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Residential Door Locks

All of the door locks that lead into your home are extremely important. The front doors are the most common way that a thief attempts to enter residences, according to recent burglary statistics. 3 out of 10 burglaries occur when someone is inside the premises of the home. So check to secure your residential door locks even during the times that you are home!

To ensure that the door locks in which burglars will attempt at manipulating are up to par to prevent their success, you may call upon a locksmith Spokane to install strong and secure locking mechanisms to your home’s entrances. Another option is to choose a lock based on the lock’s ANSI rating and then have a locksmith Spokane order it as well as install it correctly for you. An ANSI rating is a score of the overall quality of a door lock that is typically categorized with grades from one up to three. Grade one will be the best quality lock that one can buy in terms of construction and integrity. Grade three locks are actually the most common type of residential door lock, but for homeowners who want the highest possible level of security, it is advised that for optimal property protection, every lock around the perimeter should be a grade one.

Not only is a door lock’s ANSI rating important, it is necessary to also have the right type of hardware installed on your door for your residential property to be truly safe. Oftentimes a residential door lock is armed with an easily breakable and penetrable locking mechanism called a spring bolt lock. Instead of using a spring bolt lock, it is recommended that a residential door lock have a deadbolt properly installed for ideal security. The only reason spring bolt locks are so often utilized is because they are cheap to purchase and very simple to install. A deadbolt lock usually is installed along with a handleset. A handleset features a decorative door handle. If you really care about your property, family and valuables, please consider having a deadbolt installed to prevent any type of burglar from breaking your residential door lock and gaining entry to your home.

To increase the security of your door locks and doorways, plan on installing a strike plate that possesses screws about 3 inches long. The strike plate will add security against harsh force, such as a door being kicked in. It is also possible to purchase a door jamb reinforcement kit that will fit into existing your door’s jamb and this will further strengthen your home’s entrance against a forced entry. A residential locksmith will be able to install your residential door locks properly in order to make them as effective against a break-in as possible.

Securing Your Door and Windows

The common problem with low grade locks for residential properties is the fact that an intruder would not have much of an issue kicking a front door of a home that is equipped with such a lock. That is why making sure to use mid to high grade level locks is very important for your security and an additional deadbolt lock as well. However, aside from high quality locks, it is recommended to add and additional security features or components to re-enforce the security of your home.

A Heavy duty strike plate would be a good way to start as it would help adding strength to the door frame. Strike plates are often overlooked as most of the time people consider them as a decorative piece and normally can be found made out of a cheap material. The purpose of a strike plate is to help re-enforcing the part of the door frame that meets the lock as most of the times the door and frame are made from wood. However, a cheap material strike plate will present a weak link in the security of the door. That is why going with a heavy duty solid metal or brass strike plate is very important. It will add the strength required to the door jamb which in turn will help withstand abuse.

Securing the windows around your home is the second step to take toward properly securing your home. Windows consider to be a weak link in the security of a home especially if they are not equipped with some sort of a locking mechanism. Many people especially during the summer tend to leave their windows open to get some cool air. However, this may put your home at risk by providing an easy opportunity for intruders to break into your home during the night. In order to prevent such situation, we recommend adding special windows locks that will allow you to lock and secure the windows in certain positions where you can still enjoy some cool air during the night without worrying of someone being able to break into your home.

For more information about what you can do to re-enforce the security of your home, contact NorthWest Locksmith Spokane.

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Security List Before Vacation

Going away for vacation? Making sure your home is fully protected against intruders should be the #1 priority. There are many precautions that should be taken in order to preserve your peace of mind when you are away from home. Research has shown that a high percentage of break-ins to residential properties normally happened when the residents where away. Intruders take advantage of the fact that an empty home will not have anyone to show resistance during the break-in process. That is why it is important to always show signs as if someone at home while you are on vacation.

The first thing you can do before leaving to your vacation is leaving a light on and/or electronic devices such as a TV or a stereo on a scheduled timer to make it look like someone is residing. Even though leaving a light on may seem like a waste of energy, it is a small price to pay for assisting in preventing any home break-ins. With technology today, there are many ways where you can control electronic devices in your home from anywhere in the world as long as your internet connection work at home. It makes it easy to set a time schedule for lights, and other electric devices to tun on and off at certain times of the day or night.

Another sign that many home intruders will look at to determine if a family is at home or not is the mail and daily newspaper subscriptions. In order to avoid having your mail piled up in your mail box and newspapers in your driveway or door step, it would help to put the mail and newspaper subscriptions on hold for the entire period of time you will be on vacation. As an alternative, you can always have a close friend or a member stop by and pick up the mail or newspaper every other day.

Making sure your home is completely secure just before you leave. Check twice to make sure all the locks are locked, sliding doors are secured, windows are locked and secure, and even your garage door. Closing window blinds will also help in deceiving those who seek to break-in. Another good idea would be hiring a house sitter or a close friend that can come and stay at the house for few hours every day. This will give the impression of someone that is occupying the house alerting intruders breaking-in would not be such a good idea.

For all of your home security solutions, contact NorthWest Locksmith Spokane.

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Commercial Lock Grade Levels

Making sure your office or small business property is secure should be a top priority. The only way to really do it properly is to inspect the grade level on the locks that protect your office or small business. In the market, there are 3 grade levels that are assigned to each lock. starting with the lower grade #3 would mean the lock has been tested to the lowest quality materials and construction while #1 and #2 grades will provide higher quality. In order to even be assigned a grade, a lock will go a series of tests which mainly check its ability to lock and unlock for a number of times without any failure as well as the ability to withstand abuse in a break-in attempt.

Starting with the lowest grade, #3 level locks will have the least amount of strength and quality acceptable in the market all over the country. As mentioned before, this type of lower grade lock will go through a series of tests to see how much it could take before failing which will include resistance and proper operation. To qualify for a grade 3 level, a lock will have to pass 200,000 times of testing the locking mechanism and should hold at least 120/225 lbs. of resistance. These types of locks would normally be categorize for interior use in the form of lever sets and knobs.

Grade level #2 locks are a major improvement over grade #3. They are much stronger and can be found widely in the market for commercial property use. Grade #2 locks are normally tested to endure at least twice as much a grade level #3 lock can which means that they can handle at least 400,000 of operating cycles and 150 lbs. of resistance for knobs and 3 times more for lever sets. Because of extreme measures of testing grade level #2 locks are being tested for, they can withstand picking and break-in attempts with confident.  

For the ultimate security, grade level #1 locks are the perfect solution. The testing that these types of locks have to pass are even double than grade level #2 locks where 800,000 successful operation cycles would be required as well as resisting 300 lbs. for knobs and double than that for lever sets in order to be categorized as grade #1. These types of locks would normally be perfect for high traffic environments where the locks or lever sets are being used constantly throughout the day.

For more information about the grade levels for commercial type locks, contact NorthWest Locksmith Spokane.