Door Lock Buying Guide

It’s important to make sure your home is secure from burglars, after all, you’ve got a lot to lose and not just objects. Your home is your castle, a place to relax and unwind, where you can get away from the world of work and focus on you and your family for a while. Once someone has broken in, it’s never the same, the idea that someone has walked through the rooms of your home and touched your most precious items is every bit as awful as anyone actually taking anything. Therefore, making sure your home is as secure as it could possible be is a good thing, because the more difficult you make it, the less likely it is that anyone will bother trying.

We’re going to be talking today about door lock buying and providing a simple guide as part of our series of blogs on our most popular products. Home security doesn’t have to be hard work, but it can give you peace of mind, and that’s definitely worth having. Here at Sealco we like to make things as easy as possible for our customers, so enjoy our guide and if you have any questions at the end do feel free to ask anything, and one of our team will help provide an answer.

Timber Doors:

Mortice deadlock – are used with front doors and can be used together with a Nightlatch. This type of lock is around waist high and allows you to be able to lock both from the inside and the outside of the door.

Nightlatch – this is good for both front doors or any external entrance doors. This type of latch will be mounted from the inside of a door at shoulder height with a latch mechanism which will keep the door closed. Its spring loaded, and as you turn the knob it withdraws into the casing. You slam lock it by simply pushing it shut, it’s operated by a key and is very secure. There are lots of different Nightlatches available, but you should look for one that has the British Standard Kitemark on it so you know it’s going to deliver on security and quality.

Rim cylinder – This type of lock works with a brass barrel and is mounted on to the surface with a key turning mechanism. This is attached to a Nightlatch, and if you have a rim cylinder then you’ll always it in conjunction with the Nightlatch.

Mortice Sashlock – This type of lock, again for wooden doors, is a lock that combines both mortice locks and a handle latch mechanism. You can open and shut the door and do this without having to use a key. There are different levels of security with a Sashlock, and that’s 3 lever and 5 lever. The 3 is mid-level security and the 5 is the highest. You can use a 5 lever on a back door and 3 can be used on internal doors and used in conjunction with a lock and key. Again, always make sure that any mortice Sashlock you buy, regardless of the level, is made to British Standards, so always look out for the Kitemark.

uPVC and Other Doors Types:

For doors which are not wood, such as uPVC, a euro cylinder is a good lock to have for your doors. There are 3 types, and these are: single cylinder, double cylinder and double cylinder with thumb turn.

Windows:

Windows locks consist mainly of locks which work with whichever type of window you have. A casement window works with a lever handle and will act as a window lock too. Sash windows can be fitted with frame to frame bolts and these work by securing the frames, both inside and out which prevents movement.
uPVC windows fit with a hidden lock system within the frame and will not only lock the window itself but also the handles as well. You can lock the window then with a key and this gives you better security.

Sealco Scotland – For Fantastic Door and Window Locks

We hope you found our guide useful and remember Sealco are here to listen to your queries. Get in touch or call us to let us know if you have any questions on home security, window or door locks.