Are Locksmiths Trustworthy?

[Trip]

That's great intel, Joey. Thank ya, sir Good point about the showroom.

[retdetsgt]

It's still a lot cheaper to do it herself. As we pointed out, locks are very simple to change and if she calls a locksmith, well over half the cost (probably well more) will be for labor. It's really a 3 minute job.

[Creeker]

To add:

I know for a fact that Home depot will key your locks the same for you if you are needing to buy more than one set. I replaced 3 of mine immediately after we moved into our house and had them keyed to match the Schlage locks on our new glass "screen" front door that the movers had to replace when they busted it.

[retdetsgt]

To add:

I know for a fact that Home depot will key your locks the same for you if you are needing to buy more than one set. I replaced 3 of mine immediately after we moved into our house and had them keyed to match the Schlage locks on our new glass "screen" front door that the movers had to replace when they busted it.

And the people at Home Depot are usually pretty helpful and have good info for a novice. Not to mention that new locks come with detailed instructions and diagrams showing how to change them. Plus, a locksmith will charge about 10% more for the lock itself than Home Depot.

[Trip]

You see? This is exactly why I find this forum so valuable. Every time I've asked for advice on RP, I can count on getting every possible valid perspective on the issue, leaving me armed with a great deal of ammunition for making the most informed decision relative to my specific circumstances. Thank you so very much for the feedback, sirs.

[Curt581]

Every time I've asked for advice on RP, I can count on getting every possible valid perspective on the issue, leaving me armed with a great deal of ammunition for making the most informed decision relative to my specific circumstances.

Well.... yeaaaah. We're men. We fix stuff.

If you'd have asked at a women-dominated forum, you'd have gotten lots of empathy, a shovel full of commiseration, some fashion advice on what to wear while you're dealing with it, and not much useful information in how to actually solve the problem.

But you'd have felt better about it.

[Trip]

Well.... yeaaaah. We're men. We fix stuff.

If you'd have asked at a women-dominated forum, you'd have gotten lots of empathy, a shovel full of commiseration, some fashion advice on what to wear while you're dealing with it, and not much useful information in how to actually solve the problem.

But you'd have felt better about it.

LMFAO. There you go again, Curt, giving me a belly laugh so hard I have stitches in my side. Probably because your post is both funny and true. Look, for the record, as I told Greggie once, I neither understand the folks from Venus nor you folks from Mars.....I am from my own planet in surely one of those other 10,000 galaxies out there, maybe Andromeda, maybe the Cigar galaxy....but I sure appreciate how helpful you Martians are on this particular forum, cause I hate to say it, but it kinds always makes sense. (here comes the hate mail from my mom, my sisters, my girlfriends, my co-workers, ......lol......good thing they have no clue I spend time on a police forum, lol....) And no, I would NOT have felt better about it. I'm a little Spock-like....logic is my master Wait, it's logic and intuition combined, lol.

[Joeyd6]

When it comes to locks, there are three kinds:
1) Home Depot & Lowes materials- which anyone with basic skills can bypass
2) Security locks only sold through locksmiths- pickable/bypassable, but the average person can not bypass them
3) Biometrics/Magnetic/Chip- expensive and only bypassable with somebody who has teh knowledge and time to get by it

Any lock you buy at HD or Lowes as an entry door lock is crap. Anyone who has that stuff on their front door has what is called smoke and mirrors. It looks nice and makes you feel nice, but its security value is little to none. It can be bypassed very easily. At lock pick class for LEO's, by lunch on day one we were bypassing kwikset/schlage home locks and deadbolts from both stores. We bypassed the electric keypad ones with three simple items you can get at any car parts/radio shack. Four hours and it was cake. m and done so after watching a two minute you tube video. Howvere, any person can replace these locks including yourself. It is as simple as being able to use a screwdriver.

If you upgrade to the next level lock type, you can only get it at a locksmith store. And with that, it goes beyond using a screw driver. You will now have a different hole depth and size for the bolt to engage. That means drilling. In addition it will mean adding a steel cage to reinforce the bolt hole and jamb so door can't be kicked in. If you are not familiar with how to use a drill, spade bits and a chisel or have a door with a side light that can be damaged during the drilling of of the common wall, you could have major problems and cause more damage. If you handy, buy a good lock from them and go home and do it yourself. If not, pay the $50-100 for the installation.

You would be suprised how fast you can spend $200 at Home Depot/Lowes, go home and spend a half hour installing something that be be bypassed in less than a minute. If it is for a primary entrance, and the physical door is of good quality, head to the locksmith and pay the $300 for a quality lock like a medco or $500 for a chip/biometric/magent to be installed.

A lock is only meant to keep the honest people out and stall the bad ones long enough they are noticed/or you get your gun before they get in.

[retdetsgt]

Any lock you buy at HD or Lowes as an entry door lock is crap.


A lock is only meant to keep the honest people out and stall the bad ones long enough they are noticed/or you get your gun before they get in.

I bought a Schlage at Home Depot and took it to a locksmith to have it rekeyed to fit the other locks in my house. He volunteered that was the same kind of lock he had on his house.

And you're right about locks. If someone wants to get into your house, they can do whether or not you have a $50 lock or a $1500 lock.

Which is why I think it's foolish to spend tons of money hiring a locksmith to put in something that will only slow them down anyway. Most burglars don't screw with picking locks anyway. I doubt any have a clue how. Maybe it's different back there, but maybe one in 50K do pick the lock, if that. Here, they kick the door in or come in through a window.

If you want to spend the money, yeah you can make your house into Ft. Knox, but not many people want or need to do that.

[Trip]

When it comes to locks, there are three kinds:
1) Home Depot & Lowes materials- which anyone with basic skills can bypass
2) Security locks only sold through locksmiths- pickable/bypassable, but the average person can not bypass them
3) Biometrics/Magnetic/Chip- expensive and only bypassable with somebody who has teh knowledge and time to get by it

Any lock you buy at HD or Lowes as an entry door lock is crap. Anyone who has that stuff on their front door has what is called smoke and mirrors. It looks nice and makes you feel nice, but its security value is little to none. It can be bypassed very easily. At lock pick class for LEO's, by lunch on day one we were bypassing kwikset/schlage home locks and deadbolts from both stores. We bypassed the electric keypad ones with three simple items you can get at any car parts/radio shack. Four hours and it was cake. m and done so after watching a two minute you tube video. Howvere, any person can replace these locks including yourself. It is as simple as being able to use a screwdriver.

If you upgrade to the next level lock type, you can only get it at a locksmith store. And with that, it goes beyond using a screw driver. You will now have a different hole depth and size for the bolt to engage. That means drilling. In addition it will mean adding a steel cage to reinforce the bolt hole and jamb so door can't be kicked in. If you are not familiar with how to use a drill, spade bits and a chisel or have a door with a side light that can be damaged during the drilling of of the common wall, you could have major problems and cause more damage. If you handy, buy a good lock from them and go home and do it yourself. If not, pay the $50-100 for the installation.

You would be suprised how fast you can spend $200 at Home Depot/Lowes, go home and spend a half hour installing something that be be bypassed in less than a minute. If it is for a primary entrance, and the physical door is of good quality, head to the locksmith and pay the $300 for a quality lock like a medco or $500 for a chip/biometric/magent to be installed.

A lock is only meant to keep the honest people out and stall the bad ones long enough they are noticed/or you get your gun before they get in.

I bought a Schlage at Home Depot and took it to a locksmith to have it rekeyed to fit the other locks in my house. He volunteered that was the same kind of lock he had on his house.

And you're right about locks. If someone wants to get into your house, they can do whether or not you have a $50 lock or a $1500 lock.

Which is why I think it's foolish to spend tons of money hiring a locksmith to put in something that will only slow them down anyway. Most burglars don't screw with picking locks anyway. I doubt any have a clue how. Maybe it's different back there, but maybe one in 50K do pick the lock, if that. Here, they kick the door in or come in through a window.

If you want to spend the money, yeah you can make your house into Ft. Knox, but not many people want or need to do that.

Really, really helpful info Joey and RDS. Thank you very much. My friend's problem is it's so stripped because she kept putting it off that you can just walk straight in right now. That's why in case some perv on the internet is reading this and can somehow triangulate, I'm going to advise her with this info I've been given to fix it ASAP as in the next two to three days, so if you're comin' you better make it fast. Oh, and she DOES have a gun and has no problem using it.

[retdetsgt]

If she just wants to replace what she has, it's no problem. If she wants to do as Joey suggests though and add door protection, she probably needs to contact a professional.

It was my impression she just wanted to replace what was on the door.

[Creeker]

You know, on the subject of door locks, and when to use the deadbolt, this has been my experience:

Primarily on a garage to house door, I wouldn't latch a deadbolt unless I (family) was at home.

This is my reasoning: If someone has gained access to the garage, they will do much more damage to your house while they defeat any locking mechanism than if they are simply defeating a knob lock, rendering the homeowner totally unable to secure the door when they get home until they actually hire someone to repair it. Since this usually happens when they return from a trip or get home from work, the door is unsecured at least overnight, and it is my experience that women really like to be able to lock their door before they can be at any kind of ease, especially after their home was invaded.

A burglar isn't going to be slowed down with any kind of esthetically sterile B&E, he's going to either kick it in or pry it open, and a deadbolt "on" in those cases is going to tear chunks out of drywall and in many cases styrofoam wallboard along with door facings and moulding out.

I've heard some people express that they feared that Homeowners Insurance wouldn't pay off if a deadbolt wasn't used and in my experience, that is poppycock. While you will get a break on your homeowners for having deadbolts, 18 years of Crime Scene work, I've never been asked by an adjuster if one was defeated in a Burglary.

My back entry door to my Garage consists of vinyl clad styrofoam on the exterior and 1/2 inch sheet rock on the interior. Someone with a pair of tin snips could get thru it, if they decided not to break out the window on the door itself and turn the knob for some reason. This is what house walls are consisting of these days.

[retdetsgt]

I agree about garages. I have a dead bolt on the side door of my garage and one from the garage to the house.

Although the one time I was burglarized, they threw a concrete block through my patio glass door. Nothing could have stopped that. The only way to effectively stop a burglar is to barricade your house with steel bars everywhere.

The best thing I've found is an alarm system. If someone breaks into my house, they better have damn good ear protection because the interior alarm will nearly put you on your knees. Until the police get here anyway.

[Trip]

Very very helpful additional information, gentlemen. RDS, when I was married and lived in a big house, we had a fancy alarm but it was useless (for a number of reasons). After I got amicably divorced and split everything up nice and down the line, I DID find value in taking the little ADP stickers with me to my condo, lol. But I haven't been able to find the damn things for ten years now, lol.

Oh, and Creeker was right that we women don't feel at ease until we are able to lock the door.

[Safety Steve]

Changing locks! Ha, if I can do it, anyone can do it. Of course it takes me longer than 3 minutes, but I get the job done!

Be Safe.