breaking into your home (via a window) while you are not home from exiting your home with your worldly possessions thru the door. Or at least, it’s very difficult to steal your big screen TV, etc., by going out thru the window the thief just entered.
When you come home at night you unlock the deadbolt (outside), enter your home, and relock the deadbolt (inside) while leaving your keys in the deadbolt. If you have to get out in a hurry, your keys are already in the door deadbolt and never lost.
I once came home from a weekend out of town to find the window in my carport door broken but nothing missing because I had an inside key deadbolt. I kept the key in the deadbolt when I was actually at home.
This works in principle if there’s only one door. We have three on two levels. Not very practical to collect three keys every time you leave the house.
My wife adds: “If someone breaks into the house, I don’t want them to be locked in. I want them to leave!”
While I agree that entry doors should be secure enough that they can’t easily be kicked in, I’m also of the mind that it’s not worth the cost of going too far overboard if you have ground level windows.
Many years ago someone kicked in our backdoor at work. As we were all staring at it trying to decide how to better secure it, all the way up to the suggestion of putting hooks on the sides so we could hang a 2x4 against it, I pointed out that you could brick the door over each night and there’s still 15 plate glass windows that can be knocked out.
If someone really wants to get in, 5 minutes and a sawzall and you can cut a person sized hole in the side of the house.
So, yeah, deadbolts and a secure jamb are good ideas, but before I’d worry about having 2 or 3 deadbolts in addition to the door knob, I’d look into putting grates over the windows and securing the garage better, if it’s attached.
I’ve got windows all over my house, as well as a sliding door to the deck out back. In my house, there is no reason at all to have a dead bolt requiring a key on both sides. Anyone that wants to break in that badly will take out a window. Anyone that wants to carry my stuff out will open a window or go out the sliding door.
That, and are big TVs even stolen any more? I thought they didn’t sell for much.
I have had both kinds of deadbolts and I don’t really have a favorite. Like the OP suspects, its to keep someone from getting in the glass and turning the latch that way; something that has happened to at least one neighbor. When I had the key-from-either-side I kept the main key out of sight and reach from the glass and an extra taped to the inside of the door near the bottom in case of emergency; the tape basically matched the color of the door and was one of those things you had to look for or know about to find. Yeah – someone could come in through a window while I’m out. But why make it easier for them getting stuff out?
It doesn’t work that way in practice. A common method is for the burglar to break a small window in the door then open the door. Burglars don’t like broken glass as it leads to cuts which leave blood and thus DNA. This was all explained to me by a police officer when I got burgled.
Absolutely agreed, I’ll also concede that I probably went overboard in a nutty, unproductive way when securing my back door in response to the break in that I had. That door is totally hidden from street view and from my neighbors. I had to bring in a contractor to repair the door frame anyway so I decide to upgrade (probably over-upgrade) to remove that entry point as a threat.
I’m in the process of replacing my windows with a higher security/high efficiency that should help. Next summer, they will be finished.
As far as someone coming through my wall with a Sawzall, in home security, there’s a standard bit of advice that makes perfect sense. You don’t have to make your home a fortress. You just have to make your home less inviting than your neighbor’s.
This. ISTM that a keyed deadbolt with the key out of reach from outside is more secure than a deadbolt with a knob on the inside.
Regards,
Shodan
To repeat: this.
Make copies of the keys to each door. Place a hook 5-6 feet away from the door OUT OF SIGHT (around a corner or something). Leave each door’s spare key on a curly bracelet hanging on that hook AT ALL TIMES, i.e., don’t ever “borrow” it in case you forget to put it back. That key lives on that hook at all times.
Why put it on a curly bracelet? So if, God forbid, you ever do have to grab that key and exit a burning house, you can slide it up your arm and readily locate it (may not have pockets in your pajamas).
Don’t create a situation where you have to remember to remove the inside key from the deadbolt every time you leave or come home or go to bed or whatever. Leaving a key in the deadbolt defeats the whole purpose of having a double-keyed deadbolt.
This will work.
Just escape through a window.
But it is all moot anyway: deadbolt locks can be picked in seconds. Normal door locks are a sham.