The wife taught the baby how to hold its breath and slide under the door. Then, using a high, squeaky voice to coax the child into standing up, she was able to get the baby to turn the key, opening the door from the inside.
Better?
I have a front door, three exterior doors on the back of the house, a door from the house to the garage, and an exterior door from the garage. I jave pinned them all to the same key.
Yeah, they’re not legal under the Massachusetts residential building code. All windows and doors must be able to be opened from the inside “without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort.”
Glad to hear the OP’s family got in OK, though.
Was this to the tune of Mission Impossible?
Adding a door security guard or surface bolt to the inside of the door is a heck of lot better design if you want additional security for a residence than a door that can take a key on the inside. Those are such a huge fire hazard I would have removed them all immediately if I had any when I bought my home. If you don’t physically leave the key in the lock, how quickly can you open the door in a panicked state, perhaps inhaling smoke, etc? Far larger danger than burglary.
Edit to add, glad you got back in though.
There are so many kinds of locks. I wonder if there’s any way to summarise them? For example, the outside can be:
[ul]
[li]Always locked and needs key to open (hotel room doors)[/li][li]Lockable/unlockable[/li][li]Lockable/unlockable/you can use the key to open the door without unlocking it - when you remove the key, it’s still locked[/li][li]Can be locked without a key (either it’s always locked, or when locked, can still slam shut)[/li][/ul]
The inside can be:
[ul]
[li]Lockable/unlockable with a knob (not the doorknob)[/li][li]Lockable/unlockable with a button. Cannot be opened without unlocking (bathroom/bedroom doors)[/li][li]Lockable/unlockable with a key[/li][li]Always unlockable (hotel room door)[/li][/ul]
In Australia you get a cheaper quote on your house insurance if the doors are deadlocked.
I have 3 external doors on my house and not only do they have deadlocks, but they also have additional deadlocked metal security doors. I know it’s a fire risk but there are a lot of house break ins in this country. I could always break a window.