I’m going to be upfront with you. The title of this blog post is a little misleading. In fact, the only thing homeowners need to know about locksmithing is how to make sure they have a great locksmith on call at all times.
But what if you want more information? What do you need to know?
Well, for starters, there are three ways people can go about getting into your house: by picking or bumping a lock; breaking in through a window or door, and finally by manipulating the lock itself with some kind of device that will bypass it and let them inside without having any knowledge of how it works – as most burglars do nowadays.
So we have tried our best here at King Locksmiths to provide you with some basic locksmithing information that will hopefully prevent your house from falling prey to any of these three options.
Picking and Bumping Locks
Sure, it sounds like the type of thing super-villains do, but picking or bumping locks is actually very easy to do if you know what you’re doing. You might say it has a very low learning curve. All you need is the right set of tools and within a few tries, you can have your way with most locks – as an intruder would. Nowadays, those types of locks are very rare because most people want to make sure that they can protect their homes properly with the most effective hardware.
However, not everyone knows what to look for in a lock, so it is still important to educate yourself on this topic so you can protect your home.
The only way to protect your house from someone breaking in is to make sure you install hardware that is strong and well-built. But this brings us to our next point: if you want the job done right, make sure you hire a locksmith and not try and do it yourself. DIY locksmithing will never be as secure as having the job done professionally.
Breaking and Entering
If someone wants to break into your house through one of its windows or doors, they’re going to have a tough time. In fact, it is going to take them a lot longer than if they had just picked or bumped the lock, so you have much more time to see what’s going on and call the police.
All they need to break in through a window or door is a strong piece of metal – preferably aluminum – which they can use to break and remove the glass and then reach around and unlock the door from the inside.
This takes a lot longer than just picking or bumping – especially if you have already called the police – so you should be safe with even just a simple deadbolt lock on your door.
Manipulating Locks
As we mentioned above, there is a third option: manipulation. This refers to the thing we mentioned earlier, where someone will use some kind of device that will bypass your traditional lock and let them inside without having any knowledge of how it works – as most burglars do nowadays because picking and bumping locks are much harder than it used to be.
You might ask yourself, what do these devices look like? Most of the time they are pretty inconspicuous. They can be anything from a key to a set of lockpicks to an RFID reader that acts as a skeleton key without having any knowledge of how it works under the hood. We don’t want to go into too much detail here because that way you will know how to spot them, but always make sure you have a great locksmith on call so they can open your locks for you if the need ever arises.
A great house security system has everything wrapped into one package – all of which is done by a trained professional with years of experience in the field. It includes different types of locks to ensure your home is safe from all three types of intruders. All you have to do is sit back and relax while the King Locksmiths technician does his or her job.
So to sum it up, there are three ways to break into a house. You can pick or bump the lock, break in through a window or door, or manipulate the lock with an unlocking device. If you want your house to be secure against any one of these options, you must have strong hardware installed.
How do you know if your door’s hardware is strong enough?
Here are some basic pointers:
- If you feel that the lock is flimsy or cheap, get rid of it.
- Make sure that you have more than one lock on your door if possible. This will make it harder for someone to break in by just picking or bumping one of your locks.
The locks that we see on chains or tongue and groove doors are called mortise locks. These types of locks allow the door to be bolted from the inside by using a key, as opposed to an outside handle as with a doorknob lock. The lock is covered by the doorframe and attached to the door by means of two vertical iron bars. These bars can be rotated around a vertical axis, and wood wedges are placed between the bar and the edge of the doorframe for added security.
Mortise locks were developed in response to burglars gaining access to homes through first-floor windows by inserting long poles through them, which they used to unlock second-story windows or smashed basement windows. Mortise locks offer greater security because the door cannot be opened from outside by simply pushing it open.
However, because these locks are large and bulky, they can make a home look less inviting to potential customers or visitors. Therefore, mortise locks are most commonly found in traditional single-family homes rather than condominiums.
- Most importantly, make sure you know what kind of locksmithing system you have. These days there are many different types of locking hardware, so you should know what the best option is for your home. The last thing you want is to invest thousands in locksmithing repairs because someone picked or bumped your lock!
- But regardless of which type of lock you have, the most important thing is to make sure that it is a skilled locksmith who installs it – not you. DIY locksmithing is a dangerous business and should never be taken lightly, so beware of scammers on Craigslist offering to do the job for you. A bad installation can lead to break-ins very quickly!
- You also want someone with experience installing security devices on their own, not someone who is taking the installation of locks very lightly. Even though it’s an important decision, you should never take your security system for granted when you are doing home improvements!
- A professional technician with years of experience will be able to install any type of lock in a safe and efficient manner. In addition, they will be able to check your locks and make sure everything is in working order – and, most importantly, replace the locks if need be. That way you won’t have to worry about it.
Locksmithing Information Sources
Do-it-yourself locksmithing is never as secure as hiring a professional locksmith, so make sure you get the job done right. Now that we’ve covered a little bit of a background about basic locksmithing, hopefully, you can rest easy knowing that you are making a great investment in your home’s security.
As mentioned before, if you wanted more information on how to protect your house or some insight into what type of hardware would work best for protecting it, King Locksmiths is the place to go. We offer some of the best locksmithing advice around, so check us out today.
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